8/10
Third Generation
13 February 2005
For Disneyland, when it was new, Imagineers created a film projected on nine screens completely surrounding the audience. I saw this original version in 1970 and can still remember a firetruck ride through the nighttime streets of Los Angeles, the cameras riding atop the vehicle.

In 1973, the original Circle-Vision presentation was replaced by "Magic Carpet Round the World", a slightly less interesting travelogue of foreign lands. The camera crew hid behind the protective burladero in Madrid's Las Ventas bullring during a corrida. Outraged members of the audience threw coins at them.

Just in time for the 1984 Olympics, which I attended, Disneyland premiered a third generation of Circle Vision, "American Journeys". Fellow standees included Thai boxers, if memory serves. (The film also was shown at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Florida). This cross-country travel film included an outrigger ride off Waikiki, a buggy ride through a covered bridge during fall foliage, a tailhook landing on a carrier deck, an on-the-field look at baseball in Dodger Stadium and many other clever slices of American life. Someone came up with a memorable score, blended with (I think) Peter Coyote's spare narration.

Circle Vision has the limitation that one must stand throughout. If sore feet allow, it works beautifully.
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