Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida is facing a lawsuit from an amputee who wasn’t allowed to ride Montu, a roller-coaster where guests sit and legs dangle as they travel through multiple loops. This time its businessman Cary Frounfelter who manufacturers and sells artificial limbs. Frounfelter was taken off the ride while his 10-year old daughter was forced to ride without him.

According to Coaster enthusiasts at CoasterBuzz.com, Frounfelter may have a case. The attraction manufacturer recommends removing prosthesises but allows them as long as they are secure. There have been reports of artificial limbs flying off of the attraction. I don’t know about you, but standing in queue while a leg or arm flies by overhead might send even me through the chicken exit.

This comes on the heels of complaints from an 8-year old double-amputee who was denied access to three water rides, including a few kiddie rides. No word on any lawsuits from her camp.

[ttag: disney, orlando, tampa, busch+gardens, amputee, ada, coaster, rollercoaster ]

The headline for this story caught my eye:

Disabled girl barred from theme park rides

I remembered one woman, an annual passholder at Disneyland, who drove her motorized wheelchair recklessly, was repeatedly warned about it, then was banned for a period of time. So I thought it might be something like that. Turns out this is a case of the amusement park operator following manufacturer guidelines.

Here an 8-year old girl who is a double amputee was refused access to 3 water based rides: a log flume attraction, a gentle floating boat ride, and river rapids raft ride. The manufacturer recommended at least one lower extremity for bracing on each ride. Although articifial limbs would work, the girl left hers at home this trip.

Another newspaper penned the same story with this headline:

Amputee Ride Policy Up To Parks

I’m sorry for 8-year old girl, who is quite capable enough to swim in the National Junior Disabilty Championships (think Disabiilty Olympics for youth), is denied access to rides that look safe enough from her viewpoint. But she falls into that grey area where parks can be held liable if they’re found to not be looking out for the safety of their guests. Right now what that safety is is defined by the ride manufacturer. I’m not all sure that is a good idea, as the manufacturer is still likely to take their profits into account when setting these standards.

If you want to get into another major discussion start to question if the ADA requires that all rides be designed to be disabled accessible. Then pair that with the recent court ruling in California that suggests theme parks to be held to a higher level of liability for their attractions. It puts theme park operaters between a rock and a hard place.

The recently publicized death and injuries at Walt Disney World probably has themeparks keeping a watchful eye on any safety violations. In the end, I think that is a good thing.

[ttags: Technorati Tags: disney, themepark, theme+park, busch, buschgardens, tampa, orlando, amusement, imagineering, ride+design ]

I’ve received a helpful letter from someone with more details on how Disney’s finger scanning technology works. It appears I was mis-informed about all the data being stored on the magnetic strip portion of the card, just the identifying info for the card is stored there. But putting more information than that on them is not practical:

Basically the cards require a special type of machine to write the magnetic data, much like the machines used to create credit cards and drivers licenses. The turn-styles themselves only have the ability to read data off of the magnetic strip, not write to it. The magnetic strip only has enough room for a few bytes of data anyway.

There’s also some more interesting information on how you might be able to get around Disney’s one person, one card rule. I’ve heard of someone ‘losing’ their card, getting a new one issued with no associated finger info, then trading that one to a new owner. This works best if you don’t sign the card infront of the cast member who issues you a new one.

It does make since that you would still be able to ’switch’ the cards though. When a new ticket is issued it has a different ticket number because the old ticket is voided out, thus separate finger data is associated with it. This is also the reason the machines are sometimes slow of break down. If they lost communication with the ticket data server, that can’t validate the authenticity of the ticket or the finger dimensions. Every turn-style, fast pass machine, and ticket sales computer, guest relations computer, and numerous other systems all read from this same ticketing database.

Another reason for not storing any more information on the ticket itself is that it would make them easier to counterfeit. With the right software and equipment one could just write their own ‘blank’ tickets for anyone to use. With the data stored centrally, one would have to actually have access to that server to change the data on it.

