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Virtual
Toad featured
News of the Virtual Toad project appeared in the December 18, 2003 technology section of The New York Times. Click the logo above for more. |
       
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Like
many Toad fanatics, I'm often asked, "Who's Mr. Toad?"
We'll answer that question in a moment, but first, a bit of personal history.
Some people are football fanatics, some collect baseball cards, some are
obsessed with comic book heroes. I'm totally, hopelessly hooked on "dark
rides."
Is it a lifelong obsession? Or just my latest mania? That's me, by the
way, the Mad Scientist in his element, outside the "Toad Hall"
restaurant in Disneyland Paris way back in 1999. Hard to believe it's
been that long.
Anyway, one thing's for sure: I've always had some sort of creative project
on the table. I once built an elaborate miniature golf course in my backyard.
My Halloween display grows in size and complexity each year. I started
both my high school and college television stations from scratch. Bottom
line: I just have to have a project to work on, preferably an impossibly
complicated one. It's just the essence of who I am.
With all of that in mind, just remember: you asked. So here goes.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was one of the original attractions that
opened at Disneyland in California in 1955. It's based on the animated
Disney film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." The Mr.
Toad portion of that film was based in turn on the classic children's
book "The Wind in the Willows."
The ride, book and film all deal in one way or another with the manic
tendencies of a certain J. Thaddeus Toad, one of the well-to-do animals
living on a river bank in the English countryside around the turn of the
20th century. With a lot of free time on his hands, Mr. Toad is prone
to indulging in certain "manias." One of the most damaging of
these manias for Toad is his obsession with motor cars. This "motor
mania" causes all sorts of problems. Toad ends up going to prison
for allegedly stealing a motor car, and his antics nearly lead to the
loss of the ancestral Toad Hall to a group of no-good weasels.
When
Walt Disney World (WDW) opened in 1971, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride"
was also one of the park's original Fantasyland attractions. Like its
Disneyland counterpart, the WDW version sent you racing through several
blacklit scenes in a turn-of-the century automobile. But the WDW version
was much larger, much wilder, and much, much cooler. There were actually
two sides to the ride... two totally different tracks you could choose
from. These separate tracks came together in certain places, but each
was essentially its own experience, closely related to the other, but
somehow unique at the same time.
The WDW Toad ride was also much more stylistic-- and more artistically
cohesive-- than its Disneyland cousin. There's never been a "dark
ride" before-- or since-- that's delivered such a uniquely manic
experience.
And what an experience! What made the ride so unbelievably special?
It's hard to describe. Each side took you completely out of reality,
sending you instantly into another world. Part of the appeal was that,
unlike other Disney attractions, the movie this ride was based on wasn't
well known, so part of the fun was to try and figure out what the ride
was all about. For many kids growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's,
Mr. Toad was the first "thrill ride" they experienced. And
it was the only ride at Disney with a naked lady, the only ride that
sent you hurtling head-on into an oncoming train, and the only ride
where you ended up in hell at the end!
All of this combined to make "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" a veritable
cult classic among the Gen-Xers. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough
to save the Walt Disney World incarnation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. In
1998, the Walt Disney Company shuttered the ride, building a "Winnie
the Pooh" attraction in its place.
The plans to remove Toad were leaked to the public in an Orlando Sentinel
article in October of 1997. A dedicated group of Toad fans banded together,
held protests in the park, and organized a protest effort on the Internet.
The Save
Toad movement received national media attention.
But Disney didn't budge.
On September 7, 1998, as a slow, dreary drizzle coated the concrete in
a cloud-covered Fantasyland, Mr. Toad took his last "Wild Ride"
at Walt Disney World. The Winnie the Pooh attraction opened in its place
less than a year later.
An important piece of Disney history, one of the greatest "dark rides"
of all time, a unique slice of pop culture, a priceless piece of childhood
to millions, was lost forever. Or was it?
Even before the pending closure of Mr. Toad was announced, I mused to
a fellow Disney fan... "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to recreate Mr.
Toad's Wild Ride in miniature reality? You know, build a model and have
a tiny video camera go through the ride on a track?" When Toad's
closure was announced, this seemed a natural way to recreate the experience.
To make a long story just a bit shorter, let's just say my electromechanical
skills leave a lot to be desired. After several failed attempts at making
a miniature ride system work, I ditched the idea.
Then, 3D animation technology improved to the point where a computer-animated,
"Virtual Toad" just might be possible-- a true photo-realistic
recreation of something that no longer exists! Like reconstructing an
ancient temple by computer! Now who would pass up a creative project like
that?
And so it began.
Using dozens of old photos, grainy video clips, and lots of imagination,
I've been working to re-create the ride. In the process, I've learned
a lot about 3D animation-- and the pleasure, perils and pitfalls of perserverance!
Fast
forward to the present. The project's taken up so much time that it seems
senseless to give up on it now. I've tackled most of the major artistic
and technical hurdles, and many of the more complex 3D objects are complete.
All that's left is to build out the rest of the attraction, and wait patiently
while the computer renders the experience.
When it's all finished, people will once again be able to experience a
small slice of dark ride heaven.
Who knows? Maybe someday the good folks at Disney might even restore Mr.
Toad's Wild Ride to the roster of attractions at Walt Disney World.
That
would be a truly happy ending to a very wild ride indeed.