Chapter 15.
Mark and I rode the Tube Shuttle back to the World Stage and then walked back towards the Complex’s public area when we ran into Roger.
“Hey, Roger, how’s it going?” Mark asked.
“It’s going well, Mark. How are you?” asked Roger.
“Great! I’m with Peter, who is one of two bloggers interviewing us for our Tenth Anniversary. I just gave him a tour of the Entertainer’s Village.”
“Hi, Peter. It’s nice to meet you. How are the interviews going?” Roger asked me.
“Great, I’m learning so much about how the WOE works,” I said.
“Well, that’s great! If you’d like, I can show you our department and what we do in engineering,” he offered.
“Roger is the Director of Systems Engineering. This is the engineering behind all the rides, attractions, and shows.” Mark told me.
“I’d love that!” I replied.
“Okay, then follow me, and I’ll tell you what we do here.”
I finished up with Mark by thanking him for his time and the tour.
“It’s been my pleasure, Peter.”
Then I walked away with Roger.
Systems Engineering is world–renowned for their unique designs, creativity, and top of the line maintenance. The attractions they’ve created are known as “masterpieces,” in the engineering world. I have never heard of a ride breaking down and stranding guests. Their reputation is stellar, and they are considered to be the bell weather of the entertainment industry.
Luckily, Roger was going to lunch. So, I was going to get a bite to eat now as well. We walked mid-way through the State Fair, then headed in-between these two rides and came to a 40’ high dividing wall behind the rides. After gaining access, we walked through the door and into a large “alley” of sorts, which was made up by the space between the two rows of rides on the each side.
“Wow, this is really clever,” I said to Roger, “I never knew this was here.”
“We have two of these maintenance alleys. Each one is the length of the midway and 30 feet wide. Each one also has two freight elevators that allow us to bring equipment from our work area below to the main floor.”
“You have another level?” I asked.
“Yes, almost a complete level under us. There is about 80% as much space as what you see here, underneath us. The other 20% is for support. Each section has a percentage of work and storage space below it, but the State Fair storage is the largest. We also have several tunnels that lead to the outside of the Complex that allows us to bring in supplies and equipment. The tunnels lead to the two warehouses, about 1,200 feet away. The warehouses thoroughly check everything that comes into them, before they can be delivered to the main Complex, hotels or the Villages.”
“I assume that’s for security reasons.”
“Yes, sir. Everything gets sniffed by our dogs, searched, and scanned by our proprietary security systems. There isn’t an item that gets in here or the hotels without being examined. We have two separate warehouses, in case one must be taken offline for security reasons. Also, every delivery truck that enters our secured area must be pre-approved, and each driver is registered and needs to be finger scanned before coming in. We also have some of our top security agents who follow the flow of goods from the manufacturers to delivery here. We know the origin and source of every item that is delivered here and follow its chain of progress very carefully.”
“Do you think a bomb could ever be brought in with the food or that the food could ever be poisoned?”
“Anything is possible nowadays. If a product was brought right to the restaurant and exploded… WOW! That could be devastating. We take every precaution we can.”
We took the stairs to go below the maintenance alley and into the storage and work area. This area is called the “Underground.” There was a vast area of free space, surrounded by racks and racks of parts, supplies, and electronics. Forklifts roamed around moving items from one place to another. As we walked along, Roger pointed out different office areas that are used to support their department.
“We have everything here, Peter: Research, design, manufacturing, machine shops, labs, studios; you name it. We have over 300 people in our department. Everything from: Electrical, mechanical, computer, and software engineers; architects, electricians, and sound engineers; just to name a few. We do everything in-house, from designing, concert lighting, show direction, thrill rides, attractions, even Zipvators. We provide full production, installation, and maintenance. This keeps our costs down and allows us to move much more quickly. It also allows us to have better quality control, as we know how everything is built and constructed,” Roger explained.
We entered one of the employee breakrooms, and Roger offered me a choice from the oversized, glass door refrigerator that was full of food, as well as fruit, yogurts, and other items. All of it free. I grabbed a sandwich, an apple, and a drink, and we sat down.
“Your department has a reputation for never having a ride break down. How do you accomplish that?” I asked.
“Preventative maintenance, that’s how. We don’t fix things, we replace them before they need to be fixed. We have a backup motor for every ride here. As soon as any part or motor reaches a ‘half-life,’ it is replaced,” Roger told me.
“So, you replace a motor before it gets past half it’s expected life?”
