Stuck on Space Mountain

[Gary Edstrom]

In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.

http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain

It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.

Gary

[Patty Winter]

Post by Gary Edstrom
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain

Interesting photos, Gary. The ride doesn't look nearly as scary
in the light. :-) Thanks for posting them.


Patty

[Lilith]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by Gary Edstrom
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain

Interesting photos, Gary. The ride doesn't look nearly as scary
in the light. :-) Thanks for posting them.

I was telling my roommate the same thing. He's kinda wussy about
roller coasters and other fast rides due to an accident he barely
avoided years ago. Maybe I can show him these pictures and tell him,
"See? You're not that high off the ground."

The structure looks a lot more secure, solid, than you see for
coasters at most theme parks.

Post by Patty Winter
Patty

[Bob Me.]

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.
Gary

Sorta has that industrial, conveyor like, look to it. Similar to an ACME
version of a meat processing plant about to hurl carcasses of meat into the
meat grinder for making hot dogs.

[Ed]

I went on it once with the lights on. It was going so slow i couldn't
believe it. It was before they fixed the track several years ago, and
it was i think the last ride before they closed it for about a year
and a half. the tracks were all worn down and a lot of rusty areas. I
guess they replaced everything.

Wow, looking at your pictures, i'm amazed at how different it looks
from when i was on it in the light. I remember more then scafolding
around the tracks, not those huge pipes.

It was also incredbly dirty, and dusty. This looks incredibly clean
and neat now.

Glad you finally got to see it with the lights on, and got us some
pictures.

Thank you.

Your Pal,
Ed


On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:54:12 -0700, Gary Edstrom

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.
Gary

[Gary Edstrom]

Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
video I took during the time we were stuck on Space Mountain:

<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>

Playing Time: 03:08 File Size: 22.5MB

That is my 6-year-old grand-niece sitting directly in front of me, with
my niece to her left. You can see or hear two of the coasters being
released in front of us, then they come to us. I taped the remainder of
the trip down. The original of this video is a lot sharper, but then it
is 238MB in size...a little too big for posting here.

Gary

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.
Gary

[Ginny Favers]

Post by Gary Edstrom
Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>

Thanks, Gary. I've never seen a video like that before! Cool. The
Disneyland ride is all so clean and new. Love it.

~Amanda

[a***@yahoo.com]

On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:53:12 -0700, Gary Edstrom

Post by Gary Edstrom
Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>
Playing Time: 03:08 File Size: 22.5MB
That is my 6-year-old grand-niece sitting directly in front of me, with
my niece to her left. You can see or hear two of the coasters being
released in front of us, then they come to us. I taped the remainder of
the trip down. The original of this video is a lot sharper, but then it
is 238MB in size...a little too big for posting here.
Gary

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.
Gary

Thanks for the post...really enjoyed it. Especially the part where
your daughter is looking all over, kind of in awe and wonder. Brought
back warm memories of our DD's first trip to the world whe she was
that age. (jimminy, she's 21 yo now....time flies)

[Gary Edstrom]

Post by a***@yahoo.com
On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:53:12 -0700, Gary Edstrom

Post by Gary Edstrom
Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>
Playing Time: 03:08 File Size: 22.5MB
That is my 6-year-old grand-niece sitting directly in front of me, with
my niece to her left. You can see or hear two of the coasters being
released in front of us, then they come to us. I taped the remainder of
the trip down. The original of this video is a lot sharper, but then it
is 238MB in size...a little too big for posting here.
Gary

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Space Moutain
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to a hault
while I was on it.
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, but the
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on.
Gary

Thanks for the post...really enjoyed it. Especially the part where
your daughter is looking all over, kind of in awe and wonder. Brought
back warm memories of our DD's first trip to the world whe she was
that age. (jimminy, she's 21 yo now....time flies)

Thanks, but I'm just a wee bit older than that. As I said, that is my
grand-niece (My baby sister's granddaughter). My sister had to stay
home in Oklahoma, but her daughter and granddaughter came out for a
1-week visit.

:-)

A couple of days before Disneyland, we had gone to Knotts. My
grand-niece was wary about going on the 'Sidewinder' roller coaster. But
her first words after we got off were 'Can we go again?' I think she
went on it a total of 6 times that day. Then she wanted to go on all
the fast rides she could find, both there and at Disneyland.

Gary

[Patty Winter]

Post by Gary Edstrom
Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>

Thanks for posting this, Gary.

I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.


Patty

[Gary Edstrom]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by Gary Edstrom
Well, it took me two months, but I finally got around to posting the
<http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain/Stuck_on_Space_Mountain.wmv>

Thanks for posting this, Gary.
I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.
Patty

All of the points where the cars can be stopped are points from which
the car will have enough momentum to make it back down to the station,
even with a standing start. This applies even on California Screamin'
where the car may have to do that vertical loop after starting up again.

Gary

[Patty Winter]

[unneeded quotage deleted]

Post by Gary Edstrom

Post by Patty Winter
I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.

All of the points where the cars can be stopped are points from which
the car will have enough momentum to make it back down to the station,
even with a standing start. This applies even on California Screamin'
where the car may have to do that vertical loop after starting up again.

Interesting. That's something I didn't know about the design of the
safety systems on coasters!


Patty

[Gary Edstrom]

Post by Patty Winter
[unneeded quotage deleted]

Post by Gary Edstrom

Post by Patty Winter
I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.

All of the points where the cars can be stopped are points from which
the car will have enough momentum to make it back down to the station,
even with a standing start. This applies even on California Screamin'
where the car may have to do that vertical loop after starting up again.

