The Great Movie Ride Safety

Lights, Camera, Action!  Come aboard for a dramatic trip into the movies as safety goes hollywood!

Set at Disney's Hollywood Studios, The Great Movie ride invites you into the movies through a replica of Grommen's Chinese Theater positioned immediately behind the giant sorcerer's hat icon.  From my perspective, it is number one on the guidemap for the reason, so beware, I may have spent quite a bit of time 'mousing' around in the area as I consider it to be one of the most immersive, educational, and (yes) safe attractions around.

To begin with some basic statistics, the vehicles go about as fast as your car in neutral (approximately 4 mph according to a cast member working in the area), and they travel on a track that is completely flat.  The safety warning sign in front of the attraction warns that the attraction may be frightening for children, which is because of the suspenseful scenes including a brief scene from "Alien" and a short horror film scene from the 1920s.  However, I do recommend this ride to most children as the scary sections are rather short, and if they are easily frightened, have them sit toward the center of the vehicle and they will be farther away from any scary scenery.

So after passing through the preshow area (where a fabulous 'Casting Director' at the front of the room will ask you to "keep your party together and refrain from smoking, eating, drinking, and the use of flash photography") you will enter the loading zone.

Loading Zone Safety
The safety sign (which I occasionally joke is the 'no dancing' symbol) shows that guests should remain seated with all of their appendages inside of the vehicle.  And once you load the vehicle, you may notice that the tour guide asks you to "...remain seated throughout the show, keeping your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.  And for the safety of our cast, we ask that you please refrain from flash photography or the use of external video lighting".  So why would I want to do that?

Remaining Seated

Staying in one's seat while on a fascinating attraction can be both comforting and frustrating as sometimes it seems like so much more fun to be out and on the track.  And the Great Movie Ride does not appear to have motion sensors on the track because the cast members walk on the track to board the vehicle in the drivers' side position, and also leave the vehicle when they are hijacked by the characters.  However, there are no seat belts, lap bars, or other restraints for the guests. So what would happen if you stood up?  Well, as you pose a danger for the vehicle to move forward and there is a tour guide who is actively controlling the speed of the car, the tour guide would immediately stop the vehicle and ask you to sit down.  If you refused, the tour guide would use their onboard radio to call a manager to the vehicle, where the manager would address the situation.  But a very creative guest could further wonder, what if I jumped/climbed out of the vehicle before the tour guide saw me?  Well, the vehicle (if you look down from any side of the vehicle) is surrounded by black running boards (shown below), which suspiciously look like they might be designed to halt the vehicle so if you did jump out.  They may also ensure that if you by any other means ended up on the ride path, the vehicle would not strike you with very great force. 

Keeping Your Hands and Arms Inside the Vehicle
Ok, so why would you want to keep your hands and arms in the vehicle?  From a practical standpoint, if everyone was crawling out the sides to touch the scenery, it wouldn't look as nice for everyone else.  From a safety perspective, if your hand got caught on anything and you were yanked out of the vehicle unintentionally, that would not be pleasant.  However, I doubt that is possible on this particular attraction due to the exceptionally slow speeds of the vehicle, which is the reason why I think it may be mostly based on the former in this case.

No Flash Photography Or External Video Lighting
Both of the reasons behind the these two requested lies in the fact that there is a live person (yes, a real human!) controlling the speed and driving the vehicle that you are riding in.  Note:  the tour guide is not steering the vehicle as the steering wheel does not move with the direction of travel, and my further observation is that it is an electrically charged vehicle based off the slight hummmmmm sound and the quiet clanking noises that can be heard when the vehicle is at a full stop and begins to recharge.  So when one has flash photography it tends to distract the driver, which in this case is not only annoying to the driver, but distracting and dangerous. 

Gun Safety
Are the guns on the Great Movie Ride real?  Yes.  However, they have been altered in such a way as they cannot actually shoot any form of a bullet, but they do shoot blanks.  Upon speaking to a tour guide, one had been a gangster for a former President of the United States, so if they were able to get that close to that figure with the guns as they are now, they are of no threat whatsoever.  As added protection, the characters carrying the guns shoot the gun six times before boarding the vehicle so there would be no live ammunition left on the vehicle by the time they board, and always carry the gun in a safe L-shaped arm position except when directly firing.  At least, that's how it has always appeared to be every time I have ridden this attraction (which in case you couldn't tell may have been a few times).

