The team from San Bernardino-based Garner Holt Productions treated the rehabilitation project as a tribute to ride designer Wendell "Bud Hurlbutt, a theme park pioneer who essentially invented the flume-ride concept along with Arrow Dynamics.
The Disneyites got the in-joke and hooted their approval: Joe Rohde, one of Disney's ride designers, is famous in this circle for his oddball ear accessories.
Often ride designers will promise that a proposed attraction will combine the best features of two or more popular existing rides.
Russell said ride designers employed the vehicles the same way a director uses a camera to control the audience's perspective, turning the car in different directions to make cuts or jump to new scenes.
Russell said ride designers thought of the Transformers attraction more like a video game than a movie, building a 3-D wire frame city that was then wrapped with digital photos of Chicago.
More than 60 designers will show on the LC:M catwalk schedule, which aims to replicate the success of London fashion week as a platform for men's design talent, with young designers riding the shirt tails of international labels such as Alfred Dunhill, Burberry, Hackett and Paul Smith.
Like Walt Disney and his early models of Main Street Station and It's a Small World, Larry hopes to one day bring his own dreams to life as a theme park ride designer or Imagineer at Disney.
The 1966 Runaway Mine Train became the world's first mine train coaster, developed by legendary ride designer Ron Toomer.
Legendary ride designer Wendell Bud Hurlbutut - who conceived, built and operated the Calico Mine Ride along with the 1969 Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's - was one of the first creators of theme parks in the United States.
The inversionless Lightning Rod is the latest entry from Idaho's Rocky Mountain Construction and renowned ride designer Alan Schilke, who have collaborated on looping wooden coasters that have captivated the imaginations of ride enthusiasts around the world.
Legendary ride designer Wendell Bud Hurlbutut — who conceived, built and operated Timber Mountain Log Ride with his father, Ray — was one of the first creators of theme parks in the United States.
