MLP...the Ride.

[Silverhoof 2,839]

Heres the set up. You are a ride designer at either Disney or Universal Studios. You are gonna make a ride that goes through Equestria. You can do a roller coaster with a Pegasus eye view, or a slower log ride through various scenes.

--only one thing has to be consistent: there has to be animatronic ponies, and scenes from the show. 

 

What would you put together?

 

 

 

 

 

I post my ideas later so I won't influence the thread.

[RazzyJam 1,519]

You have absolutely no idea what you have just opened. Literally, yo u can not comprehend the size of the wall of text you are about to be slammed with. 

Here is a little something to give you an idea:

 

 

Only God knows how big my smile is right now.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2013 by Razzberry

[Silverhoof 2,839]

You have absolutely no idea what you have just opened. Literally, yo u can not comprehend the size of the wall of text you are about to be slammed with. 

Here is a little something to give you an idea:

 

 

Photo on 9-22-13 at 11.49 AM.jpg

Only God knows how big my smile is right now.

 

 

Well you could just put a little scene you want to see the animatronc Ponies in.

Like moving through Fluttershy's house with animals EVERYWHERE.

Cloudsdale is a must for all the Pegasus Bronies out there. Followed by a Splash Mountain drop into Ponyville.

 

oops sorry. I'm not gonna influence the thread. sorry!

[RazzyJam 1,519]

Well, first things first, Im building this in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. I did this for a number or reasons 

#1... Because its Disney World, Universal sucks XD

#2, because Disney World has a certain stlye to their rides. Every little detail they put into their rides serves the purpose of telling a story.

So really, the question boils down to "What story do I want to to tell, and how do I want people to experience it?" 

 

So, lets start brainstorming!

The first thing that pops into my mind is that Equestria is a world full of surprises. While it is a world of technicolor horses, there are a lot of scary things hiding in it, and Equestria does deal with a lot of troubles. I could integrate this into the ride somehow: Maybe the ride car could move somehow other than a track. We could make the car spin around while moving along a set path perhaps. 

 

One of my favorite stories from MLP was "The return of Harmony". After all, who didnt love Discord? I can think of no better ride to make at the moment, so I could bullet ideas on what could be incorporated here:

• Slippery soap roads. The second we get to this part, I would make the car spin and slide so much. Almost like the Whinnie the Pooh ride and how the car can bounce up and down like Tigger, and pivot like it is floating in water. 
• Perhaps the ride will actually be only the second episode. The first episode, the one where they are in the labyrinth  will be the Queue to the ride. 
• Maybe we could use a water element and lighting to turn Discord to stone. 
• At this point, Im eliminating the idea of a roller coaster or thrill ride. Not to say the ride wont be thrilling or fun, but I do not think that a roller coaster will give the right experience for this story. (But, perhaps another story could be told via Roller coaster. Rainbow Dash and the Sonic Rainboom anyone?)

 

So, here was my thoughts on the Discord Darkride (Generic term for indoor, slow-moving ride. Almost all rides in Fantasyland are Darkrides)

The story goes like this:

 

Riders will be summoned to Canterlot Castle and enter the Hall where the Elements are kept. They will stand in the hall and watch a short, 3 minute show that involves an animatronic Celestia guarding the doors to the Elements, and Discord moving about the Stained Glass windows. The show starts with the elements disappearance  and ends with Discord making his speil about "Twists and Turns". With that, Celestia states to the audience that they will have to go and search the Labrynth. The stained glass window will clear, revealing an image of the Labrynth, and then it will open like a door, and Riders will be funneled through to the line to the ride. This part of the line looks like it is outdoors in the labyrinth  Every now and then, we could place a video monitor in the hedges forming the line. This will reveal Discord toying with the people in line. Remember that part of the Haunted Mansion where the Hitchhiking ghosts do weird things like switch your heads around?  We can use the same tech here to turn people gray and things like this to further immerse them in the story. 