“Yes, we have a meticulous log of every ride and attraction. Each has a maintenance history of every part on the ride or attraction. As the date approaches for replacement, a new part is manufactured to replace the already waiting one which will soon be used for replacement. Almost all of our parts are made here in our shops, and once a motor is taken out of a ride or attraction, it is completely rebuilt, or a new one is made. We inspect every ride and attraction visually twice a day and use our proprietary computer software for hourly inspections, made every hour, of every day. Our Pulse Computers are continuously monitoring millions of sensors throughout the Complex. Any slight indication of an anomaly and a technician will receive a call to look into the diagnostics. Long before anything was to reach a failure point, we have been on it for some time and can continue to monitor or intervene. Guests come from all over the world to be here, and they look forward to riding the rides and attractions. They don’t want to come and have a ride or attraction break down while they’re on it or have it down for maintenance.”
“There have been some big headlines lately about roller coasters and other rides stranding guests for hours or rides breaking and injuring or killing guests,” I mentioned to him.
Roger suddenly changed his posture and his voice became louder. “That, all of that, is completely unacceptable and avoidable. Many of these instances are due to a lack of routine and proper maintenance. Either they can’t afford it or are cutting back to pad their bottom line. You don’t expect a new car to break down on you, but if you don’t properly maintain it as it gets older, you will have breakdowns; and they’ll happen more and more as the motor and car get older. If a car’s life expectancy is a good 100,000 miles before problems start, we would have already replaced the engine, air conditioning, transmission, power steering and all the other mechanical parts at 50,000 miles. It would be like having a new car. All the seats in the car, and the accessories would also have been replaced.”
“Another reason for ride break downs is many theme parks, or amusement parks, have their rides built by outside companies. When one gets stopped or breaks, they only know a few techniques to get it up and running again. In many cases, the software freezes up, and they must ‘reboot’ it.”
“I’ve seen people stranded and the park doesn’t even communicate to guests about what’s going on,” I added.
“Right. That’s just not having any real plan in place and/or a lack of well-trained personnel to handle a situation like that. Any ride or attraction that you operate should come with a plan and the ability to get those guests off within minutes, not hours, in the event of a break down. If you can’t, then you shouldn’t be running it. Period! Our most intense ride/attraction is Galactic War, located in the Dark Room. It reaches speeds of almost 200 miles per hour and a height of over 200 feet. We have a technician stationed at its highest point, on a platform, just in case something were to happen. He or she continually monitors and can speak directly to the vehicle’s passengers if need be. Almost all our rides and attractions have emergency buttons on them in case a guest senses a mechanical problem or experiences a medical situation. The alarm goes to the ride operator and the Ride Command Center. That’s where we are heading next.”
Once Roger finished with his passionate explanation of what should be normal in the industry, we went to an elevator which took us up to the top of the building where Steven C. and the rest of them work. We went through a secured area and boom! There is this room which looked like a TV control booth. Monitors and computers were everywhere. The room was circular, with viewing windows overlooking the State Fair on one side and the Dark Room on the other.
As we walked into the middle of the room, the Command Operators, as he called them, were all watching the monitors and computers within each console. A glass partition in the middle of the room separated us from the operators, so we could talk without disturbing them.
“This is the nerve center. We call this the Ride Command Center. We receive all information here, just as the individual ride operators do. And we can control every ride and attraction here as well. If an operator was not able to respond in an emergency or a malfunction were to occur, we can take control of the ride or attraction from here. We have a Rapid Response Team or RRT that can respond within minutes to anywhere in the Complex for any trouble. We also have EMT’s and paramedics throughout the Complex in case there’s ever a medical emergency.”
“What if a fire were to break out?” I asked.
We have water sprinklers that cover every inch of human occupancy on the property. We have two-hundred fire hose compartments throughout the property that can reach anywhere, and we have a full-time fire and hazmat team trained and ready 24/7, right here on property. Many of the firemen are also EMT’s and Paramedics, so they are working the clinics on a regular basis.”
“What if a fire breaks out in Metamorphoses, would you still douse it with water from the sprinkler heads? I asked.
“Absolutely! We will drench everything if need be. Equipment can be fixed and repaired. A person lost cannot. We know our priority lies with our guests and employees first, property second.”
“You guys have thought of everything,” I said.
“We try. But the maintenance performed should prevent anything from breaking or catching fire. If it does, there would be a lot of explaining to do.”
“What about doing major upgrades or refurbishments on attractions?”
