OT: Disney space ride

I don't know where they got the idea that it opened today. I rode Mission: Space about 15 times on September 16 and 17. It is totally awesome. You get "launched" and feel awesome G-forces, and there is also a part of the ride that simulates weightlessness. It is not true weightlessness, but the sensation is eerily close.

Many times they will have a ride running so that it can be tested out, and changes made, before it 'officialy' opens. This can go on for quite a while. We rode the "Rocket Rods" ride that way. That day the ride was only open for a couple of hours, and they later slowed it down and made some other changes.

how did they do it?

When I read this I thought about the starTrek attraction in the Vegas Hilton. You go from an elevator to standing on the transporter pad. Now, I how they do it, but the effect while it's happening was all too real, and actually left me disoriented for a bit.

Joel. phx

Warning: if you don't like spoilers, don't keep reading.

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The ride is a 4-person car on the arm of a 10-car centrifuge (5 arms). 40 people ride at once. There are 4 centrifuges in the building. Each rider sits in a seat that faces a video screen. Each car can rotate and pivot. They rotate, pivot, accelerate, and decelerate the cars in sequence to an action movie on the screen in front of you, which depicts a launch and a slingshot trajectory to mars. The landing is rough, and I won't spoil the ending. Some people have reportedly felt sick because of the spinning of the centrifuge, but no one in my family did. I did not even feel the sensation of spinning. The engineers apparently worked very hard on the movie and other physical cues to make it realistic and not feel like spinning. The feeling of weightlessness is apparently simulated by decelaration at a certain rate. You can find more detailed spoilers for the whole ride on various internet sites.

And an _awsome_ ride it is! Got the ISTC hat, an' all!

Me, and my three kids rode the thing three times when we were down ad D'world in August. It is superbly designed, and in the typical Disney fashion, they didn't miss one detail. Just experiencing 2G's gives you a great respect for all those *real* astronauts that experienced way more. As the WP article states it truly is "sickeningly realistic". Normally I'm pretty immune to the motion sickness, and vertigo that rollercoasters etc. produce, but Mission Space took me totally by surprise. I could barely walk out of the complex after the first ride!

Check out the link to the "official site" at the bottom of the page.

Solid Hydrogen rocks!

Tod "I'd ride it a hundred more times if I could" Hilty

Solid hydrogen?? Is that the "unobtainium" Disney uses for their "space flight"?

Hey at least they know WHAT to ask for :)

Jerry

Metallic hydrogen nitrous hybrid motor, Hmmmm tasty.

Dave ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Griffith NAR 14156 The R.A.T.T.-works Monterey Machine Products

1504-A Industrial Park Street Covina, CA 91722 U.S.A.

That sounds good, but I will bet the GSE is a deal breaker. What is the hypothecal performance of this hypothetical motor?

I just did the transporter thing Saturday night. I agree that it was the best part of the ride. Of course the Klingon woman roaming about is nice. AND they are re-tooling the ride soon into a 4-D Borg Invasion or something like that. Maybe they will improve upon the grainy film quality?

Yo Eleven!

I don't mind spoilers. For me, understanding the technology behind the illusion makes it a better experience.

Remember the submarine ride? (20,000 Leagues Under The Sea) I was really impressed when I realized the ride never really submerged. What a cool illusion!

Another Disney spoiler. On the Peter Pan ride, look up. That is, if you haven't looked up already.

Bill Sullivan

IIRC it does go down, about a foot. Just enough to make the windows under water.

IIRC I heard somewhere that Disney owns the 4th (+/- one?) largest fleet of Submarines in the world.

I love the VR rides, like Back to the Future at Universal. You really do think you're flying. But if you sit back and close your eyes, you realize you're just getting bounced around and going nowhere.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Before it closed Disney called it the 8th largest submarine fleet in the world.

Mario Perdue NAR #22012 Sr. L2 for email drop the planet

"X-ray-Delta-One, this is Mission Control, two-one-five-six, transmission concluded."

The windows are already underwater. You go through bubbles when it says 'submerging'. The waterfall keeps the crowd from seeing the submarine going around the track, but you could see it from overhead (which is also gone).

The ride has been gone for quite a while. We were at Dland a few years ago and nothing had taken it's place (big empty pool).

Joel. phx

I wonder what they will replace it with? Probably some sort of sense faking rollercoaster.

Remember the carousel of progress?

Talk about molding young minds.

Jerry

Mario Perdue wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I don't know if its fair to call these "submarines".

Try the real thing. I have been on these subs in Barbados, Aruba and the Big Island of Hawaii.

Also where I ate amberjack, kingfish and barracuda... len.