The Omnimover is an amusement ride system used for Disney theme park attractions. Roger Broggie and Bert Brundage developed the system for WED Enterprises, which patented Omnimover in April 1968.[1] The term was coined by Imagineer Bob Gurr. Outside of Disney, it is sometimes known as an Endless Transit System.
The ride system was descended from the PeopleMover ride system developed for Ford's Magic Skyway at the 1964 New York World's Fair.[2] It featured continuously moving ride vehicles like its predecessor, but also had the ability to swivel each car 360 degrees so that riders would see what the ride designers intended them to see.
The first Omnimover was developed for Adventure Thru Inner Space, a Disneyland attraction that opened in 1967. It was then used in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction, where the clamshell-shaped cars were nicknamed Doombuggies.
The Omnimover system was created by Roger E. Broggie and Bert Brundage to provide a ride system capable of providing passengers with a motion-picture-type experience by controlling the line of sight.[3] This concept also allows the designers to be able to place infrastructure elements of the attraction, such as lighting and projectors, behind the vehicles without concern for having the illusions of the attraction revealed to the riders. The system consists of a chain of vehicles operating on a track, usually hidden beneath the floor. The chain of vehicles maintains constant motion at a specific speed (usually about 2 feet or 60 centimeters per second[4]) throughout the entire course of the attraction. To facilitate boarding and disembarking from the vehicles, a conveyor belt moving at approximately the same speed as the ride vehicles parallels the track at the loading and unloading areas. Passengers step from the moving belt into the vehicle or vice versa.
One of the features that differentiates this system from other ride systems is the ability of the vehicle to be rotated to a predetermined orientation. Previous ride conveyor systems, such as Futurama at the 1939 New York World's Fair and Ford's Magic Skyway at the 1964 New York World's Fair, were not designed to allow the individual ride vehicles to rotate. In addition to the main ride rails, each vehicle also has two control rails attached to a wheel: one controls swiveling, allowing the vehicle to face in any direction at any point on the track, and the other allows the vehicle to tilt in relation to the inclining and declining portions of the track.[3] Early Omnimovers such as for Adventure Thru Inner Space at Disneyland were manufactured by Arrow Development,[4] with later systems such as the Buzz Lightyear attractions being manufactured by Sansei Yusoki.[5]
Two Omnimover systems have been in continuous use since their debut but have featured different attractions:
Although Journey Into Imagination with Figment in Epcot is now an Omnimover basis track, the original incarnation of the ride was a continuously moving vehicle system.
This list includes all Omnimover attractions that have been permanently removed and not recycled.