“All of those are done at night or, in the case of the larger attractions, during the day, while the attraction is still operating. We build in ‘extra’ parts of our attractions that are integrated into the attractions’ show. We can take an entire section of an attraction offline, while the guests travel through the other part, and they won’t even notice it,” Roger said.
“Isn’t that more expensive? I mean, you’re building more than you need, right?” I questioned.
“Yes, it is more expensive. In some cases, we are building another half of an attraction. But we don’t have to take the attraction down for ‘refurbishment,’ and that makes our guests very happy. If we don’t have an ‘extra section’ the attraction can use, then we must do the work at night or a little at a time during the day. Our department is open 24 hours a day.”
“Please tell me about your Sight and Sound Division.”
“Sure, let’s go back to the Underground and take a ride to the Hologram Theater.”
As we headed back down to the underground; the floor under the main floor, Roger told me about the division called Sight and Sound. They are part of the Systems Engineering Department.
“We have over 60 people that design our lights and special effects, as well as program and operate them. We design and build our own lighting, speakers, and lasers, in-house. We hold over 300 patents on special effect lighting and lasers, particularly holograms. All video lighting, sound, and effects come through this division. Our Pyro team takes care of all the flash pots, flames, fireworks, and explosions. You’ll see them with the bright, iridescent polo shirts with ‘PYRO’ on the back of them.”
We jumped on an electric cart and drove through the Underground toward the Hologram Theater. Along the way, we passed a warehouse section called, ‘The Holiday House.’ Mark said that’s where they store all the Halloween and Christmas Props.
“Too many of our employees and guests, that warehouse holds a lot of fond memories and fun,” Mark said.
“Is that where you store the Halloween props for Night of Terror? I asked.
“Yes, it is. During the event and close to closing time, the Halloween props are brought up to the State Fair alleys. When the State Fair closes, we bring the props out onto the main floor. It takes us about thirty minutes to set everything up. When the guests come back for the event, the lights are mostly all out, except for the effect ambient lighting to make everything look eerie.”
“I believe you also have someone playing spooky music on the organ, complete with fog and fire effects? I asked.
“Yes, your right. The organist is playing about fifty feet above the ground. We use dry ice to cover the floor with a white fog and haze generators to make the lighting stand out.”
Halloween and Christmas are top-rated events at the WOE. At Christmas, an enormous Christmas tree is erected in the front of the State Fair and is illuminated in thousands of colors and changes lighting patterns throughout the day and night. During the evening, there is a magical Christmas show that takes place. After the show, the lights on the midway all change to Red and Green.
As we arrived at The Hologram Theater, we came to a staff only door and went inside.
“This is the belly of the Hologram Theater,” Mark told me.
All I could see was a mechanical web of steel arms and platforms with lights and screens on them. We were in luck. Because a show was going on at the time. We stood and watched for a few minutes and you could see different arms of lights move up and lower down below the main floor of the Theater. We then went back out and upstairs to the control room of the Hologram Theater.
“This is where the ‘brains’ of the Hologram Theater are, Peter.”
We walked along a hallway behind the control room, and watched through the guest observation windows the operators monitoring computer screens and control boards. It looked like a mini NASA Control Room. You could hear and feel the music play and watch the computer programs change sequences, while seeing the real show through the operator’s theater windows.
“The Hologram Theater is run by twenty-five separate computers and has a full backup system for all of them. In the event both show systems go down, we can perform the show from this control room manually. That’s why these operators are here. This show will go on, just like every other show, no matter what.”
This is also the playroom for the Sight and Sound Division. New lighting, video, and effects are all tested here, before being installed in Metamorphoses or the Harmony Theater,” Roger explained.
As we headed back to the information desk, next to the World Stage, he told me how much pride he has in the work they do here.
“Many of our engineers and skilled workers get solicitations from other theme and amusement parks and ride manufacturers all the time. They know the talent we have here, and they want to hire them away,” said Roger.
“Are they successful?”
“No, they’re not. I think we have lost two employees for about a month each. They came back because they missed being here and love what they do. We are constantly creating new shows, upgrading our attractions, and have a desire to continue to, ‘blow our guest’s minds’ with what we can do. We strive to always deliver the best entertainment in the world and never let our guests down. In most cases, if we can dream it, we can build it. We are not limited by budgetary constraints. Our people know they are the best in the industry and absolutely love what they do and where they do it at.”
I thanked Roger for his time, and he went back to work. I headed back to our suite to check on Sally and Jennifer. I couldn’t wait to tell them everything I’d learned and seen. As I was taking the Zipvator back to the hotel, my phone started to receive a signal, and I began receiving texts, one after the other. They were from Sally.
