I put my Disneyland pass to use on Friday and ran around the park for a few hours to relax and have some fun with my friends. I recently read that the Space Mountain ride which seems to go really fast only goes about 8 mph. I went on the ride to try and see for myself how Disney creates this illusion. As you can guess (especially since I’m writing it on this blog) one of the biggest factors is the way Disney uses light in the ride.
The way that Disney gets away with having the ride go a mere 8 mph is the optical illusion that is created by the strings of light that rush by you as you go through. This creates an image of stars rushing by you quickly as the cart speeds through. The trick is, however, that these lights don’t stay still as the cart moves, the lights are moving faster than the cart itself. Add this to the jerky turns and the really hard air blowing against the riders and you get a ride that many people think goes 60 mph!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice post and good observances about the kinetic qualities of light
ReplyDelete