An open letter to tonight's Candlelight Processional audience

[pianoman]

I am currently at WDW and decided to watch the 5:00 PM Candlelight Processional tonight -- the first of the season.

Not having purchased the dining package, I knew that I would have to get in line early. I stood in line from approximately 3:30 until they started loading standby guests into the theatre (4:40ish). During my wait in line, almost everyone was cordial and enjoyable to talk to--with the exception of the grandparents standing behind me.

Newsflash:

• You are too close to me if you are breathing on me or if your bag keeps hitting me.
• Standing closer to people in line is not going to make the line move.
• Threatening to "email Disney" when a CM tells the guests in line (the STANDBY line) that they may not get in is ridiculous.

After getting into the America Gardens theatre (and away from the aforementioned troublemakers), I found myself seated in front of a row of senior citizens who talked and/or sang throughout the entire Candlelight Processional. They openly mocked Isabella Rossellini's pronunciation (I'd love to hear your Swedish or Italian, you ugly Americans). Ugh. I thought she did a lovely job.

I'm happy to say that the children I saw at Candlelight were much better behaved than their so-called "elders". What happened to decorum? What happened to patience? What happened to enjoying the atmosphere instead of making life miserable for everyone around you?

As an aside, the America Gardens theatre seems to have gotten a substantial lighting upgrade. Many of the fixtures in use on stage looked similar (if not identical) to the RGB LED fixtures in use outside Spaceship Earth. They are capable of a near-infinite range of colors and were used to great effect throughout Candlelight.

[Shorty82]

As an aside, the America Gardens theatre seems to have gotten a substantial lighting upgrade. Many of the fixtures in use on stage looked similar (if not identical) to the RGB LED fixtures in use outside Spaceship Earth. They are capable of a near-infinite range of colors and were used to great effect throughout Candlelight.

Disney has been upgrading to LED stage lighting whenever they replace the fixtures or install new lighting for a while now. I can see the appeal of them as they are smaller, lighter, use less power, last a long time, and can change color easily, there is almost no limit on the colors they can put out.

All of the special lighting on Main Street used during parties are LED and they look great. I believe eventually every incandescent stage light in the parks (on a stage or not) will be LED.

I've seen the lights outside of Spaceship Earth and they are LED stage lights and are the same or a similar type used on the stages around Disney that have lighting upgrades.

[delsdad]

Disney has been upgrading to LED stage lighting whenever they replace the fixtures or install new lighting for a while now. I can see the appeal of them as they are smaller, lighter, use less power, last a long time, and can change color easily, there is almost no limit on the colors they can put out.

All of the special lighting on Main Street used during parties are LED and they look great. I believe eventually every incandescent stage light in the parks (on a stage or not) will be LED.

I've seen the lights outside of Spaceship Earth and they are LED stage lights and are the same or a similar type used on the stages around Disney that have lighting upgrades.

The range of color is almost unlimited. Unfortunately the LED fixtures have some difficulty in the yellow and orange spectrum, and with color tones that look good on flesh, a result of using RGB sources. The ones just hitting the market add a white LED as well to the array. It gets closer, but no cigar.

The only decent white output from a LED unit was in a dedicated film lamp. it actually had continuously variable color temp from 3000 to 6000k. That is from a nice warm tungsten look, up to brilliant daylight. But it is much more expensive than the color changing LED luminaires.
Many manufacturers are putting all their R&D into LED lamps, as tungsten sources are due to be outlawed for entertainment use in some jurisdictions by 2012 I believe.

The other new tech coming is plasma sources. Much more light for a given energy input. Just not quite ready for prime time.

[Big Wallaby]

The other new tech coming is plasma sources. Much more light for a given energy input. Just not quite ready for prime time.

What, no more arc followspots? You want bright? Now THAT'S BRIGHT!

[delsdad]

What, no more arc followspots? You want bright? Now THAT'S BRIGHT!

