Millions of visitors flock through the gates of Canada’s Wonderland, just north of Toronto, Canada every season and since 2011—the theme park’s thirtieth anniversary—Christie® technology has been mesmerizing visitors with ‘Starlight Spectacular’ – a nine-and-a-half-minute projection mapping display that brings Wonderland Mountain to life each evening.
Four Christie Roadster S+20K 3-chip DLP® projectors equipped with Christie Twist Pro™ display fire breathing dragons, the changing seasons, ripple effects in a kaleidoscope of colors, and a mountain that appears to crumble – among other imagery.
“Wonderland Mountain is the centerpiece of the park, and for our anniversary last year, we wanted to do something unique in Canada. Once we knew it was technically feasible, we hired Tantrum Design and Visual Effects to provide the content,” said Doug McBoyle, manager, technical and event services, Canada’s Wonderland. “This is the second year of the production and we are looking at some major and exciting changes for 2013.”
Projecting on a mountain (with its intricate curves and juts) presented a unique set of challenges, but Christie technology proved more than capable. McBoyle said his biggest concern was making sure the content would look clean when projected onto the irregular surface.
“We looked at different options but Christie has the edge with its Christie Twist Pro package,” said McBoyle. “Christie Twist Pro was the key selling feature because there is such an uneven surface on the mountain filled with edges and obstructions.”
A single license of Christie Twist Pro™ supports an unlimited number of projectors per array and offers unlimited grid lines, advanced edge blending and blends masking. The optional software upgrades also features rotate and flip capabilities, gradient previews of edge blends, and a brightness uniformity controller.
“Without Christie Twist Pro, we wouldn’t have been able to develop or create the images we did. The Twist Pro solidified our ability to project coherent images on the mountain. The software has the convergence points we need to get a nice and even projection surface; it is amazing how clear and how aligned the projected images are.”
McBoyle said the park wanted to give people eye-candy and have them walk away saying, ‘I have never seen anything like that before … that was amazing.’
“We wanted to create the perfect kiss goodnight where the guests walk away feeling good about what they just saw. And I think we achieved that because the performance gives them nine-and-a-half minutes at the end of their day to regroup, see a spectacular show and then go home having had a great day.
“I can’t emphasize enough how the Christie staff of Dave Muscat (Sr. Director of Sales, Canada) Geoff Chick (Central and Western Regional Sales Manager) and Kyle Killing (Field Application Specialist) really came to the table. Without them, we wouldn’t have been so successful. Christie’s Canadian office and manufacturing facility is just two hours away and that was a huge deal for us. Not only is the Christie product great, we have manufacturers’ support so close by.”
