Before the Omnimover…

Posted May 13th, 2008 By: Jackie Steele

Ah, the Omnimover. Such an interesting innovation in getting people through an exhibit without wasting time on vehicle load and unload. For a while, you couldn’t swing a cheshire cat at WDW or Disneyland without striking a continuos-load attraction… Adventures in Inner Space, Haunted Mansion, Dreamflight, If You Had Wings, World of Motion, Horizons, Peoplemover, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and so forth. The idea was simple… find a way to let people get onboard an already-moving vehicle, experience the attraction, and then get off of said moving vehicle without it stopping. But it’s not so simple as just one type of continuous-loading vehicle, at least according to my twisted reasoning. So sit back and prepare to geek out…

Continuous Loader: A non-separating, continuous train of vehicles, without the ability to independently rotate/turn/tilt. The continuous loader was in use as early as the “Highways and Horizons” exhibit (AKA Futurama) at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, when it was referred to as the “Carry-go-Round.” At that attraction, 552 moving “sound chairs” carried visitors through the exhibit, ferrying roughly 2,150 people per hour, or about 28,000 on a typical operating day. In a continuous-loader, the ride vehicles are typically always facing the same direction in relation to the track (to the right of the track, for example). Example: the new ride at The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot. The “Clammobiles” never separate from one another, and they’re always facing toward the outside of the track. That’s why you have to load them from the “front” rather than from the “side.” The now-extinct Horizons attraction at EPCOT Center was similar, although it hung ski-lift style from the track.

Omnimover:  Although the term Omnimover is often loosely applied to any continuously-loading vehicle system, to be a true-to-definition omnimover ride vehicles in a continuous train must still be able to independently turn/tilt/rotate etc. Examples include Disney’s Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger Spin, and Spaceship Earth. The ride vehicles are one never-ending train that is constantly moving. Even though they cannot separate from one another, one vehicle could still be looking left while another looks right. I’ve heard anecdotes that have said that the Omnimover idea came about when WED designers were trying to determine a way to essentially turn the ride vehicle into a “movie camera” of sorts for the guests, directing them where to look and shielding other things from view.

WED Peoplemover: Pioneered by WED (now Walt Disney Imagineering) and Arrow Development for use in the Ford Magic Skyway at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Based on a system of track-embedded wheels to push a non-powered vehicle along. After the fair shut down in 1965, the Peoplemover technology went west to Disneyland in a smaller scale. It was somewhat upgraded in that, due to the addition of a rounded loading platform, the vehicles were able to be touching one another in the load zone, but separate into distinct trains once on “open road.” Note that the vehicles do not have the ability to rotate backward, tilt, etc.

LIM Peoplemover: A further upgrade of the original Peoplemover concept, in use currently in Tomorrowland at WDW as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. This technology replaces the previous version’s track-embedded wheels with linear induction motors, essentially using magnetic force to propel the vehicle forward. There is, however, still no ability for the vehicle to rotate backward, tilt, etc.

Hybrid/non-continuous loaders: A mix of some of the technologies. In the current version of Imagination at EPCOT, the vehicles are separate, distinct trains of five vehicles, powered by track tires and gravity (WED Peoplemover style technology along with some old-school roller coaster techniques)… but they still maintain the ability to perform Omnimover-like rotations/tilts/etc (facing forward while headed into the beginning of the ride, turn right to See Nigel Channing and Figment, then face forward again).

So there you have it… what type of vehicle does your favorite continuous loader use?

Filed under: 1939 WF, 1964 WF, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Uncategorized