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[birds whistling, chirping]

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[Fritz] It takes a special breed
of engineer to enjoy

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and to flourish in Imagineering.

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To ask a typical engineer,

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"Hey, let's go build a machine
that feels just like flying,"

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might seem a little crazy,

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but flexibility, to be able to roll with
an idea that may seem a little crazy...

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could turn into something real
and pretty amazing.

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[chattering]

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[female voice]
Please enter all the way into the room,

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and stand on the number you are given.

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[male voice] Fiber is connected to an...

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I'm Ed Fritz.
My title is Ride Engineering Executive.

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So, I grew up in the south side of Detroit

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and went to school
and studied engineering at Michigan.

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I started developing
prototype automobiles.

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Then about a year later,

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received a phone call
from the Imagineering team in California.

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They needed someone
to help them develop the ride system.

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I convinced my wife
that this was a two-year gig maximum.

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Um, well, that was 30 years ago.

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Amusement parks, big roller coasters,

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those are designed
to be visceral experiences.

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But here, at Walt Disney World,
we tell stories

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in a way that is very, very convincing.

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In the case of Flight of Passage,
the big idea was to put our guests

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on the back of a banshee
to fly through Pandora.

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My job is to take the creative vision
for a new attraction

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and figure out a way to engineer the ride
to deliver the story

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or the vision that the creative folks
at our company have.

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How long are the rows.
How many levels high does it need to be?

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So, my typical day is filled
with many different tasks.

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But you wanted every guest to have

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that individualized experience
as part of that, right?

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Because I have responsibility
for so many different attractions,

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one day I'm working on ropeways,
the next day it's water flow,

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the next day it's roller coaster,
next day it's motion base.

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It's always something new.

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So, there's no opportunity
to get bored for sure.

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Take a look at what this link chair is
from the front,

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and you have your person sitting here.

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During meetings,
you can be all over the map.

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We have sketching,
we have ideas being thrown around.

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And the technical people, like myself,
are in that meeting

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to help enable and suggest
other technologies we can use

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to deliver even better experiences.

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[male Imagineer]
So, that was the ride system right there.

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And it's really exciting
and a bit inspiring

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when you listen
to all the ideas that we have.

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And, you know,
which one of those ideas do you build?

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You know, they're all great.

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You have to choose
the one that's gonna be the big one.

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So, we're in the link rooms
at Flight of Passage,

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and these are the link chairs.

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You sit in the chair and it feels
like a hard laboratory chair, sort of,

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and then once the ride comes to life
and you're on the back of a banshee,

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it starts to feel like the body of the
animal breathing in and out as you fly.

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And all these high-tech engineering tools
and videos you see on TV

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about how engineers do their work--

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The process we used on
the Flight of Passage

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started very, very simply
with pencil, paper, plywood, foam,

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prototypes of the link chair,
prototypes of machinery,

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prototypes of the media,

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and all those prototypes individually
are, sort of, worked on,

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and the problems are solved one at a time.

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It's not until it all comes together
at the end

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that you realize
what an amazing thing you've created.

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Growing up,
I had no idea what Imagineering was,

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but after meeting the folks in Florida

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and then going out to California
and working with Imagineers,

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it's like a family.

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It's really inspiring to come out
in the middle of a long day

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and just hang out at the exit.

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Sitting over by the rocks and just listen
to people come off the ride.

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It's pretty exciting and pretty moving.

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I see us utilizing technology even more

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to deliver more immersive,
more interactive experiences.

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When you look back at the bar that was set
from attractions like Indiana Jones,

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Mission: SPACE and Flight of Passage,
the bar continues to be raised.

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And I see us going forward
raising that bar even further,

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and I really enjoy being a part
of the beginnings of those programs

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when we're thinking of these new ideas,
being able to deliver those experiences.