Cameras allowed?

[Reanimated35]

Are cameras allows on rides in overseas parks? There are plenty of videos on youtube of POV rides but are they actually permitted or do people just carry them on anyway?

[Spencer]

Are cameras allows on rides in overseas parks? There are plenty of videos on youtube of POV rides but are they actually permitted or do people just carry them on anyway?

Not on thrill rides like coasters, and so fourth. But on simulators like Spiderman and the Star Tours rides. They don't care. I say, do what you like unless it puts you in ANY sort of danger or risk.

[Noxegon]

It depends on the park. Many European parks do not mind cameras on rides.

[Reanimated35]

so then people just sneak them on i assume

[TimMc333]

When I was at Disney World I noticed a LOT of people filmed the rides there. None of the ride operators seemed too bothered by it. People film all the rides there, including the coasters...

[T-bone]

Disneyland CA also don't care about on ride imagery, the only time where I saw the cast members intervene was for people taking flash photographs on the dark rides.

[Reanimated35]

Disneyland CA also don't care about on ride imagery, the only time where I saw the cast members intervene was for people taking flash photographs on the dark rides.

so i could carry my video camera onto a coaster and just hold on to it? very similar to http://203.19.79.55/panasonic/library/imag...;ts&cvt=png

[T-bone]

You shouldn't have any problems. I saw many people setup their handheld camera's for POV's of Screamin, Space Mountain and many other extreme rides, all in front of Cast Members, whereas many other parks we went to in the USA were very strict on this rule, much like our parks.

[Reanimated35]

Do they have anyone at the ride queue entrance to ask or do you have to go through the entire queue just to be turned away? I would have thought you could either not take them at all, or only take them on non-looping coasters

[T-bone]

They have greeters at most of the queue entry's at Disney, with the exception of the smaller rides, but yeah they really don't care, it's really a non issue. However if you try walking up the queue with a studio camera, they may ask some questions, but no, nothing like what we have here where they almost go as far as patting down the guests as they enter the queue. But with Disneyland at least, rides such as Star Tours, Space Mountain, and California Screamin' have storage pouches in front of every seat to put things like sunglasses, wallets, cell phones etc, which you know had me surprised, I would have thought that a company like Disney would be wanting to squeeze every last penny out of their guests.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

That's not the Walt way...

[TimMc333]

But with Disneyland at least, rides such as Star Tours, Space Mountain, and California Screamin' have storage pouches in front of every seat to put things like sunglasses, wallets, cell phones etc, which you know had me surprised, I would have thought that a company like Disney would be wanting to squeeze every last penny out of their guests.

That's exactly what I thought! Our Aussie parks are ripping us off with these lockers, whereas Disney don't seem to care about making the extra money... Also, it really doesn't seem safe to have loose articles on rides with inversions. I know they are in a 'pouch' but they could just as easily fly out... :S

[T-bone]

I can't recall exactly If the pouches had a cover/ velcro lid on them, but I am reasonably sure they did. I feel much safer having my wallet and phone in those pouches than in my pocket, and nothing fell out, so there you go. There is of course the chance that something could fall out, but that's an associated risk.

[TimMc333]

I can't recall exactly If the pouches had a cover/ velcro lid on them, but I am reasonably sure they did. I feel much safer having my wallet and phone in those pouches than in my pocket, and nothing fell out, so there you go. There is of course the chance that something could fall out, but that's an associated risk.

Just as an example, Expedition Everest and Rock'n'rollercoaster both had pouches for loose items that didn't have velcro on the top. Now I know that both of these rides don't have very much airtime, therefore your items (should) remain in the pouches. But still, people must loose things occasionally...

[rappa]

Disney don't have a no loose articles policy on any ride. It's one of the many many reasons their rides run at such high capacity and are so 'leave your brain at the door' theme park goer friendly. You will also notice next to no disney rides have open air car designs, nor do their rides go directly over people. I also believe the liability from someone dropping something is felt to be outweighed by the ridiculous throughput they can achieve this way. The increase in park capacity and income offsets the increased insurance costs. Its one of the things that makes me laugh at why all parks don't follow disney models. Other key factors in capacity design include station designs that have you follow a natural path of progression... so you never think about which way to go to enter or exit. Boarding procedures setup so you either view several cycles loading ahead of you, or a very descriptive video of what to do. No lengthy restraint checking by operators, either a visual, quick tug as they race by, or a separate section for checking restraints (you'll never see Disney ops progress slowly in tandem, announcing "check" verbally after each restraint). And finally excellent pre-grouping of riders so no time is wasted needlessly filling ride vehicles. If you ever have the chance to watch operations at Disneylands Space Mountain station I urge you to do so, it's an amazing feat of efficiency to behold. Ride capacity is a bit of a passion of mine and nobody does it better than Disney. Most people fail to realise that the most amount of time lost in terms of capacity is the time it takes to get people on and off the ride and dispatch, typically much longer than the ride cycle itself in many cases.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

