Ride safety is a paramount concern for Disney World and other theme park operators around the world. To that end, a significant amount of ride testing occurs not only before an attraction opens for the first time to the public, but also throughout the operational lifetime of a ride. While there are a number of ride safety elements such as sensors and emergency stop triggers built into a ride, there is one variable that is difficult to test for: guests.
An empty ride vehicle can go through a number of safety checks either during the design process or prior to opening for a typical day of operation. These checks are rather predictable based on the maintenance and operational standards for any given ride. What is unpredictable are guests. Whether it is hats flying off, hands being reached out, or even the use of a selfie stick, once a ride vehicle is occupied, a seemingly endless number of variables are introduced.
Of course, ride operators still have to plan for every conceivable or reasonable variable, so ride envelope testing is one of the checks that occurs before opening a ride to the public. Different rides have different ride envelope requirements, which makes testing a bit cumbersome (to say the least). Pictured below is a diagram from the patent that shows what Disney means when describing envelope testing, or the patron clearance envelope.
In the photo below of TRON Lightcycle Run testing, you can see the current method of testing ride envelope clearances. It typically consists of attaching a piece of wood (or plexiglass) to the ride vehicle to simulate the maximum expected reach from a guest. The vehicle is then wenched through the ride path to allow for a manual inspection of clearances.
Disney describes this process as “cumbersome and inefficient”. Disney says that pulling a multi-ton ride vehicle along the entire length of the track is time-consuming and that different parts of the ride may have different clearance requirements, making the current method rather obsolete, even if it’s effective.
In the patent, Disney envisions a new type of ride envelope clearance testing method that uses LIDAR, lasers, ultrasonic sensors, radar sensors, cameras, or similar high-tech implementations that are able to read the distance between a ride vehicle and an obstacle.
In this new implementation, Disney would be able to secure a measuring device to the ride vehicle that would read out the envelope via sensors and computers instead of manual inspection of a piece of wood. The device would attach to the ride vehicle, as pictured below for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train vehicle, and be sent through the attraction at normal operating speeds, offering a pass/fail or even more detailed data about obstacles along the ride path.
Disney takes the patent descriptions a step further, offering details about the use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to fly along the ride path using pre-programmed routes, to inspect obstacles using the same sensor system.
While we often think of ride envelope testing as something that occurs prior to a ride opening for the very first time to the public, it actually occurs on a daily basis via “track walks”. A track walk is a normal opening procedure for many rides around Walt Disney World that involves ride operators walking along the full length of the track (or riding along the full length of the track), to look for any changes to the ride safety or obstacles that may interfere with the day’s operation.
Once you think of ride envelope testing as something that occurs on a daily basis, it becomes more obvious why a more autonomous implementation might be necessary. Imagine ride operators being able to deploy one or more drones to fly a pre-programmed route through an attraction to perform a ride safety check in just minutes. This autonomous check is what Disney envisions for the future of its attractions around the world, as it looks to increase rider safety.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!