Abstract
My technical project and STS research both examine the theme park industry, but each
does so in a different way. My technical project involved building a scaled-down theme park
ride. By competing in the Ride Engineering Competition, my team and I had the opportunity to
learn more about how rides are built and the standards they must follow. My STS research on the
other hand focused on Disney World as a sociotechnical system. These two separate projects
provided their own unique insight into the theme park industry.
Researching Walt Disney World and the complex sociotechnical system that allowed it to
become such a successful theme park and famous tourist destination provided broader context
for the systems rides such as the one designed in my technical project enable. Disney World is
not just a theme park, but a resort on the scale of a major city. This makes it quite unique among
theme parks, but the rides still play a major role and help produce the overall sociotechnical
system.
The ride we built for REC was a three-degree-of-freedom robotic arm ride made up of
two links and a rotating base. REC tasked teams with building a ride with certain measurable
performance targets, including an acceleration of 2G, orientation change, and a minimum height
that must be met during operation. This year the competition challenged everyone to make the
ride capable of disassembling into a smaller travel envelope and then quickly reassembled for
operation. This would not be necessary for a ride at Disney World, but many of the other
challenges faced during this competition are seen by the engineers working on the rides at
Disney. Some examples include creating engaging rider experience, integrating a theme, and
maintaining strict safety, reliability, and operational constraints. The rides were built following
the same ASTM standards used in the industry.
My STS research focused on the large network of actors necessary for Walt Disney World
and how the technology cannot be separated from this network. Instead, technology is part of a
greater system including the local governments, the Disney corporation, the political landscape,
Disney employees and more. The Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has now been
restructured into the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, provided a lens to examine how
producing a sociotechnical system requires a hybrid body of different actors.
Together, these two projects show that theme parks and rides are not isolated technical
objects. A ride is made to be thrilling, but also maintainable and safe. ASTM standards must be
followed. My STS research on Disney World revealed the broader network that makes individual
rides possible. Theme parks, especially Disney World, as a large-scale resort, must work within a
greater network to produce the technical system. Disney World depends on infrastructure, labor,
corporate power, public authority, and state governance.
