Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

This is why I will still go on it because I know they had no choice but to change something in order for that to never happen again. I know logically in my mind that the ride is incredibly safe aside from guest error or the very much off chance something else will happen, but it's the little voice inside my paranoid mind that says: "What if?" *shoo voice, shoo!*

They had every opportunity to make it just as safe with the idler wheels as it is now. They chose not to. I don't pretend to understand why because I don't presently work for Disney (I'm always available... VP and up only, please) but they could have and didn't.

[pure supercool]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

BTMRR has zero chance of the same accident happening again... they removed an extra part which while aesthetically pleasing, wasn't maintained properly. THey could have altered the desing during the refurb but chose to just half-donkey it and leave the part off all together.

This is why I will still go on it because I know they had no choice but to change something in order for that to never happen again. I know logically in my mind that the ride is incredibly safe aside from guest error or the very much off chance something else will happen, but it's the little voice inside my paranoid mind that says: "What if?" *shoo voice, shoo!*

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

BTMRR has zero chance of the same accident happening again... they removed an extra part which while aesthetically pleasing, wasn't maintained properly. THey could have altered the desing during the refurb but chose to just half-donkey it and leave the part off all together.

[pure supercool]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only time I feel kind of nervous is riding in the first car of Big Thunder. It's hard for me to feel 100% comfortable knowing the history. Other than that, I feel super safe.

I have to admit I'm nervous to get on this as well myself when we go in August. Knowing what happened, there's always that thought in the back of my mind. I'm confident Disneyland has taken precaution after the accident, and I know their staff are hard at work making sure the rides are safe for all guests. The fear won't be enough to convince me not to go on it because I truly do want to ride BTMRR. It's literally been maybe 10+ years since I've been on it. Last time we were there, we couldn't go on because it was going through the big refurbishment, and before that we didn't go on it anyway. I just hate being paranoid! >_<

[Sarafina]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only time I feel kind of nervous is riding in the first car of Big Thunder. It's hard for me to feel 100% comfortable knowing the history. Other than that, I feel super safe.

[lazyboy97O]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

It's not like Disney is free of ever having a coaster derail. California has some rather strict regulations for fixed amusements and Disney coming up short played a role in those regulations being instituted.

The swinging gondolas are the only ride at any Disney park I am aware of which have barf bags.

They're available on Mission: SPACE.

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel always make me think I'm going to fall out of my seat and suffer some sort of minor injury. It's not enough to keep me from ever going on it; but it's enough that I prefer the stationary ones significantly more.

The swinging gondolas are the only ride at any Disney park I am aware of which have barf bags.

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Yes, whoever, you are absolutely correct! ...However, when we consider the effects of air resistance in a real world environment, mass does affect acceleration. Here's why:

Warning: Physics below!


Example 1: Free-Falling Object
If we were to look at an object free-falling, only 2 forces act on the object: (1) gravity downwards and (2) drag upwards. Using Newton's Second Law of Motion, we get the following:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37198[/ATTACH]

The equation for the force due to drag is:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37199[/ATTACH]

where, rho is density, v is velocity, C is the drag coefficient, and A is the cross sectional area.

The equation for the force due to gravity is:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37200[/ATTACH]

where m is the mass of the object and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

Therefore, when we plug them into our original equation, we get:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37201[/ATTACH]

When we divide both sides of the equation by m, we get:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37202[/ATTACH]

So, an object with more mass would accelerate faster than an object with less mass. We can also see that by setting a = 0, we can derive the equation for terminal velocity:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37203[/ATTACH]

where an object with greater mass would have a higher terminal velocity than an object with less mass.

Example 2: Object Going Down A Slope
What if we were to consider an object going down a slope? There will now be 2 additional forces added to the mix! The relevant forces would be: (1) gravity downwards, (2) a force from the slope pushing up on the object (force normal), (3) drag force, and (4) friction.

I'm going to skip some steps here but the process is still the same as before when we apply Newton's Second Law of Motion.

In the end, we get the following equation for acceleration:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37204[/ATTACH]

where mu = friction coefficient, theta = angle of the slope, and the rest I've already described above somewhere.

Again, we see that the mass of the object still matters in the determination of the acceleration.

If we really wanted to get technical, we could talk about the internal friction of the bearings, buoyancy of the log, and other forces, but even at the simplest levels, we can see the role that mass has in determining the acceleration...

TL;DR: In a vacuum, mass does not matter when determining the acceleration but in the real world, it does.

With most coasters and ESPECIALLY the logs however, the coefficient of drag is so nominal that weight of passenger makes so little of a difference as to be inconsequential to the "speed".

[bjmort]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only thing that makes me feel unsafe is that you can take bags, cameras and coins on the screamin. In Australia you can't even have anything in your pockets in any coaster

[pure supercool]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

What makes me feel unsafe at Disney has more to do with my own health restrictions rather than the safety of the attraction itself.
considering the huge amount of people who have ridden each ride, the number of fatalities at Disneyland is very small.

This. I feel relatively safe on most DL/DCA rides, but sometimes I worry that maybe I have some lingering tumor that would dislodge itself and cause me to have a stroke or something silly like that. I'm 28 years old, relatively healthy, had an MRI before not too long ago and they found nothing, so it's purely paranoia. Though I do have/get vertigo on rides that spin me around, I should have nothing to worry too much about. I know, however, that Disney has very strict safety regulations, and that in order to provide the park goers with safety and to keep lawsuits off their backs, they're going to do what's required of them in order to keep the park in working condition.

