Over the past 20 years trackless dark rides have appeared at destination parks around
the world, showcasing their groundbreaking technology and versatility.
So in 2016 Disney set out to replace a slow and barely functional ride with something
fun, exciting, MODERN and enjoyable for the whole family, the Disneyland Resort’s first
trackless ride.
Intro - Welcome to Amusement Labs.
Today’s video takes us out west to Disney’s California Adventure where I’ll show you
the history, engineering and technology behind Luigi’s Rollicking Roadsters.
This video is sponsored by generous patrons like Felix Monteza, Joe Chabus, Brandon Wiggins,
& Tyson D who get early access and more at patreon.com/amusementlabs.
History - In 2012 Cars Land marked the end of Disney’s 1.1 billion dollar revitalization
effort in the park opening a refreshed Disney California Adventure along with new rides,
shows and attractions.
One of those rides within Cars Land was Luigi’s Flying Tires.
A reincarnation of the 1961 Flying Saucers of Disneyland.
Construction of Flying Tires ran parallel to the rest of the land opening in 2012, but
what opened was far less exciting.
Gone were the guest oriented pipes that allowed for easy movement, now requiring riders to
lean into where they wanted to go.
The ride was louder, slower, and in 2 years the ride was shuttered, the tires were tossed
and the air pumps were removed due to low ridership and increasing costs.
Construction of Rollicking Roadsters - Starting in 2014 the area was closed as workers prepared
equipment to bring in the resort’s first trackless ride, Luigi’s Rolicking Roadsters.
While not much visually changed about the ride area, there is a lot that changed technologically
speaking to bring this large 90 second dance of vehicles to life.
To better explain how the ride works we’ll start with the vehicles themselves.
Vehicles - Representing fictional cousins of Luigi from Carsoli Italy, each all electric
trackless vehicle is engineered and manufactured by the entertainment services of Roush, a
multidiscipline engineering and manufacturing firm.
Roush is also responsible for the vehicles of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and
Star Wars Rise of the Resistance.
Wheels - In order to provide repeatable and precise mobility for the vehicles Roush is
using motorized caster wheels under each vehicle.
A caster wheel is a type of wheel assembly often seen on rolling furniture and chairs.
Since each vehicle only holds 2 riders, the design is optimized for compactness.
Each caster wheel rolls thanks to a small motor with precision feedback control.
That caster wheel is then oriented by a yoke powered by another motor that precisely rotates
that wheel a full 360 degrees about the center of the wheel.
Because of the car’s design there’s actually only 2 caster wheel assemblies per vehicle
and as you’ll see, that’s all it needs.
One caster assembly is located in the front of the vehicle under the hood, while the other
caster assembly is located in the back.
With one wheel on both sides the vehicles use 2 small unpowered caster wheels located
on the sides of the vehicle with one being spring loaded in order to provide dampened
stability.
This setup requires fewer motors, motor drivers, power and allows for quicker direction changes,
tighter turns and lateral movements.
Tracking - In order to provide precise feedback the vehicles employ a number of vehicle tracking
techniques on top of the rotary encoders.
RFID -The first is an RFID mat.
During the ride’s construction, the air pump holes from Flying Tires were plugged
and a multi-layered mat was laid out.
Just below the running surface of the mat is a dot grid of RFID pucks that allow for
more precision tracking.
Scanners are located underneath the vehicle’s center between the wheels.
These will scan for the pucks through the ride and compare them to expected scans.
If there are any discrepancies due to slipping the vehicles can adjust.
LPS - Secondly the vehicles are tracked within the ride area via wifi based LPS or local
positioning system.
By establishing a measurable connection with multiple towers called nodes when the vehicle
moves the signal strength with these nodes varies.
When this is evaluated the ride control system can get an idea of where the vehicles are
at that moment.
Communication - The vehicles communicate with the main ride control system by 5GHz Wifi.
This is a private communication system just for the vehicles and ride system that talks
to each vehicle for seat belt checks, lights, vehicle status and other safety directives.
Grouping - The cars are split into 2 groups of up to 9, and while they end in different
positions, they stay in their group.
At the start of each cycle the vehicles use a different packet of instructions which represents
their position in the dance.
While it may seem that each song has a different movement sequence, the dances together are
identical.
Movements - To move forward and back the wheels are turned in line with each other.
Moving sideways turns the wheels to the sides in parallel directions.
To turn, the wheels orient to form the turn radius like a motorcycle.
To sway, the wheels orient parallel again taking turns rolling while adjusting for the
swaying motion.
At certain points the vehicle will stop in place as the wheels orient into the next position
like at the end when the vehicles spin in unison.
Battery/Charging - The car’s on board computer, motor drivers and communication systems are
powered by a quick rechargeable battery located under the hood of the car.
Located in the back left of the vehicles is a contact based plug that moves up and down
when parked.
At the end of each cycle 3 vehicles are instructed to arrive at the 3 corner parking positions
in each group.
The vehicles dock over a contact pad charger letting them charge every 3 cycles.
The plug then lowers down pressing itself onto the pad, charging while guests load and
unload.
Once every guest is loaded in, attendants will come by to check the seatbelts or help
someone into a special ADA vehicle.
When ready operators will ensure the gates are closed and locked, perform a visual scan
of the ride area, check the system status of the ride and then together will press and
hold down dispatch.
The vehicles will then receive a synchronized countdown to begin their programs, and once
the contact chargers retract off they go.
The vehicles will begin utilizing their casters to arrive at their positions and utilizing
their RFID scanner and LPS to verify their position with collision avoidance.
As the ride concludes the vehicles return to their ending marks locating the proper
RFID pucks and come to a stop.
Seatbelts and gates unlock and guests may then disembark.
The technology used shows not only how much can be packed into such a small vehicle, but
how they can all work in unison to create a modern family friendly ride.
And that’s how Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters works.
If you learned something and would like to see more please like, share this video, and
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Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the parks.