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findin mickeys
07-14-2011, 01:44 PM
OK, this is kind of a dumb question, but do rides like Matterhorn and BTMRR seem to go faster after dark? My family and I have debated this topic several times. I think it just appears that way due to it being darker and usually cooler at night. My kids especially, swear that all of the more extreme rides are faster when it is night out. Anyone else have this experience? I think it is more environment and it does not change, but I admit it does feel faster, I just do not believe it is.

moofeet
07-14-2011, 02:04 PM
I always thought that when I was younger and remember discussing it numerous times with friends. Very interested to see if someone has an answer as well!

candles71
07-14-2011, 02:06 PM
I, too, think it just feels that way.

sjhanksaz
07-14-2011, 03:54 PM
I think it's just the way it feels.

I know it feels faster when I am driving at night. Perhaps it's partly due to being able to see less to really compare how fast you are moving. I know space mountain is not really that fast but it sure feels like it.

IllusionOfLife
07-14-2011, 09:13 PM
I'm going to agree with the consensus that it's all in your head with one caveat. On our last trip, about a month ago, my dad and I rode Splash Mountain immediately after Fantasmic!, and that ride was cruising along at least twice as fast as usual. Seeing some of the fireworks from the ride was neat, but it was a short lived experience, because of how fast it was moving. I've never experienced it move that fast before at night, or any other time, so I think it was a bit of a fluke, but I thought I'd point it out.

bigrockstar
07-14-2011, 11:32 PM
I think there is some merit to the idea that some rides can go faster under certain circumstances. Many of the rides in Disney move along a track without motors to help them accelerate, and with brake mechanisms to slow the vehicles along the route. Therefore, it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest that if you cram a ride vehicle with huge body builders, it might actually move faster than if that same vehicle carried one lightweight person. Whether the difference in speed would be noticeable is up for debate. This could potentially explain why a ride may feel faster or slower with any given ride, but not why a ride feels faster at night. I think rides feel faster in the dark, but admit that it is probably all in my head. For me, the goat trick only works at night.

sjhanksaz
07-15-2011, 05:34 AM
I found this and it seems to make sense


Question:
Why whenever its dark do i seem to run or ride my bike faster than in the day? i always thought it was because the air doesn't move as much at night (wind) but ive never realy known for sure.
Answer:
well at night, your other senses arent as useful as your sight so. at night your eye sight doesnt get better but when it looks at movement it reacts with a more exagerrated appearance

dban3
07-15-2011, 06:38 AM
Question:
Why whenever its dark do i seem to run or ride my bike faster than in the day? i always thought it was because the air doesn't move as much at night (wind) but ive never realy known for sure.
Answer:
well at night, your other senses arent as useful as your sight so. at night your eye sight doesnt get better but when it looks at movement it reacts with a more exagerrated appearance

The top speed of Space Mountain is somewhere between 29 and 32 mph depending who on the internet you believe. Not all that fast. But in the dark and vision is limited, it sure feels a whole lot faster.

pixar
07-15-2011, 08:31 AM
The top speed of Space Mountain is somewhere between 29 and 32 mph depending who on the internet you believe. Not all that fast. But in the dark and vision is limited, it sure feels a whole lot faster.

The huge fans blowing air at you also make you feel like you're going much faster. (Parts of Indy have huge fans too.)

rickosuave1987
07-15-2011, 12:51 PM
I am sure it is more to do with the ambient light levels and the way your eyes react to them that makes the rides seem faster. I have experienced it as well, especially while driving at night in my off-road car. Going 30 mph across the desert at night feels like going 60 during the day. Objects in your peripheral vision seem to pop out later than during the day and then whoosh by more dramatically.

And even if it is just a weird mind/body trick, it is still more fun :cool:

sjhanksaz
07-15-2011, 02:33 PM
Perception is reality right?

So if it feels faster at night then it's more exciting and more fun. I love to ride at night, it's just plain old more exciting.

Bytebear
07-15-2011, 03:18 PM
When Space Mountain changed to Rockin' Space Mountain or whatever that was, the ride was much brighter and you could see the track and walls and such. It felt like the ride was going half the speed.

potzbie
07-15-2011, 09:51 PM
One theory.

The human eye in the dark has its most sensitivity at the sides of one's vision, and not in the dead-center area of one's vision.
Those people who have been in the military doing on-watch duty will have noticed this -- in the dark, watching for movement at the horizon, a quick flicker of light will be more noticeable at the corner of your eye, and the quick flicker won't be there when you focus your direct gaze at the spot where the flicker was.