Mark and I rode the Tube Shuttle back to the World Stage and then walked back towards the Complex’s public area when we ran into Roger.
“Hey, Roger, how’s it going?” Mark asked.
“It’s going well, Mark. How are you?” asked Roger.
“Great! I’m with Peter, who is one of two bloggers interviewing us for our Tenth Anniversary. I just gave him a tour of the Entertainer’s Village.”
“Hi, Peter. It’s nice to meet you. How are the interviews going?” Roger asked me.
“Great, I’m learning so much about how the WOE works,” I said.
“Well, that’s great! If you’d like, I can show you our department and what we do in engineering,” he offered.
“Roger is the Director of Systems Engineering. This is the engineering behind all the rides, attractions, and shows.” Mark told me.
“I’d love that!” I replied.
“Okay, then follow me, and I’ll tell you what we do here.”
I finished up with Mark by thanking him for his time and the tour.
“It’s been my pleasure, Peter.”
Then I walked away with Roger.
Systems Engineering is world–renowned for their unique designs, creativity, and top of the line maintenance. The attractions they’ve created are known as “masterpieces,” in the engineering world. I have never heard of a ride breaking down and stranding guests. Their reputation is stellar, and they are considered to be the bell weather of the entertainment industry.
Luckily, Roger was going to lunch. So, I was going to get a bite to eat now as well. We walked mid-way through the State Fair, then headed in-between these two rides and came to a 40’ high dividing wall behind the rides. After gaining access, we walked through the door and into a large “alley” of sorts, which was made up by the space between the two rows of rides on the each side.
“Wow, this is really clever,” I said to Roger, “I never knew this was here.”
“We have two of these maintenance alleys. Each one is the length of the midway and 30 feet wide. Each one also has two freight elevators that allow us to bring equipment from our work area below to the main floor.”
“You have another level?” I asked.
“Yes, almost a complete level under us. There is about 80% as much space as what you see here, underneath us. The other 20% is for support. Each section has a percentage of work and storage space below it, but the State Fair storage is the largest. We also have several tunnels that lead to the outside of the Complex that allows us to bring in supplies and equipment. The tunnels lead to the two warehouses, about 1,200 feet away. The warehouses thoroughly check everything that comes into them, before they can be delivered to the main Complex, hotels or the Villages.”
“I assume that’s for security reasons.”
“Yes, sir. Everything gets sniffed by our dogs, searched, and scanned by our proprietary security systems. There isn’t an item that gets in here or the hotels without being examined. We have two separate warehouses, in case one must be taken offline for security reasons. Also, every delivery truck that enters our secured area must be pre-approved, and each driver is registered and needs to be finger scanned before coming in. We also have some of our top security agents who follow the flow of goods from the manufacturers to delivery here. We know the origin and source of every item that is delivered here and follow its chain of progress very carefully.”
“Do you think a bomb could ever be brought in with the food or that the food could ever be poisoned?”
“Anything is possible nowadays. If a product was brought right to the restaurant and exploded… WOW! That could be devastating. We take every precaution we can.”
We took the stairs to go below the maintenance alley and into the storage and work area. This area is called the “Underground.” There was a vast area of free space, surrounded by racks and racks of parts, supplies, and electronics. Forklifts roamed around moving items from one place to another. As we walked along, Roger pointed out different office areas that are used to support their department.
“We have everything here, Peter: Research, design, manufacturing, machine shops, labs, studios; you name it. We have over 300 people in our department. Everything from: Electrical, mechanical, computer, and software engineers; architects, electricians, and sound engineers; just to name a few. We do everything in-house, from designing, concert lighting, show direction, thrill rides, attractions, even Zipvators. We provide full production, installation, and maintenance. This keeps our costs down and allows us to move much more quickly. It also allows us to have better quality control, as we know how everything is built and constructed,” Roger explained.
We entered one of the employee breakrooms, and Roger offered me a choice from the oversized, glass door refrigerator that was full of food, as well as fruit, yogurts, and other items. All of it free. I grabbed a sandwich, an apple, and a drink, and we sat down.
“Your department has a reputation for never having a ride break down. How do you accomplish that?” I asked.
“Preventative maintenance, that’s how. We don’t fix things, we replace them before they need to be fixed. We have a backup motor for every ride here. As soon as any part or motor reaches a ‘half-life,’ it is replaced,” Roger told me.
“So, you replace a motor before it gets past half it’s expected life?”
