Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

[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.

[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

[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".

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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! >_<

[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?

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?

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.

[DreamsofColor]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only time I've ever felt uncomfortable/unsafe in a ride at Disney was when our rocket on Space Mountain came to a stop (in the dark) and you could still hear the other rockets going around the track. While I knew there was no real danger here, it was still an uneasy feeling imagining another rocket colliding with ours.

Other than that, I have always had the most trust in any Disney attraction. Carnival rides on the other hand...

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

The only time I've ever felt uncomfortable/unsafe in a ride at Disney was when our rocket on Space Mountain came to a stop (in the dark) and you could still hear the other rockets going around the track. While I knew there was no real danger here, it was still an uneasy feeling imagining another rocket colliding with ours.

Other than that, I have always had the most trust in any Disney attraction. Carnival rides on the other hand...

They have linear brakes all over the place... in a complete power outtage, maybe I'd be concerned... in a random stop.. not so much.

[Mom kissed Walt]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

If I really stop to think about it for too long then, no I cannot say perfectly safe, because there have been deaths and, you are never in life completely safe, anywhere.

But I certainly feel more safe being there than getting there

[alphabassetgrrl]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I feel safe pretty much everywhere. There are a few things and times which can make me a touch nervous, but not the rides at Disney.

[captain]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

No matter where I'm at, ferris wheels will always make me feel unsafe. I absolutely cringe whenever I go on the one at DCA. It's tall and it swings around, and absolutely makes me feel unsafe. Also, it's over water, which makes it worse.

[ScottG]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I feel pretty safe anywhere in the park. But I also realize that just like air disasters, that safety has come at the cost of incidents where others have been hurt or killed.
I think it would be short sighted to ever think that Disney has covered every possible scenario with every ride. Failure modes will cascade in unpredictable ways to make rides dangerous - if only by some very small chance.
So I never let my guard down in as much as I don't do anything stupid or reckless to contribute to that potential.

[whoever]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Safer than WDW. Heck.. you can leave your handgun on WDW attractions for future riders to discover.

[PhonyKingOfEngland]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

[PinocchioGuy]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

I feel safe on Disney attractions. If there in fact was something obstructing a ride track Im sure a CM would stop the attraction because they have multiple people manning the cameras on each ride.

[Chesire]

Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?

Expedition Everest is the only one I feel nervous on -- mostly from fear of the backwards in the dark part, and the unstable Yeti.