Should Universal try again with trackless rides?

[youhow2]

Trackless rides vehicles can not be fully embraced within the current design day schema within parks. They must, and will be leveraged by a completely different model than what we've seen thus far in the industry, and no park currently stands that can justify the hypotheticals of how they can be used. .

Until such a park exist, they will be burdened inside the current design constraints and budgets that adorn the current model of attraction design.

 

[TheUniC6]

I think a concept or premise for a ride that could use a trackless ride would involve a setting where you are going through some sort of warehouse or city. Another user on this thread also suggested to make the ride scenes randomized to add to make them stand out as they can be repetitive. I also think you should make some trackless rides at least interactive in someway like by having tiered seating and TSMM style blasters mounted to the seats.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Trackless rides vehicles can not be fully embraced within the current design day schema within parks. They must, and will be leveraged by a completely different model than what we've seen thus far in the industry, and no park currently stands that can justify the hypotheticals of how they can be used. .

Until such a park exist, they will be burdened inside the current design constraints and budgets that adorn the current model of attraction design.

 

[TheUniC6]

Here is a park from the Netherlands. What I will share looks like a trackless ride that is unique enough in the model to be copied by theme parks in the US. Also what were you trying to show in the video above? to me it looks like the chairs in the eatery are above are trackless. Very clever what they are doing.

 

[TheUniC6]

I read on another thread that WDW's trackless rides average an hour of downtime every day. Is there anyway to design a trackless ride to where it would not break down as frequent?

 

[DodgsonHere]

I read on another thread that WDW's trackless rides average an hour of downtime every day. Is there anyway to design a trackless ride to where it would not break down as frequent?

Nobody designs a trackless ride with the intention of downtime.

 

[TheUniC6]

Nobody designs a trackless ride with the intention of downtime.

My guess would it to try to avoid things that add complexity. Rise's downtimes are due to all the elements the vehicles must interact with means there are more things to go wrong. I still think that the concept for trackless rides lend themselves best to family or scenic rides. I would personally love to see Universal do large scale family ride on par with Runaway Railway. If Universal ever wanted to do their take on a Great Movie Ride, a trackless ride would be ideal for that as those rides as supposed to be scenic rides, not a something goes wrong type of ride.

 

[DodgsonHere]

If Universal ever wanted to do their take on a Great Movie Ride, a trackless ride would be ideal for that as those rides as supposed to be scenic rides, not a something goes wrong type of ride.

Nearly every Disney trackless ride is a “something goes wrong ride”. RotR, Ratatouille, MMRR, and Mystic Manor all follow this storyline. There’s really no benefit in using trackless over an omnimover for a purely scenic attraction, hence why Uni chose omni over trackless for SLoP

 

[TheUniC6]

I shared this on the future of the lost continent forum, but back in Feb 2021 some time after Universal scrapped all trackless concepts in development, a patent was filed that involves ride vehicles being guided by infrared light. Might this be a way to do trackless rides while avoiding the downtime Disney's trackless rides which use LPS and pucks to guide the vehicle?

 

[Cygnus]

I shared this on the future of the lost continent forum, but back in Feb 2021 some time after Universal scrapped all trackless concepts in development, a patent was filed that involves ride vehicles being guided by infrared light. Might this be a way to do trackless rides while avoiding the downtime Disney's trackless rides which use LPS and pucks to guide the vehicle?

It should be noted that the provisional application for this patent was filed back in 2019. The patent system is very finicky and lengthy but this particular iteration (usually very minor updates/changes along the process) was only published in 2021

 

[TheUniC6]

It should be noted that the provisional application for this patent was filed back in 2019. The patent system is very finicky and lengthy but this particular iteration (usually very minor updates/changes along the process) was only published in 2021

Oh. It was still after the point all trackless rides were scrapped. It still sounds like an interesting patent though.

