Disneyland Trip: The science of designing and running a theme park
A trip to Disneyland Paris has been planned for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 students to investigate the science behind running a large theme park.
This is a 3 day trip and has been funded largely by the club members. A small amount of funding was contributed from the core Science club funding to cover things like staffing.
This visit will include a series of lecturers from the Disneyland staff about, physics, ecology and pyrotechnics.
A description of the lectures are shown below.
Session One: The use of design and technology in theme parks
This session begins with a brief overview of the Walt Disney Company, which is then followed by two case studies:
Case Study 1: Roller Coaster Physics
• How roller coasters work
• Forces, mass and acceleration, speed and velocity
• Gravity and falling objects, kinetic and potential energy
• Linear motors
• Systems and control technology
• Roller coasters and the body
Case Study 2: Audio Animatronics
• The development of audio animatronics
• Reel to reel
• Animation consoles
• How today’s audio animatronics work
Session Two: Science and the Environment
Case Study 3: Plant Life and water
• Plants as characters in a story
• From beet fields to a theme park – the construction of Disneyland Paris
• Photosynthesis
• Irrigation
• Water used in special effects
• Water analysis
• Balancing lakes
Case Study 4: Environmental impacts
• Sustainable development
• Recycling
• Environmentality – how the resort has developed its own environment friendly systems
Session Three: Use of electricity, the senses and special effects at Disneyland Paris
Case Study 5: The Senses – Sight and Smell
• Persistence of vision
• Ultraviolet light
• The use of smell in theme park design
• Other senses at work in the park
Case Study 6: Special effects/Electricity
• Wind, fog, steam and vacuums
• Fire and flame effects
• Electricity in the resort
• Electric currents and circuits, series and parallel circuits
• Safety in electrical circuits
• The use of batteries and back up generators
The group leader guide is attached for additional information.
Activity Overview
- Start date
- 13th January 2010
- End date
- 21st January 2010
- Number of pupils
- 3
- Activity status
- Open
- School
- Tanfield School, Specialist College of Science and Engineering
- Tags