People will now be arriving at the cars. At this point, it will look like the Labyrinth has collapsed. The ride will pick up the story from here with Episode 2. Cars will immediately head through a door and be introduced to the Mane 6. Insert quote about needing to get to ponyville to defeat discord. Discord appears, perhaps as a quick video projection on the door in front of you. He cackles and snaps his fingers, the door opens and you are now in upside-down ponyville. This is where the car starts to slip about. We could spray riders with bubbles an the smell of chocolate milk, just for kicks and giggles. Riders will slip into Twilight library, where our characters will be searching for the Elements of Harmony book. Luckily, the library is circular, and we can use this to our advantage. When the car comes around the library, you will see Twilight with the book. The door to the next part of the ride will also look like the front cover of the Elements of Harmony reference guide. When it opens, we will be once again outside of the library only to be met by Discord. The girls will use their elements and defeat Discord. This could be done in a really cool way. A gray animatronic of discord will be moving, but we will project the color onto him. When the girls use their elements, we can turn on a waterfall that hides our discord animatronic, giving us time to freeze him in the proper position and turn of his colors. We can also turn rainbow colored lights on the waterfall, making it look like the Elements of Harmony are really being used. It would be a neat effect and a cool way to end the ride. The riders would then exit at a platform that looked like the big doors to Canterlot hall. They would then proceed to exit, and the room could be decorated with paintings of happy smiling technicolor horses. 

 

In truth, this ride doesn't sound as cool as it could be. However, rather than describing the ride I would want, I described one that could actually be made. Using the right amount of Disney Magic and Imagineering, there is no reason why this couldnt be a ride at one of their parks. 

 

I would ride the hell out of this ride. 

[--Eve-- 351]

The ride never ends...

 

It's an extremely long and slow ride that holds one person at a time. it takes years to go around and the admission is free. Only one person is allowed on at any given time.

[BrilliantVenture 334]

I wouldn't even make it a ride personally...I'd build a whole park that goes through the world of equestria...has similar shops, places like sugarcube corner, a cloudsdale like place, applejacks farm, twilights tree house etc. it deserves its own section...

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 576]

The person above me said it best. A whole FIM amusement park would be awesome. A sugar cube corners and a Dash style Roller Coaster and maybe a Fluttershy's petting zoo for the kids. I think there would be soooo many ideas for a whole theme park designed for our favorite ponies.

[Virulence 254]

This would be so cool! Alright, So I would have a log ride. Roller coasters are my favorite, but to actually have the feeling of the MLP theme, a log ride would be best.

1. When you enter, you would see (on both sides) the main six as fillies with Pinkie Pie Laugh song in the background.
2. Then you would travel through all of the ponies houses and see their pets, with Winter Wrap Up playing.
3. After that you would see them getting ready for the grand galloping gala with all their dresses, and maybe scenes from canterlot. At The Gala song of course.
4. Last I would introduce discord and have scenes where the main six each have their elements and fight off discord, ending with a rainbow.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Have the theme song playing before the roller coaster starts, the roller coaster takes through all of the story/character arcs. Introduce other songs from the show, and other things.

[VictimoNightmareMoon 38]

AppleJack- The Ride

 

1. The enterance is a barn, with Coaster Car as AppleJack

2. Half of the course is through~ shaking trees and tracks by carts of barrels/ onto a highlift

3. Speed down to other half of a forest of timberwolves

[Planty 1,052]

Its basically a bouncy castle, but it's made of candy floss that you can eat !

 

It also has periodic chocolate rain storms from the roof !

[Nickelodeon 6]

Realistically speaking, if a My Little Pony ride happens, it'll definitely be at Universal Studios. They already have a Transformers ride there, so that show's they've got some kind of relationship with Hasbro.

 

In fact, I have heard faint buzz that Hasbro has had talks with Universal concerning MLP, (but don't get too excited just yet).

[Captain_Rainbow 15]

my idea is simple. a wonderbolt training session and it's a roller coaster. first, a short meeting with an animatronic version of the wonderbolt leader, who tells you a few things before you set off. now for the other details. you go really fast, there is a bunch of loop da loops and at the end, you go high up, then do a big plummet. by the way, it's at universal.

