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Our slow-moving line curves around a two-story wooden boathouse filled with props from explorations across distant lands. At the front of the line, a khaki-clad Disney cast member helps us onto a quaint little boat for a ride around the forest.
This is Disneyland World famous jungle cruisefilled with animated animals, haunting puns from Rabnak, and ancient-world set pieces depicting scenes straight from the Amazon, Congo, Mekong, and Nile rivers. It’s a ride that Walt Disney himself had a hand in developing, but there’s something new coming that separates it from its 1950s origins: a 3D-printed prop.
You may have seen Small scale 3D printing Amateurs do it at home. But this is minor compared to what industrial-scale 3D printing shops can do.
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calmThe Florida-based 3D printing company says it can build worlds. More specifically, Jay Rogers, co-founder and CEO, told me that the company is installing its first boat at a Disney park.
“She’s on a Jungle Cruise,” he says during this. Disney Demo Day At Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, at the end of last year.
3D printing They came on the scene in the mid-2010s. These printers take tiny beads or strands of polymer or liquid resin and turn them into full-fledged designs, like the purple octopus toy and the Prada wallet my 3-year-old daughter got from her Uncle Zach for her last birthday. With a digital file, you can send a project to a printer for production – whether it’s a baby octopus or an armchair.
The lighted Mickey figure hanging from the tree at Walt Disney Studios was 3D printed by Hadi.
You can buy Small 3D printersPrices range from $180 to $400 for home projects, while larger operations require massive machines that produce large items such as café tables and even Houses.
And yes, Boats.
Haddy’s Jungle Cruise Boat is a boat that has now been placed on a ride at Disneyland, becoming part of the scenic ride along with those fake animals along the banks of the Amazon, Congo, Nile and Mekong rivers.
Walt Disney Imagineering collaborated closely with the Haddy team to adapt the boat plans, ensuring they captured the spirit of the props found in use 3D printing technology.
“We had the old boat, and we did a 3D scan to get it dimensional,” said Chris Hill, a research and development assistant at Disney. In January when Disneyland installed the boat Directly across from the loading dock. “For the creative part of it, we had a photo of the boat from the 1960s, and then using the 3D scan dimensions, I designed a model of the new boat, which we used to 3D print the boat.”
The Imagineers made a 3D scan of their old boat, as well as using a reference photo of the boat from the 1960s to create a new image that can be 3D printed.
Yes, 3D printed boats can float
Founded in 2022, Haddy designs home decor such as planters and furniture such as outdoor benches, chairs and tables. The opportunity to work with Disney’s Imagineers came about after they were selected as one of four startups to receive funding, platform and mentoring via Disney 2025 Accelerator Program.
Rogers says Hadi can quickly Turn imagination into reality, saving a lot of time (and likely money – companies won’t provide details). This is in addition to the ability to recycle any 3D printed material to make new things, because once the prop reaches the end of its life, it can be melted down and 3D printed again to become something new.
A 20-foot boat built by a traditional boatbuilder could take a thousand hours of human labor, but not so for the Jungle Cruise boat, Rogers says. “It’s not only faster to manufacture, it’s faster to develop.”
He describes the traditional process, which unfolds over weeks and months: designing the boat, creating and securing a master mold, repeating the mold-making process 30 times for each boat, and then manufacturing the parts that go on the boat.
In comparison, the Hadi robot will take 70 hours to manufacture. Both processes use a digital file as a starting point. The difference is that Haddy can simply make adjustments to the file and reprint the boat if there are any issues with the final product – no more mold making required.
Disneyland’s new 3D printed prop boat.
Nick Blackburn, Disney’s executive director of technical business operations, says his team went to a series of meetings and conferences to find the right company to partner with on 3D printing.
“This project is now the first project we’re working on to show that we can use advanced manufacturing, robotics and new materials to bring parks to life faster and more effectively,” Blackburn says.
However, how much whimsy is left? Could a 3D printed boat evoke the same feelings of nostalgia and imagination as the ride’s set pieces?
During Disney Demo Day, I noticed what appeared to be a wrought iron fence leaning against a tree, which Rogers said was 3D printed. Guests probably wouldn’t even notice if the boat was made of polymer instead of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, and was printed by a robot.
Even the lighting fixtures in the main theater at Walt Disney Studios, where you had just watched a video demonstrating several new technologies They are used by Disney-backed startupsHadi made it for this event. (I assumed the complex, glowing blue lights were a relic of time Frozen 2 was being workshopped In the theatre.)
Hadi’s 3D printed gate looks like wrought iron.
Maybe 3D printed objects have a whimsy of their own? Yes, says James Bricknell, CNET’s senior editor and 3D printing expert. Not only will the boat have all the whimsy an imagination can conjure, but it will also be manufactured faster and in a much less expensive way – and it will definitely float.
“It’s a great idea,” Bricknell says. “You can make them look the way you want, just like regular boats, but instead of injection molding, you can make each individual at a much lower cost.”
Disney Imagineers They are constantly looking for new technologies to integrate into Parks and on Disney cruise ships.
Walt Disney Imagineering is “the tip of the spear when it comes to emerging technologies” like artificial intelligence, robotics and drones, according to Michael Hundgen, executive creative producer for Walt Disney Imagineering.
With Hadi, Imagineers explore how to create set pieces for attractions at Disney theme parks. In addition to the Jungle Cruise, these products can also include cabinet doors from Monstropolis – for Monsters, Inc. Journey New Being built at Walt Disney World – and the rockworks of the various lands, such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There may also be furniture design for thousands of hotel rooms throughout the Orlando hotel.
“We don’t just create technology for technology’s sake, we do it to help our creative teams bring company stories to life,” says Hundgen.
Now it’s over with fiberglass reinforced plastic and polymer pellets. We’ll have to see if guests are truly able to tell the difference between old and new props.