A "Tame" Version of 'Dinosaur'

[TubaGeek]

If I recall correctly, the track that Dinosaur (and Indy in DLP for that matter) is smooth, the car itself is caused to bounce to make it feel like you're driving over rough road. That being said, would it be possible for them to install something to the cars so they could turn off the bouncy-ness if they wanted to? For example, if someone came through with back problems they could turn off the bumpy-ness for a smoother ride. I know it may not be practical with the capacity of the cars, but could it be done?

 

[dolbyman]

basicly like the green version of Mission Space (no spinning)

I guess this would only be a little software tweak in the ride control system...but without the movement that attraction looses a lot of it's excitement :animwink:

 

[brent2124]

That is a good question. The only thing is the ride does start and stop motion quite frequently and when it does it slams on the brakes pretty hard. I like your thinking though as it could allow people to ride who normally couldnt similar to stationary seating at places like Jimmy Nuetron and Shrek4D.

 

[marni1971]

Yep. The EMV - Enhanced Motion Vehicle - lives up to its name by being like a flight simulator on wheels. The flat chassis sits on wheels, and the main ride track / busbar underneath the track (like Test Track) and this chassis rides the course which is quite smooth. The vehicle body sits ontop of the chassis, and can be programmed to pitch and roll by hydraulic rams underneath it. That`s what gives the ride the bumps and thrills, and the program can be changed as needed.

 

[JLW11Hi]

So is there any particular reason that they don't take advantage of this and offer a "tame" version and a "wilder" version for those who prefer it?

 

[Figment632]

So is there any particular reason that they don't take advantage of this and offer a "tame" version and a "wilder" version for those who prefer it?

The tame version of Dinosaur is UOE.

 

[disneytopdog]

The tame version of Dinosaur is UOE.

Dont you mean "LAME" not "tame" version is UOE!!!!

 

[marni1971]

So is there any particular reason that they don't take advantage of this and offer a "tame" version and a "wilder" version for those who prefer it?

At a guess because the queue capacity isn`t designed to handle the choice. It isn`t M:S. Perhaps also there isn`t a perceived demand.

 

[Lee]

The EMV - Enhanced Motion Vehicle - lives up to its name by being like a flight simulator on wheels. The flat chassis sits on wheels, and the main ride track / busbar underneath the track (like Test Track) and this chassis rides the course which is quite smooth. The vehicle body sits ontop of the chassis, and can be programmed to pitch and roll by hydraulic rams underneath it.

Yep. I have a copy of the patent documents, which say the same thing, only in much harder to read language.:lol:

I am unaware of a "tame" setting on the EMV. Once the programmers set the ride profile, it is pretty much done.
"Could" it be programmed to be tame? Sure.
Will they ever do it? Doubtful. No sense in changing the programming for one vehicle. You would really need the ability to pull it on and off the track as needed for those guests, and that is far too much trouble.

 

[raven]

So is there any particular reason that they don't take advantage of this and offer a "tame" version and a "wilder" version for those who prefer it?

It's called "rider capacity per hour." A guest with back problems riding a tamer version of the ride would make the other 11 guests in the vehicle ride the same version. If they had only 1 vehicle do a tame version the lines would still be longer. So it just doesn't make sense in that perspective. Also, there are signs posted about back problems and such warning of what's ahead. I think the video in the preshow also gives an indication of how bumpy it can get.

 

[ToTBellHop]

they made some sort of changes to Dinosaur when they changed it over from CTX--if I remember correctly, its height requirement used to be much higher than it is now.

Update: here is a posting from this website:

CTX Motion downgrades
Jan 24, 2004

CTX has been having several upgrades recently, ready to promote the new Disney movie Dinosaurs. While the animatronics and effects are being improved, the bad news is that the actual ride system has been downgraded. To please guests with small children who were previously too small to ride, the ride height has been reduced from 46" to 40". To make this possible the motion base effects on the vehicles have been reduced. One of the best parts of the ride, the evasive maneuvers following the Carno chase, is now just a series of gentle left, right turns, using reduced motion base actions. This is not a good direction for this AK thrill ride to take, as the park already suffers from guest complaints of not enough rides, especially thrill rides. Lets hope it is only temporary until the new Excavator kiddie coaster is built.

 

[gardener14]

I've always wondered if Dinosaur was in fact "tamed" back in 2004. I never rode it before then, but it's very rough today. I can't imagine it being rougher than it is and still be enjoyable. The similar Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland was extremely rough...almost to the point of being unenjoyable.

