By Jim Korkis
When Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts announced more information about the Avatar themed area coming to Disney Animal Kingdom, he stated that “Guests will also discover what it feels like to soar into the sky riding a Banshee.” A Banshee is a predatory flying creature imagined by the film’s director James Cameron to somewhat resemble a dragon that inhabits the mountainous region of Pandora.
Reportedly, this experience will be created using the same motion simulator technology used in the Star Tours attraction with some enhancements.
My interest in this new attraction is tempered by the memory that while I could handle Star Tours (although other guests can’t), I always had difficulty with the Body Wars attraction that utilized the exact same technology.
Both attractions used a simulator (Rediffusion ATLAS-Advanced Technology Leisure Application Simulator) that consists of a cabin supported by six servo actuators (“legs”). The actuators are powered hydraulically and driven automatically using electrical drive signals received from a free-standing motion-control cabinet.
The actuators provide “six degree of freedom movement” so the cabin can be moved in planes representing heave, surge and sway and in axes representing pitch, roll and yaw independently or in any combination.
In fact, the success of Star Tours in 1987 inspired the Imagineers to try developing an “inner space” attraction of a miniaturized submarine-like probe journeying through a patient’s body just like in the film Fantastic Voyage (1966) for the “Wonders of Life” pavilion at Epcot in 1989.
The new attraction was called Body Wars most likely because Disney guests called Star Tours the Star Wars ride or just Star Wars.
The probe’s captain, Jack Braddock (Tim Matheson from Animal House) set out on a fairly routine medical mission with a crew of civilian observers accompanying him. The submarine and crew were miniaturized by a “particle reducer” to the size of a single cell and beamed inside the human body to rendezvous with Dr. Cynthia Lair (Elizabeth Shue who starred in Disney’s Adventures in Babysitting), an immunologist who also has been miniaturized to study the body’s response to a splinter lodged beneath the skin. Unfortunately, the mission becomes a high-speed race against time when Dr. Lair is swept from the splinter site into the rush of the bloodstream.
Through the pounding chambers of the patient’s heart and through the lungs’ gale-force winds, the ship rode the body’s current in an effort to rescue Dr. Lair. Even after she was safely on board, there are still problems when the ship loses power and heads toward the brain in search of emergency power and escape.
The film was directed by Leonard “Mr. Spock” Nimoy who had recently finished directing Touchstone’s Three Men and a Baby. With anatomical images produced by computer graphics and special effects film techniques, it was a remarkably realistic experience.
“Even though Body Wars is the shortest film I’ve ever directed, it presented a new set of challenges,” said Nimoy at the time. “We had to take into account that the film will be shown inside a moving theater — the simulator. So, in order to intensify the sense of motion, we built a set that actually moves, and rocked it during filming to match the pitching and rolling of the simulator.”
Since the story of the attraction was that guests were in the bloodstream, the Imagineers programmed in movement to mimic the beat of a pulse. That additional movement may be the movement that unsettled countless guests like me who had survived a similar experience on Star Tours without any ill effects.
Some Walt Disney Imagineers felt that it was just the images of being inside a human body with all the yucky “blood and guts” that generated feelings of unease.
Whatever the reason, the experience proved that using the exact same motion control technology could result in drastically different physical experiences. So I cautiously, rather than joyously, anticipate the ability to ride a Banshee.
Did any of the readers of this blog have a similar experience where Body Wars was just too rough an experience?
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Disney Historian Jim Korkis goes up into his imaginary attic to rummage around his archives and often stumbles across an unusual story about Walt Disney World. Those who have met me know that I take real joy in talking about Walt Disney.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jim Korkis is an internationally respected Disney Historian who has written hundreds of articles about all things Disney for more than three decades. As a former Walt Disney World cast member, his skills and historical knowledge were utilized by Disney Entertainment, Imagineering, Disney Design Group, Yellow Shoes Marketing, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Feature Animation Florida, Disney Institute, WDW Travel Company, Disney Vacation Club and many other departments.
He is the author of three new books, available in both paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon.com:
The Book of Mouse: A Celebration of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse
Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South AND
"The REVISED Vault of Walt":
I loved this ride and was bummed when they closed it. But I am a big fan of the movie Fantastic Voyage which would explain why I enjoyed the ride
Was “glad” to see I wasn’t the only one feeling a bit queasy during/after riding Body Wars. Like another rider, I felt flush and warm akin to the feeling before my stomach is about to heave (but not). The rocking set of the film, as you suggest, added to this feeling that wasn’t present on the Star Tours attraction. I do recall, sitting in the last row (of both rides) will provide the greatest range of motion for those who wish to “plus” their ride…
I remember getting sick every time i rode it. I thought i was alone. The pulse sensation must have done it! i don’t like blood and such but that never bothered me on the ride. It was the extreme motion with the underlying extra rhythm of the heart beat. finally i have an answer! YAY
My wife & I rode Body Wars while on our honeymoon. I was completely shot for the rest of the day. The experience turned me away from riding Star Tours until after the major overhaul. To this day, thinking about that ride makes my stomach do a back flip or two.
We totally miss the Wonders of Life pavilion though. I will never forget the touch experiments. The hot & cold bars really messed with our brains.
