Lights Up on our Favorite Dark Rides!

[MicBat]

Twice I've had to walk off test track, luckily both times I was inside,and at the same place right before the crash test going outside and thankfully not outside on the incline as it was blazing hot out. I tried to snap off some pic , but was politley asked no to, oh well. There were no extra lights on where we walked as its not that dark anyways tho the cms did have flashlights.

As we were walking thru the halls which led to the gm showroom area, I asked the cm, jokingly, if we get an "I had to walk out of test track" pin.he mustve been having a bad day as he grunted at me and gave me a fastpass for later.

The most annoying thing was they never stopped the bgm loop.

Ugh.. I assume you rode during the day... as in before 3:00?? No picture taking?! That's ridiculous! I always encourage it... It makes people happy... "people pay big bucks for these behind the scenes tours!" :lol:

 

[mikesenger]

The lights went on one time just as the first car in our group went over the top hill on Space Mountain. We rode the whole thing with the lights on! it was actually pretty exciting, because you could see all the metal. kinda made it scary again, like when i was little.

 

[Jekyll]

The one time I've been lucky enough to be evacuated from an attraction was for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland. The lights on didn't change anything much, but getting to walk to the exit made it easier to find a hidden Mickey, as well as spend some time looking at the Max, Buff, and Melvin heads "hidden" in one of the rooms.
I have, however, been lucky enough to see most of the attractions at Disneyland with the lights on and walk through them. Disneyland held a special employee night and allowed us to get a behind-the-scenes look at a lot of the best ones. Haunted Mansion was great, especially the "ghost will follow you home" part. How they did it surprised me. I figured the ghosts were just projections.
We were also allowed to ride Space Mountain with the lights on (very plain, but cool anyway), walk through Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, walk through a small part of Indiana Jones (I was also surprised at how they do the beginning door effect), and watch the Star Tours cabs in motion from the floor. They reminded me of bu-cking (I had to put the dash in their or the dirty language police attack for some reason) broncos and seemed almost alive.
I have some pictures of behind the scenes stuff on Star Tours, the Submarine Voyage, Mission to Mars, and maybe a Space Mountain shot or two, but they were taken with a disposable camera, so aren't exactly worth posting.
Personally, I don't feel it ruins the attraction to see it with the lights on. For me, it enhances it, because I can see the work and detail put into it.

I couldn't agree more. It give you a better appercation (if your an adult) about all the effort that goes into bring us the magic that all us disney heads apperciate on a daily basis while we are there. If there is anything else you want to share as far as some of the things you noticed please do!!!

 

[bgraham34]

Space Mountain is the only one I have seen with the lights on.

 

[RoninHood]

how bout "lights out" on some your non-favorite rides!
boy i sure can name a few.
like the new "your imganition ride with figment",just turn the lights out and i'll just use my imagination on what it used to be like with the dreamfinder!

 

[DisneyFreak529]

I was on POTC when he sound & music stopped. It was soo weird because all you could hear were the AA moving around. Really creepy!!

Thanks for the video I loved it, to cool!!

 

[Jekyll]

This is one of my favorite old threads and I always like to bring it back from time to time.

 

[hrcollectibles]

Thanx for bumping this thread

 

[Jekyll]

Thanx for bumping this thread

No problem it's one of my favorites and has a lot of great stuff in it.

 

[brertigger]

This is one of my favorite threads too.

My adventures:
-HM lights came on after long breakdown

-Tiki worklights on for entire show, no evac necessary (that would be a long walk, wouldn't it? :lol: ).

-TT worklights came on inside briefly once, then shutoff again (maybe someone hit the wrong switch??)

-Splash Mountain broke down and worklights came one (they are hidden quite well, even when they are on). They got it working again after a little while.

-Space Mountain- stopped for some reason when I was on the first lift hill. They let us ride the entire ride with the lights on, and then go to the front of the line and ride it again (without even walking through the queue) with the lights off. When the lights were on, it was odd because CMs had to manually advance our rocket through practically the whole ride from different consoles throughout the building.

Speaking of Space, what things cause the ride to stop and the lights to come on, but do not require an evac to get it started again?

 

[dreamscometrue]

A few Holiday Seasons ago we had the Epcot Salaried and Office And Technical Cast Member Holiday party in Tomorrowland. It was a nice gig with a one hour time frame of Space Mountain being available for us to ride with the lights on. It was truly a unique experience. Made me want the lights off. Lots of tight turns and clearances with beams.

I've always wondered how much clearance there is on SM. I know that it has to be designed so that some moron could put up their arms without them being ripped off of their bodies, but I always feel like I'm going to have my head knocked off.

There must be some kind of building code for clearances. Anyone know how much room there actually is? Just curious.

 

[marni1971]

It`s quite safe. This was well taken into account by George McGinnis in 1972-3, and is covered by the EPCOT building code of 1970.