“Yes, we have a meticulous log of every ride and attraction. Each has a maintenance history of every part on the ride or attraction. As the date approaches for replacement, a new part is manufactured to replace the already waiting one which will soon be used for replacement. Almost all of our parts are made here in our shops, and once a motor is taken out of a ride or attraction, it is completely rebuilt, or a new one is made. We inspect every ride and attraction visually twice a day and use our proprietary computer software for hourly inspections, made every hour, of every day. Our Pulse Computers are continuously monitoring millions of sensors throughout the Complex. Any slight indication of an anomaly and a technician will receive a call to look into the diagnostics. Long before anything was to reach a failure point, we have been on it for some time and can continue to monitor or intervene. Guests come from all over the world to be here, and they look forward to riding the rides and attractions. They don’t want to come and have a ride or attraction break down while they’re on it or have it down for maintenance.”
“There have been some big headlines lately about roller coasters and other rides stranding guests for hours or rides breaking and injuring or killing guests,” I mentioned to him.
Roger suddenly changed his posture and his voice became louder. “That, all of that, is completely unacceptable and avoidable. Many of these instances are due to a lack of routine and proper maintenance. Either they can’t afford it or are cutting back to pad their bottom line. You don’t expect a new car to break down on you, but if you don’t properly maintain it as it gets older, you will have breakdowns; and they’ll happen more and more as the motor and car get older. If a car’s life expectancy is a good 100,000 miles before problems start, we would have already replaced the engine, air conditioning, transmission, power steering and all the other mechanical parts at 50,000 miles. It would be like having a new car. All the seats in the car, and the accessories would also have been replaced.”
“Another reason for ride break downs is many theme parks, or amusement parks, have their rides built by outside companies. When one gets stopped or breaks, they only know a few techniques to get it up and running again. In many cases, the software freezes up, and they must ‘reboot’ it.”
“I’ve seen people stranded and the park doesn’t even communicate to guests about what’s going on,” I added.
“Right. That’s just not having any real plan in place and/or a lack of well-trained personnel to handle a situation like that. Any ride or attraction that you operate should come with a plan and the ability to get those guests off within minutes, not hours, in the event of a break down. If you can’t, then you shouldn’t be running it. Period! Our most intense ride/attraction is Galactic War, located in the Dark Room. It reaches speeds of almost 200 miles per hour and a height of over 200 feet. We have a technician stationed at its highest point, on a platform, just in case something were to happen. He or she continually monitors and can speak directly to the vehicle’s passengers if need be. Almost all our rides and attractions have emergency buttons on them in case a guest senses a mechanical problem or experiences a medical situation. The alarm goes to the ride operator and the Ride Command Center. That’s where we are heading next.”
Once Roger finished with his passionate explanation of what should be normal in the industry, we went to an elevator which took us up to the top of the building where Steven C. and the rest of them work. We went through a secured area and boom! There is this room which looked like a TV control booth. Monitors and computers were everywhere. The room was circular, with viewing windows overlooking the State Fair on one side and the Dark Room on the other.
As we walked into the middle of the room, the Command Operators, as he called them, were all watching the monitors and computers within each console. A glass partition in the middle of the room separated us from the operators, so we could talk without disturbing them.
“This is the nerve center. We call this the Ride Command Center. We receive all information here, just as the individual ride operators do. And we can control every ride and attraction here as well. If an operator was not able to respond in an emergency or a malfunction were to occur, we can take control of the ride or attraction from here. We have a Rapid Response Team or RRT that can respond within minutes to anywhere in the Complex for any trouble. We also have EMT’s and paramedics throughout the Complex in case there’s ever a medical emergency.”
“What if a fire were to break out?” I asked.
We have water sprinklers that cover every inch of human occupancy on the property. We have two-hundred fire hose compartments throughout the property that can reach anywhere, and we have a full-time fire and hazmat team trained and ready 24/7, right here on property. Many of the firemen are also EMT’s and Paramedics, so they are working the clinics on a regular basis.”
“What if a fire breaks out in Metamorphoses, would you still douse it with water from the sprinkler heads? I asked.
“Absolutely! We will drench everything if need be. Equipment can be fixed and repaired. A person lost cannot. We know our priority lies with our guests and employees first, property second.”
“You guys have thought of everything,” I said.
“We try. But the maintenance performed should prevent anything from breaking or catching fire. If it does, there would be a lot of explaining to do.”
“What about doing major upgrades or refurbishments on attractions?”
“All of those are done at night or, in the case of the larger attractions, during the day, while the attraction is still operating. We build in ‘extra’ parts of our attractions that are integrated into the attractions’ show. We can take an entire section of an attraction offline, while the guests travel through the other part, and they won’t even notice it,” Roger said.