I have just returned from Universal and I must say this place takes 3D simulated rides to another level !! I was a young person when I rode body Wars (18 & 20 ) and I LOVED it !!! I remember feeling the “pulse” sensation and thinking this is the most creative ride ever !! It was realistic, fun, and educational !!! I miss this ride every time I go back to Epcot ( I also miss the whole pavilion and wish that space was utilized for something fun ). I thank you for writing about it !!!
Body Wars and the Wonders of Life pavilion was a great place to hop into a Disney Science Center where the learning was there, but with more fun and entertainment sprinkled on it for good measure.
I can see where some people became a little green around the edges on Body Wars. All the red and boat rocking would be bound to push someone over the edge. I always thought of Body Wars as a quirky cousin of Star Tours, with a film not as refined or suited to the journey. It seemed as though it was more needy of refurbishment than it’s Star Wars cousin, with the internal panels creekier and distracting, and I found the journey to be not as smooth.
Seeing where the reimagining of the Star Tours – The Adventures Continue has been taken, it’s not hard to think of what could have been done to a re-do of Body Wars, imagine modern CGI graphics, 3D and the refined ride dynamics!! We’d have another fantastic ride inhabiting the Future World of Epcot worthy of it’s placement, rather than a empty building, or Wine Demo place to run into when it’s raining at Epcot. When I walk in here now during the Food and Wine festival I can almost see the displays and banners of yester year. And I think about how my 3 1/2 year old daughter would have LOVED the place.
Along with the charming, sweet (and truthful look into the mind of teenage boy) Cranium Commando, there was a sensory arcade that held one of the coolest and simplest pieces of Disney imagineering, looking like some kind of futuristic engine or musical instrument, two chromed coils interwoven with instructions to touch one of the coils with one finger, it seemed cold, next touch the alternating coil, it was luke warm, then as the final test, place your hand lengthwise across all of the alternating coils. It felt Super Hot! Then you read the science and biology behind it. Fascinating!! So much fun, much better than some of the stuff inside Innoventions East and West these days. Even something as impressive looking as the Sum of all Thrills isn’t as interesting when it comes down to it. I saw the blank looks on the faces of people leaving, but HAD to try it for myself. Could have been done MUCH better!
Would love to see Wonders of Life return to Epcot…put the wine tasting in the Odyssey building where it belongs nearest World Showcase.
I really miss Cranium Command 🙁
I remember riding body wars. It was pretty cool, but it made me so sick! Needless to say I only rode it once.
My husband and I also didn’t get along with Body Wars. It wasn’t the “blood and guts” part that got us as we both work in healthcare. The ride seemed to be very jerky and I remember getting very warm inside the simulator. The experience has kept me from riding Star Tours, but he said that Star Tours isn’t as bad.
I am not prone to motion sickness. However on Body Wars I definitely felt something a few times, while on Star Tours nothing ever. I pretty much rode both rides around about 3 or 4 times per year.
I also cruise a lot and only one time have I experienced anything close to motion sickness.
I put 2 and 2 together. On that cruise and Body Wars the motion was similiar. A wooshiness vs turbulent. For me, on board a ship turbulent is crashing over the waves which I correlate with Star Tours action. While wooshiness is a particular rocking motion that Body Wars had, and that particular cruise had on one day.
I loved this ride as a kid! I was really interested in the medical aspects and the motion was an added bouns.
Coming back with my family as an adult I found that motion simulators like this bother me. My husband liked Body Wars but also felt queasy afterwards. Over the years we’ve found we can’t do Star Tours or Mission:Space anymore either, but we’ll always have the memories of Body Wars on our first trip!
Hi Jim –
I enjoyed Body Wars! Sure it was a bit jerkier than Star Tours, but I suffered no ill effects. I miss the ride.
– Jeff
My husband and I rode Body Wars and Star Wars once each years ago. That was enough (but we love roller coasters!). So sorry to hear the new Avatar will be more of the same. Was hoping for a ride similar to the one at Universal (can’t remember the name, but the flying dinosaur ride that requires a child passenger to ride with you). If someone could perfect that for adults, it would be awesome!
Jim, thank you for this article!! I loved Body Wars!!! It was one of the highlights of my WDW trip on my honeymoon. As a recent graduate of nursing school, I found this facinating and a hoot to ride!! I loved watching The Fantastic Journey as a kid. However, my handsome groom had a different take on this awesome ride. He still talks about how sick he felt after that fateful journey 23 years ago!! I found this HILLARIOUS, as he rides any ride that is out there. But put him in the bloodstream of some poor soul that has a splinter, all bets are off!! Lol!! He doesn’t have the stomach for anything that concerns blood and guts!!
Thanks for putting this fun memory in my mind today!! It’s much appreciated!!
I too had a problem with the motion on Body Wars. I thought it was just me but I’m glad to see it wasn’t. It was a jerkiness that I just never quite got used to. Afterwards, I felt somewhat sore. I love roller coasters and simulator rides in general but could never quite get used to Body Wars.
I remember riding Body Wars but didn’t have any issues. However, I was traveling with a family friend and it basically knocked her out for the rest of the day.