You're spot on Rappa, although the efficiency on Space Mountain isn't just because the queues are well designed, or the loading process is easy to see from the queue line, or because the exit is separated from the entrance, or because the grouping is quite natural - is mainly a mechanical issue. If the tower doesn't keep the trains running through, the mountain will eventually cascade to a stop. I've heard numerous stories of guest delays where cast members have had to bodily remove them from the train because they failed to unload fast enough. I'm unaware of any changes to the block system when they released SM2, but this was how they've always run it in the past - it certainly is good the way the station is set up for observation so that riders can be aware of what is required ahead of time, but they tend to have a higher capacity because of the block system, rather than any station efficiencies.

[rappa]

Are you kidding me? I wasn't describing just Space Mountain's station operation, but the philosophy behind each and every disney attraction. Have you ever noticed how often E-tickets have you elevated above the loading platform in the que? You can put a million blocks on a ride with thousands of vehicles but if they all cram up in the station it still doesn't work. Disney can have so many blocks/vehicles because the rides are so long AND the station moves them through quick enough. Without that you have no chance.

If the tower doesn't keep the trains running through

The tower doesn't get a say, its merely an observational position as with any ride supervisor. The attendants in the station dispatch the trains and the ride keeps them moving through in an orderly manner. I fail to see how arguing what contributes to the efficiency is either relevant or warranted in this thread. The fact that you're not really correct is redundant at this point.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I wasn't arguing with you Rappa, I was agreeing with you, but pointing out that the design of the particular attraction's station you mentioned wasn't the only contributing factor. As to the tower, read below: From "More Mouse Tales - A closer peek backstage at Disneyland" by David Koenig.

...with a faster lap bar loading system and a track that was nearly ten percent longer (than florida), the new version accommodated up to twelve cars at a time instead of 8, providing the same capacity as the original. Twelve sleds could run simultaneously on the same track due to the ride's high tech braking system. A computer opens and closes individual braking zones to maintain a safe distance between each set of cars. ........ ....... To ensure proper spacing, an operator in the tower can set the rockets to dispatch every 50, 40, 30 or, if all twelve rockets are running, 20 seconds. ... ....an apparent design flaw didn't help any. The ride's boarding area, called the spaceport has only six sled positions, and if a sled stops in the last position, the ride shuts down. Operators couldn't load and unload fast enough. So, they started running fewer sleds, but capacity suffered... ...Employees had to load at double the speed because there should have been nine slots and due to a design flaw, there were six. ...

There is more but it's a lot to type and I have to get off to work. Bottom line is the original design (and I say that because I am unaware of any modifications made when they relaunched it), had an automatic despatch that would set the sleds despatching based on a timer. If there was an issue - such as a person could not load before the sled despatched - then the tower would direct the sled in the opposite direction - the same place the sleds go when it is overweight. There have been situations when the tower was supposed to redirect the sled and neglected to do so - causing a breakdown. I agree with you that the downhill spiral of the spaceport greatly assists the efficient loading and unloading, however if I were to put another quote from the same book:

"Things we hate about working space mountain - drawn from notations made by cast members in an old space mountain log book" people who say "huh" melodramatic acting at unload people who stand in front of an empty rocket - a.k.a. comatose victims premature anxiety at load when the bars don't lock when they say "but we're together!" parties of sixteen who all want the front row people who jump back into moving rockets for guide books

Can any station or tower operator immediately shut down the attraction if there is an unsafe condition? Yes. Do they try at all times to avoid a shutdown as a cascade stop is a time consuming process to restart? Yes. I'll have to flick through these books again as there are a number of other stories in the same vein as these for space mountain - if you don't own them - I would suggest having a look. End of the day, I agreed with your point but just wanted to make mention that the particular ride you cited as being so efficient by design actually had other reasons for the efficiency - thats all.

[Bussy]

I always have been and always will be against loose article on rides. Those of you who have been around for a long time will know my point of view on this issue from previous discussions on this issue. During my 5 years as a ride operator here in Australia and overseas I have seen on numerous occassions what happens when a loose article comes off a ride. The result is not pretty for the item that has come off the ride, thankfully I have never personally seen anyone get hit but have witnessed some close calls. The park I worked at overseas had a loose article policy but it wasn't as strict as Wonderland Sydney and I did notice a large number of incidents there. Bussy