Mine Train and Overweight People...

[Goofyernmost]

Ask yourself why when a person gets in a car and one side is seating a larger person then the other side...does the car lean to one side?

The design of the mining cars is for sideways motion in conjunction with centrifugal force. When someone is just sitting in a level ride...the weight is distributed downward, not sideways. It might cause it to swing a little more when cornering, but otherwise..no noticeable affect. That would also take into account the cumulative weight. Two people weighing 200 lbs each will have the same reaction as One person weighing 300 lbs and another weighing 100 lbs.

 

[wm49rs]

shut up, I was wondering about it and a lot of people agreed. It's a good question and I never said Disney were not going to do anything about it, read the posts before you get smart next time!

Which of course explains all the "zombie" replies.....

Speaking of the dead, in before the lock.

 

[luv]

Most grown people don't need to be overweight in order to weigh a lot more than a small kid. It happens all the time.

I'm sure that engineers take this stuff into account when designing everything.

 

[englanddg]

You need to take into account the weight of the car itself. I suspect the cars themselves are far heavier then even the most obese guests will be. That will have a much greater impact on the sway than the riders.

I suspect those cars probably weigh between 1500 - 2500 lbs...maybe more. The Galacy Orbiter in Canada car weight is 2,200 lbs...so this is not unthinkable.

A 300 - 400 lb individual might have an impact on that, but not significant, especially since the weight is centered and the force is downward, not sideways. When compared to the weight of the car, that's a lot of weight to "push around"...maybe they swing an inch or two higher, but I doubt they'd be swinging about uncontrollably because an obese person is on board.

 

[bethymouse]

Being an overweight woman myself, I enjoy being able to ride the rides at Disney w/o being embarrassed. At all other parks, I have to take the "big guy seat" if available, and always check the "check seats" to see if I fit! Expedition Everest used to have a "check seat" I believe. I spoke to one of the CMs whom was a bit overweight himself, he was so kind, and he told me I'd have no problem! I am assuming the mine train will be tested by each and every type of body weight and scenarios before they open it!

 

[Nemo14]

In before the lock... Next two topics: religion & politics .

followed by pool-hopping and refillable mugs

 

[maryszhi]

So, kids, the lesson here is: if you're in line for the Matterhorn with a team of Samoan sumo wrestling competitive eaters, as uncomfortable as it may seem, squeezing into their bobsled with them would probably make for the greatest Disney ride experience you could ever imagine.

bahahahaha agreed. i definitely think the imagineers figured out a way so that does not happen.with me

 

[maryszhi]

followed by pool-hopping and refillable mugs

dont forget the debby downers....

 

[olinecoach61]

I'm sure they have engineered this problem some how.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

You need to take into account the weight of the car itself. I suspect the cars themselves are far heavier then even the most obese guests will be. That will have a much greater impact on the sway than the riders.

I suspect those cars probably weigh between 1500 - 2500 lbs...maybe more. The Galacy Orbiter in Canada car weight is 2,200 lbs...so this is not unthinkable.

A 300 - 400 lb individual might have an impact on that, but not significant, especially since the weight is centered and the force is downward, not sideways. When compared to the weight of the car, that's a lot of weight to "push around"...maybe they swing an inch or two higher, but I doubt they'd be swinging about uncontrollably because an obese person is on board.

That's a pretty solid take on what's going on with the cars (IMO!). At load, I assume the cars will have to be locked into place, so no issues there. Other than that, I don't think the force that the big person is applying is pointed in the right direction to really screw with the ride, like being permanently tilted to the side for the whole ride. And, since you're pushing against the whole other half of the car and not just the 40 lb kid, I don't really think it will be an issue. Plus, there are dampers controlling how freely the cars can swing; the cars aren't just completely free to move.

 

[flynnibus]

This is hysterical and I didn't even think of it till I read your post! ROFL neways, there is video of imagineers testing out the ride vehicle in the back of a pick up truck driving around a parking lot. It looks like the vehicle is very heavy and there for would not have an effect on a persons weight.

You missed the point - if you have a pivot and the mass is unbalanced it won't sit level... No matter how massive it is. What decides if it tilts or not is how much resistance is in the pivot point vs the forces applied.

I think Disney will account for this in two ways
1- keep the pivot point high in the cart. The higher the pivot vs the CoG of the swinging portion.. The more the less the cart will want to tilt by weight alone.
2- active controls in the dampers that will allow the ride to be locked in the center position. That will be necessary for safe load/unload

 

[flynnibus]

Ask yourself why when a person gets in a car and one side is seating a larger person then the other side...does the car lean to one side?

