The Fantastical Engineer: A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering

This title describes how engineers make the magic that is every theme park, amusement park, roller coaster, aquarium, zoo, cinema, sporting event, or trade show. Book features articles from industry experts and tells how to survive in this fast-paced and changeable industry. You can also preview the future of themed attraction design in this one-of-a-kind career guide.

Introduction

Thrillrides for the 21st Century by Lincoln Berry III

Imagine yourself harnessing into an inverted steel-looping coaster. Attached to the headrest is a Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display (HMD) that lowers over your head just like the harness does. Also mounted to the seat beside you is a joystick, mocked-up to look like an F-16 flight stick. You drop the HMD over your head, and suddenly you are immersed in a Star Wars themed virtual universe (you can choose not to wear the HMD if you prefer the natural terrain!)

The robust theme song of Star Wars pulses in your ears with the familiar chant of royal brass. As the coaster climbs the hill, you are briefed on your mission: To attack the dreaded Death Star and disable the ominous weapon of destruction. The words scroll under you like a monolith and dissolve into the vastness of space. In your personal, virtual world, you are an X-Wing fighter pilot. You take hold of the joystick and grip firmly.

You reach the top of the hill, and then DROP! As you make your 170-foot descent, inside your virtual world, you experience the famous trench battle scene all around you! You drop into the trench of the mighty death star Tie fighter engines screaming like banshees all around you! Laser blasts pounding, lighting up the space around you like the fourth of July! Subwoofers attached to the seat pulsate with each blast, sending thunder through your bones!

You enter the second 90-foot vertical loop, and you see Darth Vader approaching you fast! Squeeze the trigger and blast his minions to smithereens. Vader is on your tail as you go into a cobra roll his turbo lasers threatening to send you into oblivion!

Into the corkscrew and helix, you fight the joystick as your X-Wing buckles from the G-Forces. Watch it! You narrowly missed that trench wall! A half-second too late, and you would have been flatter than if Jaba the Hut had sat on you.

Coming out of the final heartline roll, you see your target The reactor vent itself. You are moving so fast. The voice of your sensei Ben Kenobi whispers in your ear, Use the Force! But do you have the skill to knock the target out? Suddenly the ride is over, the coaster pulls into the loading station and the scores are tallied. Who will be king among the Jedis today?