The carbon arc lamps are now illegal in many jurisdictions. Plus the skill required of the operator to keep them in adjustment as the carbons burn down is becoming a lost art. The Zenon spots have replaced them completely here. The most popular being the Lycian 1293 3KW units. Also popular (with designers, not operators) are the RobertJuliat units which use an HMI bulb, up to 3KW.

I never did get a chance to run one of the carbon arc lamps. By the time I had the seniority to do so, they had all been retrofitted to zenons.

The great thing about those plasma sources is the majority of the energy s converted to light rather than heat. They run much cooler, so they will be more operator friendly.

"An engineer appeared in the followspot booth. After giving the spots a very careful and detailed examination, he had but one question for the operator "Lovely heaters, but why are they so bright ?""

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

The carbon arc lamps are now illegal in many jurisdictions. Plus the skill required of the operator to keep them in adjustment as the carbons burn down is becoming a lost art. The Zenon spots have replaced them completely here. The most popular being the Lycian 1293 3KW units. Also popular (with designers, not operators) are the RobertJuliat units which use an HMI bulb, up to 3KW.

I never did get a chance to run one of the carbon arc lamps. By the time I had the seniority to do so, they had all been retrofitted to zenons.

The great thing about those plasma sources is the majority of the energy s converted to light rather than heat. They run much cooler, so they will be more operator friendly.

"An engineer appeared in the followspot booth. After giving the spots a very careful and detailed examination, he had but one question for the operator "Lovely heaters, but why are they so bright ?""

We used carbon arc lights for the projectors at the movie theatre I worked at when I was a projectionest. interesting job ...the bad part was cleaning the lamp housing with all the residue! like a fine talcum dust!

[turkeyham]

Last night on HGTV they had Behind the magic: Disney Holidays. The show was really cool. I liked how they did a better job decorating all the parks. I saw the tree that they decorated and put up in the Cinderella castle. I am guessing this film must be a few years old. I wish I could venture out and see the decorations. I did see the left over decorations at Animal Kingdom. Hopefully in a few years, maybe 2...I will see the castle at Christmas time.

Yup, I saw how much sugar, etc went into the ginger bread house. There is no way I would want to eat it either.

[delsdad]

We used carbon arc lights for the projectors at the movie theatre I worked at when I was a projectionest. interesting job ...the bad part was cleaning the lamp housing with all the residue! like a fine talcum dust!

You guys cleaned them ??? From what little I saw, that never happened to the spots. They use the exact same lamp house, but do not have the precision optics and mechanical components of a projector. Just brute force bright, with an iris and douser assembly, and a color boomerang on the front. The guys used to brag about how dirty they got when running them.

At one venue, an old hotel with a large ballroom that featured talent like Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk, Sinatra, James Brown and such, the spots were in a small poorly ventilated booth. Our contract required the men working at that venue to wear a suit and tie back in the 60s, and a tux on New Years eve. Instead of leaving the booth door and window open for fresh air, on one new years eve the door and window had to be closed, per the artists insistence. . Now remember that the gas from the burning arc is poisonous. As a safety precaution the men were issued ww2 surplus gas masks. The kind with the canister on the end of a hose. They ran the show in them! And by the end of the show they were so angry with the situation, that they kept them on when they exited the booth. Through the audience making merry at new years. Two large men in filthy tuxedos. And gas masks. I wish someone had taken a photo !

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

we had to clean them about once every two or three days. the arc consisted of two carbon rods held inside the case by a small clamp. a small rod at the back was fixed and was the POWER rod, a larger rod was on a chain drive "trolly" that slowly fed into the arc as the film was shown, we could get about two reels out of the large rod (20 minutes per reel) before changing them out.

the lamps were vented but if you shut one down and opend the case too fast you could cough like all heck if you got a wiff of the gas (and dust)

I must say I had the best after school job all though high school!!

got to see all the movies, could do my homework in 18 minute spurts, and got fee coke and popcorn! (dating the candy counter girl!!!)

hehehehehe

[Main Streeter]

got fee coke and popcorn! (dating the candy counter girl!!!)

Dating the candy girl was perhaps best perk of all. I'd do almost anything for popcorn, coke, & chocolate. You marry her? ;)