[--Thunder Bolt-- 534]

I'm going to go with the "whole theme park" idea. Equestria in the show is already set up like a theme park. So here's how mine would work:

Ponies:

The ponies are not people in costumes. They are autonomous robots able to move freely around the park, not bolted down in a location, and built to scale. Approximately 4 feet high for average ponies, less for fillies, more for the alicorns. They are designed to be able to recharge inductively through their hooves. When a robot starts to run low on charge, its pilot can take it to a "ponies-only area" (there will be one or more human attendants nearby to prevent visitors from following the pony) where it enters a building, and an artful little door closes behind it. Inside is a charging station (or set of charging stations) with induction coils built under the floor. The pony-bot stands on the station, which begins charging the robot's batteries. If the robot is a background pony, the pilot will switch to another background pony that's fully charged, and exit the charging station via another door. If it's a Mane 6 pony, there will be more than one robot of its type per park section so that it will always be fairly easy for kids and bronies to meet and get their pictures taken with a Mane 6 pony.

Each robot has a vocoder that "translates" the pilot's voice into a show-accurate (or as close to that as possible) sound of the pony's voice. If digital transformation of the pilot's voice wouldn't work, this could probably be done by having the show's voice actresses record a lot of words and lines in different expressions, then use speech-recognition software to replace the pilot's words with recorded words from the VA. There would probably be a lot of "set phrases" (things the robot character would need to say over and over again) that could be triggered by speech recognition or a set of function keys.

Under normal circumstances, the robots would be directly piloted by humans, but they would have a full suite of sensors and advanced navigation software, and body sensors (similar to those on the new Baxter industrial robot) so that the pony-bot could avoid collisions with people (even when the pilot can't see them). In the event of a loss of the pilot control signal, a pony-bot will say something like "Oooh, excuse me, I'm tired, I gotta go take a nap!" (with a nice animatronic yawn), and head for the nearest charging station. If it's surrounded by people, it will continue to yawn and act sleepy while transmitting an emergency signal. If necessary, it will "fall asleep" right where it is until a human attendant can come to pick it up. A similar subroutine would be activated if a pony-bot got knocked over (and it wasn't possible to design them with the ability to get back up). They would have gyros to enhance stability.

In areas without direct guest interaction (such as scenes visited on rides) pony-bots would be autonomous most/all of the time and programmed with a number of different things to do in the scene so that it would be unlikely for riders to see a pony doing the same thing twice on repeat rides. Speech-recognition software could be incorporated so that if someone on a ride calls out to the Lyra-bot, she could recognize her name, look in their direction, and wave a hoof.

Naturally, the pony bots would be designed to be huggable, with their robotic "skeletons" enclosed in foam of "realistic" texture, and coated in some soft fabric with germ-resistant coatings. They would also have multiple redundant tracking chips and whatever other anti-theft devices would be practical.

Some of this tech may be in advance of what we have now, but since it would take years to get financing, building permits, approval contracts from Hasbro, etc., and get the park itself built, it would probably be on hand by the time construction of the pony-bots begins. The Japanese are already doing pretty good with android robots these days.

Locations:

The Ponification Chamber:

Somewhere near the entrance of the park, guests would have the option of being "ponified." They would step into a surround-screen chamber where they would be scanned into the system. An animated Princess Celestia would appear, welcoming them to the park. Sofware would generate a ponysona based on their appearance (build, hair and eye color, clothing style if possible). They would then have some simple options to modify it, something like a 3D version of Pony Creator, probably with a time limit or something. Or, once they were scanned, they'd step out of the chamber, but could download a mobile app that would let them take their time tweaking their ponysona's appearance. They could then place an order for a 3D-printed version of their ponysona in a range of sizes and poses, or a plushie (this would probably take longer, maybe be shipped to them). At various places in the park (see The Sonic Rainboom below), they could "become" their ponysona.


