New Epcot attraction adds up to one wild ride
BY TRAVIS REED
Associated Press
Kids tired of experiencing the same old roller coasters have a new ride to tackle.
Walt Disney World's ``Sum of All Thrills'' is the first ride in Epcot's Innoventions pavilion, where businesses sponsor educational attractions and hawk their brands.
Unlike IBM and Liberty Mutual, which wouldn't mind selling tomorrow's customers a laptop or insurance policy, ``Sum of All Thrills'' sponsor Raytheon has nothing to offer the average consumer. But the high-tech defense contractor does have jobs for those passionate about engineering, and would like to broaden the field.
``Our aim is to show kids how math and engineering make the things they care about really come to life and happen,'' said Kristin Hilf, vice president of Raytheon public affairs.
The ride begins, after a tutorial, in a design room. On a touchscreen computer, visitors pick a vehicle shape and determine how fast the ride should go based on ascent, inversions or corkscrews.
The information is saved on a magnetized card and fed into the simulator, where visitors experience the track they just designed. The cards are imprinted with numerical identifiers kids can use at home for a Raytheon educational website with more math and science problems.
``I did a lot of talking to kids before we got started. What I found is kids typically didn't like math, and didn't understand how it applied in their lives,'' said Eric Goodman, Disney Imagineer and ``Sum of All Thrills'' project manager. ``They always felt there was one answer, and that's what you've got to do -- find that one answer. What this does is show kids and adults the possibilities. If you have a math-controlling view, you get to control it.''
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