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Even before Horizons, the city of Montreal had a british guy called Sean Kenny create the Gyrotron for Expo 67, the 1967 world fair in Montreal. It used an endless chain of seats that was very similar to the Disney Omnimover with the ride having an exterior load and unload. The ride experience...

Disney had the vehicles modified to make it more comfortable and accessible than the standard Vekoma Motorbike. This is a photo of Booster Bike, the prototype one at Toverland. You have to squeeze between the front pad and back rest. Then, you have to place your knees in the right spot and...

Thank you for quoting my website! Two trains in Shanghai are equipped with the TAV and the operators receive a message on their console when a TAV is coming up next. I rode the ride in the TAV and it was forceless, but you were able to see the sets and effects a lot better.

Given the number of complaints about Flight of Passage, TRON will be a lot worst for walk of shames. The TAV's (sitdown car in the back of some trains) will be getting a lot of use.

Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Slinky Dog Dash at WDW suffers from the same issue: miscast rides that were given to guests starving for anything new. I've come to peace with Seven Dwarves Mine Train flaws since it was slotted at Shanghai Disneyland to be the replacement for a Barnstormer/Gadget...

Mostly incorrect. The trim brake definition you use was told in old tv shows, but in reality, trim brakes can be placed anywhere. In the case of TRON, the ride use two kinds of brakes, pusher tires to move the trains around the stations, pre launch and after final slow. Linear Synchronous...

Nice ad hominem attack. Really brings up the level of discussion!

Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris. Listened to a great interview with Tim Delaney a few weeks ago and he mentions that once they decided on the 200 feet wide dome with a single coaster inside, the ride came under budget at 80 millions USD.

Animal Kingdom changed layout wise since opening day and I'll resume it by era: - 1998-1999: with Asia delayed until 1999, the park opened with congested paths and was composed of two dead ends from Safari Village (center island with the Tree of Life), Africa and a small circular path behind...

You need to be able to move guests in natural ways around paths that are large enough to be comfortable, yet "small enough" not to seem empty. That is the trickiest part of designing a park area or whole theme park, as Disney has gone both extremes: Animal Kingdom guest areas looked amazing, but...

There's actually a great story there. When Taft Broadcasting, who had just purchased Hanna-Barbara in the late 60's, wanted to build a theme park around Cincinnati to replace the local Coney Island, they spoke to people from the industry for advice, including Disney. The big feedback from Disney...

Kali River Rapids lame rapids can be blamed on Disney wanting a lower height restriction for kids. Historically until the 1990's, Intamin (the manufacturer of Kali River Rapids) river rapids had no height restriction. It was just "3 years old and above" as a loose standard. In the 1990's, most...

Amazing post that goes back to a conversation I had years ago with Ira West, one of the most legendary park designer in the industry. Ira West was part of Randall Duell design firm and he helped design throughout his career Magic Mountain, Kings Island, the Marriott's Great America parks, Parc...

Next to the river in a country where land is at an absolute premium versus a swamp with the view of a castle in the distance. Which one is more valuable?

The depreciation varies a lot per vehicle. In Canada for example, any decent two years old Subaru with 30-40K kilometers will only eat 3000$ to 4000$ in depreciation. If I can buy a new Subaru Crosstrek for 27000$, what's the use in going back two years and paying 25000$? On the other hand, I...

I lost my rose colored glasses for Disney resorts in Florida when I started travelling in Asia. I stayed at the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay on my first visit to Tokyo Disney in 2007 for 150$ US. My sister talked the front desk person into putting us on the Concierge level, which was absolutely...

During Bob Chapek keynote speech to IAAPA GM and Owner Breakfast in 2018, he specifically mentioned Vekoma regarding Guardians and showed off footage of the ride vehicles at their plant. Vekoma can now show off a lot of their Disney work and TRON as well as Seven Dwarves Mine Train are...

Good question, unfortunately, I am not aware of the exact suppliers for Tower of Terror beyond that Otis provided the lifts. Looking at the 90's, buried wire technology had been in use for years and I saw then in a factory a nice example of AGV (automated guide vehicle). Let's say I had to send...

I don't post anymore, but I felt like I had to correct a few misconceptions about ride manufacturers. People throw around the name Dynamic Attractions a lot, but what exactly is "Dynamic Attractions?" Let's go back to the late 90's, a steel fabricator in British Colombia (Canada) named AGRA...