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).
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.
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).
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!"
