I’ve searched online randomly in the recent couple years and found very little results. The Ghostbusters Spooktacular Show at Universal Studios Orlando was a huge part of my childhood just like many of us, but I’ve always wanted to know the science and secrets behind the show.
How did it all work?? the effects and animatronics involved with the show. Was it projected on to glass or something? Same with the proton streams, I’d imagine it was neon lights or such. was Stay Puft a full sized head??
Just been dying to know the truth behind the show and how it was done. If anyone has any pages or sites or your own knowledge to share I’d love to hear it all
There was a room above the audience’s heads where all those ghosts were located, as animatronic characters. When their individual spotlights came on, their reflections were visible in the glass. The illusion is an old one, known as a Pepper’s Ghost or sometimes a phantasmagoria. The ballroom in Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride works in fundamentally the same way.
Stay-Puft was the only animatronic character located on the temple set itself. He was huge.
And yes, the proton streams were lights kept in the same area where the animatronic ghosts were. When the actors fired their guns, they had to hit very precise marks so the reflected beams seemed to be coming from their gear.
I know I’ve seen great photos somewhere online, and even some behind the scenes images. I’ll poke around and see what I can turn up.
Alex
[EDIT: I stumbled upon this old post in March of 2019 and saw where I’d mistakenly remembered the Terror Dogs being animatronics on the temple set side of the glass along with Stay-Puft. Having recently reviewed multiple home movies and archival video of the ride, I felt the need to correct this claim because the animatronic Terror Dog, singular, was also a reflected Pepper’s Ghost effect, because it can be seen fading from existence when shot. There were two Terror Dog statues on the temple set, though. The one on the audience’s lefthand side retracted in a smoke effect to simulate being blasted by Gozer as she threatened the Hostess character. The one on the righthand side would retract the same way, revealing the animatronic reflected in the same location.]
Went to an animatronics panel at Dragoncon two years ago led by a guy who worked on that show. He had a bunch of behind the scenes pictures of the various characters he worked on. The effects were all projected onto glass with a forced audience perspective.
EDIT: just looked it up, it was Peter Abrahamson. There are a few photos on his website: Portfolio
You probably think ghosts are pretty light, what with all that wispy stuff you see seeping under doors in films. Well, Hollywood tends to bend reality to its own aims. We can tell you that our larger-than-life ghosts collectively weigh in at over 19 tons. They’re big boys and girls–some top the charts at 16 feet and more. And some could really eat more salads and maybe climb a few stairs.
Don’t Lose Your Head!
Kids, pay attention in chemistry class. Learn your ions, anions and onions, and someday you might be responsible for generating 11.2 tons of liquid nitrogen–as our technicians do each day for this show.
The 1980s were big for melding music with computers, and Depeche Mode, Howard Jones and Blondie climbed the charts with mechanistic sounds. But even the stage shows of these electronic pioneers don’t compare to the Ghostbusters show, where computers sift through over 2,300 separate cues.
A Superior After-School Snack
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is 22 feet high, 22 feet wide and 18 feet deep. The Ghostbusters are always trying to chase him to Hershey, Pennsylvania, where they hope to toast him – and toast him s’more. (But who’ll bring the graham crackers?)
The reference to Hershey Pennsylvania makes me smile… my nephew’s first summer job was performing as one of the ‘Milk Men’ singing group in the Hershey Parks. When he was a baby, I made him a Stay-Puft costume for his first Hallowe’en.
On February 8th of last year, I posted this in another thread:
But unfortunately the link no longer works, I foolishly didn’t save the pics, and the only Jeff Varga I can find online is a singer.
You might enjoy some of the other links in this four-page thread though:
I noticed my own June 1991 pics in the other thread no longer work. I’ll re-post them here.
Exterior of the gift shop:
Me posing in the ‘containment unit’ corner of the gift shop:
Terror Dogs atop the columns flanking the entrance door to the gift shop:
