Cast Member Fun?

[waltenthusiast]

The last time i went to DL was on jan 2nd of this year....the first ride i hit was SM (it being my favorite) and it went the normal speed. then, at about nine pm i got in line again for it...two hour wait. when we got to the front of the line, everyone getting off the rockets were cheering and clapping and screaming! when we got on the ride, it was CRAZY. i have never felt it that fast before. i seriously thought we were going to fly off the track!! it was soooo fun!!

i was wondering if the CM's do this cuz it was the end of the night (almost), or if it was something else?

i have read before that CM's will have competitions to see who can get as many people through the ride at the end of the night.

[Datameister]

Well, Space Mountain's speed does vary relatively widely - the lubrication on the tracks heats up over the course of the day due to friction, making it slicker and thus faster toward the evening. And since the ride is essentially powered by gravity once you get to the top of C lift (the short one that happens "outside" after the spinning tunnel effect), different rider weights can produce changes in the speed, too. That's all I know, though.

[filmfreak11]

MM: "whoa, this is heavy"

EB: "weight has nothing to do with it"

-or does it?

[yoda91]

well, have been a cast member at space mountain I can say they do have "group wars" to see who can get the most guest on in an hour, but that is just trying to fill all the seats as best as you can. Safty is still the number one priority. The rockets do go slower in the morning or after a down time but it only takes about an hour to get back up to full speed. The speed is regulated by the ride control system so they will never go faster than designed, if they happen to get going to fast the ride will E-stop itself. The speed does depend on the weight of the rocket but a fully loaded rocket is only about a second or two faster than an empty one. Even so the cast members have no control over the speed at all, the only thing they can control is the dispatch interval and that is controled by how many rockets are on the track. Hope that helps.

[PhantomBoy]

Well in DLRP in IASW the lights went off and the music playing all things working just not the lights it was fun.

[waltenthusiast]

well, have been a cast member at space mountain I can say they do have "group wars" to see who can get the most guest on in an hour, but that is just trying to fill all the seats as best as you can. Safty is still the number one priority. The rockets do go slower in the morning or after a down time but it only takes about an hour to get back up to full speed.......... Hope that helps.

cool, thanks
it was really fun...worth the wait

[Dan - Tasmic!]

i have read before that CM's will have competitions to see who can get as many people through the ride at the end of the night.

well, have been a cast member at space mountain I can say they do have "group wars" to see who can get the most guest on in an hour, but that is just trying to fill all the seats as best as you can. Safty is still the number one priority.

BLAB has it, too, sometimes. They call it, "Load Wars," they try to get the guests in and get them out as fast as they can.

[DisneySea_Fan]

^ Lol load wars, sounds fun.

I will be sure to hit space mountain near the end of the day!

[Vasooki]

Dont they do that with Splash? Like, fit as many people as you can in a log. Isn't the record like 16 or something crazy like that?

[Barbossa]

MM: "whoa, this is heavy"

EB: "weight has nothing to do with it"

-or does it?

Well, when the ride hits 88 miles per hour, serious s*** happens.

[Legacy]

Dont they do that with Splash? Like, fit as many people as you can in a log. Isn't the record like 16 or something crazy like that?

I think they used to, but times have changed and so have the logs. Absolute max is seven now.

[mycroft16]

iasw load wars are fun to be a part of as well. Especially when one of the CMs is commentating over the pa and announcing fake prizes. Haven't been in a load war anywhere else though.

But SM definitely can get faster at night as Data mentioned.

[yoda91]

Well, when the ride hits 88 miles per hour, serious s*** happens.

if it ever did everyone in the world would know.

[StrikeYerColors]

Depending on where you sit in the train on SM, the wind effects can make the train feel MUCH faster. In the dark, it's hard to gauge your speed, so you do it mostly by feeling the wind on your face, and I have read several places that there is added wind in SM to make it "faster". Depending how much actual and added wind you feel coming off the train, it may feel faster or slower.

Also, I don't know much much this affects the sensation of speed, but like all dark rides in DL, the effects are much brighter at nighttime when your eyes do not have to readjust as much to drastic changes in daylight and darkness. This may make it not only so you see more stars, but also so that you see more of the structures of the track and ride itself whizzing by you, which in my opinion would make it feel faster.