Matterhorn lap bars.

Good guess. I forgot there was one there. Its back in camp snoopy isn't it.

OK - I forgot the TILT

Yup, Matt was first. I was thinking of the Tilt. I figured my hint would have given it away, as the Tilt-A-Whirl has only seven cars on it. I'm not certain about this, but I think the only other circular ride in the park with an odd number of gondolas on it is the Troika (which has 21).

Well, okay, excluding Camp Bus, Space Spiral and maXair. One is an odd number, but that is a technicality. :)

The lap bar on the Tilt-A-Whirl does not lock, but when you raise it up, it does set the brakes on the back wheels of the tub.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Tilt-a-Whirl is one of the few reason I go back to Camp Snoopy. It's a classic amusement park ride. Just don't stuff to many people in a car, because you won't move.

So in theory, if you raised the bar for a sec, and locked the brakes, you could get some serious whiplash action going with the tub if done correctly?

Could this be done, or would the ride-op shut down the ride?

I konw at Dollywood the ride op can activate your brakes to give you one heck of a ride.
*** Edited 5/10/2006 1:25:42 PM UTC by Disney Mike***

Mike: There are a couple of problems with that theory.

First of all, I believe the linkages are adjusted so that the brakes don't come on until the bar is almost all the way up (that way to accommodate riders of varying sizes!). Second, I'm not sure how much braking action you can get out of those wheels. In theory you should be able to get some control over the tub motion by lifting the bar, but in practice you would probably find it more effective to simply throw your weight around. Not to mention safer, since getting the bar up high enough to set the brake probably means getting it up high enough to make it hard to reach.

The purpose of those brakes, incidentally, is to serve as a secondary holding brake to keep the tub from spinning during loading and unloading. Even so, I suggest that you avoid as much as possible standing inboard of the circular spin-track as you get in or out of the ride, particularly if the tub is on the high side. You don't know how well either of the brakes is really going to hold.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The Tilt vehicle brake are mounted under the vehicle and on the spindle that the vehicle spins on. They are electric/magnet brakes and are just a "holding" brake. Same brake is mounted on the Eyerly Monster on the sweeps and the Rotation and Eccentric drive units. The adjustment is made via the clearance between the steel disc and the electromagnetic. The main purpose is to have the vehicle very steady so passengers can load/unload in comfort without a moving vehicle.

That's the main brake, Jim. More effective than the wheel brakes, but neither works particularly well. :)

Then there is the one at *ahem* another park which was installed in such a way that when the operator removes the enabling key from the control panel, it shuts off ALL power to the ride, meaning that the electric brakes on the tubs go away during the load cycle. Uh, whoops.

At another park, I actually saw an incident where because the electric brakes were so poorly adjusted, someone got out of the car with the car at the high point, and on exiting dropped the lap bar. That released the wheel brakes and the tub came around and knocked another exiting rider into the center canvas. Another whoops.

I thought the electric brakes on the Monster spiders were mechanical, with a solenoid operated band wrapped 'round the brake rotor...hence the squealing. Not sure about the rotation systems; I know those are hydraulic drive, but I don't know how they go together...I never really thought much about braking on them!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yes your right - I typed my post wrong - I attempted to describe the electric brake on the spindle. The newer Tilts are designed a lot better than the older cable drive units. The Eyerly Monster type rides do have the electro/magnetic brake on the sweeps just under the drive units, they do squeak a lot. The hydraulic units (rotation and eccentric) have the same "holding" brakes on them also. The hyd. is in fact a dynamic braking that when shut down the hyd. cause the ride to slow and stop - then the elec. brakes are used as a holding brake while ride is unloaded and loaded. Same holds true with rides like Ocean Motion when the shut down cycle starts the hyd. become the dynamic braking and eventually stop the ride.