Pushing the Envelope for Thrills : Theme Parks Are in an Arms Race to Develop Bigger, Faster Rides, But at What Cost?

The $100-million Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland shakes and whipsaws riders with such fury that one man recently left vowing only half-jokingly that his next trip would be to a chiropractor.

Even Walt Disney Chairman Michael Eisner noted at the opening: “This is not a ride for kids of all ages.”

At that point, technicians had reportedly toned down the jostling level twice, but still not enough to prevent the jeep-style ride vehicles from delivering such a rattling ride that cracks developed in several of their undercarriages.

Repair crews worked feverishly during a weekend shutdown last month because nowadays, an amusement park doesn’t want to be without a hit ride--not even for a day. A new, high-technology attraction can increase attendance by millions, making the difference between a so-so or a banner year.

Demand is so keen among theme parks for the latest thrill machines that a $6-billion-a-year worldwide arms race has broken out to concoct more and more complex, high-speed amusements. But with it comes the costs, not only of buying the rides, but also of maintaining the computer-controlled equipment and ensuring they operate safely.

“The public wants more thrills, illusion and virtual reality. In an attempt to give all of that, the sophistication of the rides . . . has been pushed each and every year a little further and a little further,” said Steve Coulter, a theme park safety consultant in Delaware, Ohio. These new rides “are not outside the safety envelope . . . (but) the safety envelope may be narrower.”

Perhaps, but parks find that more thrilling rides are the best way to lure visitors. A new attraction can boost attendance by 10%, which in the case of Disneyland can mean more than a million new guests a year. And if a park goes too long without building a major new ride, attendance quickly starts to erode.

“It’s an unwritten rule that every two years you need a very major attraction,” said Jim Benedict, vice president of the Tustin consulting firm Management Resources. “If you want to get your patrons back, you have to make these infusions.”

A new ride generally has to open in time for the peak summer season--and delays can hurt. Just last week, Knott’s Berry Farm said that its new Jaguar! family roller coaster will miss its planned Memorial Day weekend opening and instead open two weeks later.

Boasting rights can be quick to change hands amid the red-hot competition to stand out in the theme park industry with a must-see attraction.

Claim to the tallest roller coaster changed hands four times in a single season one year recently. The current holder, The Desperado coaster built for a Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino in Stateline, Nev., rises 225 feet and has been clocked at 94 m.p.h.

By the turn of the century, coasters are expected to reach nearly 300 feet and smash the 100-m.p.h. barrier.

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As hair-raising roller coasters and ride simulators like Indiana Jones grow a little more energetic every year, designers are forced to come up with more sophisticated safety systems to match.

New technology abounds, and more is on the way. In the case of coasters, for instance, new braking systems have spring backups in case the primary air or hydraulic systems fail. They are necessary because the advent of polyurethane and nylon-covered aluminum wheels and tracks that are curved and connected in long strips make coasters faster than ever.

And then there are computers. The Free Fall ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia--an attraction that takes passengers on a 10-story drop--has more than 200 computer-monitored sensors controlling everything from brakes to valves.

The park’s Viper roller coaster has twin redundant computers, using the same backup system found on spacecraft, that constantly monitor the ride. A shutdown is triggered when either computer reports data different than the other. A series of brake blocks at points along the track bring the train cars to an immediate halt.

“A computer can look at all these different things and make sure they are functioning properly,” said Harold Hudson, senior vice president of engineering for Time Warner’s Six Flags theme park chain.

Computers have become so prevalent that the Indiana Jones ride has a computer controlling the unique motions of each of its 16-passenger ride vehicles--and a master computer system that controls it all.

Because the ride incorporates the latest technology--one of a few times a ride simulator has ever been put atop a vehicle--it has had its share of breakdowns and computer snafus.

“The sophistication is increasing so much that some of the bugs have to be worked out while they are operating,” said Dennis Speigel, a theme park consultant based in Cincinnati, Ohio, of new rides.

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When something goes wrong on a big ride and riders are injured or killed, it is sure to make headlines. Just last summer, 16 people were hurt when two trains collided on an old roller coaster at an amusement park near Denver, for instance.

While the federal government does not track accidents on new, high-tech attractions, statistics indicate that rides are safe overall.

About 5,070 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries sustained in theme parks in 1993, the most recent year for which records are available from the U.S. Product Safety Commission. Of those, only 1.3% were admitted. Based on patronage of 270 million at the nation’s theme and amusement parks, the injury rate would be 0.0000187%. Only one patron died that year.

Disneyland, for its part, said through a spokesman that it inspects rides daily and takes most out of service for several weeks every year for rehabilitation.

While maintenance is critical, the easiest way to keep a ride safe is through strict design standards and rigorous testing, experts say.

