Omnimover

The Omnimover is an amusement ride system used for Disney theme park attractions. Roger Broggie and Bert Brundage developed the system for WED Enterprises, which patented Omnimover in April 1968.^[1] The term was coined by Imagineer Bob Gurr and is a portmanteau of OmniRange and PeopleMover.

Description

The Omnimover system consists of a chain of vehicles operating on a track, usually hidden beneath the floor. The chain of vehicles maintains constant motion at a specific speed throughout the entire course of the attraction. To facilitate boarding and disembarking from the vehicles, a conveyor belt moving at approximately the same speed as the ride vehicles parallels the track at the loading and unloading areas. Passengers step from the moving belt into the vehicle or vice versa.

One of the features that differentiates this system from other ride systems is the ability of the vehicle to be rotated to a predetermined orientation. Aside from the rails the vehicle rides on, the Omnimover system has two control rails that are connected to the vehicle via arms attached to a wheel that follows one of the control rails. One control rail controls the swivel of the vehicle, allowing the vehicle to be pointed to a specific direction at a specified location on the track. The other control rail adjusts the tilt of the vehicle allowing it to stay level even as the main track ascends or descends inclines.

The Omnimover system was created by Roger E. Broggie and Bert Brundage to provide a ride system capable of giving passengers a motion picture type experience in which the attraction designers control the line of sight of the riders. This concept also allows the designers to be able to place infrastructure elements of the attraction, such as lighting and projectors, behind the vehicles without concern for having the illusions of the attraction revealed to the riders.

Current attraction series using the Omnimover system

• Haunted Mansion Series
  • Disneyland
  • Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
  • Tokyo Disneyland
  • Disneyland Paris

• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster Series
  • Disneyland
  • Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
  • Tokyo Disneyland
  • Disneyland Paris
  • Hong Kong Disneyland

• The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure
  • California Adventure (Disneyland)
  • Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

Current individual attractions using the Omnimover system

• Spaceship Earth

• The Seas with Nemo & Friends ^{System recycled from a previous attraction}
  • EPCOT at Walt Disney World

• Hershey's Chocolate World Great American Chocolate Tour

Omnimover attractions no longer in operation

This list includes all Omnimover attractions that have been permanently removed and not recycled.

• Disneyland
  • Adventure Thru Inner Space (replaced with Star Tours in 1987)

• Epcot (Walt Disney World Resort)
  • World of Motion (replaced with Test Track in 1999)
  • Horizons (replaced with Mission: SPACE in 2003. Homages to Horizons can be found in both Mission: SPACE and in the Magic Kingdom's newly refurbished Space Mountain.)

--Two Omnimover systems have been in continuous use since their debut but have featured different attractions.

• Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom uses the Omnimover ride system of two former attractions. The first attraction to occupy this space was If You Had Wings, which was sponsored by Eastern Airlines from 1972 to 1987, when they dropped sponsorship. The ride then was known as If You Could Fly until closing in January 1989. Six months later, the old ride system was reused as If You Had Wings was transformed into Delta Dreamflight, which was sponsored by Delta Air Lines until 1996. The ride vehicles were reprogrammed in 1989 to alter their viewing direction. In 1996, the ride became known as Take Flight, and closed on January 9, 1998. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin uses the very Omnimover ride system of If You Had Wings/Delta Dreamflight, except for having new third generation vehicles that can be rotated by the riders to any angle to shoot at various targets. Space Ranger Spin also uses two of the speed tunnels from If You Had Wings.

Although Journey Into Imagination with Figment in Epcot is now an Omnimover basis track it was once all Omnimover (this was back when the Dream finder was still part of the attraction).

• The Seas with Nemo & Friends previously was home to The Living Seas, which utilized a different attraction theme as well as a different Omnimover vehicle design.

Variations

• Horizons at EPCOT is notable for being the only attraction to utilize an inverted Omnimover. The vehicles did not rotate, but instead traveled sideways during the entire attraction.

• Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT used multiple individual trains of Omnimover-like cars. While the cars do rotate, they come to a full stop for loading and unloading of guests.

• The Living Seas at EPCOT featured a short "sea-cab" trip that traveled through a tunnel into the pavilion's main aquarium. When the attraction was re-themed into The Seas with Nemo and Friends, the opening ride-through portion utilizing "clam-mobiles" was extended. Although visually similar to the Omnimover system, these vehicles do not tilt or rotate away from parallel to the track. This is due to the lack of space below the track for the mechanics and space in the ride area to place anything behind the vehicles for them to turn around to face.

References

1. ^ "Amusement Ride System - Patent #3,554,130". US Patent & Trademark Office. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=3554130. Retrieved November 16, 2005.