“Isn’t that more expensive? I mean, you’re building more than you need, right?” I questioned.
“Yes, it is more expensive. In some cases, we are building another half of an attraction. But we don’t have to take the attraction down for ‘refurbishment,’ and that makes our guests very happy. If we don’t have an ‘extra section’ the attraction can use, then we must do the work at night or a little at a time during the day. Our department is open 24 hours a day.”
“Please tell me about your Sight and Sound Division.”
“Sure, let’s go back to the Underground and take a ride to the Hologram Theater.”
As we headed back down to the underground; the floor under the main floor, Roger told me about the division called Sight and Sound. They are part of the Systems Engineering Department.
“We have over 60 people that design our lights and special effects, as well as program and operate them. We design and build our own lighting, speakers, and lasers, in-house. We hold over 300 patents on special effect lighting and lasers, particularly holograms. All video lighting, sound, and effects come through this division. Our Pyro team takes care of all the flash pots, flames, fireworks, and explosions. You’ll see them with the bright, iridescent polo shirts with ‘PYRO’ on the back of them.”
We jumped on an electric cart and drove through the Underground toward the Hologram Theater. Along the way, we passed a warehouse section called, ‘The Holiday House.’ Mark said that’s where they store all the Halloween and Christmas Props.
“Too many of our employees and guests, that warehouse holds a lot of fond memories and fun,” Mark said.
“Is that where you store the Halloween props for Night of Terror? I asked.
“Yes, it is. During the event and close to closing time, the Halloween props are brought up to the State Fair alleys. When the State Fair closes, we bring the props out onto the main floor. It takes us about thirty minutes to set everything up. When the guests come back for the event, the lights are mostly all out, except for the effect ambient lighting to make everything look eerie.”
“I believe you also have someone playing spooky music on the organ, complete with fog and fire effects? I asked.
“Yes, your right. The organist is playing about fifty feet above the ground. We use dry ice to cover the floor with a white fog and haze generators to make the lighting stand out.”
Halloween and Christmas are top-rated events at the WOE. At Christmas, an enormous Christmas tree is erected in the front of the State Fair and is illuminated in thousands of colors and changes lighting patterns throughout the day and night. During the evening, there is a magical Christmas show that takes place. After the show, the lights on the midway all change to Red and Green.
As we arrived at The Hologram Theater, we came to a staff only door and went inside.
“This is the belly of the Hologram Theater,” Mark told me.
All I could see was a mechanical web of steel arms and platforms with lights and screens on them. We were in luck. Because a show was going on at the time. We stood and watched for a few minutes and you could see different arms of lights move up and lower down below the main floor of the Theater. We then went back out and upstairs to the control room of the Hologram Theater.
“This is where the ‘brains’ of the Hologram Theater are, Peter.”
We walked along a hallway behind the control room, and watched through the guest observation windows the operators monitoring computer screens and control boards. It looked like a mini NASA Control Room. You could hear and feel the music play and watch the computer programs change sequences, while seeing the real show through the operator’s theater windows.
“The Hologram Theater is run by twenty-five separate computers and has a full backup system for all of them. In the event both show systems go down, we can perform the show from this control room manually. That’s why these operators are here. This show will go on, just like every other show, no matter what.”
This is also the playroom for the Sight and Sound Division. New lighting, video, and effects are all tested here, before being installed in Metamorphoses or the Harmony Theater,” Roger explained.
As we headed back to the information desk, next to the World Stage, he told me how much pride he has in the work they do here.
“Many of our engineers and skilled workers get solicitations from other theme and amusement parks and ride manufacturers all the time. They know the talent we have here, and they want to hire them away,” said Roger.
“Are they successful?”
“No, they’re not. I think we have lost two employees for about a month each. They came back because they missed being here and love what they do. We are constantly creating new shows, upgrading our attractions, and have a desire to continue to, ‘blow our guest’s minds’ with what we can do. We strive to always deliver the best entertainment in the world and never let our guests down. In most cases, if we can dream it, we can build it. We are not limited by budgetary constraints. Our people know they are the best in the industry and absolutely love what they do and where they do it at.”
I thanked Roger for his time, and he went back to work. I headed back to our suite to check on Sally and Jennifer. I couldn’t wait to tell them everything I’d learned and seen. As I was taking the Zipvator back to the hotel, my phone started to receive a signal, and I began receiving texts, one after the other. They were from Sally.