This article reflects how terahertz scanning can potentially detect variant strains in addition to the virus itself.
Sotto presents Herbert Ryman tribute at Walt Disney Family Museum.
Herbie Ryman was a man of many dimensions and was the man Walt chose to first visualize Disneyland for the banks.
Herbert Dickens Ryman was considered by many to be Walt Disney’s favorite illustrator and his brush created many of the most widely seen conceptual illustrations that shaped what would be Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Beyond that, he was a terrific artist in his own right and shared a great many insights with Eddie Sotto, who when joining Imagineering in 1986, had the honor to work with Herb the last few productive years of his life. In November 2020, Sotto shared some of those insights that he gleaned from his time with Herb, but also some of Ryman’s art and stories working with Walt Disney himself. All of this was presented via Zoom in a slide and video presentation presented by the Walt Disney Family Museum, an institution which Sotto was proud to have been invited to speak.
Eddie Sotto speaks as one of "50 Top Theme Park Influencers."
Honored to both make the top 50 list and join a the V-Expo with so many innovative and accomplished names in the industry. Here we discuss how to continue to push for safer, industry wide solutions to return “shared experiences” back to what they were designed to be!
Theme Park University talks restoring the magic.
Eddie goes in depth to handle the tough questions on reopening and how to bring back the magic.
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL ARTICLE
"Unmasking" Covid in USA Today. Eddie Sotto spells it out.
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Eddie talks futureproofing on Fox Business Channel.
Eddie discusses how to replace hospital practices with a screening station at the entrance of attractions and venues to unmakes the Covid problem.
The Battle of Covid19, Operators vc Creatives. by Eddie Sotto .
Now on Blooloop.com
Ever since theme parks began, there has always been a healthy conflict between those who operate and those who innovate. As the industry reopens post-COVID-19, can both work together to save the shared experience?
“Band Aid” solutions must give way to a maskless screening process. CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY
Unmasking Covid-19. Insights of a Former Disney Imagineer. by Eddie Sotto
“The smell of the grass and the roar of the cardboard” Is this the new normal? image ©Getty
As published on medium.com
“I’ve never been one to yell back at the TV until now.
This usually occurs when we know something the character in the movie doesn’t, so you feel compelled to yell out as if warning them. “NO! Don’t go back in the basement, he’s still in there!”
When I see how masks, distancing stickers, and regulations have altered or closed “shared experiences” like concerts, ball games, watching fireworks, theme parks and even fine dining, it gives me a similar reaction. It’s hard to watch what is going on, see a possible way out, and not say or do something. Not that I refuse to comply with regulations, I place a high value on human life. As a former Walt Disney “Imagineer” who used to create these experiences, safety is always first, but it does pain me to see the “magic” our “fantasy worlds” cast on guests dampened by bringing medical practices into them, as if filmmaker Steven Spielberg would accept Indiana Jones wearing a mask and distanced from the Nazis. Theme parks are similar as they are only compelling when the thematic illusion is seamless and we escape our everyday problems. Think of all those smiles covered up by masks.
Admission: I passionately feel that there is a better approach to dealing with all of this and formed a “dream team” of designers, doctors and engineers to solve for it before the leisure industry goes bankrupt.
“Band Aid” solutions like placing cardboard fans in bleachers, telling guests on coasters to “scream in their hearts”, or not being able to walk and eat or drink, are vain and well meaning attempts that instead of sustaining these experiences, actually erode the desire to return. Cancelling those “Kodak moments” that mean so much to small kids, like parades, hugging favorite characters, and sharing those mega firework shows only makes it worse. Theme Park experiences are made up of a series of “moments”, more than just thrills.
Corporate culture so far has been in denial and hope it will all go away, perhaps with a vaccine, but the uncertainty remains. My position is, that beyond the temporary measures, what will the new normal be? Is what we have “a viable product”? Right now, resorts are charging more and providing less, which is a value killer and not sustainable. If 911 is any indication, this is as much about reassurance is it is medical, as we are still screening for terrorism although 911 was decades ago and the threat has been low. Covid19 has left a mental scar deeper than the movie “Jaws”, when in the 70’s no one was willing to go back in the water for years, despite the fact that we all knew the Shark was rubber! Covid19 is very real. Even with a vaccine, the “new normal” will undoubtably include some level of safety and reassurance, just as the TSA does today.
What company wants to endure this again?
An Experiential Vaccine.
So how do we predict the future and solve this thing? Jeff Bezos, who has been one of the few to benefit in this crisis, said something that resonated with me when he discussed predicting the future. He looks at fundamentals, what will not change (people will always want something faster and cheaper) then invisibly applies technology to deliver it.
To me, “shared experiences” will always be popular as we are social creatures. This will not change. We love the unity of cheering our home team em masse, singing a hymn, laughing together in a theater, “ooohing” and “ahhing” at fireworks as a human family. It feels great to forget what divides us and just share a moment. I’ve spent 40 years trying to invent “shared moments” and they are quintessential when they work. The point? Survival is unmasking the hospital practices and saving the experiences people will return for, versus compromising them into extinction. Build on what works and apply technology to get us there.
The How?
The airport seems to have the right approach. We are focused on creating a fun and themed screening experience at the venue’s entry that contains an above standard medical covid/pandemic test within it to yield a nearly instant result. Something that will be a longer term preventive measure beyond Covid 19. The issue has been throughput, as capacity is the key to viability and filling a park or cruise ship. so speed on entry is a huge win and there are tests going on now to determine if that can be done effectively. This would allow all guests in the stadium, cruise ship or theme park once clear to freely enjoy their experience as designed free of masks, just as travelers are cleared of being a threat at the airport and roam the terminal in that “bubble” of safety. We would monitor the guest in a subtle way so if things change they are taken out of the experience, but basically, once you’re in and cleared, you’re free to have fun. Airport model versus Hospital model. No more being wary of others and importing self policing practices into the fun.
Futureproofing
No matter who and what companies decide to do, the answer does not lie in their ad agency or architect or “band aid” solutions. This is an experiential problem that is big enough to deserve respect. It deserves to be dealt with holistically, as reassurance does not come in a catalog. So many things to consider as experiences have taught me that they are fragile things where details matter, and the reason they are dubbed “magic” as experiences are not formulaic, they are emotional, the result of careful choices in design and psychology. Something has to be done now or the aftermath of Covid19 will close these experiences for us.
“Futureproofing” is about creating an “Experiential Vaccine” that reassures as well as it protects. It’s providing a long term viable solution that brings people back together, while at the same time places a high value on human life. “