 

[TheUniC6]

US Patent for Autonomous transportation techniques Patent (Patent # 11,619,938 issued April 4, 2023) - Justia Patents Search

An amusement park attraction system includes a plurality of autonomous vehicles configured to accommodate one or more guests and located in an attraction dispatch area. An individual autonomous vehicle includes a vehicle controller including a memory storing instructions and a processor...

patents.justia.com

Also read this Reddit thread. As many people on this thread point out, technology evolves over time. When new ride tech was introduced, (I.E. omnimovers) it was unreliable and broke down a lot. Even things like cars. But over time the technology got better and more reliable. And I think the same applies to trackless. And based on the patent I shared above long with the patent that involves ride vehicles being guided by infrared light, makes me think Universal might take another try with trackless, maybe they just want to wait until the tech is more fully baked to avoid the downtime issues that appear to be common among the Disney trackless rides. Looking at you Rise.

 

[TheUniC6]

Universal recently published an updated version of the infrared trackless ride patent. apparently the infrared light will be in the forms of images and will guide the vehicles along multiple paths. Guests can even provide input to change the environment and the path the vehicle is going down. Seems like this will actually take advantage of the potentials trackless tech can offer

Patent applications from Universal detail interactive dark rides

www.themeparkinsider.com

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/20230324920

 

[AmitySix]

- Guests can even provide input to change the environment and the path the vehicle is going down. -

Patent applications from Universal detail interactive dark rides

www.themeparkinsider.com

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/20230324920

In before rumors of a new ride in the Lost Continent...

Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate

 

[TheUniC6]

I wonder if this trackless patent would lend itself well to a Pokemon ride...

 

[Mad Dog]

With all the problems Universal had with Kong, and the extensive maintenance cost they're still experiencing I'd guess they're pretty reluctant to go in that direction. Plus, Disney still experiences lots of downtime with RotR and Micky & Minnie.

 

[TheUniC6]

With all the problems Universal had with Kong, and the extensive maintenance cost they're still experiencing I'd guess they're pretty reluctant to go in that direction. Plus, Disney still experiences lots of downtime with RotR and Micky & Minnie.

At least for MMRR the ride going down stems from guests either sticking their hands out far enough or dropping things on the ride floor. Not so much the actual tech. I guess Universal just wants to have a trackless concept ready in case they do change their minds and decide to do it again.

 

[Mad Dog]

At least for MMRR the ride going down stems from guests either sticking their hands out far enough or dropping things on the ride floor. Not so much the actual tech. I guess Universal just wants to have a trackless concept ready in case they do change their minds and decide to do it again.

True on MMMR, but it happens so often that the trackless is a liability because it's too easy for guests to interrupt it, involuntarily or voluntarily. You could probably have just about the same experience with a different, more simple, ride system. I love that ride but it doesn't seem like the trackless adds much to it, except in the dance room sequence.

 

[TheUniC6]

True on MMMR, but it happens so often that the trackless is a liability because it's too easy for guests to interrupt it, involuntarily or voluntarily. You could probably have just about the same experience with a different, more simple, ride system. I love that ride but it doesn't seem like the trackless adds much to it, except in the dance room sequence.

Disney is rumored to be working black box attractions that can have IP swapped out over time or be refreshed with new things like characters or settings. The black box attractions would be ideal for trackless as each ride through you can experience different things and the vehicles can go in different directions.

 

[Jake S]

Disney is rumored to be working black box attractions that can have IP swapped out over time or be refreshed with new things like characters or settings. The black box attractions would be ideal for trackless as each ride through you can experience different things and the vehicles can go in different directions.

while I'm skeptical of this ever coming to fruition (it's exceedingly rare to see that kind of investment on what is only sort of a new attraction), I think the sensation of going on a ride without a track is still pretty special. while you can, if you're looking closely, see the requisite skid marks marking your path, I find it much easier to immerse myself in an attraction when I can't see an obvious track.

is that worth all the headaches that come with it? probably not! a great ride that's closed isn't any more useful to a guest than a cruddy ride that's open. but I definitely dig the concept and applications I've seen it used on.