I read that the hydrolators in the Living Seas don't actually move anywhere short of two inches. How do they achieve this effect of descending if they don't actually move anywhere?
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How do the hydrolators work?
- Thread starter mharrington
- Start date
Phonedave
Well-Known Member
The hydrolators a long long gone, so they don't do anything aside from sit in the scrap yard.
When they were in place, the doors on one side would open, you would get in, the doors would close. The floor would shake and move up and down a few inches to make you feel like you were moving. "rock walls" would move by the windows on a loop to make it look like you were going down. Then the doors on the other side would open and you would get off.
-dave
What about the bubbles?
Clamman73
Well-Known Member
I believe the bubbles gave an added effect of movement to the "rock walls" moving. I almost forget about being on the hydrolaters.
But how do the bubbles work?
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
.....released at the bottom of the window and through the course of the laws of physics, would float upward.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
At this point if you are with your extremely claustrophobic mother she is in full meltdown. Crying. Hysterical. And all you can think about is how much you want to die right at this very second. The usual hydrolator ride to Sea Base Alpha is cut short leaving you to wonder where exactly you are since you weren't in this thing long enough.
And miraculously, you still stepped out into Sea Base Alpha (fast trip) but that doesn't matter because you're quickly whisked out a side emergency entrance with your still freaking out Mom & family. It's amazing how fast you just went from being way underwater to outside in the sunshine. LOL!
Phonedave
Well-Known Member
If you mean, how do they work on the return trip - the hydrolators to the surface did not have the bubble effect.
-dave
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
Oh yeah! I forgot about that part!
No, I meant on the way "down".
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
see post 6 & 7.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
The bubbles simply rose upward like in a fish tank.
They didn't act *quite* how they would if the cabin were really moving, but most Guests wouldn't notice that fact. If it were a real elevator going down, the bubbles would move past the window at a faster rate than when the cabin was stationary. (Because from the moving perspective the bubbles were naturally rising past the window *and* the window was moving down past the rising bubbles, adding its own speed to the percieved rising speed of the bubbles)
At most, I think they disguised this physics incongruity by doubling the amount of bubbles going past the windows while the cabin was in "motion".
And because they couldn't make bubbles stop or slow in the middle of the water to simulate a rising cabin, they didn't have windows inside the exit hydrolators. Just a ceiling with a little window and a lighting effect above it (that may or may not have moved closer to the cabin as the cabin "ascended", I'm not 100% sure)
-Rob
They didn't act *quite* how they would if the cabin were really moving, but most Guests wouldn't notice that fact. If it were a real elevator going down, the bubbles would move past the window at a faster rate than when the cabin was stationary. (Because from the moving perspective the bubbles were naturally rising past the window *and* the window was moving down past the rising bubbles, adding its own speed to the percieved rising speed of the bubbles)
At most, I think they disguised this physics incongruity by doubling the amount of bubbles going past the windows while the cabin was in "motion".
And because they couldn't make bubbles stop or slow in the middle of the water to simulate a rising cabin, they didn't have windows inside the exit hydrolators. Just a ceiling with a little window and a lighting effect above it (that may or may not have moved closer to the cabin as the cabin "ascended", I'm not 100% sure)
-Rob
ExtinctJenn
Well-Known Member
I think maybe the part you aren't understanding is that there were essentially two small tanks of water attached on the outter wall of each hydrolator with a bubbler at the bottom and a rotating rock wall at the back. They'd turn on the bubbler when you were moving "down" and the bubbles would go from bottom to top of the tank making it appear you were moving downward causing the bubbles to float up around you. Picture a box with two fish tanks nailed to the sides with doors in between that you step into/out of.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was trying to figure out. Thanks.
Actually, my question is, how do they keep the bubbles from saturating the outer rock walls?
flynnibus
Premium Member
Think of a fishtank... that's basically what it is. A box with a textured belt in it and a bubbler at the bottom of the box. The belt rotates in the box.. and bubbles are made to float in front of it.
The edges of the box and belt are just out of frame from what the guest sees from the window.
Just like a fishtank.. the box isn't airtight.. so bubbles rise to the top and air just escapes out of the tank. New bubbles are made by pumping air into the box through the bubbler tube.
I know about the process of the bubbles, I just want to know how they create those panes of glass. Because it would seem like they're pretty thin. How thin are they?
If they were actual glass they were probably 1/4" at best or about what you would see in your average, household aquarium. They would not need to be any thicker at they might have been holding back a few gallons of water at most.
The MadHatter
Well-Known Member
this thread just made my day 