Ride design pet peeves

[ChrisFL]

I was thinking of a few annoying things with ride designs for Disney and other parks.

- Having to share a handle. Tower of Terror is a great example of this. There's one small handle between two people that only one person can use.

- Lapbar restraints that hold 2 to several people of different sizes. Big Thunder Mountain....and much worse, Jurassic Park River Adventure. The problem...when people of larger size (and I'm one of them, not huge, but bigger than some people) need more room for the lap bar and other smaller riders don't....so either they keep trying to push it down, or they are not secured enough in the vehicle.

- Newer rides with restraints around legs/calves. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Escape from Gringott's, Flight of Passage. These are annoying and I'm not sure why they're necessary on the first two, they just make it more uncomfortable.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've always struggled with the over-the-shoulder restraints on Rock'n'RollerCoaster. I've never had an issue with similar restraints on other roller coasters, but on that one I get stuck. My outside arm ends up completely squashed against the wall of the ride vehicle.

What are you referring to on 7DMT? Isn't it just a lap bar?

 

[ChrisFL]

no:

 

[righttrack]

Yes, 7DMT has an individual "lap bar" but it really depends on where you define "lap" as starting. For most, it's about 2" above the knee. Were the ride more jerky, it would be quite painful.

 

[ChrisFL]

I could have added Alien Encounter/Stitch's Great Escape's restraint system, but it's closed now (and it was techncially a show, not a ride) so let's just forget about it

 

[MisterPenguin]

Filling theaters from the side leading to the pleas of "move all the way down", IOW, "pass the good seats and sit way off to the side, suckers!"

If people were allowed to enter from the back and go down both sides; and the theater had a rail going down the center of the theater, then people would naturally:

• move down toward the front
• move in from both sides and grab the center-most seat next to the rail and fill outward toward both sides
• at the end, send everyone out towards the front

Yes, you'll loose that precious two minutes of time that you get when you have people exiting a row while others are entering at the same time, but, you gain back that time with efficient seating and no longer yelling at everyone to move all the way over.

 

[ChrisFL]

Filling theaters from the side leading to the pleas of "move all the way down", IOW, "pass the good seats and sit way off to the side, suckers!"

If people were allowed to enter from the back and go down both sides; and the theater had a rail going down the center of the theater, then people would naturally:

• move down toward the front
• move in from both sides and grab the center-most seat next to the rail and fill outward toward both sides
• at the end, send everyone out towards the front

Yes, you'll loose that precious two minutes of time that you get when you have people exiting a row while others are entering at the same time, but, you gain back that time with efficient seating and no longer yelling at everyone to move all the way over.

I've thought about this before and I wonder how it would work in practice. I think one issue is getting people to exit in the correct way (maybe just exit to the right, and enter from directly behind).

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Any time certain seats in an attraction are superior to others.

To quote Homer Simpson on the Simpsons ride, "all the seats are the same, except the ones that are better".

I know it's a capacity issue, we can't all have front row seats on Tower of Terror.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Exposed ride "innards" are my pet peeve. For example, I hate the backward part of Expedition Everest where, in daylight, you have a full view of the inside of the mountain's rockwork scaffolding. It totally ruins the illusion, and for no reason: it could easily be disguised with more rockwork. As KatieBug would say, "UNMAGICAL!"

 

[ChrisFL]

Exposed ride "innards" are my pet peeve. For example, I hate the backward part of Expedition Everest where, in daylight, you have a full view of the inside of the mountain's rockwork scaffolding. It totally ruins the illusion, and for no reason: it could easily be disguised with more rockwork. As KatieBug would say, "UNMAGICAL!"

The dusty ceilings and HVAC stuff in the Soarin' queue is also annoying

 

[ABQ]

Any time certain seats in an attraction are superior to others.

To quote Homer Simpson on the Simpsons ride, "all the seats are the same, except the ones that are better".

I know it's a capacity issue, we can't all have front row seats on Tower of Terror.

Single riders get hosed by this sort of thing, or at least used to , been a while, on rides like Soarin'. Always stuck on the end.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Single riders get hosed by this sort of thing, or at least used to , been a while, on rides like Soarin'. Always stuck on the end.

But they don't get stuck in the middle seat on Test Track!

In all fairness, single riders are going to fill in empty seats, which generally means the end of a row. It shouldn't be unexpected by those using it.

 

[JohnD]

Unfortunately, I'm on the heavy side (working on it). The back panel on FOP has to be pushed in after coming up against my back. I have to "suck in", if you will. When the ride is over, the back panel doesn't immediately retract. I freaked out the first time it happened December. I expected it again this past weekend. Counter-intuitively, you need to lean forward as much as possible so that the panel will retract.

 

[erasure fan1]

Mine is simple, designing the ride to be super short like 7d mine train. All that time making a fantastically themed attraction for it to be over in a blink. Unfortunately that seems to be the norm now.

 

[HonorableMention]

Filling theaters from the side leading to the pleas of "move all the way down", IOW, "pass the good seats and sit way off to the side, suckers!"

If people were allowed to enter from the back and go down both sides; and the theater had a rail going down the center of the theater, then people would naturally:

• move down toward the front
• move in from both sides and grab the center-most seat next to the rail and fill outward toward both sides
• at the end, send everyone out towards the front

Yes, you'll loose that precious two minutes of time that you get when you have people exiting a row while others are entering at the same time, but, you gain back that time with efficient seating and no longer yelling at everyone to move all the way over.

It's a similar issue with rides like Soarin' or FOP. I always seem to lose the gamble and get put at the very end of the row. Shows aren't as bad since usually your view won't be obscured, but with those two it really can ruin the experience (even if FOP isn't as extreme as Soarin' with the curve).

 

[TwilightZone]

Ride that goes high in the sky.
Can't swing your legs.
Boo.

 

[Paper straw fan]

- Having to share a handle. Tower of Terror is a great example of this. There's one small handle between two people that only one person can use.

It’s much better just to not hold on!

I’m not sure how I feel about the leg restraints yet. On FoP they can hurt, but with Green Guts (intentional misspelling) they kind of keep all the jerking around to a minimum, and even my parents in their 70’s enjoyed that ride.

 

[Paper straw fan]

But they don't get stuck in the middle seat on Test Track!

In all fairness, single riders are going to fill in empty seats, which generally means the end of a row. It shouldn't be unexpected by those using it.

Yeah to me, if you are going single rider line, you (should be) forfeiting the right for the best seating in exchange for a much shorter wait. Seeing how a lot of people who go in the SR line are groups, this is a fair trade off.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Filling theaters from the side leading to the pleas of "move all the way down", IOW, "pass the good seats and sit way off to the side, suckers!"

If people were allowed to enter from the back and go down both sides; and the theater had a rail going down the center of the theater, then people would naturally:

• move down toward the front
• move in from both sides and grab the center-most seat next to the rail and fill outward toward both sides
• at the end, send everyone out towards the front

Yes, you'll loose that precious two minutes of time that you get when you have people exiting a row while others are entering at the same time, but, you gain back that time with efficient seating and no longer yelling at everyone to move all the way over.

Skip the barrier down the middle, problem solved!

 

[MisterPenguin]

Skip the barrier down the middle, problem solved!

The barrier is need to stop a group from rushing down one side and then grabbing a chunk of the center seats. This would lead to both sides racing each other and a lot of disappointed and peeved guests.

Maybe what's needed is a narrow middle aisle for a psychological barrier and to keep the fire marshal off one's back.