Applied to Disneyland rides, where there is general darkness, the peripheral vision is emphasized and the direct (center) vision is diminished.
So, as one sits in a bobsled, the most sensitive part of one's vision is the sides, where things are moving rapidly from forward to behind you, and the least sensitive part of one's vision in darkness is straight ahead where you are focused, where things are NOT moving "past" you but moving directly "at" you.

And, the logical conclusion, a thing moving "at" you will appear not quite as fast as a thing moving "past" you.
So, in the dark, all things moving past you will be more noticeable than a thing moving at you.

The old man
07-16-2011, 05:46 AM
I'm going to agree with the consensus that it's all in your head with one caveat. On our last trip, about a month ago, my dad and I rode Splash Mountain immediately after Fantasmic!, and that ride was cruising along at least twice as fast as usual.
This is a good example of why people are not reliable judges of their envoirment. "At least twice as fast" would put it in the 60 mph range. There is no way that this style of wild mouse ride can reach that speed.

The direct answer to the OP's question is, no.

IllusionOfLife
07-16-2011, 07:22 AM
This is a good example of why people are not reliable judges of their envoirment. "At least twice as fast" would put it in the 60 mph range. There is no way that this style of wild mouse ride can reach that speed.

Umm… Splash Mountain is neither a Wild Mouse ride, nor does it go anywhere close to 30 mph under normal circumstances… I'm not sure if you misread my post or what, but your statement is completely irrelevant to my post.

EDIT: And to further clarify, I'm not referring to the speed of the drops, which was as it normally is. I'm referring to rest of the ride.

The old man
07-16-2011, 08:00 AM
Umm… Splash Mountain is neither a Wild Mouse ride, nor does it go anywhere close to 30 mph under normal circumstances… I'm not sure if you misread my post or what, but your statement is completely irrelevant to my post.

EDIT: And to further clarify, I'm not referring to the speed of the drops, which was as it normally is. I'm referring to rest of the ride.
This was indeed a misread on my part. However my point is still true, there is no way that the speed of the ride--at any point--would be, " at least twice as fast as usual."

dban3
07-16-2011, 10:08 AM
This was indeed a misread on my part. However my point is still true, there is no way that the speed of the ride--at any point--would be, " at least twice as fast as usual."

Hee....hee..... The only ride that goes "twice as fast" is the Jungle Cruise on a busy day and there are a gaggle full of people waiting to load. I swear on some days the "Skippers" have a side bet on who can make the loop the quickest. They spew off their "shtick" so fast I have to ask my wife "What did he/she just say?".

houseofmouse
07-17-2011, 06:00 AM
My DD and I were just discussing this as well after a seemingly much faster ride on Big Thunder last week! We both swore it was faster and I had a hard time staying put on the bench seat. It was dark and I figure it was our imagination but someone said by night time the tracks are slicker from being run all day and you can gain a bit of speed that way?

bumblebeeonarose
07-18-2011, 01:56 PM
The top speed of Space Mountain is somewhere between 29 and 32 mph depending who on the internet you believe. Not all that fast. But in the dark and vision is limited, it sure feels a whole lot faster.

I told my mom that the coaster was not very fast that it was an illussion. She argued with me. So we asked a CM and he said the ride goes 50mph.

disneyland addict13
07-18-2011, 02:52 PM
I told my mom that the coaster was not very fast that it was an illussion. She argued with me. So we asked a CM and he said the ride goes 50mph.

To my knowledge, you were misinformed by that particular CM. The speed range that dban3 posted is correct. There used to be a scale-replica of the Space Mountain track inside the Opera House that included markers that indicated the speed at each section of the track. My uncle and I went through each marker to find out what the top speed was and, if I remember correctly, it was about 31 or 32 mph.

dban3
07-18-2011, 04:02 PM
To my knowledge, you were misinformed by that particular CM. The speed range that dban3 posted is correct. There used to be a scale-replica of the Space Mountain track inside the Opera House that included markers that indicated the speed at each section of the track. My uncle and I went through each marker to find out what the top speed was and, if I remember correctly, it was about 31 or 32 mph.

Yeah.... there are multiple sources on the Internet that give the Space Mountain top speed. Nowhere near 50. Castmembers are not always your best sources of information regarding facts. A castmember once told me the monorail goes about 50mph at top speed. Again, it tops out at about 35 mph.

bumblebeeonarose
07-18-2011, 08:21 PM
That is what I thought. I remember reading somewhere that Screamin shoots you off at 55 mph or something, and it is the fastests of the coasters. This is what I told my mom. The CM said that Screamin goes like 70, which I knew was not true. But he made my mom feel better as she likes to prove me wrong.