Hopefully this sheds a little more light on the finger scanning process, exactly what the ticket machines can and can’t do. Does it make me feel like my privacy is being invaded. No, I don’t think so. I’m actually happy that they can track how often I’m at the park, what my favorite fastpass rides are, etc. Someday that might add up to better customer service for guests like me.

Well it appears the day went off fairly well, all things considered. The park was packed at times, but the gates never closed. Here’s a look around the net at some of the coverage.

LaughingPlace.com kept sending photos of the event in real time via it’s ‘LIVE‘ cameraphone feature.

The official 50th Anniversary Podcasts.

The OC Metblog has a happy birthday post and a post detailing what gifts cast members received.

DisneyMike has a photo of the cupcake guests were served and a small write up of the event.

Chris posted some photos from the day.

Jeff and Cory reported on the days events over at JimHillMedia.

I celebrated with a quick trip to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Sadly it was a pale reflection of the original in California. The only evidence of the occaision was a few t-shirts worn by guests and a newly guilded castle. No parkwide announcement or happy birthday song, nada (although I might have missed something in the morning).

[ttags: disneyland, disney, dlr, 50th, unclewalt, walt+disney, waltdisney, anaheim ]

I’m not going to track the happenings at Disneyland minute by minute today. If you’re interested in that I recommend visiting LaughingPlace.com. But I thought it was interesting that reports have already surfaced about there being 20,000 people in line to get into Disneyland by 3AM Pacific Time. They’ve queued them up inside DCA and will shuffle them into Disneyland for an early 7AM opening.

Looks like the possibility of Disneyland reaching capacity today is very real. That means once you’re in the park you have to stay in, guests leaving the park will not be allowed re-admittance if the park is still at capacity. If you were smart enough to book a room at a Disneyland Resort Hotel, then you will be allowed to re-enter even if the gates are closed. Btw, capacity for Disneyland is a fluid number. It depends on how many attractions are up and running that day, what the weather is like, and the availability of open space. Right now the number can range anywhere from 60,000 to 82,000.

[ttags: disneyland, dlr, disney, 50th, birthday, themeparks, theme+park, imagineering, laughingplace, disneyblog ]

Dear Disneyland,

There’s been a lot of celebrating going on. But I’m afraid the real real reason for the happiness has been lost amid the corporate boardroom battles, budget issues, marketing gobbledygook, and the need to appease the behemoth your legacy has become. But don’t worry, we fans remember you. We know that it’s your birthday and we still care.

Your birth was aired nationwide on live TV. You had a ton of celebrities as guests, a future American President as MC, and Walt Disney, your father and a national icon, was there to make sure every last rail was polished and the show in ship shape. And what a show it was. It was a day never to be forgotten.

Oh yes, we’ve all heard the stories of the disaster that day became. Twice as many people entered the park was tickets were printed (good thing we have finger scanners today), the water fountains didn’t work (but hey the bathrooms did and I think that was more important), ladies heels were caught in the still drying asphalt of the park, the Mark Twain nearly sank before it was even officially dedicated, and the Autopia barely made it through the day with any cars left to drive.

You’ve come a long way since those early days. You debuted the first tubular steel roller-coaster – The Matterhorn, built the House of The Future, led the world in fireworks, launched stage shows that landed on Broadway, and amazed the world with an Audio-Animatronic President Lincoln. Those are just a few of the many highlights to chose from as you strove to maintain your status as the Crown Jewel of Disney Theme parks, and all themeparks around the world.

Yes, you’ve had a lot of help. From the earliest Imagineers (Ryman, Hench, McKim, Anderson), to the first great cast members who developed the innovative programs that Disney is now known for from Scratch (Van France, Nunis, Sklyar), to the thousands of Cast Members who have past through those gates with the simple mission to make someone smile and put on the show for their guests.

But it was only made possible through the vision of one man. One man who wanted to have a place where families could vacation and enjoy activities together. A place where the simple truths and hard facts about America and what it means to be an American could be explored and enjoyed. One man whose dream became reality and whose vision is now in our hands.