Pinkie's Party Playhouse:

This would be a bigger, souped-up version of a bounce castle with the pit of balls to jump into, etc., slides and so forth. There would always be a Pinkie bot on hand to welcome kids and their parents.

Fluttershy's Petting Zoo:

Fairly straightforward, though it could also include some robotic fantasy creatures. And of course there would be a Fluttershy there. This area might also include a nature garden people could walk through for a relaxing break from the more high-energy amusement park atmosphere. There might also be something like a pet supply and/or "nature" store, where guests could buy pet supplies, pet-care books, books of nature pictures, packets of flower seeds, environmental stuff, and the like.

Sweet Apple Acres:

This would be an outdoor slow ride. The ride cars would be wagons, or designed to look like them, for a hayride ambiance. They might even be "pulled" by ponies (in reality, they'd be self-propelled or powered by a track or underground cable). The wagons take passengers through the orchards, where they see Applejack, Applebloom, and Big Mac bucking apples. A pony-bot trots up to a tree and steps into place. Clamps concealed from view by "grass" seize the robot's front legs and hold it secure so that the robot can "buck" and kick the tree. The tree is animatronic, and shakes. Apples are threaded over thin, transparent wires that lead to the buckets underneath the tree, so that they can "fall" and land inside.

Then the riders approach a "cave" built into a mountain, or a "forest." Here, the ride transitions to an interior "darkride," where riders are transported into Granny Smith's memories, and experience a zap-apple harvest. The interior is lit only with argon lamps (IIRC). There's an exhibit in the Exploratorium in San Francisco with this kind of lighting. It "turns" everything you see (including yourself) to sepia tones. Accompanied by Granny Smith's narration, riders experience the story of how she learned to grow zap-apples, or maybe an original story about a different harvest so the ride wouldn't be a repeat of the show.

The ride then exits into the barn/farmhouse area where an Apple Family Reunion is underway. Here, there are restaurants selling caramel apples, apple fritters, apple pie, apple cider, etc., and some carnival-type amusements, like a dunking booth where you throw apples, a "competition area" for three-legged races etc. (modeled on Sisterhooves Social). There would be souvenir shops, maybe a little "country clothing" store, and a place selling apple-scented candles, recipe books, country decor, and the like.

The Carousel Boutique:

This would be an actual carousel, very large. Look toward the interior, and you can glimpse Rarity at work through the windows. If possible, the exit queue could be designed with some switchbacks or something, so that you get the illusion of exiting into Rarity's shop, where you can speak to her and Sweetie Belle as you move past (there would be railings and human attendants to keep people from mobbing her). Finally, the exit queue would deposit guests at the entrance to an actual boutique with "Rarity-licensed" clothing designs embroidered with her logo.

Twilight's Library:

This is a "science shop" and bookstore with science toys, books, stage magic kits and the like. On an upper level inaccessible to guests, a Twilight robot and a Spike move around, talk with guests, and so forth. Each section of the store could have concealed LED lighting systems built into the shelves, so that if someone asks Twilight where to find something, and it's in the store, the robot can light its horn, and the relevant section is also lit up. If possible, some David Copperfield stage-magic stuff could be built into the upper level so that Twilight could be seen to "teleport" from place to place and do other "magic" as she goes about her business.

Cloudsdale:

This is a "gentle" roller coaster that offers a flying tour of Cloudsdale. There will be some curves, dips and swoops but nothing too scary for younger children. There will be one or more "tracks" built around the coaster itself so that a robotic Rainbow Dash can buzz and swoop around the ride, interacting with guests in each car at some point in the journey. The mechanisms would be as artfully concealed as possible to create the most realistic appearance of RD flying with the riders. Or, there could be areas throughout the ride where high-definition screens are built into the clouds and sky, so that a realistically-animated RD can fly through them.

The Sonic Rainboom:

This is a thrill ride, an integration of a cutting-edge roller coaster with the latest flight-simulator technology. It would be one of those "under-slung" designs where the guest's legs hang free in the air, but their heads would be enclosed with wrap-around high-definition screens. Rainbow Dash challenges the riders to a race through a set of photo-realistic simulated Equestria environments (e.g. that gorge where she had the pets race, Cloudsdale, maybe some caverns in the Everfree Forest, or through the trees like the speeder-bike scene in Return of the Jedi). If the software is up to the task, each animated RD would be able to interact individually with each rider (talking smack when they do, basking in admiration if they give it, etc.). The riders then get a pegasus-eye view of a stunt race with Rainbow Dash, ending in a towering drop that culminates with the riders experiencing a Sonic Rainboom. If Guests have become Ponified, the simulator would insert the ponysona of the person next to them, with face-recognition scanners reading and interpreting emotions, so that they could interact with each other (as ponies) as they fly. Otherwise, it could insert randomly-created "generic" pegasus ponysonas.

There could also be a second coaster intertwined with this one, but without the flight simulator apparatus, so that guests would have the option of a more conventional roller coaster with views of the park.

Wonderbolt Academy:

This is a sophisticated virtual-reality arcade. Guests slip into waldo sets of different sizes with haptic interfaces and VR helmets, and "become" their ponysona (if they had one made) or a generic pony, if they didn't. If logistically possible, these waldoes would be built into gimbals and suspended with wires, so that the gimbals and wires can simulate their flight (if the player makes a loop, the gimbals spin them end-over-end, etc.). Using the waldoes as a control interface, they can enter a "story mode" game where they try to make it through Wonderbolts Academy, or compete with each other in races and dogfights (think: VR laser tag in the sky). There is also a souvenir shop where you can get a Wonderbolts uniform for your ponysona, WB T-shirts, running outfits, pajamas, uniforms, hats, etc. for yourself, and so on. The games would have various "achievements" and ranking insignia you could earn. After you're done playing, you go and get pins of the ones you've earned. Their price is included in the price to play the games.

Celestia's School of Unicorn Magic:

This is another VR arcade, but it's oriented toward the mind. Using galvanic skin response, biofeedback technology, and brain sensors, players are taught to do "magic" in a virtual environment by directing their thoughts and emotional levels. For example, they could "levitate" an object by raising their excitement level (breathe faster, think of something exciting), and "lower" it by calming themselves. Various brain-teasers and puzzles would be integrated into a story-mode game where players solve problems and learn techniques to perform "unicorn magic" in a virtual world. Basically, a high-end, extra-sophisticated version of this.

As with the Wonderbolt Academy above, players would unlock "achievements" and get "treasures" (say, by opening a puzzle-box with "magic"), which they would receive when they're done playing. Books, puzzles, clothing, games, etc. would also be on sale at the shop.

Both of these virtual arcades could also offer "home versions" of their games for sale. These might be MMORPGs, or have an online option.

Sugarcube Corner:

The world's best pastry, ice cream, and candy shop. Pony-bots of the Cakes and Pinkie Pie would be behind the counter taking orders, which would be fulfilled by human attendants. This would be some distance away from Pinkie's Party Playhouse so that it wouldn't seem too weird to see her again. If possible, stage magic tricks could be built in so that Pinkie could "break physics" from time to time. There would also be a toy store/novelty shop.

The Changeling Hive:

This would be an imposing "Space Mountain"-like interior roller coaster/darkride designed with alien Changeling architecture. It would be a ride comparable to the Haunted House at Disneyland, with various optical illusions, virtual reality tricks, and animatronics/robot Changelings. At some point in the ride, guests would be confronted with Changelings who turn into them. This would be done using face-recognition software that would scan and create an emulation of each person's face and body (the scanning might take place surreptitiously while guests are in the entrance queue, which would have something like a turnstile to isolate each guest for scanning). High-definition 3D video screens would be subtly built into the environment at some point so that the computer-animated Changelings could appear. This probably wouldn't be too hard, since the whole environment could be built out of translucent dark green glass in twisted curvy structures, lit internally. There would be just enough Uncanny Valley designed into the Changelings-as-guests animations to make it creepy.

Then Chrysalis appears and orders her minions to seize the guests, at which point the ride becomes more of a roller coaster/chase, finishing with an escape from the Hive.