Seeing Through the 'Smoke' of the Great Movie Ride
If one is an extremely observant guest, one might notice that there appears to be smoke that acts in three ways throughout the scenery on the Great Movie Ride.  There is the (1) smoke that comes in small spurts/puffs out of the scenery, there is the (2) smoke that falls and feels cool from the Anubis scene (with the large jewel and the tour guide reappears) and (3) the smoke that rises into the ceiling from the wicked witch of the west.  So one might logically wonder, what is all that white stuff and is it safe?  Briefly, yes, it is completely safe, although I have yet to find public knowledge of what specifically is used, but from the cast members I asked, they assured me it was entirely safe. 

Accessibility Features of The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride permits wheelchairs but cannot accommodate large electric scooters of ECVs, so requires those guests to either transfer to a seat or to a standard wheelchair.  Not all of the vehicles that run on the track are wheelchair accessible, but the available accessible vehicles permit an extra door to open and there is a space that is easy to maneuver into if a wheelchair guest does not wish to transfer into a seat.  Personally, I feel the experience would improve if they also offered a vehicle with an accessible space near the front of the vehicle, but the current design of the lines and the necessary pace of loading the vehicles may preclude that option.

However, the Great Movie Ride goes above and beyond in the area of accessiblity using both Disney's Handheld Captioning Device and the Ears to the World Translator.  For those who speak in French, Spanish, Portugese, German, and Japanese a set of red headphones will translate the content of the tour guide's spiel into the other languages (hint: for best results, sit nearest to the center rows of the vehicle).  When using Disney's Handheld Captioning device, the Audio Description will describe the surroundings during the pauses of the tour guide's script, and explain the scenery as you pass through the areas.  The handheld captioning and assisted listening options magnify the tour guide's script, but occasionally does not precisely synchronize with the timing of when the tour guide is actually speaking.  (although it was rather close and as each tour guide speaks at a slightly different rate it was relatively close)

So as you make your grand exit from this blog, rise dramatically through all the safety knowledge, take small children by the hand, and remember you were just part of the movies, "...the stuff dreams are made of!  Good night, everyone!"

Muppet-Vision 3D Safety

Kermit keeps a very strict set of lab safety requirements at Muppet Labs, where Muppet-Vision 3D is based at Disney's Hollywood Studios. 

Nestled behind the Streets of America, Muppet courtyard welcomes guests to the show, which runs continuously.  Once you enter the building, you first view a pre-show, where Kermit and his friends are getting ready for '...the big test screening of Muppet-Vision 3D!'.  Then, a Muppet Lab technician will appear and tell you (3) things.  They will tell you (1) not to put on your 3D glasses until you are seated in the theater, (2) not to sit in the topmost row, and (3) not to stand in front of the yellow line.  But here comes the fun part of the blog... why should I listen to them!?

3D Glasses Safety
Ok, so let's talk 3D Glasses, and safety.  To briefly explain how 3D glasses work, they function because they polarize light.  A 3D movie seperates the light as though it is projected from two projectors seperated behind you, each projecting what one eye would see normally (and Muppet-Vision 3D actually has two projectors if you look behind you from your seat) and the glasses polarize the light back together in such a way it allows for depth perception from the flat screen. 
So now the riddle:  Why is it less safe to walk with 3D glasses on? 
Answer:  Because they effect the light around you and change your depth perception, thus increasing your probability of tripping.  So listen to the cast member, and carry the glasses until you sit down and are instructed to put them on.
Another safety concern with 3D glasses mainly arises when they are in direct sunlight. 3D glasses are not designed to be worn outside, so they should not be used as sunglasses as they have no UV protection.  And because they reduce the amount of sunlight reaching your eyes, your pupils enlarge and allows more UV radiation than normal to enter your eye, which causes eye damage, similar to staring at the sun.
But here's a hint, to prevent that safety concern, don't steal the glasses! (I know, it seems obvious, but somehow some people seem to forget to return their 3D glasses so they can be santizied and used again)  And on that note, one may ask if the 3D glasses are clean.  The easy answer to that question is yes.  In order for the glasses to be placed out on trays, if they are not brand new, they have been stacked, washed, sanitized, heated, and brought back for your enjoyment to blend in with their brand new friends- there are mandated procedures of clenliness, and Disney is a very very clean company.  But occasionally, you may get a pair of glasses that has something stuck on the lens, but if it is stuck on the lens, rest assured it is very clean and sanitary debris.  So just hand it to a cast member and pick up another pair  :)

