Disney loves to show photos and video of theme park guests wearing Disney's iconic mouse ears. But those ears become a real headache when they fall off during rides.
Dropped hats, mouse ears, and other personal belongings cause many of the downtimes on Disney's trackless rides, including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. When those objects drop into ride paths, vehicles cannot safely proceed, leading to ride shutdowns until the object can be cleared. But now, Disney is working on ways that Automated Guided Vehicles or Free Ranging Vehicles can better navigate obstacles on trackless rides.
Disney detailed its concepts in a pair of patent applications published today: Vehicle Movement Management [US-20260003363-A1] and Clearance Envelope for Regulation Vehicle Movement [US-20260003357-A1].
The applications detail how ride systems can direct vehicles on the fly to avoid obstacles in their path. It's not just for dropped Mickey ears, either. It could be another ride vehicle, a dropped show decoration, or abnormal effects such as excess fog or a too-bright light that disrupts a vehicle's planned pathway. The concept allows vehicles or ride systems to update the virtual maps of the ride in real time, to allow vehicles to keep moving safely without a downtime.
The proposed system could help Disney to design even more thrilling trackless ride, by enabling vehicles to operate more closely and to explore more variant ride paths. Follow the links above to read the full text of these patent applications and to see the associated drawings.
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