The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (TM)
8 kb Location: Universal Studios Florida
(Attraction closed November 2002)
Venue: Theatre-style
Motion Base: Intamin 4-DOF, 8-seat
Programming Software: Triad, Paul Van Camp
Film Production: deGraf/Wahrman, Rhythm & Hues
Director: Mario Kamberg
Dick Dastardly kidnaps Elroy Jetson. Yogi Bear pilots you on a rescue mission through Bedrock, Jetson City, and Scooby-Doo's Haunted Castle.


Here's where it all started for me. Hanna-Barbera was the first ride I ever programmed, and the story goes a little something like this...

In 1989 I was working at deGraf/Wahrman, a computer graphics company. (To see what I was doing there, check out Real-time Character Animation.) d/W got the job of creating the cartoon-world backgrounds for Universal's Hanna-Barbera ride, and we were using d/W's "Perform" software to do real-time motion tests for the film. Universal had installed a motion base in a Burbank warehouse and one day several of us went there to see it.

The base, an Intamin 4-DOF, was one of the coolest pieces of hardware I'd ever seen up close. Even better, by grabbing hold of a couple of joysticks you could make the thing dance around like Bob Fosse on a double espresso. We took turns watching the film (via video projector) and moving the base with the joysticks. Loads of fun.

Mario Kamberg, the director, climbed aboard while I was taking my turn at the sticks, and after a few minutes he spoke the fateful words "You know, you've got a pretty good feel for this." In short order I had switched from deGraf/Wahrman's payroll to Universal/MCA's - as a motion-base programmer.

The period which followed represented a huge learning curve for all concerned as we repeatedly adjusted the film, tested it with the base, then adjusted the film again. Eventually the base was moved to an empty soundstage on the Universal lot, where the noisy hydraulic pump was placed outside, next to Gerald (Major Dad) McRaney's dressing room. (He never looked happy to see me show up for work.) People were always peeking in to see what the heck we were up to - one day the cast of Charles In Charge came by for a ride. Doug Trumbull also dropped by - he was starting his own little simulator project called Back To The Future and came to take a look at ours.

Shaggy and Scooby

Also during this period, we decided joystick input alone wasn't enough, so Paul Van Camp's "PCFX" waveform editor software was added to the system. (PCFX was designed to operate motion control cameras for the film industry, but it lent itself perfectly to motion base programming as well.) The waveform editor changed everything - now we could make any move larger or smaller, change its timing by a matter of frames, even cut and paste a move into different places - and the quality of the ride improved dramatically. The downside of all this was that we were free to try every possible permutation of every move in the show...which is exactly what we did. I now refer to this experience as "motion base boot camp".

Entering BedrockAfter the better part of a year, the film was finished and we transferred the whole operation to Orlando for the final installation. Mario and I spent six weeks refining the ride program, working the midnight shift after all the painters and carpet installers had gone home - a pattern which was to be repeated many times on future projects.

Eventually Universal Studios Florida opened. (Well, most of it did. Some attractions weren't ready on opening day. ) I spent the day hiding behind the movie screen, watching the audience. Simulators weren't as common then as they are now - the only one I'd seen myself was Star Tours - and I was more than a bit curious to see if the general public would respond favorably to this multi-million dollar experiment. Which it seems they did - even now, when Back To the Future gets most of the attention, every so often I hear someone mention Hanna-Barbera as one of their favorite rides at the park.

The Jetsons

Several years later I had the chance to ride it again myself. I was hoping to be able to enjoy the ride from a fresh perspective, but instead I found I still remembered programming every little twitch and bump over and over and over and over...


Watch for: cartoon cameos by director Mario Kamberg and producer Sherri McKenna. In downtown Bedrock, when you turn the corner at a restaurant named "Mario's", you can see the two of them (in cartoon form) waving to you as you pass.

Trivia: To my knowledge, this ride represents a milestone in ridefilm history - aside from the characters, which are traditional cel animation, this is the first ridefilm done entirely with computer graphics. The ever-growing workload ultimately required two animation companies, and Rhythm and Hues was enlisted to help finish the film.

Steven Spielberg was in the audience for the first public showing of this ride on USF's opening day. He liked it. Well, he smiled a lot, anyway. (His "Back To The Future" ride - which uses the very same Intamin bases - wouldn't open for another year. Maybe he was just glad to see this simulator stuff really worked.)

Right after programming this ride, I went back to work on another ridefilm at deGraf/Wahrman called Time Machine Of Dreams. But that's another story...

After a thirteen-year run, the Hanna-Barbera ride made its last flight in November 2002.
I know because I was there... doing preliminary motion programming on "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast", the ride which will replace Hanna-Barbera in April 2003. Details on that one coming soon!