Walt Disney Imagineering, the department within Disney that designs all the rides in the theme parks, has just made some changes in it's upper management. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Bruce Vaughn was promoted to Chief Creative Executive and Craig Russell to Chief Design and Delivery Executive. The interesting news for theme parks fans is that these Imagineers were responsible for bringing in some of the recent technology upgrades into Walt Disney World. For example, Turtle Talk with Crush allows guests to have a one-on-one conversation with an animated character. Lucky the Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom, was a fully animated walking Audio-Animatronic dinosaur.
The recent trend in Imagineering to design more interactive experiences for the guests started with Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. This ride armed guests with laser guns and created a video game experience with targets placed along the track for riders to shoot at. Disney has also created "living characters", characters that can interact with the guests and carry on a personal conversation. There's Push the Talking Trashcan at Magic Kingdom, Wes Palm at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Crush the turtle at Epcot.
The most elaborate interactive attraction yet is the yet to be opened Toy Story Mania at Disney-MGM Studios. The ride vehicles will contain special controls and the ride will immerse guests in typical carnival type games. Not only will the riders be able to play the games from the ride vehicle, but the games themselves will be enhanced by 3-D effects created from 3-d glasses worn by the guests. If you want to see the early test of this technology, check out the Where's the Fire exhibit at Innoventions. Toy Story Mania is expected to open in 2008, and if it's successful there will surely be more interactive attractions at Walt Disney World in the future.