Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Peyton B Buhler

Derek Lee Howard

A roller coaster with a vehicle rolling under gravity along a track defining a ride path. The vehicle includes a chassis coupled to the track to roll on one or more surfaces of the track, and the vehicle includes a passenger compartment mounted on the chassis. The coaster also includes a compartment positioning mechanism that operates to move, such as with yaw, the passenger compartment between a first position in a passenger load/unload section of the ride path and one or more differing positions in the gravity-based ride section of the ride path. The coaster includes a power supply assembly with a charging element mounted on the track. The power supply assembly includes an onboard energy storage mounted on the vehicle that is charged by the charging element. The onboard energy storage powers the compartment positioning mechanism to move the passenger compartment between the first and second positions.

Roller coaster with passenger compartment motion powered through stored onboard energy

A system for examining intrusions of a physical environment into a reach envelope of a vehicle traveling along a length of track. The system includes a test skid including a chassis with front and rear wheel assemblies each adapted for rollably engaging the track. The test skid may further include a laser measuring scanner supported on an upper surface of the chassis and adapted for scanning a vertical plane orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the chassis to measure a plurality of distances between the laser measuring scanner and surfaces of the physical environment when the test skid moved along the track. The system also includes a test controller executing an examination program to determine a real world envelope based on the measured distances from the laser measuring scanner and to determine intrusions by comparing a reach envelope for the vehicle with the determined real world envelope.

Electronic reach envelope intrusion examiner

A round ride configured to provide lateral flight or movement of the passenger vehicle. The ride includes a vehicle support or boom arm that includes a four-bar linkage with: a base link affixed to the rotating hub; a crank or driver link rotating about a pivotal connection with this base link by a rotary actuator; a vehicle support link pivotally connected at one end to the crank or driver link to move with this link and at a second or outboard end to a coupler that supports the vehicle; and a follower or connector link pivotally connected at its ends to the base link and vehicle support link. As the crank or driver link is rotated, the guest compartment moves along a motion profile defining irregular vertical movement (not simply a preset arc) and providing lateral movement, which changes the ride dynamics including changing vehicle velocity with varying vehicle radii.

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Burbank, CA, United States of America

Peyton B Buhler