Yes it does. Just like you see a car droopy in the rear from being overloaded. It's exactly the same thing just along a different axis.

The reason you don't notice it in the car except in extremes is because your car isn't on a pivot and you have strong springs that take a lot of force to compress.

[quote="Goofyernmost, post: 5141845, member: 9363" ]design of the mining cars is for sideways motion in conjunction with centrifugal force. When someone is just sitting in a level ride...the weight is distributed downward, not sideways.[/quote]

You completely ignore the x axis of the weight vs the pivot point and the rest of your post is wrong because of it. The load from the guests weight is not straight down under the pivot point but off to the side as well - which is the vector that causes the rotational force.

 

[Lucky]

Speaking of overweight zombies the Sooners haven't scored a TD yet against K State and it's almost half time.

 

[flynnibus]

You need to take into account the weight of the car itself. I suspect the cars themselves are far heavier then even the most obese guests will be. That will have a much greater impact on the sway than the riders.

This is off too. I can put 50 tons on each side of a pivot.. And cause it to flip to one side with just a feather. What matters is the lever moment of the force vs the resistance of the pivot to move.

300 - 400 lb individual might have an impact on that, but not significant, especially since the weight is centered and the force is downward, not sideways.

The weight isn't just sideways because the mass is not centered under the pivot. The horizontal offset of where the guest sits vs the center of the pivot creates a rotational force.

Just like you may be able to stand easily in your boat if in the middle of the boat.. But try standing on the edge of the boat and you'll rotate the boat.

The controlling the amount of swing is controlled by the amount of resistance in the pivot and the pivot's location vs the seats. That's why in the recent imagineering video posted you hear them talking about the dampening rates.. Which is a way tocontrol the resistance to rotating.

 

[MickeyPeace]

The witch is being replaced by 7 zombie dwarfs.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

Disney has made allowances for this in the ride, haven't you heard? Before you enter the attraction you will unknowingly step on a scale. A cast member will then split up your party depending on weight.

You will be shuffled into one of 4 line ups:
"Dwarves" - for children and those of other vertical challenges
"Skinny Minnie's" - for the ladies and gentlemen of Barbie and Ken type proportions
"Pirates and Princesses" - for those of average size and prone to Disney cliches
"Wardrobes and Yetis" - for those of larger girth who are presumed to either be hairy and not work or enjoy opera singing with an obnoxious and annoying voice

Cars will be filled with people of comparable weight classes with the Yetis and Wardrobes sitting alone at the end of the train to prevent the rear cars from flying off the track.

 

[Gt2BtheGoodLife]

Think about it from a safety standpoint for a second. Would it be safe to operate a ride that had a part that moves if it were to move so easily on a straight-away? I think that's what it all boils down to. I mean of course, hopefully the ride will be equipped with safety restraints as it is a fast moving roller coaster, not its a small world, but we will find out all of this with it opens It's hard really to speculate when we don't even know if Disney has shown any testing of a full scale ridecar (if they have, I have not come accross it.)

 

[ZaneB]

Think about it from a safety standpoint for a second. Would it be safe to operate a ride that had a part that moves if it were to move so easily on a straight-away? I think that's what it all boils down to. I mean of course, hopefully the ride will be equipped with safety restraints as it is a fast moving roller coaster, not its a small world, but we will find out all of this with it opens It's hard really to speculate when we don't even know if Disney has shown any testing of a full scale ridecar (if they have, I have not come accross it.)

^^^ The pick up truck part in that shows full scale testing. And it appears that it is just a free joint, not simulated movement. I assume it would be either tight seatbelts or a lapbar as restraints.

 

[Gt2BtheGoodLife]

^^^ The pick up truck part in that shows full scale testing. And it appears that it is just a free joint, not simulated movement. I assume it would be either tight seatbelts or a lapbar as restraints.

ah-ha! thank you! ...between the epcot music and epic video of it being tested in a parking lot, this is too cool. It looks like from some of the video as well that placement of people will be important (then again, like I said before, I've never been on a disney two seater roller coaster so I'm not sure if placement always happens like that or not) to make sure the weight is distributed as evenly as possible.

 

[rsoxguy]

I apologize in advance for this, but I just can't help myself...