Toronto Met Thrill Design Competition is now an established elite experience for students interested in theme park design. The TMU Thrill Club had a taste of the experience over the weekend of 22 – 26 March 2024, braving a big dump of snow to get to the challenge reveal. One attraction design challenge, and the luxury of FOUR days to tackle it! (The Invitational has a maximum of three, and as little as ONE day to design a challenge response!) As usual, all challenge details are top secret, so nothing more to say here. Teams presented to a fantastic professional jury comprised of Peter Marshall (FORREC), Joelle Javier (TSSA) and Jake Fulton (outgoing Club President and TMU 2024 grad joining Universal Destinations and Experiences).
Author: Kathryn Woodcock
Dr. Kathryn Woodcock is Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, teaching, researching, and consulting in the area of human factors engineering / ergonomics particularly applied to amusement rides and attractions, including broader safety issues of performance, error, investigation and inspection, and assessment of eligibility to participate.
Approaching a grad school supervisor
At the start, I will say that other supervisors will feel differently. While this pertains to me, and I don’t think it is completely unusual, don’t assume faculty members are a monolith. However, 19 out of 20 grad-school applicant emails I receive can’t be considered, and many are mere spam that won’t even get an acknowledgment.
Continue reading “Approaching a grad school supervisor”Human factors in amusement rides and attractions
Virtual visit to Queen’s U
Themed Entertainment Development Team (QTEDT)
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.
Continue reading “Human factors in amusement rides and attractions”First Fridays at Fusion Studio (October 2023)
All those pandemic virtual skills came in handy to visit and present to the Purdue University Fusion Studio for their “First Friday” (Zoom) session in October 2023, talking about participation in amusement attractions and lessons for eligibility analysis and inclusive design of immersive entertainment using human factors engineering (and what your audience with disabilities would like to know!) Check this lecture series if you are interested in technology and entertainment.
Thrill Design Competition
The competition originally known as the “Ryerson Invitational Thrill Design Competition” was renamed with the renaming of the University, and is now known as the Toronto Metropolitan University Thrill Design Competition. In addition, in 2022, we introduced an Open Qualifying (OQ) competition in the summer, to select teams for invitation to the TMU Thrill Design Invitational, taking place at Universal Orlando Resort.
Thrill Club project demo
Shortly after the Thrill Club began developing a scale model dark ride for its future activities, we had the opportunity to offer a demonstration for an audience of amusement ride safety inspectors, owners, and others at the annual TSSA Ride Safety Seminar in Niagara Falls. A smaller scale first draft model was quickly completed and packed for transport! Club president Jake Fulton attended the safety seminar and enjoyed great professional networking and continuing education hours as well.
Guest speaker
April 3 was an opportunity for TMU and local students interested in theme park careers to learn from industry veteran John Riggleman as he visited Toronto.
Blue sky workshop
We were thrilled to host a workshop that has engaged participants at IAAPA Expos and informed private client design planning. Facilitated by Mark Stepanian, President and Chief Experience Officer of CAVU Designwerks and one of Blooloop’s 2022 “50 Theme Park Influencers”, the workshop is the first such professional development experience in Canada for young professionals. CAVU Designwerks is a Canadian designer, manufacturer, and supplier of innovative experience-based rides and attractions found in theme parks worldwide.
Continue reading “Blue sky workshop”Head shot
September 2022 Ride Report Recap
The summary for this month was not completed.
03 September 2022, a swing tower carousel at a fair in the Czech Republic malfunctioned injuring 17 riders. The tower continued to rotate, but the structure suspending the swings descended 40m in an uncontrolled fashion. Link
04 September 2022, a tower carousel at a fair in northern India malfunctioned and the carousel platform dropped 50m injuring 18 riders seated on the platform. Rides intended to include free-fall drops typically have magnetic brakes using inherently magnetic materials so that the brakes will function even if the ride loses power. The video in the news report clearly shows no sign of deceleration during the descent of the platform. The operators reportedly “fled the scene”. Link | Link
06 September 2022, at Water World in Colorado, a 14 year old boy was rescued and resuscitated after nearly drowning. Reporting was unclear where in the water park this occurred. Link | Link
06 September 2022 at an unspecified amusement park in Brazil, a roller coaster derailed, injuring 10 and sending some to hospital. Link | Link
07 September 2022, at Allou Fun Park in Greece, four riders were ejected from a flume ride in motion, two of whom were injured seriously. There were allegations that the riders were raising into a standing position, but no reporting on surveillance of the ride path. Link| Link
10 September 2022, at OK Corral in France, two adults and two children separated from a boat on a flume ride, with the children ending up in the water. Link
11 September 2022, at Diego’s Park in Brazil, a ride appearing to be a drop ride themed to NASA space shuttles reportedly dropped uncontrolled, injuring three riders, including one child sustaining serious spinal injuries. Link
17 September 2022, at Santiago Acutzilapan employers’ fair in Mexico, a malfunction of a ferris wheel resulted in the ejection and fatal head injury of a rider. Link
17 September 2022, at a fair in Coahuilam, Mexico, a kiddie carousel came off its foundation and tipped over, with suspicion of a fault of construction. Despite the obvious hazard, no injuries were reported. Link
25 September 2022, at the Royal Melbourne Show in Australia, a patron reportedly encroached within the restricted area of a roller coaster, and was struck, being lifted in the air and thrown. Link | Link | Link
28 September 2022, a patron queuing for a ride at the Oklahoma State Fair was struck by a phone dropped by a rider on the Street Fighter, spinning pendulum. Like many carnival rides, the operator had posted signs prohibiting phones, and relied on patrons to comply. Link
Reports of injury in previous periods
Events occurring in prior periods receive media coverage for various reasons, often because of litigation milestones (claims filed, decision reached), anniversaries of notable events, and references arising from recent similar events.
The report of the malfunction at El Toro was updated.
A roller coaster accident, with three fatalities and one serious injury, from 1986 at West Edmonton Mall was recapped, as the survivor continues to pursue a memorial. Link
Excluded reports
Some media reports are outside the scope of the database. Riders stuck on stopped rides are popular topics for human-interest stories. Also excluded are media reports that cover multiple cases without specifics of each case. Employee injuries are also excluded, but can attract media interest. Excluded devices may also be mentioned here. We also do not log single reports that cover multiple different injury cases, unless each is separately describe, so news coverage that refers to multiple different injury events may be reported here.
On 04 September 2022, a roller coaster at Movie World in Australia stopped along its path when clothing removed by a rider caught in the ride apparatus. Four riders waited in place for 90 minutes for an assisted evacuation by cherry picker. Some of the other ride vehicles were unloaded at alternate unload locations. Link
17 September 2022, power to a propeller style thrill ride tripped and the ride halted in fail-safe condition. The stoppage reportedly stranded one load of thrill seekers for about a half hour. Link | Link