California
Screamin’
Disney
California Adventures California Screamin’ has to be one of my favorite rides.
I don’t really like intense rides. I’m more into theme and storytelling. Still,
Screamin’ catches my attention and does fulfill my thrill seeking side.
When DCA first opened there was a
Mickey face in the loop of the ride. You would chase around his face. Since the
remodel/retheming of the park and the addition of World of Color, Mickey’s face
has been moved over to the rethemed Mickey’s Fun Wheel. Part of the reason for
this change was to bring more ‘Disney’ to the Ferris Wheel and to simplify the
Screamin’ so they can project images in the loop during World of Color.
Now that I’ve shared my thoughts
here is the history and technical stats on this scream inducing ride.
History
This boardwalk-themed coaster was designed by Walt Disney
Imagineering, and was built by Intamin. California Screamin' is the 8th longest
roller coaster in the world (4th longest steel coaster in the United States),
at 6,072 feet (1,851 m) long. It is also the longest ride with an inversion
(since Son of Beast is defunct). Its highest point is 120 feet (37 m) tall
followed by a 108-foot (33 m) drop. Though built of steel, the structure as
designed visually mimics the features of a wooden coaster.
This coaster has some distinctive features. It uses a linear
induction motor to launch the train up the first hill, replacing the traditional
lift hill chain. This coaster is one of Disney's fastest attractions,
accelerating guests from zero to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) in four seconds at
the launch. Like Space Mountain and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, California
Screamin' is set to music. It is the only inverting ride in the Disneyland Resort.
This attraction offers both FASTPASS and Single Rider entrances. On November 5,
2010, the attraction's original recorded safety spiels were updated with the
voice of actor Neil Patrick Harris.
Ride layout and experience
The ride begins after a train is
dispatched from either two loading zones which merge at a track switch. After
the switch, the track banks left and stops on a flat section of track just
above water level on Paradise Bay. After a short wait dictated by the location
of the previous train on the track, a Victorian Carnival character voiced by Neil
Patrick Harris can be heard counting down from five before the train launches
up the coaster's first hill. The train drops below another section of track and
banks to the right traveling through the ride's first brake run. This is
followed by another 180 degree right turn and sudden descent followed by a
banked turn to the left. Momentum at this point carries the train up the
coaster's largest lift hill before LIM's take over to carry the trains the
remaining distance to the crest. At 120 feet (37 m), this is the highest point
of the coaster from which the track drops steeply and curves left, followed by
a quick incline to the right and another 180 degree turn. In preparation for
the ride's single loop, the train travels through a set of brakes added in
2005. The track drops slightly and maneuvers through the loop rising and then
dropping again. A wide U-turn to the right leads into a small climb and another
brake run. Here a straight section of track along the front of the coaster's
length contains a series of dips and rises known as "bunny hops" or
"bunny hills" which create significant air time for riders. Another
brake zone sends the train down and to the left past the off ride camera which
is positioned in a helix. After the helix, the roller coaster ends with a
series of brake runs intended to hold trains in case of a backup at the
station. Back at the station, the train is either sent left or right to one of
the platforms.
California Screamin' uses side-mounted
friction brakes on all its brake runs rather than mounting the brakes on the
track. In addition to this, stray LIM boosters are placed in the station, and
near most brake zones; these include the launch hill (Zone 2), the lift hill
(Zone 4), after the loop (Zone 5), before the bunny hops (Zone 6), and before
the switch track back to the stations (Zone 9).
In 2005 California Screamin' received two
sets of magnetic brakes to slow the train down before the loop and in brake run
6. The result is a slightly slower ride.
The 12 block brake sections in the attraction are as
follows: Immediately after leaving the station, the train is in section 1,
followed by section 2.1, the location that the train stops at for launch. The
launch hill is section 2.2, followed immediately by section 3. Section 4 is the
lift hill, ending at the top of the lift. Section 5 includes the loop up until
the entrance to the next blue tunnel. Section 6 continues until the bunny hops,
with section 7 ending just before the final spiral. Section 8 is the initial
slow down point, followed by section 9. The main side of the station (or if you
are entering the station on the train, the left side) is section 10A, while the
spur side of the station is Zone 10B.
Incidents
On July 29, 2005, 25 guests were injured
when the Purple train rear-ended the Red train. Of the 48 guests aboard the two
trains, 15 were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The
accident occurred on the section of track about 30 feet (9.1 m) short of the
loading station. A full ride stop was activated, with the red train stopped,
the brake segment that was supposed to have stopped the purple train failed,
and the purple train continued until it collided with the stopped red train. An
investigation showed that a faulty brake valve, installed a few days earlier by
Disney (not by the ride manufacturer Intamin), was the cause.
On July 22, 2011, 23 people were rescued
from California Screamin' by firefighters when a person's backpack fell out of
one of the trains and landed on the track, causing the orange train to valley just
after the loop but before the next block brake. It re-opened two days later
after the train was winched up the next hill, had its damaged wheels replaced
and allowed to complete the circuit.
Rockin' California Screamin'
On January 3, 2007, the standard onboard
audio track for California Screamin' was temporarily replaced with a remixed
version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Around the World," and the
attraction was renamed Rockin' California Screamin'. This was promoted
alongside Rockin' Space Mountain, a similar change made to Space Mountain in Disneyland
though that ride's audio was changed to the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover version
of "Higher Ground". These changes were part of the "Rockin' Both
Parks" campaign. The standard audio track was restored when the campaign
ended.
Attraction facts
- Restraint
System: Over-the-Shoulder Restraints (OTSRs)
- Vehicles: 7
vehicles total: 5 - 24 person trains (Red 01, Yellow 02, Orange 03, Blue
04, and Purple 05)/2 - 23 Person trains (Both Green, 06 and 07)
- Max
trains on track: 5
- Length: 6,072 feet
(1,851 m)
- Linear
Induction Motors Launch length: 215 feet (66 m)
- Largest
hill/drop: 120 feet/108 feet (36.5 m/33 m)
- Inversions: 1
- Brake
Zones: 12
- Top
speed: 55 mph (89 km/h)
- Ride
duration: 2:34
- Max
acceleration: 0 - 55 mph (89 km/h) in 4 seconds
- Totalling
6,702 feet (2,043 m) of total track, California Screamin' is the second
longest steel roller coaster on the American continents.
- Contains
over 36 miles (58 km) of electrical wire, and 167 miles (269 km) of
individual conductors.
- California
Screamin is also the only Disney outdoor looping roller coaster in North
America (Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios inverts
three times, but is enclosed).
- It took
5,800,000 pounds (2,600,000 kg) of steel to build California Screamin'.
- There are
11,500,000 pounds (5,200,000 kg) of concrete in the foundations and the
"deepest" foundation is a deep pile of 48 feet (15 m).
- Because
Disney California Adventure is located within a residential zone and must
adhere to certain noise restriction guidelines, special "scream"
tubes were designed for California Screamin' to prevent all the hollering
from being blasted across Anaheim during those thrill portions of the ride
that are sure to elicit such a reaction.
- The
ride's name is an obvious nod to the 1965 song "California Dreamin'"
by The Mamas & the Papas.
- Neil Patrick
Harris provides the vocals for a safety spiel added in late 2010,
replacing the original safety spiels recorded by Dee Bradley Baker.
- The are
108 Acoustic devices to play the "Synchronized On-Board Audio
Track" (S.O.B.A.T.) onboard each train, including High Rangers in the
riders head rest, Mid Rangers near their ears, and Sub-woofers underneath
each rider's seat.
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