They tell you to keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all time knowing riders will disobey because they've been taught that rollercoasters are most fun when your arms are in the air.
But Disney parks have a reputation for being tidy, orderly and accident free, so how do they protect themselves from those rebel riders who refuse to keep their arms inside the car?
They use this crazy looking contraption called the “envelope of protection”, which is covered in small pieces of wood that approximate the farthest points a rider can reach out on all sides.
If any pieces are knocked off during the coaster's run the ride's safety engineers can locate the problem spot and help prevent future limb loss.
-Via LAist
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You can't really prevent ALL injury because someone will absolutely find a way to stick their appendage where no sane person would stick it. Or like... they'll squash it in the restraint bar while it's coming down or something. I once got a horrible contusion on my leg on Splash Mountain but that's because I was stuck sitting in front of someone that was very very overweight and there was so little room between me and the front of the car that the weight falling forward on the drops squashed my leg against the frame of the car. They can't prevent that (and my friend seriously needs to drop some stones, tbh.)
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We went for vacation last summer to Orlando and there was a gent from the UK that lost part of his finger on a ride (or maybe it was just a nasty laceration?), so someone must have been on break. I don't recall the ride, but it wasn't one you'd associate with injury--might have been It's A Small World, or one of those that you just sit back and relax for 2 minutes after you've been in line for an hour.
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Well that and... there are cameras EVERYWHERE. A bear stopped singing on the Song of a the South ride and told me to stop splashing. Guests are then tracked via the surveillance system to ensure they don't reoffend. I don't know about Cali, but the FL park has fake trees that are loaded with cameras and you're tracked everywhere but the inside of the bathrooms.
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