Field trip – THRILL Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University

Thrill Club project demo

Shortly after the Thrill Club began developing a scale model dark ride for its future activities, we had the opportunity to offer a demonstration for an audience of amusement ride safety inspectors, owners, and others at the annual TSSA Ride Safety Seminar in Niagara Falls. A smaller scale first draft model was quickly completed and packed for transport! Club president Jake Fulton attended the safety seminar and enjoyed great professional networking and continuing education hours as well.

Jake Fulton in dark hoodie and conference name tag, stands next to small scale model of a tracked ride, discussing it with four males in similar apparel. Other event participants are seen in the background, in the foyer of a conference seminar room.

Uni giostra per tutti

“Una giostra per tutti” A ride for everybody: determining limits for the use of amusement devices by children and adolescents with disabilities. Expert panel, experimental trials at Bergamo, Italy.

El Foro IAAPA de seguridad

The culture of safety: no excuses (panelist, in English). El Foro IAAPA de seguridad. Bogotá, Colombia (2019)

Un llamado a la acción. Cómo cada uno de ustedes puede hacer la diferencia (panelist, in English). El Foro IAAPA de seguridad. Cancun, Mexico. (2018)

CNE 2017 construction week field trip

This year, three Ryerson Engineering students joined the CNE construction field trip (from left, Taha Simsek, Tyler Nagata, Meghan Keegan). Aside from posing with Squirtles (Pokémon game prizes likely to be the hot commodity this year), they had the opportunity to join me in shadowing some ride inspections and watching the assembly of Canada’s largest fair.

Sabbatical

Orlando: the company town for themed entertainment.

The THRILL Lab is about to spend some extended time in Orlando. We’ll be learning, writing, watching, and riding our way to progress on the rider eligibility / ride analysis challenge and tools for human factors applications in the attractions industry.

Opening Day

Wearing an insulated jacket and still feeling chilly, I did a round of the midway before the opening this morning. No students today, though all are advised to check out the fair from now to Labour Day to watch how the guests interact with the rides — and with each other around the rides. Rides don’t exist for their own purposes. They exist to do something meaningful for the guest, on a sensory level or a social level, or both.

CNE Eve

Twas the morning before CNE and all through the midway, … there were new rides arriving and still some spaces.

Some of the most labour intensive rides were going up today, like this. Can you recognize from the photo what it will be?

Wednesday, pre-CNE

The show opens Friday morning. The threatening rain yesterday did not catch us, and today was windy but dry. There were still many rides on the midway that had not been completely put together and fenced in, giving us a good chance to look at the machinery from all angles. We also had a chance to watch inspections of some rides, including the Ring of Fire and the Crazy Mouse spinning coaster.

These were great opportunities for the group to think about how to mimic the mechanisms of the rides for scale model club projects, and challenge themselves to spot key features like brakes, proximity switches, drive wheels, cables, and chains on a variety of rides.

Tuesday, pre-CNE

The CNE opens on Friday, with a blast of confetti at 10am. On the midway, there are many marked spaces for rides that have not yet arrived. We expect more to see tomorrow, and a magical transformation on Thursday. Today’s site visit gave students a look under the new Tivoli Remix.

Happy New Year

Every year, summer winds down and the CNE marks the imminent start of the new school year. Since 2002, the THRILL Lab has spent time during the CNE construction week observing and learning. Some years, we have one or more studies on the go, other times, we are collecting ideas for future studies or designs. We meet new people and reconnect with people we know who have been so generous sharing their expertise. Increasingly, the CNE construction week has been an extracurricular “course” in amusement design and technology. This year, 11 students will participate in parts of the week.