Islands of Adventure’s Very Unusual Abandoned Dr. Seuss Ride

IOA’s Innovative Rides

Islands of Adventure was a big step forward for Universal Orlando and theme parks in general. Its highly themed areas were more atmospheric than the backlot aesthetic of Universal Studios Florida, but the storytelling went beyond just beautiful visuals; many of the park’s attractions would be more innovative and creative than ever imagined.

For example, Islands of Adventure wouldn’t just have standard roller coasters—its coasters would have powerful launches and intertwined tracks that came within inches of other riders. Universal wasn’t designing just another motion simulator—they were creating a never-before-attempted hybrid of a dark ride and motion simulator.

“This was the one ride on paper that none of us thought could be done. We thought the design group was about five years ahead of their time, and they delivered this—surprised all of us.”
Steven Spielberg, creative consultant for Islands of Adventure, NBC, 1999

That was the level of innovation the creatives put into this park. The Dr. Seuss car ride, while on the tamer side for kids, was no exception; the ride system was unique to say the least.

The Seuss Car Ride System

To get the basic idea, the Dr. Seuss car ride—known as Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines—was going to be an elevated monorail-type ride system with individual guest-operated cars designed to bump other drivers. In short, the concept was more or less a combination of Tomorrowland Speedway and PeopleMover, but with bumper car features.

Being up to about 15 feet high, the slow-moving ride would have nice sights of Seuss Landing from above; in that sense, it would be similar to the Pteranodon Flyers suspended family coaster in Islands of Adventure’s Jurassic Park section. It was an unusual concept, but Universal found a manufacturer willing to take on the job.

Universal contracted U.K.-based manufacturer Severn-Lamb to design, fabricate, and install the unusual ride system. Severn-Lamb specialized in transportation systems, such as trains, passenger vehicles, shuttles, river boats, and monorails—plenty of which were installed at theme parks.
This was no ordinary monorail, but Severn-Lamb agreed to the challenge.

A Closer Look

The patent and other public documents for the Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines ride system are very detailed, giving a good idea of what the attraction would have been like. Here’s a closer look.

The two-passenger cars would travel along a guided, ribbonlike monorail track. Riders could control a few interactive features, such as the horn, lights, and—most of all—speed. During the ride, guests could control the forward acceleration and deceleration by using a “throttle,” which was shown in the patent as a foot-operated pedal. To vary the speed, each car would have an onboard motor that could travel between 2.7 mph and 5.5 mph.

This is where things get interesting. By controlling the speed, riders could hit other ride vehicles, like bumper cars. Usually, rides have safety features such as block zones to prevent vehicles from colliding. The patent, however, describes some technical details of how this would have safely worked.

The Bumpers

Essentially, riders could accelerate to rear end the car in front of them. To reduce the force, each ride vehicle would have shock-absorbing bumpers on the front and rear. The bumpers went a step further by having a system of sensors that could detect collisions. The sensor system, upon impact, would enable an automatic controller to temporarily override guest controls. Simply put, the sensors would reduce the impact by speeding up the “leading” vehicle and slowing down the “chasing” vehicle. This would separate the two cars after bumping and possibly reduce traffic jams.

The attraction could have had up to 60 ride vehicles, which could make the dual track crowded and frantic.

The patent also describes the possibility of anticipating collisions by using proximity sensors or similar technology. With this feature, the vehicles could “simulate or exaggerate the sensation of a collision with little or no actual physical impact,” as explained in the patent.

All these protections would reduce the force. Remember, the ride would be limited to low speeds, so the impacts would probably be closer to a “bump” than a “crash.” Riders could bump only from behind, meaning no head-on collisions. For additional safety, the vehicles also had secondary sensors programmed to stop motion in case of emergency impacts.