It’s been an amazing first 50 years. But it’s just the beginning. America is likely to experience change, rough patches, and adjustment
as we meet the new economic forces from Asia and face the challenges of
the war on terror. Today’s youth are weened on video games and schooled in multi-tasking. Technology is changing so fast these days it is impossible to keep up with the pace of change. It’s easy to see that meeting the needs of the future will keep Walt Disney’s Imagineers busy for generations to come.

So here’s to the next 50 years, and then the 50 after that, and so on. I wish I could be there to share this magical birthday with you. I’ll be at your younger sibling in Florida instead. But I’ll blow out a few candles in your honor and make a wish that today will be great, and tomorrow even better.

So, Happy Birthday Disneyland and Thank You Walt.

[ ttags: disneyland, disney, 50th, 1955, themepark, theme+parks, waltdisney, unclewalt, disneyblog, themeparks, imagineering, imagineer, party, birthday, 071705 ]

One of the most frequent email questions I get is in regards to the finger scanning system that is now required for admission into the Walt Disney World properties.

Tripp asked: Do you have any additional info on the story on local6.com - http://www.local6.com/news/4724689/detail.html – about Disney requiring the finger printing/scanning of ALL guests?

I’ve attempted to find a contact email address on the Disney sites but it appears as though they’ve purposefully removed any form of actually communicating with the company.

This gets overblown in the news. They don’t scan your fingerprints at all. Instead they measure the distance between a few key points on your fingers (mostly your finger joints and tips) then store that data on the magnetic strip on your card. Then next time you try to use the card the ticket machine matches the measurements on the card with the measurements of the person whose fingers are in the machine. If they match you’re through.

Your finger measurement data is discarded when the ticket expires (either through use or through time limitation). Disney does not currently keep a Customer Relations Management system that tracks your purchases. I think they should, but it should be optional for the customer (like a grocery store’s card). Apparently there is a contractual obligation with one of their sponsors that prevents it right now.

My biggest problems with the new system is that it:

a) slows down the system. New guests are constantly trying to figure out how the system works or don’t know that it’s now important that the same person use each ticket throughout the trip. Giving all the tickets to one person for safekeeping doesn’t work unless you’ve put the name of each person on the ticket first (which is why Disney wants you to sign the ticket I think).

b) those finger scanners can get a little yucky if someone in front of you has something on their fingers. I think Disney could solve this by making hand-sanitizer stations available as you walk into the park.

c) breaks down frequently. I’m often in line when the scanner / ticket machine just stops working or it won’t read a card. Now everyone in line is held up while that person is being dealt with.

Is this a violation of your privacy? That’s for you to decide. Your right as a consumer is to not give Disney your money if you don’t like the system.

Now as for Disney’s communication with guests being difficult, that I agree with 1000 percent. Why don’t they have blogs with people from Guest Communications answering guest comments? Why must you fill out a poorly designed form on the main website with limited options to communicate with anyone there? It’s 2005 and the folks at the Mouse House are still asleep on this one.

Hope that answers your questions.

-John

Disney, as you know, is in the Coke camp. The Busch themeparks serve Pepsi. Disneyland used to serve both colas depending on what venue you were in (The Golden Horseshoe was a Pepsi joint). Well, with the proliferation of the Long Tail causing Coke and Pepsi to invent new products like so much celluler division, I’ve often wondered why choices are so limited at the parks.

It’s probably a time issue, they don’t want guests standing in line having to chose between 10 choices. Epcot did have Ice Station Cool where you could taste 8 different flavors from around the globe. Watermelon Coke was good, Beverly … well let’s just say it must be an acquired taste. But Ice Station Cool is under re-hab and word hasn’t leaked to me if Beverly will stick around or if they’ll be introducing some of their new flavors.

Cruft, has been wondering about one of those new flavors – Coke Zero. How does it differ from Diet Coke? Why should he buy it? Is it safe to give to his children? So he called up Coke and asked them about it, hilarity ensues.