Saftey belts/harnesses

[MattyMitch]

Hi so I was wondering about the seatbelts on disney rides. On rides such as Test Track and Tower Of Terror.

So when you load you click it in like a normal seat belt and you can undo it at the station, or until you get to seatbelt check, and then once you pass that point the seatbelt is locked and you can't press it down until you are back at the station. So how does it lock in place??

Also not Disney but at parks such as Busch Gardens or IOA they have harnesses that go over your shoulders and they lock in place. I was wondering when I was there in July how they unlock/lock them remotely. When someones harness was too tight they just unlocked all the harnesses and we had to put them back down. When I was at Busch Gardens we were at the station waiting to be on and the ride before us stopped halfway up the lift hill. After the TMs at the station ran up to the control booth a couple of times they then climbed up the stairs and then came back doen to the control booth and walked out with a sort of big flat peice of metal with a sort of 'key' in the front. They went up the hill and got a young boy and what I assumed was his mother out of their seats but only them two and then the ride went away smoothly. So I was wondering how they do that at the station.

Thanks!!

 

[Rob562]

Pretty much all rides with locking restraints are designed to only be opened at the places where you'd load and unload the vehicles. Many are electrically powered in some way, though some are mechanical.

With roller coasters, it depends on the manufacturer. Different coaster companies have different ways of locking their restraints (typically because most restraint systems are patented designs). In the coasters that use mechanical latches, there is a pedal or lever on/under (sometimes both) the train that is either stepped on by the CM, or is physically pushed by an arm next to or under the track.

In the case of electrical locking restraints, a low-voltage electric current is passed through the restraint to unlock them. When the train is in the station, there are contact points on the train that come into contact with points next to/under the track. These contact points supply power from the station to the train, unlocking them. In some instances it's an all-or-nothing thing, where you lock or unlock the entire train. But some manufacturers design it so that smaller groupings of seats can be unlocked on their own inside the station, whether it's an individual row or perhaps a pair of rows. This saves time by allowing the CM's to only have to recheck one or two rows rather than the entire train.

When the train stops somewhere other than a station, the CM can use a hand-held device to unlock individual restraints. (Your description of an oversized "key" makes me think it was a non-inverted coaster from manufacturer B&M) There's a contact point on the back of each seat, and the "key" is really a small battery-powered device that provides the proper voltage. Other manufacturers have different unlocking devices based on their restraint system.

Having a system that requires power to specifically be applied to the locking mechanism to unlock it means there's almost no chance of it accidentally coming unlocked outside the station.

In the case of Disney rides with pull-out seatbelts (Tower, Soarin, Star Tours, etc), the buckle that you plug the belt into has a latch that must have power applied to unlatch it. I think the earliest versions had an inflatable bladder inside that actually pushed a latch out of the way, but I think newer versions are electrical. When power is removed, the spring-loaded latch inside the buckle keeps the button from disengaging the seatbelt.

-Rob

 

[MattyMitch]

Pretty much all rides with locking restraints are designed to only be opened at the places where you'd load and unload the vehicles. Many are electrically powered in some way, though some are mechanical.

With roller coasters, it depends on the manufacturer. Different coaster companies have different ways of locking their restraints (typically because most restraint systems are patented designs). In the coasters that use mechanical latches, there is a pedal or lever on/under (sometimes both) the train that is either stepped on by the CM, or is physically pushed by an arm next to or under the track.

In the case of electrical locking restraints, a low-voltage electric current is passed through the restraint to unlock them. When the train is in the station, there are contact points on the train that come into contact with points next to/under the track. These contact points supply power from the station to the train, unlocking them. In some instances it's an all-or-nothing thing, where you lock or unlock the entire train. But some manufacturers design it so that smaller groupings of seats can be unlocked on their own inside the station, whether it's an individual row or perhaps a pair of rows. This saves time by allowing the CM's to only have to recheck one or two rows rather than the entire train.

When the train stops somewhere other than a station, the CM can use a hand-held device to unlock individual restraints. (Your description of an oversized "key" makes me think it was a non-inverted coaster from manufacturer B&M) There's a contact point on the back of each seat, and the "key" is really a small battery-powered device that provides the proper voltage. Other manufacturers have different unlocking devices based on their restraint system.

Having a system that requires power to specifically be applied to the locking mechanism to unlock it means there's almost no chance of it accidentally coming unlocked outside the station.

In the case of Disney rides with pull-out seatbelts (Tower, Soarin, Star Tours, etc), the buckle that you plug the belt into has a latch that must have power applied to unlatch it. I think the earliest versions had an inflatable bladder inside that actually pushed a latch out of the way, but I think newer versions are electrical. When power is removed, the spring-loaded latch inside the buckle keeps the button from disengaging the seatbelt.

-Rob

The ride was Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. What would happen if there was loss of power is there a mechanical fail dsge to unlock them?

Thanks

 

[Rob562]

The ride was Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. What would happen if there was loss of power is there a mechanical fail dsge to unlock them?

Thanks

The restraints could be unlocked in the station one at a time using the same portable "key" that you mentioned you saw used on the lifthill.

-Rob

 

[MattyMitch]

The restraints could be unlocked in the station one at a time using the same portable "key" that you mentioned you saw used on the lifthill.

-Rob

Cool! Thanks.