I've never felt truly "unsafe" on a ride, though. The only ones that REALLY get to me are rides I am terrified of, like roller coasters (Screamin'). That's really the only one I can genuinely say I hate to go on despite having gone on it twice already.

[lucyPan]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I love science, I love disneyland. Awesome!

[Jj94]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Acceleration is the same. Momentum is the only thing that differs between a heavier log and a lighter log.

Yes, whoever, you are absolutely correct! ...However, when we consider the effects of air resistance in a real world environment, mass does affect acceleration. Here's why:

Warning: Physics below!


Example 1: Free-Falling Object
If we were to look at an object free-falling, only 2 forces act on the object: (1) gravity downwards and (2) drag upwards. Using Newton's Second Law of Motion, we get the following:



The equation for the force due to drag is:



where, rho is density, v is velocity, C is the drag coefficient, and A is the cross sectional area.

The equation for the force due to gravity is:



where m is the mass of the object and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

Therefore, when we plug them into our original equation, we get:



When we divide both sides of the equation by m, we get:



So, an object with more mass would accelerate faster than an object with less mass. We can also see that by setting a = 0, we can derive the equation for terminal velocity:



where an object with greater mass would have a higher terminal velocity than an object with less mass.

Example 2: Object Going Down A Slope
What if we were to consider an object going down a slope? There will now be 2 additional forces added to the mix! The relevant forces would be: (1) gravity downwards, (2) a force from the slope pushing up on the object (force normal), (3) drag force, and (4) friction.

I'm going to skip some steps here but the process is still the same as before when we apply Newton's Second Law of Motion.

In the end, we get the following equation for acceleration:



where mu = friction coefficient, theta = angle of the slope, and the rest I've already described above somewhere.

Again, we see that the mass of the object still matters in the determination of the acceleration.

If we really wanted to get technical, we could talk about the internal friction of the bearings, buoyancy of the log, and other forces, but even at the simplest levels, we can see the role that mass has in determining the acceleration...

TL;DR: In a vacuum, mass does not matter when determining the acceleration but in the real world, it does.

[theatremouse]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only time I ever felt unsafe on a ride at DLR was (as others have mentioned) because of me, not the ride. A while back I had a minor concussion. I had been symptom free for I think at least a week before I went to Disneyland. I figured I'd be fine. Mostly, I was. But at a certain point, I think I was on Screamin' and realized it was probably a very bad idea to go back to the park quite so soon. But again, the feeling wasn't that the ride itself was unsafe, just that I'd made an incredibly poor decision to ride it at the time and was worried I was damaging my health. Scary experience.

[mycroft16]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Yup. Never a doubt about ride safety at Disneyland. Those rides get checked far more often than your own car does for safety. You have a higher chance of falling down your own stairs than getting hurt on a theme park attraction.

But they make big splashy news stories so they get reported when they happen.

[Stormy]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I feel perfectly safe. The only ride I felt less than 'perfectly' safe was Goofy's Sky School. But that's due to me, not Disney.

[DrFink]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I never feel safe on Goofy flight school. The fear is compounded by my 6'5 body not fitting into the attraction vehicle. Every time we whip around the curves on the top deck the fear surfaces, "This is the time I am going to go flying off." It just takes one ride to feel that discomfort all over again. But now that I know that Disney imagneers have created a runaway flying car that will land wheels first on the the Gazebo, restrooms, and trees from Paradise Garden Grill combined with the exit covering at Goofy's would help cushion the fall of any vehicle that derailed near the top edge.

Not in jest, my retirement plans were to travel Greyhound to Disneyland. Those plans are now scary and not going to do that!!!!!!

I actually agree about Goofy's Sky School. I had forgotten about that one. The cramped ride vehicles don't really make me feel unsafe, but the rapid sharp turns do. I remember the last time I rode it I felt like I was going to fall out or that the car was going to derail on the turns. That's why I don't ride it anymore.

[Liva148]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel always make me think I'm going to fall out of my seat and suffer some sort of minor injury. It's not enough to keep me from ever going on it; but it's enough that I prefer the stationary ones significantly more.

[illusent]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Your safety is much more questionable on the 5, than anywhere inside the park. LOL!

[kirstenh]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I feel safer at Disneyland than I do at the local fair, although I go on that one too.

[gatheringrosebuds]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I get scared on lift hills of any coaster, Disney's included (Thunder Mountain and California Screamin' in particular come to mind). But that's more of a personal phobia than a legitimate concern for the safety of the ride. Also, swing rides like the Silly Symphony Swings freak me out. Have always been afraid of the chain breaking somehow and the swing flying off into the water or over the cement (again, a quirky personal phobia). However, I feel safer on Silly Symphony Swings than any equivalent swing ride at other parks for some reason and do enjoy them a lot (unlike, say, the swings at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which only manage to terrify me).

This conversation reminds me of all the things I used to be scared of at Disneyland as a little kid--thinking the cannons on POTC were real and that they might hit the boats, being afraid of plunging into lava on IJA, refusing to take the driver's seat on Toad because I was convinced that you actually controlled the vehicle and didn't want to crash into the train (dido for Indy). Those were the days that I legitimately feared for my safety.