Have you ridden Slinky Dog Dash yet? If not, “you are a sad, strange little man and you have my pity.” The hottest new ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t an E-Ticket attraction per se. It’s more of a family-friendly roller coaster that fills a niche. Still, it’s the anchor attraction at Toy Story Land, the themed land that’s driving attendance at Walt Disney World right now. It uses a lot of impressive Imagineering tricks, too. Let’s go Behind the Ride to learn what makes Slinky Dog Dash tick.
The Experience: Suspension of disbelief about your natural size
The Trick: Creating larger-than-life ornaments that sell the premise
Image: DisneyWhen you visit Toy Story Land, the theming suggests that you’ve shrunk down to the size of a toy. You’re visiting Andy’s bedroom shown in the first three Toy Story movies, and he hasn’t given any of belongings to Bonnie yet. Yes, the gang’s all here!
As the signature attraction at Toy Story Land, Slinky Dog Dash embodies the concept of the entire themed land. Everything that you see is part of a playset that Andy won during a fateful game at Toy Story Planet. He is now the proud owner of the Dash & Dodge Mega Coaster Kit, which is happily constructing in his bedroom.
The catch is that Andy is a young boy, and I speak from experience when I say that young boys have the world’s shortest attention spans. Presumably, Andy’s seen something shiny or maybe chased a butterfly out of the room or something. Whatever happened, he hasn’t completed the coaster kit yet, and that’s troubling since you’re about to ride it!
Image: DisneyYes, on Slinky Dog Dash, you’re a kind of crash test dummy, the ill-fated toy forced to zoom around on an incomplete roller coaster. There’s a strong chance that this won’t end well for you, which exacerbates the element of excitement.
Imagineers really played up the premise with the ride design. You’ll see all sorts of elements that reflect the improvisational skills of a child. Sure, it’s a roller coaster playset, but it’s got Christmas lights for some reason. Also, several of the beloved Toy Story characters are on display, probably because they’re toys sharing the same play area with you.
Image: DisneyFrom the start of the ride queue, you’ll see hints of Andy’s hand in building the playset. His illustrations are on display. You can see giant-sized characters like Jessie throughout the ride.
Disney’s crafted a level of immersion that’s stunning even by their lofty standards. By the time you board the ride, you’ll fully believe that you’re a toy in Andy’s bedroom. And all Disney needed to perfect the illusion was a bunch of oversized models of Rex and Jenga blocks and the like. This easy demonstration of scale proves that the simplest tricks are frequently the most impacting.
The Experience: Mimicking the concept of a slinky on a roller coaster
The Trick: Building a giant spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!
Image: DisneySure, Epcot may have the reputation as Disney’s park for infotainment, but the most scientific ride at Walt Disney World is Slinky Dog Dash. It’s a brilliant demonstration of high-level physics concepts like kinetic energy, gravity, and the impact of momentum. In this way, it mirrors the Slinky itself.
Here’s a quick history lesson for you. A retired Navy Engineer, Richard James, noticed a problem while he worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard toward the end of World War II. Sailors passed along stories of their instruments struggling in the face of stormy weather. James deduced that the addition of a spring to these instruments would keep them stable in such scenarios.
The inventor imagined many practical military applications wherein the springs would prevent objects from falling at unwelcome moments. The Navy was nonplussed. They quickly passed on the idea. Thankfully, James’ wife, Betty, envisioned a different usage. She thought these small springs could become educational but entertaining toys. She coined the name, Slinky, and the two of them sold the famous department store, Gimbels, on the idea. The rest is toy history.
Image: DisneyWhen Imagineers learned that they would build a roller coaster based on the concept, they delighted in the possibilities. They wanted to display the scientific aspects of the slinky during the brief roller coaster ride. Even though Slinky Dog Dash is only two minutes long, it does a remarkable job of highlighting the main scientific applications of the Slinky.
Some of the physics principles at play are the Law of Conservation, potential and kinetic energy, gravity, and Newton’s First Law of Motion. Don’t worry. This isn’t an exam, and you won’t be tested later. All you need to understand is the basic stuff to appreciate Slinky Dog Dash.
An object motion stays in motion. That’s the Newtonian aspect. The Law of Conservation states that energy can’t be created, but it also can’t be destroyed. That’s where potential and kinetic energy come into play. Something possesses energy whether it’s stationary or in motion. The only question is whether it’s static, which is potential energy, or kinetic energy.
Image: DisneyWith a slinky, the object in question has a set amount of potential energy right up until you push it down the stairs Mexican Telenova style. Then, its energy transfers into the kinetic type. That object stays in motion thanks to another law of physics, gravity. That’s what pulls it down the stairs. And that’s how a slinky works.
Imagineers wanted to recreate the concept of the slinky with their roller coaster, and they did it by building a ride cart that mimics the design of the Slinky Dog from Toy Story. To craft this effect, they made coaster carts that bend and turn individually. This design simulates the slinky motion while demonstrating the Law of Conservation. It has that energy, whether it’s moving or not, but the slinky design is the demonstration of what this science looks like during a real-world application.
The Experience: A pregnant pause that ramps up the enthusiasm
The Trick: Bringing a full motion coaster to a full-stop
Image: DisneySlinky Dog Dash’s coaster cart has potential energy that becomes kinetic once it gets revved up. But the genius part is neither the look nor the style of the roller coaster. It’s the trick that occurs in the middle.
Disney stops the ride for a few seconds, ostensibly to enhance excitement for the concluding track elements. In actuality, it’s another smart display of potential and kinetic energy. The object in motion feels the push of gravity against it and comes to a full stop. Then, after a delicious pause, it explodes into action once again.
The mechanics aren’t complicated. We’re talking about a simple braking system, the standard coaster acceleration mechanisms, and a countdown clock to heighten anticipation. It’s the execution as well as the thought behind it that elevates the experience.
Image: DisneyFor starters, Disney had never constructed a roller coaster with a full-stop in the middle before. Those are actually quite rare in the theme park industry. The engineering isn’t hard, of course. You just locate the hardware customarily found at the start of the ride to the spot where you want to stop the coaster. Obviously, you need to install some breaks, too. This leads to the unique construction aspect that Slinky Dog Dash has elements from the start and end of a typical roller coaster squarely in its middle section. Weird, huh?
The thought behind this oddity is twofold. On the one hand, it ably demonstrates the high-level physics concepts on display with a slinky. It celebrates the brilliance of one of the most popular toys of the 20th century. On the other hand, it’s just plain fun, which is the whole point of a Disney ride, right? Slinky Dog Dash is highbrow under the hood, but it’s something that a five-year-old will adore, too. Disney Imagineers snuck a massive amount of edutainment into a child-friendly roller coaster ride.
