Monday, June 27, 2011

EPCOT's Spaceship Earth Layout Ride Diagram

Ever wondered what the layout for Spaceship Earth at EPCOT looks like? I also found a picture of the inner workings of the omnimover cars.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Fourth Annual Coaster101 Photo Contest

Get out your cameras and dust off the lens – it’s time for Coaster101's fourth annual photography contest! This year’s categories will remain the same from last year: original, edited, and humor. Submissions will be accepted through July 8th, 2011. Voting will begin soon thereafter. Please read all of the rules first before entering.

There will be a first, second, and third place winner from each category. First place winners will receive a Coaster101 prize pack. Prize packs will include prizes from parks including Busch Gardens Tampa, various Six Flags parks, Worlds of Fun, and more!


Click here for more information and a link to enter!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

How does Soarin' at EPCOT work?

If you've ever wondered how Soarin' at EPCOT works here is a nice little diagram I found on the internet, which shows how the ride works mechanically.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

How does Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Work?

I constructed a recreation of a Kuka robocoaster in CATIA. I used the car from my cantilevered roller coaster simulations to save time. This is the same technology used on Harry Potter (although I'm not sure if they are actually Kuka robotics arms as I have heard Setpoint worked on them).



This is probably the closet you'll come to seeing a CAD model of the Harry Potter ride. Although I have yet to experience the Wizarding World for myself, I think the main differences between my model and Universal's is there's contains 47 robotic arms and is at a constant speed rate where my base speed is variable.



I made this in about a day so please excuse the lack of detail. The purpose was more to show proof of concept that this was possible to create with CATIA. To learn more about how Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey works read Secrets of the Forbidden Journey.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Dollywood Vacations Map


I scanned a picture of the map we received when my wife and I stayed at one of the Dollywood Vacation cabins. I couldn't find any online when I was making my reservation which was kind of frustrating. We spent three nights in one of the least inexpensive cabins, One More Night, and it was totally amazing.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lagoon Park Video

It's been a while but I finally finished my video from Lagoon Park in Farmington, Utah, taken back in April. The video showcases many of the park's major attractions including the launched coaster, Wicked. Enjoy!

Disney's Blizzard Beach Overhead Layout

Want to see an overhead map of the layout of all the attractions at Disney's Blizzard Beach water park resort?

What Would Walt Do?

The Living Seas Layout Diagram

I love looking at any kind of layout, blueprint, schematic, mock-up, drawing, diagram, etc. of an amusement park attraction. Disney rides are especially fascinating to me because they are mostly indoors which makes it hard to figure out the layout of a ride. Below is a diagram of the layout for the Seas with Nemo and Friends attraction at EPCOT in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. The ride uses the classic omni-mover type system.