Designers face a vexing problem of trying to thrill the many without endangering the few. They put measurement devices in roller coaster cars to try to quantify the forces that pull against riders. Still, there is no substitute for the human touch.

“There is no scientific way to determine what is right or wrong,” Six Flags’ Hudson explained. “It ends up with someone riding it and saying, ‘I like it or don’t like it.’ ”

One nationally recognized human guinea pig is Richard H. Brown, chief of orthopedic research at a Cleveland hospital, who moonlights riding new coasters and other attractions in order to advise their owners on how to iron out glitches.

Using sources like motion tests conducted on potential astronauts or in car crash testing, Brown said, a designer can figure out how keep from hurting people.

Sometimes that means creating an illusion of speed. “Some of it is real and some of it is perceived,” he said of some rides.

The wildest roller coaster pulls 3.5 Gs, or more than three times the force of gravity. A high-performance jet fighter, by contrast, can pull 9 Gs in a turn or the pilot can sustain up to 18 Gs in an emergency bailout, he explained.

“You do not have to be a linebacker from the L.A. Rams to ride the ride,” he said.

Still, parks encourage the young and weak-hearted to stay away from their most rambunctious rides. In the case of Indiana Jones, Disneyland imposes a rule that riders must be at least four feet tall and posts signs that warn the ride “is a fast off-road journey that includes sharp turns and sudden drops. . . . You should be in good health and free of heart, back and neck problems.” Other theme parks impose similar restrictions for their high-speed rides.

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Accidents in theme parks are investigated by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but the agency is not empowered to safety check new rides. California, despite having some of the nation’s most famous and prominent theme parks, is one of only 11 states that do not require such checks, the product safety commission reports.

Occasional moves to legislate more ride inspections, sometimes promoted by a highly publicized ride accident, have been consistently shot down. Rides are only inspected only if an employee is injured in an accident or if someone files a complaint.

OSHA has inspected Disneyland at least 11 times since 1992, state records show. Two of the inspections resulted in complaints, and one in a fine. The park was hit for $3,750, later reduced to $450 on appeal, for a trolley accident that resulted in worker cutting off the tip of a finger. The two complaints resulted from a missing drain cover in an employee rest room and from an accident involving a gas truck in which a worker injured a leg.

Given the safety record of Disneyland and the industry, theme park designers say they are going to keep pushing to design higher performing rides and safety systems to match.

“The fact is that bigger and faster does not mean it’s any less safe,” Hudson said.

Parks are toying with the idea of catapult systems, rather than chain drives, to spring roller coasters out of the gate and up the first big hill before gravity takes over. The idea of a ride simulator on wheels like Indiana Jones opens up another long list of possibilities.

“There is something out there you can always do to make a ride more thrilling or entertaining,” Hudson said.

And, for that matter, more safe.

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* 1550-1700: Pleasure gardens, permanent entertainment areas, open in Europe * 1583: First amusement park opens near Copenhagen, Denmark * 1650: Ice slide, forerunner of roller coasters, opens in St. Petersburg, Russia * 1817: First shoot-the-chute, forerunner of log flume, opens in Paris * 1846: First looping-gravity railway, a primitive roller coaster, opens in Paris * 1884: First roller coaster opens at New York’s Coney Island * 1893: George Ferris builds first Ferris wheel for Chicago’s World Colombian Exposition * 1894: First amusement park built around mechanical amusements opens in Chicago * 1908: First suspended-car roller coaster opens at Chicago’s Riverview Park * 1912: John Miller patents design for “under-friction roller coaster,” method of holding cars to track that is still in use * 1926: Tilt-a-Whirl debuts * 1936: First parachute tower opens in Moscow’s Gorky Park * 1955: Walt Disney opens Disneyland, the first true theme park * 1959: Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds is first roller coaster with tubular-steel track * 1963: Log flume ride premiers at Six Flags Over Texas and Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio * 1975: Knott’s Berry Farm’s opens first modern looping roller coaster, the Corkscrew * 1976: First modern vertical-looping roller coaster, Revolution, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain * 1980: Houston’s Astro World opens Thunder River, first river-rapid raft ride * 1984: Arrow Development of Clearfield, Utah, builds modern shoot-the-chute, a water ride * 1987: Disneyland opens first large-scale simulator attraction, Start Tours, coordinating seat movement and a motion picture * 1992: First Batman the Ride opens at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill. * 1994: World’s tallest, fastest roller coaster opens at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino in Stateline, Nev. The 225-foot-high coaster has been clocked at 94 m.p.h. * 1995: Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure combines motion simulators with moving platform

Source: Jim Futrell, historian, National Amusement Park Historical Assn.; Researched by CHRIS WOODYARD / Los Angeles Times.