I almost ended up in the Twilight Zone tonight!

[WDITrent]

It actually used to be possible for an elevator to "squish you" back in the day when the lifts had the ability to peak out of the top of the shaft and overlook the park before the drop sequence.

Not again...

You must have not been there when it first opened, back when they had Goofy dressed as a bellhop in the library that takes you down.

Where do people get these ideas? :brick:

I think Pseybert is joking in reference to the prior thread.

Oh thank goodness. :lol:

I always wondered why people thought the elevator hovered above the park, when
1) It's impossible because, as marni stated, the AGVs won't allow it
2) It's totally against the story
3) It was never advertised that way
4) It is impossible because part of the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign is in the way
5) It would take the position of the Main elevator (story-wise)
6) No one has any evidence of this
8) Disney never planned it that way
9) There is no mechanism
10) When you looked at the outside of the building, isn't it kind of obvious, since all the elevators stay in the elevator shaft?

 

[marni1971]

I think Pseybert is joking in reference to the prior thread.

He was indeed. I`m told he has a wicked sense of humour

 

[Tom]

Just so you can rest at ease, as others have said, it's physically impossible for that to happen.
When your vehicle is in either the load or drop shafts, it sits within a "cage" of sorts. (A good analogy would be like you pushing a shopping cart into a regular elevator. The shopping cart is your ride vehicle, the elevator is the "cage" in the Tower drop shafts. A simplified explanation, but close enough...)

As there's only one "cage" per shaft, it's impossible for another car to come down on top of you, because you're in the cage already. (Just as it's impossible for another elevator car to come down on top of you in a regular elevator shaft)

-Rob

Caveat: I understand ride mechanics and PLCs and all that....

But seriously, as I ride ToT I sometimes think about what COULD go wrong. It's obvious that only one AGV can be in either VVC at one time.

However, what's to keep a complete computer failure from letting an AGV drive off into an un-prepared Drop Shaft from the 5th Dimension? I understand how the failsafes work, and the floor-wire, and that the entire system shuts down when the slightest error is detected....but really. That's the one place in the entire ride where an AGV COULD, in theory, keep driving into the splitting mirror.

So I'm seriously asking from an engineering standpoint, what is the real fail-safe in that area of the ride?

 

[Rob562]

However, what's to keep a complete computer failure from letting an AGV drive off into an un-prepared Drop Shaft from the 5th Dimension? I understand how the failsafes work, and the floor-wire, and that the entire system shuts down when the slightest error is detected....but really. That's the one place in the entire ride where an AGV COULD, in theory, keep driving into the splitting mirror.

So I'm seriously asking from an engineering standpoint, what is the real fail-safe in that area of the ride?

Well, I know that there are actually two sets of doors at that point. The mirror doors are just show doors. There's a second set behind them that Guests don't see that are the actual doors that seal off the shaft.

If there were to be a major failure in the ride system where the mirror doors and the shaft doors opened, the VVC wasn't at the 5th dimension level AND the AGV ignored all stop commands from the central computer, I don't know if there's a physical barrier that would stop an AGV from rolling into the empty shaft.

It's possible that the doors at those critical points are set up like real elevators, where the motors to open them are located on the shaft vehicle so that there is no way for the doors to open into an empty shaft.

-Rob

 

[Tom]

It's possible that the doors at those critical points are set up like real elevators, where the motors to open them are located on the shaft vehicle so that there is no way for the doors to open into an empty shaft.

-Rob

That would make sense. Many "real" elevators have an override key hole in the door that lets maintenance personnel open them without the cab being there. Otherwise, the doors are essentially latched shut unless the cab is there and the mechanism on the cab pushes open the latch.

That's just my one giant fear when I ride. I know everything is fool proof and fail safe, but I just can't help but wonder what would happen if 1,000 things all happened coincidentally to allow that situation to occur.

 

[Pseybert]

It is almost entirely impossible for the AGV to move into the drop shaft without the VVC being there. This would require a major malfunction in the THX1138 software (the software that also used to control the tipping mechanism back when the elevators hovered out of the shaft). At the same time, the C3P0 wires would have to overheat. No to mention the automatic ESPN stop would kick in instantly.

 

[Tom]

It is almost entirely impossible for the AGV to move into the drop shaft without the VVC being there. This would require a major malfunction in the THX1138 software (the software that also used to control the tipping mechanism back when the elevators hovered out of the shaft). At the same time, the C3P0 wires would have to overheat. No to mention the automatic ESPN stop would kick in instantly.

10-4 ASAP. R2D2 and so on....

 

[WI DISNEY FAN]

10-4 ASAP. R2D2 and so on....

:ROFLOL::ROFLOL:too funny:ROFLOL::ROFLOL: