The Race is On: Atlantis attraction immerses riders in a realm of fantasy

      Race for Atlantis at the Forum Shops at Caesars may have put the stake through the heart of cheesy 3-D effects.
      The new ride, which was scheduled to open Wednesday, combines motion simulators with 3-D computer graphics in the Imax film format, meaning it has digitally sharp images in three dimensions while being projected on an 82-foot-diameter, dome-shaped screen.
      The idea is to immerse the audience in an imaginative world in a way that hadn't been done before, says Race for Atlantis creative director Arish Fyzee.
      "We really wanted to push this much further than any other ride or attraction had gone toward the realm of fantasy," says Fyzee, who also helped produce the Back to the Future -- The Ride attractions in Orlando, Fla., and Hollywood and the motion ride at the Luxor.
      Fyzee's art school background is evident in the ride -- there are touches of Greek, Mayan and Egyptian design and architecture in the film.
      With that as a starting point "we took it and exaggerated it and went way into the realm of fantasy," Fyzee says. "The thing I kept hammering away at all the animators and the design people was that I wanted the fantasy aspect of the design to be strong enough that no individual object or element is recognizable in and of itself."
      It took 18 months to design and make the ride film, starting with a rough draft of the animation in 3-D. To help the process, Fyzee had a 3-D projector, a motion simulator and a domed screen set up so he could fine tune the visuals. Then, the digital animation work was done.
      "The design aspect was really critical -- 3-D makes things a lot more complex," Fyzee says. "It's not flat 3-D, it's 3-D in a dome. So you're having objects that come at you or away from you from all aspects of this 180-degree screen. And that makes the choreography of everything a lot more complex."
      But Fyzee didn't just make a thrilling 3-D ride. His design work on Race for Atlantis actually begins in the lobby, where visitors see a 30-foot-tall statue of Neptune, the god of the sea, battle a sea dragon.
      After buying a ticket, visitors are divided into two lines of 27 people each and are led by guides up steps and into a hallway made of simulated rock. The hallway leads to the Heavens Room, where sound and lighting effects and banks of fog add to the mysterious environment.
      Then the riders are given their 3-D goggles, which also contain small speakers, and they are led into a small theater where a high-definition video, starring Michael Jeter of "Evening Shade" and "Air Bud," explains in an entertaining way the ride's safety rules -- it's not recommended for pregnant women and you must be at least 42 inches tall to ride -- and gives a taste of what riders can expect.
      After the pre-show, the riders are seated in one of four motion simulators, strapped in and the ride begins. Fortunately, there are hand grips to grab onto during the ride.
      From the point of view of a flying chariot, the audience races the villain Ghastlius through strange environments toward Atlantis. There are a lot of objects zooming at the audience, including some scary-looking birdlike creatures.
      Overall, the ride takes about 30 to 45 minutes, including 3 1/2 minutes of the pre-show video and about four minutes of the ride itself.
      Although Fyzee was pleased with the final results, he would have liked to add more characters, "but I got to try a lot of things, to create an entire world from scratch with no basis necessary in reality, to make it believable, to make it fun and to make it the sort of experience people will want to see again."
     
      What: Race for Atlantis
      When: 10 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday
      Where: Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South
      Tickets:$6.75-$9.50