Two days ago, Estelle at
This Happy Place Blog posted a
wonderful look back at her family's past Epcot visits, which included a great picture of the Forced Perspective Room in Wonders of Life's Sensory Funhouse. Since a lot of Disney fans never got a chance to see that great magic trick in person, here are a couple of shots from my family's '93 vacation showing the Forced Perspective Room in action.
My brother-in-law and big sister volunteered. To make the trick work, they began by standing at opposite corners of the room. Then they switched places.
This looked even wilder live as you watched people grow or shrink as they walked. For reference, my sister is 5' tall and my brother-in-law is 6' 6".
You viewed the scene through a narrow slot, which kept you from seeing that the room was far more distorted than it seemed, forcing the viewer's eye to judge height based on completely misleading points of reference.
Between Cranium Command, Body Wars and the Sensory Funhouse, we could (and did) easily spend hours in Wonders of Life -- and that's not including time for the Pavilion's other attractions!
The place felt bright, cheerful and energetic. Wonders of Life helped make Epcot our favorite destination at Walt Disney World.
Woot woot! I'm so happy to actually see this work. Even though there is evidence of us being here, I don't remember it at all. Although it's possible I was wandering (wondering? ha) around when my mom snapped that pic of my sister.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I wish they still had little things like this. It's so simple yet so fun at the same time. Thanks for sharing!
And thank you for posting that original photo of the room! The Sensory Funhouse was fairly low-tech, but it was a blast. It was also a perfect companion to the Image Works over at the Imagination Pavilion. Loved 'em both! :)
DeleteSo far, interesting coverage on one of the highlights of Sensory Funhouse! I heard that this would have been a mind-blowing experience had the pavilion been nurtured and kept alive today. :)
ReplyDelete