 

[dreamscometrue]

I thought so...thanks!

 

[hokielutz]

well lets see here....

I got stopped & evac'd on the Universe of Energy, Living Seas, HM, and WedWay.

I did get to see SM with the lights on following an e-stop while in line.... its really amazing to see that steel structure.

And something that I haven't seen posted yet... is getting stopped during a complete power failure. We were on Imagination v1.0 when all of a sudden.. everything went dark and the ride stopped. It was completely pitch black for a couple minutes and nothing moved. The power came back up and with it the lights. Then the animation lights started... but none of the animatronics moved and neither did the cars. After about 20-30 minutes of listening to a recording of a CM say please stay seated as the ride could begin anytime... blah blah blah... they finally came out and picked everyone up. It was a lot of fun seeing the backstage in that ride.

 

[marni1971]

^ The JII ride system was managable at best, a nightmare at worst. To restart from a 101 like that would be only second to restarting the UoE in a worst case scenario - resetting the entire attraction manually!

 

[Mr Disney]

^ The JII ride system was managable at best, a nightmare at worst. To restart from a 101 like that would be only second to restarting the UoE in a worst case scenario - resetting the entire attraction manually!

What does resetting those rides manually entail? I'm so fascinated... you don't get much "backstage-technical-magic" when you work as an Admissions Cast Member at PI...

 

[yeti]

Here's a unique adventure.
I head over to Carousel of Progress, no wait at all. The very last scene, taking place in the "future", had some technical difficulties. I was already waiting impatiently for the show to finally end. That last scene ends and I remain seated until further instruction as the cast member said. Next thing I know the whole scene starts all over again. And again. And again. And again. And again. It must've played at least 5x! "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow...Its a great big beautiful tomorrow..Its a great..." I was jumping for joy when they finally let us out.

One thing I can say is that I had that song crammed into my head for the rest of the day! :brick: :brick: :brick:

 

[marni1971]

What does resetting those rides manually entail? I'm so fascinated... you don't get much "backstage-technical-magic" when you work as an Admissions Cast Member at PI...

In a nutshell, if UoE goes major 101 then the guests are walked out of the building. After that, the system reboots as if it was opening up in the morning - but everything is in the wrong place. Each theatre car has to be driven manually to it`s position. They are driven with dials; no steering wheels - following 2 displays in the manual repo compartment - showing you if you are on or off the hidden wire / puck.

In a full manual reset all RCS and waysides are down - you are on your own. This means it is possible to hit scenery, other vehicles etc. - tricky in the curving Dinorama section. And this has to be done for all 12 vehicles separately. Before you can finally repo, the turntables have to be manually set to accept the cars in both theatres - not forgetting to manually open the show doors and curtains when needed. And each vehicle needs to be parked in it`s exact position on the turntable wheel strips so they don`t bog down on the carpet and are all lined up with their inductive chargers.

Once this is done you can reboot the system and check everything from showlighting to projection film is reset too. And then test the attraction. No wonder if it`s late on in the day Energy dosn`t usually reopen that day.

Lots more info on UoE at http://energy.planet7.org/ - click on the energy pavilion.

 

[DocMcHulk]

Once when we were on PeopleMover (or 'Tomorrowland Transit Authority') and got to the part with Space Mountain. All the lights were on.Was really cool seeing the planets hung up and things. I was only young and can't remember it exactly but it was cool to see. No pictures I'm afraid though!

THat happened to us this past November when my wife and I were down there. I have about 7 seconds of video. i couldnt get the camera turned on fast enough to videotape the whole thing while we rode through space mountain.
I can track dwon the video if anyone wants to see.

 

[Mr Disney]

In a nutshell, if UoE goes major 101 then the guests are walked out of the building. After that, the system reboots as if it was opening up in the morning - but everything is in the wrong place. Each theatre car has to be driven manually to it`s position. They are driven with dials; no steering wheels - following 2 displays in the manual repo compartment - showing you if you are on or off the hidden wire / puck.

In a full manual reset all RCS and waysides are down - you are on your own. This means it is possible to hit scenery, other vehicles etc. - tricky in the curving Dinorama section. And this has to be done for all 12 vehicles separately. Before you can finally repo, the turntables have to be manually set to accept the cars in both theatres - not forgetting to manually open the show doors and curtains when needed. And each vehicle needs to be parked in it`s exact position on the turntable wheel strips so they don`t bog down on the carpet and are all lined up with their inductive chargers.

Once this is done you can reboot the system and check everything from showlighting to projection film is reset too. And then test the attraction. No wonder if it`s late on in the day Energy dosn`t usually reopen that day.

Lots more info on UoE at http://energy.planet7.org/ - click on the energy pavilion.

:lookaroun :dazzle: Thanks for the description! That's fascinating to me! :wave: