If You Had Wings

Infobox Disney ride
name= If You Had Wings


caption=
park=Magic Kingdom
land=Tomorrowland
designer=WED Enterprises
manufacturer=WED Enterprises
type=Dark Ride
theme=Flight
control_system=
propulsion=
soft_opened=
opened=June 5, 1972cite book | last =Imagineers | first =The | authorlink =Walt Disney Imagineering | title =The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World | publisher =Disney Editions | date =September 1, 2005 | pages =121 | id = ISBN 0-7868-5553-3 ]
closed=June 1, 1987
host=
music="If You Had Wings"
vehicle_type=Omnimover
vehicle_names=
guests_per_vehicle=2-3
cars_per_vehicle=
guests_per_car=
duration=4:30
length=
attraction_height=
track_height=
speed=
height_requirement=
site_area=
lift_count=
audio-animatronics
custom_label_1=
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sponsor=Eastern Air Lines (1972 - 1987)
fastpass=
single_rider=
accessible=

If You Had Wings (June 5, 1972 – June 1, 1987) was a two-person Omnimover dark ride in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It was sponsored by Eastern Air Lines. The ride featured images of some of Eastern's tourist destinations, including Mexico City, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and New Orleans. The ride had a memorable theme song with music by Buddy Baker and lyrics by X Atencio.

History

In the days when most rides required the expenditure of prepaid tickets, this attraction was complimentary. Little publicized and little known, waiting lines for this attraction (located across from "Mission to Mars") were nonexistent or short even when the park was crowded.

"If You Had Wings" was an undisguised promotion for the then-giant Eastern Air Lines, whose slogan at the time was "The Wings of Man." Eastern's investment in the ride was reportedly $10 million. [cite web
url = http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/iyhwstory.htm
title = Widen Your World
work = Widen Your World
accessmonthday = June 15
accessyear = 2007] A four-and-a-half-minute dark ride based on Disney's Omnimover ride system, it conveyed seated passengers slowly, steadily, and smoothly through a series of rooms. It was structurally similar to the Disneyland attraction "Adventure Thru Inner Space", which might be considered its spiritual predecessor; both were designed by Claude Coats. The experience began with a vaguely-simulated "takeoff" in which the ride ascended a slope, while projections of animated silhouettes of seagulls and airplanes swept past on the walls, enhancing the feeling of motion and gently suggesting flight.

Riders observed various theater-like sets embedding small screens showing rear-projected filmed scenes. Thirty-eight 16mm projectors were used in the attraction. The rooms illustrated various Eastern destinations and presented tourist experiences such as straw-hat markets, fishermen, limbo dancers, and steel drum bands. The omnipresent music featured singers tunefully chanting, "If you had wings, you could do all these things, you could widen your world if you had wings, if you had wings had wings had wings, if you had wings had wings had wings had wings had wings." The music did not succeed in masking the sound of the hidden projectors, which were audible throughout most of the ride.

Viewers passed through a sequence of colorful scenes corresponding to the following locations: Mexico,
Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas (where a traffic cop directed a flock of flamingos as well as pedestrians and vehicles), Jamaica (where the ride's only 35mm projector showed apod of bathing-suit-clad young people clambering up the rocks at Dunn's River Falls), Trinidad, and New Orleans (where shadows of blowing jazzmen flickered on the wall). Eastern Air Lines had, uncoincidentally, a vested interest in travel to all of these places. Many of the scenes had their own sound effects that mixed with the ceaseless music.

Having passed through this sequence of site sets, riders entered the "speed room", an ellipsoid onto the interior of which were projected snippets of first-person movies of an airplane taking off, a train, water skis, motorcycles, airboats, and a few other scenes. The clips were projected on the walls by a 70mm projector. The ovoid screen encompassed the viewers' peripheral vision. Furthermore, the vehicle reclined in the speed room, and a breeze was blown on riders. The wraparound images, in combination with the motion and reclining angle of the vehicle and a blast of air, arguably constituted an early attempt at virtual reality. The images were to some extent blurry and distorted, unlike Disney's sharper Circle-Vision 360 technology; it rather resembled the fuzzy Cinema 180 shows featured in many contemporary amusement parks. Nevertheless, the projection effect combined with the motion of the ride produced a genuinely exhilarating sense of speed, and the long, egg-like shape of the room allowed plenty of time to experience the effect. The speed room was followed by the "mirror room", where two more 70mm projectors produced images of snow-covered mountains appearing on large screens and were reflected in enormous floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and the music changed to a wordless symphonic swell of harmonies.

The ride "descended" after the mirror room, and a buttery baritone voice of Orson Wells gave riders the following soothing assurance:

You "do" have wings.
You "can" do all these things.
You "can" widen your world.
Eastern. We'll be your wings.

(In the earlier years of this attraction, the voice's closing words ended with the phrase, "Eastern: the Wings of Man.") Subsequent to hearing this message, riders disembarked to an area containing an Eastern Air Lines reservation desk. Agents stood ready to assist riders, presumably inspired by what they had just experienced, with travel arrangements. Few seemed to take advantage of this opportunity.

In 1987, Eastern withdrew its sponsorship and the attraction closed on June 1 of that year. Although remembered affectionately by many, a fan website devoted to the attraction notes, "If you can't remember the public uproar surrounding the closing... one possible reason is that there was none."

Transitions

If You Could Fly

Infobox Disney ride
name= If You Could Fly


caption=
park=Magic Kingdom
land=Tomorrowland
designer=
manufacturer=
type=
theme=Flight
control_system=
propulsion=
soft_opened=
opened=June 6, 1987
closed=January 3, 1989
host=
music=
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guests_per_vehicle=2
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duration=
length=
attraction_height=
track_height=
speed=
height_requirement=
site_area=
lift_count=
audio-animatronics
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sponsor=
fastpass=
single_rider=
accessible=Subsequent to the closing of "IYHW", Disney removed all references to Eastern, changed the name of the ride to "If You Could Fly", and re-opened it on June 6, 1987. The sets and films were intact, but the theme music had been replaced. For many fans of the ride the absence of the infectious original music had taken much of the fun out of the attraction, and the opening scene which originally had a film about Eastern had been replaced with footage of flying birds. On January 4, 1989, "If You Could Fly" was permanently closed.

Delta Dreamflight

Soon after, Delta Air Lines [cite web
url = http://www.wdwhistory.com/MagicKingdom/Tomorrowland/IfYouCouldFly/
title = If You Could Fly
work = WDWHistory.com
accessmonthday = August 12
accessyear = 2006] [cite web
url = http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id45.htm
title = If You Had Wings/If You Could Fly
work = Walt Dated World
accessmonthday = August 12
accessyear = 2006] took over sponsorship and made plans to update and remodel the attraction. The replacement was "Delta Dreamflight", which made use of the same ride system and floor layout, but all new scenery and music.

Disney's Take Flight

Delta dropped its sponsorship in June 1996. WDW removed all references to Delta and renamed the attraction "Disney's Take Flight". The ride lasted two years, closing in January 1998.Unlike the wholesale musical change from "If You Had Wings" to "If You Could Fly", "Take Flight" 's music was the same as "Dreamflight" 's except for some tweaks to the lyrics.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Disney decided to use the ride space to promote its popular film, Pixar's "Toy Story". The new attraction, "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin", again makes use of the original ride system and floor plan, but now riders can control the rotation of their vehicle via joysticks, and are armed with "laser guns" to shoot at targets stationed throughout the attraction.

Influence

The influence of "If You Had Wings" was clearly felt in EPCOT Center's "World of Motion" and "Horizons" dark rides, both of which featured Omnimovers in settings similar to the speed room mentioned above. Both those rides are permanently closed. The "El Rio del Tiempo" boat ride at the Mexico pavilion at World Showcase, which has since been modified into the "Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros", includes films projected onto small screens embedded in elaborate sets. Any ride that simulates a greater degree of movement than it actually has, including "Star Tours", "Body Wars" and "Soarin'", is indebted in part to "IYHW"'s speed room.

"IYHW", and Epcot's "Spaceship Earth", were parodied as the "FutureSphere" in an episode of The Simpsons where a similar exhibit in the fictional "EFCOT Center" shows a future where Eastern Air Lines controls every aspect of life.

References

ee also

* Magic Kingdom attraction and entertainment history

External links

* [http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/iyhw-main.htm Widen Your World] Detailed and affectionate fan site featuring a wealth of prose, maps, photographs, and audio recordings.
* [http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Claude+Coats Claude Coats] An official appreciation of the late Disney animator and Imagineer Claude Coats.