Category: THRILL

Accessible theme parks

Walt Disney quote: delight all members of the family

I just finished reading “Theme Park Design: Behind the scenes with an engineer” by Steve Alcorn. I picked it up at the Bookstore during the IAAPA Expo in Orlando last month and took advantage of the flight home to read quite a lot of the way through. The book describes in a very realistic way how talented people make plans–and adapt to reality–using examples from his own career in show engineering with a number of theme parks, as employee and as contracted consultant, including many examples from his role in the organization now known as Walt Disney Imagineering and particularly the construction and launch of Disney’s second Florida park: Epcot. The book clearly differentiates the many specializations required to conceive, design, plan, build, test, and operate an amusement attraction.

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In the queue

bees on a wire, like the toys in dentists' waiting room

Any service involves queueing, whether it is a doctor’s office or public transit. The queue is the area where you wait for service. Sometimes you are literally in a line and other times you are more of a herd, and sometimes you’re lucky enough to arrive at the point of service to find no one waiting (instabus!) but queueing is a fact of life. Waiting to ride an amusement ride typically involves a queue, and this becomes sort of the folklore or fiction of the activity.

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Where is the lab?

view of carnival midway from top of dry slide, with inspectors standing part-way down the slide

Human factors research is focused on solving authentic end-user problems.  The first key to solving a problem is to define it and authentically understand the problem. The only way to do that is through engagement with end users and the problem domain. If I want to solve a problem related to amusement rides, then I have to spend time on the midway. I have to spend time not just looking at them but listening to them. If I focus on “efficiency” of the use of my time, I risk seeing them as the variables and comparing them to the norms I bring with me. If I want to solve their problems, I need to muster the generosity to spend enough time to understand what features of the midway are actually constants.

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Rider Behaviour: Keeping amusement rides safe and enjoyable

A trip to a theme park or carnival is often the highlight for families and friends every year. Although amusement riders are rarely injured on rides, most investigation reports have found that the riders behaved incorrectly prior to the accident event. A Canadian researcher is looking to change this through her research on amusement ride safety.

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