How Wi-fi Wins at Toy Story Midway Mania

Network World looks inside the wi-fi network that makes Disney’s Toy Story Midway Mania attraction such a hit.

Powering Toy Story Mania! are 154 graphics workstations running Windows XP that are used to render 3-D images on the ride’s screens at 60 frames per second. The workstations communicate with each other and with the four gaming systems onboard each vehicle using an industrial-strength wireless network based on 802.11 technology.

The wireless network integrates a huge amount of real-time information gathered from the ride: the exact location of the vehicles within one inch; the rotation of the four turrets on each end of the vehicles; and the pitch, yaw and activity of each onboard shooting device. This information is fed into the graphics workstations so they can accurately render images of pies or rings coming out of the shooting devices at accurate angles and with accurate projectiles.

Look for this technology to be implemented in new ways in future Disney attractions or even the queue areas.