The Orlando Eye observation wheel has recently opened as part of the I-Drive 360 dining and entertainment destination with Alcorn McBride show control and AV playback products utilised for the pre-show.

The giant Ferris wheel, located on International Drive in Orlando, is nearly 30m taller than the Statue of Liberty allowing visitors to see the sights of Orlando and Central Florida from air-conditioned capsules.

Before they board the Orlando Eye guests enjoy ‘The Dream Wheel’ 4D theatre experience, a passive stereo 3D video by Acomb Ostendorf & Associates, who also created the 4D theatre facility, which fits 150 visitors at a time. The content showcases 3D aerial footage of Central Florida with the additional sensory experiences of fireworks, lighting effects, and scent. Pro Sound & Video, Orlando selected Alcorn McBride show control and AV playback products for the pre-show having frequently used Alcorn McBride equipment for projects at the area’s major theme parks.

“With a number of pre-show screenings every day throughout the year we needed equipment that was up to the task,” said Pro Sound & Video president, Kelly Prince. “We needed reliability and proven solid state playback; that is Alcorn McBride.”

An Alcorn McBride V16Pro was chosen for its frame-accurate show control with 16 I/O. “It was important that the V16Pro has a timeline feature,” added Don Davis, project engineer at Pro Sound & Video. “The show controller drives the 4D effects which have to hit at a certain frame each and every time.”

The V16Pro also starts and stops the pre-show, opens and closes the theatre doors and performs certain maintenance functions. It features a ShowTouch10 interface at the rear of the theatre for easy operation. “Ease of use was a big consideration,” noted Prince. “We tried to make the ShowTouch button panel layout fairly simple and we built out more advanced features of the maintenance pages.”

An Alcorn McBride AV Binloop HD eight-channel synchronous audio and video player was chosen to play back the pre-show content.

A LightCue-E, DMX recorder/player with Ethernet, controls plays back sequences for the DMX-controllable fans providing 4D wind effects during the pre-show. It also handles the dimming and raising of the house lights. Alcorn McBride’s IO64, which is often used as an input/output expander, serves here as a standalone show controller triggering the 4D scent and mist effects.

Alcorn McBride show control