Interesting. That's something I didn't know about the design of the
safety systems on coasters!
Patty

Several other points to note about these stopping points:

1. Once a car has passed over a stopping point, the brake is
automatically set to stop the next car coming along. The only way the
brake is released is for the first car to pass the next braking point
further down the track before the second train reaches it. Once any
braking point traps a car, the whole system is shut down, all cars are
stopped, and the system needs to be reset.

2. Even when they are not stopping you, the stopping points also control
your momentum. If you are going too fast as you move into the next
section of track, the brakes will slow you down just enough to reduce
your momentum to the desired level. If you pay attention, you can feel
this on several of Disney's coasters.

3. A couple of years ago, they had an accident on California Screamin'
where one train ran into the back of another. This was caused because
of too little air pressure in the air brake system. It was unable to
stop the train. I always felt that this is a flaw in the design: It
SHOULD NOT require air pressure to set the brake. Rather, it should
require air pressure to release the brake. That way, the system would
be brought safely to a stop even in the event of total air pressure
failure.

Gary

[Rudeney]

Post by Gary Edstrom
3. A couple of years ago, they had an accident on California Screamin'
where one train ran into the back of another. This was caused because
of too little air pressure in the air brake system. It was unable to
stop the train. I always felt that this is a flaw in the design: It
SHOULD NOT require air pressure to set the brake. Rather, it should
require air pressure to release the brake. That way, the system would
be brought safely to a stop even in the event of total air pressure
failure.

Having the brake be "normally closed" and requiring positive pressure to
open them makes a lot of sense. My guess is that the pressure
required by the braking system would be much greater than a mechanical
spring could provide, which means it would still need to be pneumatic or
hydraulic. In that case, a pneumatic system could be used against that
to keep the brakes open, but then there is still the issue of
calibrating the pressure of the system that closes the brakes. I guess
no matter how you set it up, there could always be a failure point.
--
- RODNEY

Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows!

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http://www.radp.org
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Are you still accessing RADP via Google? Why?
Get instructions on how to access to the "real"
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[Gary Edstrom]

Post by Patty Winter
[unneeded quotage deleted]

Post by Gary Edstrom

Post by Patty Winter
I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.

All of the points where the cars can be stopped are points from which
the car will have enough momentum to make it back down to the station,
even with a standing start. This applies even on California Screamin'
where the car may have to do that vertical loop after starting up again.

Interesting. That's something I didn't know about the design of the
safety systems on coasters!
Patty

You will also note in the video just how fast they can release the cars.
The video covers the two cars in front of us plus our car. There were
just 2 cast members involved in the release operation, plus one in the
control room. The work lights in Space Mountain came on no more than 5
seconds or so after we came to a stop. The release of the cars started
almost immediately. You could tell that they have done this before.

Gary

[DisneyWizard the Fantasmic!]

Post by Patty Winter
[unneeded quotage deleted]

Post by Gary Edstrom

Post by Patty Winter
I get that returning the cars to the station is easier than unloading
folks on the track, but were all of the stopped cars able to do that?
I'd think there might be some that wouldn't have been able to gain
enough momentum to make it back to the station. But it's been years
since I was on SM, so maybe it works from anywhere on the route.

All of the points where the cars can be stopped are points from which
the car will have enough momentum to make it back down to the station,
even with a standing start. This applies even on California Screamin'
where the car may have to do that vertical loop after starting up again.

Interesting. That's something I didn't know about the design of the
safety systems on coasters! -- Patty

For the same reason that the steepest grade between railroad yards is
pulling up out of the yard. If you can make it out of the switchyard, you
can make the remainder of the line to the next yard. Otherwise at least
your consist hasn't far to roll back, and you're stuck in a good spot
(barring catastrophic failure.)

Barring wheel bearing failure, or other unusual friction/resistance, any
properly designed rollercoaster should have enough slope in elevation to
gravitationally accelerate a car from any one brake zone to the next.

Not to say that ALL rollercoasters have been designed properly. If you have
ever built a killer coaster on Roller Coaster Tycoon, as I have, you quickly
learn better design.

On the other hand, in RCT, I have intentionally built the "Red Man Parking
Lot Launcher" - one car on a few sections of 80mph launch looper shuttle
station where the business end of track is just three sections that point to
the sky over the fence at the park boundary. If I catch a red faced angry
vandal, I pick them up, place them in their own little fenced off isolated
rehabilitation corner of the park. It has a restroom, a ten cent drink
stand, a ten cent food stall, a dedicated custodian, mechanic and
walk-around character, some cheerfull decorations, trees, flowers, benches -
all surrounded by a fence, and the only way out is to ride the "Red Man
Parking Lot Launcher." Nobody dies IN my park. But still remains the stigma
of a killer track that no-one will board after first use, so it's worth it
to then demolish the ride and rebuild it for the next victim.... er, vandal.

--
All ladders in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye have thirteen steps.
There are thirteen steps to the gallows, firing squad or any execution.
The first step is denial... Don't be
bamboozled:
Secrets of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye revealed!
Indiana JonesT Discovers The Jewel of Power!
visit -(o=8> http://disneywizard.com/ <8=o)- visit

[Frootloop]

Post by Gary Edstrom
In all of the times over the all years that I have been on Spac

Moutai

Post by Gary Edstrom
at Disneyland, yesterday was the first time that it came to

haul

Post by Gary Edstrom
while I was on it
http://www.gedstrom.com/Disney/Disneyland/Stuck_on_Space_Mountai
It didn't take the cast members long to get us going again, bu

th

Post by Gary Edstrom
place sure looks different with all the flood lights on
Gar

Wow, stuck on Space Mountain..
The place DOES look weird with all the lights on. I thought it wa
pretty scary when I took the ride a while ago...(went to Disneylan
to celebrate winning my lottery green card, thought it wa
appropriate) You just don't see where you're going and I was afrai
we'd do a looping..
Thanks for sharing the pics :