 

[Master Yoda]

The first time I ever rode the then named CTX was during the resort guest preview in early April of 1998. Right after the time portal effect the vehicle locked up in the default flat position. Quite honestly is was like a fast omnimover without the motion turned on. While this might be appealing to some it really took away from the attraction.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I've always wondered if Dinosaur was in fact "tamed" back in 2004. I never rode it before then, but it's very rough today. I can't imagine it being rougher than it is and still be enjoyable. The similar Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland was extremely rough...almost to the point of being unenjoyable.

they had to modify something for the height requirement to drop a full 6". Whether that involved updated seatbelts or a less-violent ride, I don't know, but there is no question that the Indiana Jones Adventure is more violent, as you point out.

 

[cblodg]

If I recall correctly, the track that Dinosaur (and Indy in DLP for that matter) is smooth, the car itself is caused to bounce to make it feel like you're driving over rough road. That being said, would it be possible for them to install something to the cars so they could turn off the bouncy-ness if they wanted to? For example, if someone came through with back problems they could turn off the bumpy-ness for a smoother ride. I know it may not be practical with the capacity of the cars, but could it be done?

The track for the cars is indeed smooth. The car's computer system could be re-programmed to allow for a smother ride. The reason it is so bumpy, is the imagineers want you to feel as though the rover is going over rocks and trees.

But yes, the ride could be re-programmed.

 

[marni1971]

CTX Motion downgrades
Jan 24, 2004

CTX has been having several upgrades recently, ready to promote the new Disney movie Dinosaurs.

Err... CTX was renamed in 2000.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Err... CTX was renamed in 2000.

Yes...and Dinosaur (the movie) came out in 2000. Not my website...

 

[dolbyman]

hmm I wonder if it's possible to store two movement versions on the solid onboard media... and when a CM tags the vehicle to be "tame" it could switch for a single "lame" ridethrough ..hmm..

 

[Rob562]

hmm I wonder if it's possible to store two movement versions on the solid onboard media... and when a CM tags the vehicle to be "tame" it could switch for a single "lame" ridethrough ..hmm..

I doubt you'd see that. There'd be too many chances for something to go wrong and the CM forgetting to flip the switch.

Imagine a Guest with a major back problem going on the ride, the CM forgets to flip the switch to "tame", sends the vehicle out where it goes through its usual motions, and then the Guest returns to the station paralyzed. Now *that* would be a media circus and a mega-lawsuit...

Mission: Space has a very long and involved procedure to switch a ride bay between Green and Orange, and I believe that Maintenance has to do it. And this human-error element is exactly the reason why.

Of course, I've heard that they can do a non-motion showing of Star Tours (they call it a "Flight Check"), but I don't know what kind of system they have in place to ensure that the motion base isn't activated during that procedure.



Now for the Bluesky Armchair Imagineering segment of this post:

At Dinosaur, if they removed FastPass, they *could* conceivably set it up so that they run both normal and tame versions. But, just like Mission: Space, they'd have to make sure that there was enough demand to do so. The queue is already set up into two sides, and two pre-show rooms. You could have each line with its own dedicated pre-show room, and the lines stay segregated after the pre-show, down to the load platform, where one side loads regular, the other loads "tame".

They could go even farther, and work this into an entire refurb/upgrade of the attraction. The "tame" version of the attraction could be themed as the Early Cretaceous Period tour that Dr. Marsh *wants* us to go on. (After all, even in the current version, Dr. Seeker says not to mention this "secret mission" to anyone, because only we are going on it...) And the only mention of it is in the pre-show and on-board the ride.

Additional effects could be installed that are only visible for one version of the attraction. The ride system would know which type of vehicle is in the scene and activate the appropriate effects. There could even be additional effects/scenery in the current dark sections that the tame version would see. And because of how closed-in the ride track is compared to IJA, you never really see any other vehicles while in the attraction. (There's just one part near the Hadrosaur where two vehciles can very briefly see each other) So you wouldn't be aware that the vehicle in front of you is seeing different effects than what you are.

At the end, they could still transport the Iguanodon back, but it's by accident, so that the post-show videos will make sense for both versions.

The one issue I could see with this is that handicap access is currently only available to the near-side platform. They'd have to add a second elevator to allow wheelchair access to both platforms.

-Rob