Discord's House of Chaos:

This is a "walk-through" interactive area with optical illusions and other strangeness. This could include some areas like an "odd perspective house" (one of those rooms built with funny angles so that it looks like you grow/shrink as you walk from one end to the other), and things along those lines. Some places could have walking areas and walls of transparent acrylic with high-definition screens behind them, so that you could walk through photo-realistic computer animated environments of houses revolving, herds of long-legged bunnies galloping past and so on, while a computer-animated Discord pops up and chats and taunts. A set of hallways and stairways (acrylic-over-screens) could be designed to create the illusion of an M.C. Escher environment, where you look up or to the side and see other guests (caught by hidden cameras) in other parts of the area walking around upside-down and at otherwise impossible angles.

This would also have a novelty/toy/book shop at the exit, with goods emphasizing the weird and bizarre.

DJ PON-3's House of Wub:

This is a concert area/dance hall for kids, featuring performances by Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Lyra, and song numbers by the Mane 6 (vocals by the show's VA's). Pizza and other fun foods would be served, and there would be plenty of games. Like a really souped-up Chuck-E Cheese with sophisticated robotics for the pony performers.

Canterlot Castle:

I can't think of anything really cool to do with this at the moment, so maybe it could be used as the entrance. Ponybots of Celestia and Luna, along with some Royal Guards could welcome guests, answer questions, give directions, and so on. I'm not quite sure how to do their manes. Probably sheets of cellophane or Tefzel lit by hidden LED's or lasers, with hidden air jets that keep the sheets in wafting motion. The alicorns would be posed on balconies or otherwise inaccessible to guests (so that nobody would grab their fragile manes), but that fits with their royal stature anyway.

The Ponification Chamber could be located here. This could also be where guests come to pick up their 3D printed ponysonas. If automated manufacturing tech is advanced enough by the time the park is built, plushies could also be picked up here.

Canterlight High:

This is an Equestria Girls-themed area, for tweens and teenagers. It includes shops, restaurants, and entertainments geared to an older audience, like a dance floor/concert hall that could feature live performances by popular bands on special occasions.

Cherrilee's Schoolhouse and Playground

A model of the Ponyville schoolhouse with a playground. The main attraction of this area is that you can interact with (and for adults, pick up and hug) adorable little fillies and colts. A Cherrilee-bot and human attendants would keep guests from removing a foal-bot from the area.

Transportation:

Transportation to the park from adjacent big hotels, and from area to area within the park, would be done using a train like the one seen in the show. The train could be supplemented with artfully decorated trolley cars. Once you've bought your entrance ticket, riding the train and trolleys inside the park would be free.

Expansion Areas:

Assuming the park is successful, expansion areas like the Crystal Empire, Manehattan, and Appaloosa could be added.

Edited September 28, 2013 by --Thunder Bolt--

[Celtore 2,769]

I would design a slow moving ride that goes through different sets based on the fandom (including the disturbingly creepy bits) and the actual show. The sets would have a large amount of effort into them to make them terrifying or as show accurate as possible. Everything would be built to scale. Sort of like a massive version of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

 

The catch?... One revolution of the track takes a year to complete. That's right, this was designed by Mr. Bone's. Also, a majority of the ride is just days upon days of track sections connecting the different sets together. And what song would be ringing in their ears constantly without rest in these sections of track that could go on for who knows how long?...

 

 

Bwahahahaha!... *ahem*

 

But if you want a more realistic version, just remove the second paragraph and downscale things a bit.

Edited September 28, 2013 by Celtore

[Dr. Frasier Crane 319]

Well, first things first if there ever was one it would have to cater to all ages, because we can't ignore the elephant in the room- it is a little girl's show. It would probably be one of those train rides that go painfully slowly around a track while passing colourful animatronic characters from the show, and with lots of music.

 

If I had my way- I'd have a ride based on Cloudsdale or the Wonderbolts, which would essentially be a clone of Air from Alton Towers, just a little bit faster.