Category: Club/Competition

TMU Thrill Club history

An enjoyable walk down memory lane preceded my visit to the Thrill Club meeting on 2025 February 5, visiting campus from my sabbatical away. I presented about the history and past activities of the club since its precursor (student research assistants in the THRILL Lab) and establishment as a formal club, and had a chance to think about the great careers that have emerged from the club.

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Mock competition

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).

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.

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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.

Photo shows TMTDI competitors at Universal's Rising Star venue standing on stage and in front of the stage. Some teams are clustered together wearing team polos. A large monitor displaying a competition background slide appears in the middle of the group.
TMTDI competitors and production team, 2022
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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.

Jake Fulton in dark hoodie and conference name tag, stands next to small scale model of a tracked ride, discussing it with four males in similar apparel. Other event participants are seen in the background, in the foyer of a conference seminar room.

Blue sky workshop

Logo of CAVU in gradient shades of blue, with subtitle "experience innovation"

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.

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