Test Track may be thrilling, but the attraction which preceded it, World of Motion, was the unadulterated spirit of Disney through and through. Although solely attributed to Ward Kimball, the attraction contains many humorous scenes designed by Marc Davis using his trademark style of show scenes punctuated by audioanimatronic figures making subtle movements. It’s the robotic equivalent of today’s Cinemagraph photography.
The attraction was notable for a number of reasons: it had the largest cast of audioanimatronic figures ever assembled (107 humans, 73 animals, and 33 props) and the largest prop ever created for an attraction (the train in the hold-up sequence). With so many figures needed, the ride made liberal use of existing figures: Pirates of the Caribbean’s auction scene shy girl and heavy-set woman both appear in the Greco-Roman section, the “dunking of the mayor’s” tied-up center magistrate (who is also the Haunted Mansion’s caretaker) appears whenever someone needs to look scared, both popping out of a manhole during the world’s first traffic jam and dangling from the ceiling in one of Da Vinci’s test flying machines. Even the new figures were reused several times: the same character plays the policeman on the motorcycle, the trolley car driver, a blacksmith, and a passenger in a car.
The attraction also had a great soundtrack, with narration by “Laugh-In’s” Gary Owens and a new song, “It’s Fun to Be Free,” written by X. Atencio and Buddy Baker. The melody is skillfully reinterpreted by Baker repeatedly in the attraction as it changes time periods and locations; even in the lobby the song appears in musical forms meant to mimic Spike Jones, The Beach Boys, and the Fifth Dimension. The lobby also reused the traveling speaker system designed for the Haunted Mansion’s Corridor of Doors, which worked here more effectively, making the sounds of planes and cars move from left to right over the heads of guests waiting to board the omnimovers.
Track Listing
- Ride Through (induction of narration of left, omni-directional of attraction on right)
- Area Music (induction for speakers in planters out front)
- Induction narration (an attempt to capture clean recordings of some parts that were cut out of #1)
- Binaural ride through
- It’s Fun to Be Free (load area)
Sony MZ-1 MiniDisc recorder
Radio Shack 33-1089 omni mics
Radio Shack 44-533 telephone pickup
“The Head”
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