Disney Rumors for January 2025
Happy New Year, my many loves!
We just completed an exciting 2024 campaign wherein the seemingly impossible happened.
Disney finally announced some new rides and attractions! And I mean entirely new, not just re-themes of older attractions.
From 2020-2023, that thought seemed impossible.
Now, we’ve officially survived the worst and have much to look forward to in 2025 and beyond.
So, let’s discuss Disney’s odd new ride cart patent and what it portends for the future.
Why Disney Ride Carts Stay the Same


Photo: @michael.e.moriarty via Instagram
On December 12th, 2024, Disney filed a new patent for a ride cart design.
Obviously, Disney does this, and nothing ever comes from many of the ideas.


Photo: Disney
Park officials prefer knowns as they come with cost control and manufacturing certainty.
For example, Disney knows for sure that an OmniMover attraction will work because it’s built dozens over the years.


Photo: Disney
When the choices come down to a new ride design versus an OmniMover, Disney will favor the latter because it’s safer.
Sometimes, when Disney attempts an entirely new ride cart concept, a Rocket Rods scenario unfolds. And nobody wants that.


Photo: Disney.fandom.com
So, Disney behaves cautiously because it’s the smart thing to do.
Generally, when Disney does grow bold, it fully believes in the technology and views all the potential negatives as manageable.


Photo: Tokyo Disneyland
Perhaps the best example of this is trackless technology, which Disney started in 2000 with Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.
The Oriental Land Company took all the risk there, as it became the guinea pig for a ride style never before attempted.
Even after Pooh’s Hunny Hunt earned acclaim as a triumphant attraction, Disney waited many years to try the idea domestically.
While Pooh’s Hunny Hunt works very well, the negatives about trackless technology, combined with the high cost, worked against the ride.
By the time Disney finally added this style of ride in the United States, it was much cheaper.
Plus, Disney possessed plenty of data about its efficiency. Park planners could make a more informed choice.
Since then, trackless rides have become popular, with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance have demonstrated the technology’s genius.
Go Where You Want
For future attractions, Disney is at least considering a dramatic change.
The proposed ride cart is for a “rider-controlled amusement park ride.”


Photo: Pexel.com
Obviously, you may have questions about that. At its core, Disney has patented rider-controlled motion for theme park attractions.
As the rider, you would take more control over the ride experience, determining where you go and when.
Let’s think about that in terms of a current ride. I’ll choose something basic so that you can visualize it more easily.
Say that you’re riding Pirates of the Caribbean, a boat ride on an underwater track.


pirates of the caribbean
Currently, you have no control over where you go. The boat will take you on a linear path. In industry terms, you’re on a rail.
In a perfect world, you wouldn’t be on a rail, though. After all, that’s not how human movement works.


pirates of the caribbean
When you stand in an open space, you can move in any direction you choose.
As theme park attractions evolve, that’s the ultimate goal. Getting there has proven challenging, though.


Photo: click Orlando
To date, trackless technology represents the closest recreation of that freedom of motion. But you’re not really free.
Even though you cannot see the tracks, your ride cart still moves in a set pattern. So, you cannot go wherever you like.


Photo: Computer Hope
Disney would like to change that, and it has created the tech to do so.
The company’s patent filing shows a hand glider configuration with a sensor.


Walt Disney Company
Guests can push the sensor to move the hand glider. Ostensibly, you could dive, soar, or spin around in the air.
The idea is that you control your line of sight and position within the environment.
That’s the dream for a theme park attraction. You can go where you want!
But There’s a Problem


Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Under this new design, you’re a more active passenger. That would be a significant advantage for something like Runaway Railway.
As I’ve previously mentioned, each Runaway Railway scene includes an evolving story.


Chuuby on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
You cannot catch all of it since the ride cart decides where in the room you’ll be and largely where you’ll look as well.
With Disney’s patented technology, you could ostensibly use the sensors to move within the environment.
This freedom would allow you to appreciate the attraction more than ever.
With each ride, you could experience more of Runaway Railway’s thrilling, oftentimes hysterical, hijinks.


Photo: Screen Rant
Circling back to Pirates of the Caribbean, you could travel closer to the ships, hearing the big booms of the cannon fire.
Alternatively, you could sail close to Captain Jack Sparrow or Redd the Pirate to admire them up close. It’d be amazing!


Photo: Disney
So, you and Disney both have good reasons to love this new technology.
But there’s a problem.


Photo: Disney
While Imagineers love the idea of delivering a more immersive and realistic ride experience, this design is only theoretical.
Disney very well may have a working R&D prototype (or 20) at Walt Disney Imagineering, but it’s all theoretical.
Everything sounds great in a lab. Then, when the testing phase begins, the flaws reveal themselves.
And that’s the choice Disney faces right now. It’s about to spend $6 billion a year on expansion.


Photo: skillastics.com
Roughly a dozen entirely new Disney rides will come to fruition over the next decade.
In a perfect world, Disney would use this full-motion technology on many of them.

Photo: Disney
However, should Disney take this approach, it’s risking all its expansion money on totally unproven tech. Would you do that?
Why Disney May Be Bold


Walt Disney Company
Here’s the thing, though. Disney stands on the precipice of an entirely new generation of attractions.
Fans expect Disney to deliver state-of-the-art experiences unlike any we’ve seen. So, the pressure is on to be creative.


Photo: Facebook/Imagineer Podcast
This patent IS creative. Frankly, it’s breathtaking. On a “rider-controlled amusement park ride,” all things are possible.
You could decide where to go on Avatar Flight of Passage, or where to soar on Soarin’.


Flight of Passage
For Disney’s previously announced new experiences, guests could choose the parts of the Coco story that appeal to them on the boat ride.
With Monstropolis, the new roller coaster could give guests unprecedented control of where they’re going.


The Walt Disney Company
Don’t get me wrong. Disney’s not about to introduce this technology on a roller coaster ride. It’d be way too big a risk.
You get the point, though. As soon as a ride cart adds sensors that give guests freedom of choice, all things are possible.


Bruce Vaughn (left center) at the groundbreaking of Pandora.
So, this technology needs to happen. The only question is when Disney proves daring enough to take the risk.
Please don’t keep us waiting 15+ years like you did with trackless ride carts, Disney!
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