Aladdin: Magic Carpet

[ARTc3]

Posted: 9/25/14 at 6:14pm

My apologies to those who are sensitive about subjects that have been discussed in previous threads and the poster not doing an adequate search... I tried. I remember that there was a discussion regarding the technologies used to create the Magic Carpet effect in Aladdin, but all the searching I did, didn't turn up the results I was looking for.

If anyone can please provide a link, I'd be very appreciative. Or, if anyone wants to comment here, I am fascinated to know how the Magic Carpet works. Spoilers totally accepted here, so those who don't wish to have the illusion explained, perhaps shouldn't read on.

Updated On: 9/25/14 at 06:14 PM

[loliveve]

Posted: 9/25/14 at 6:23pm

There are wires suspending the carpet, but there are motors so that the wires spin around super fast and appear invisible, rather than remain still in the connections.

Updated On: 9/25/14 at 06:23 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/25/14 at 7:05pm

Lies! There are no wires! It's Disney magic!

[Just_John]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 3:34am

That sounds neat about the spinning wires, but I don't see how it would make much of a difference considering how dark the theatre becomes for that scene made. It seemed that they were hiding something that was holding it from underneath. The carpet ride in Disneyland looked no better in 1993.

[followspot]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:22am

The carpet ride in Disneyland looked no better in 1993.

Or even in 2003, when the Disneyland production premiered.

[Movidude742]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 12:36pm

"considering how dark the theatre becomes for that scene made"

I won't rule out 2 different carpets and 2 different methods of achieving the effect but remember that they depart at the end on the carpet and the stage is fully lit.

[Tag]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 3:25pm

It also crosses in silhouette in front of the moon and you can't see the wires.

It's done the way loliveve described.

[morosco]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 5:08pm

Is the "spinning wires" solution for sure?

If not, here's another possibility. A "sophisticated wire array." Here is a description of how it is used to make a person appear to fly but the technology could also be used to make a carpet fly simply by having 4 wire arrays instead of 2. The link has some drawings which makes the description below make more sense. Again, this is just a guess and I could be wrong.

...an apparatus in which the performer is supported by a plurality of very fine, spaced apart wires that are substantially invisible to the audience...the fine wires are disposed in a pair of fan shaped arrays which are connected to a performer harness of highly novel design.The wire support arrays are always automatically maintained in a plane extending generally perpendicular to the viewing direction of the audience. In this way the wires can never come into alignment with one another along the direction of sight of the viewer and, therefore, at all times, remain essentially invisible to the audience. Because the performer is always supported by the combined strength of the wires, his safety is assured.
Levitation Apparatus Patent US5354238

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 5:41pm

Just like the Beauty and the Beast transformation I don't think we'll ever know 100% the full effect.

[Tag]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 5:50pm

We know 100% how it's done. The 4 wires are continuously spinning and therefore not visible.

[Just_John]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:02pm

followspot, the only time I was ever in Disneyland was in 1993, or maybe 1994. There was definitely a live stage show of Aladdin.

Edit: or in 97' I went to Euro Disney. It may have been there.


Updated On: 9/26/14 at 08:02 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:33pm

And I don't feel like going digging through the internet to find all the exact details, but the transformation specifics in Beauty and the Beast is hardly a closely guarded secret these days. Heck, when I went back to catch the show after the transfer to the Lunt-Fontanne I could see the apparatus lifting and spinning the actor during the transformation from my seat all the way house left in the second row.

[Lightbringer]

Posted: 6/12/17 at 7:09pm

So this is my theory and it's pretty valid,  there is a product we use for projecting holograms we call musion foil. It's a sheet of clear plastic designed to hold under immense pressure.. This stuff is rated to hold weight. After seeing the show the other night I was looking for wires but noticed where there should be wires there was only a slight distortion of the projected moon behind it. I can only assume strips of this foil (about 1ft wide) were used in place of cables. You can see through it and it will certainly hold the weight. The rigging above it would be a tracking system moving a rotating circle truss with custom designed foil winch drums. Well that's how I'd do it.