Height Requirement

Accessibility Safety
Muppet-Vision 3D is an accessible attraction.  So when the cast member asks you not to sit in the top most row, it's because it is reserved for wheelchairs and thier parties.  And, after the renovation completed late last year, there are now accessible spaces for wheelchair or ECV/scooter guests in the front most row as well, and appriopriate railings down the exit ramp outside of the theater.  The theater itself is really unique, too, as bubbles may fall from the ceiling and air movement around the space creates the illusion of the whole place being 'sucked up' and 'blown up' at various points throughout the show.  It also is an attraction that has many of the services for guests with disabilities options including reflective captioning, handheld captioning, assisted listening, audio description, and even can be translated into 5 other languages with the Ears To the World: Disney's Show Translator devices. 
Riddle:  So why should I listen to the cast member and not sit in the wheelchair section if I am ambulatory?
Answer:  Courtesy.  And, if you make a guest in an ECV or scooter upset, safety, as those vehicles really hurt if they run over your toes.  (trust me on that one)
-or-
Riddle:  Why should I watch the show from an approved wheelchair space if I am in a wheelchair?
Answer:  Because if you don't, you risk blocking an emergency exit, and the several hundred people rushing to evacuate the theater in the chance of an emergency could act like a stampede from the Lion King.  And think of how much fun Mufasa had with them... be safe, choose to park in the approved sections.

Yellow Lines and Safety
The yellow line in the pre-show room shows the strike zone of the automatic doors.  So if any guest is standing in front of it, the doors won't open as a cast member needs to activate the automatic doors.  That is simple safety, as who really wants to get hit by an automatic door?
If one is really nosy and further ponders why doesn't Disney just build the doors to open in the other direction so the doors would have no chance of hitting me?  Then you might wander through them and realize there are guests on the other side of the doors who also would not appreciate a door swinging in their direction.  So as you are between the theater guests and the emergency evacuation routes, the doors get to open into the pre-show area, or 'towards you' as the host/hostess will announce before you enter the theater.

Kermit's Favorite Weather
Thunderstorms and even hurricanes are some of Kermit's favorite weather (not just because he's a frog and likes water) because the building is a storm shelter.  So one may discover that in the middle of the summer or in a severe storm, that it becomes quite appealing to watch the show more than once, trust me, the show is classic.

So is that more safety information about the Muppets than you ever wanted to know?  :)

Thank you for reading, please remove your 3D glasses, gather your belongings, take small children by the hand, and have a magical day...

Disney's Report On Safety

Lately my roommates have taken to greeting me by literally calling out the window 'Safe D Begins with Me!' when I get home from work.  Yes, I have very entertaining roommates. But I think they may have noticed that I really like safety.  So I thought this might be a nice outlet of engaging thoughts around the topic of safety while wearing mouse ears.

So first the basics of safety at Disney...
For those of you who are unfamiliar with safety at Disney, I suggest you start with the basics:  Disney's Report On Safety.  This report (which is actually a very interesting read, by the way, and as an added bonus comes with pictures) covers everything from how Imagineers incorporate safety into the design of attractions when first building them to the basics of how the attractions are maintained every night when the parks are closed.  You can download it at disney.com/safety.

In that report, you may learn that when Disney talks safety, they talk about it to two major groups: cast members and guests. Guests love to know that Disney is safe, since studies show the level of 'fantastic' of your vacation significantly decreases with an emergency run to the hospital or any major catastrophe (shocking, I know...).  And guest safety at Disney is world-class, and even has two spokes-characters, Timon and Pumbaa.  There are so many levels of safety built into all of the attractions and the parks themselves, it's something like the number of hidden mickeys around property- the more you look for them, the more you find.  The other section of safety Disney talks about less is safety for their cast members.  Cast member safety is a bit less fun to talk about, but just as important, as those smiling, happy, and perpetually enthusiastic people all have families and friends and people who care about them who want to see them stay safe.  So for cast members, 'Safe D Begins with Me', as it is up to the choices they make every day that help them stay safe so no one gets hurt. 

So as I live and play on Disney property, I invite you to come along for my adventure through safety, as my plan for this blog is to show Disney as I see it from my perspective (where admittedly I wear slightly rose-colored safety-focused glasses, so even camoflaged safety sometimes sticks out to me).  Buckle up, and please remain seated throughout the duration of the blog, keeping your hands, arms, feet and legs in ergonomic positions at all times.