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Great topic by the way!
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BizJet, Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion contains a upwardly stretching room that simulates the fake stretching room that attempts to mask a real elevator at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in California. If that makes any sense. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
The purpose of Disneyland's stretching room, as you said, is to get guests into the Show Building outside the park's "berm" and to do that, the guests must be taken down underground to pass beneath the train tracks that encircle the park. The reason Walt Disney World's does not use an elevator is that all show elements have to be at "ground level" (which is actually elevated in the case of the Florida's Magic Kingdom) due to Florida's low water table. Dig down just a few feet and you hit water and lots of it! When excavating to create the huge man-made Seven Seas Lagoon in front of Florida's Magic Kingdom, the "fill" was used to build-up the elevation of the Park. The underground tunnels (or Utilidors as they are called) that run beneath the Magic Kingdom that you might have heard about, are actully at ground level, with the entire Park built above them on the "second floor" as it were! Hope that didn't just ruin the Magic for anyone! [This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 12-03-2000).] |
Ok, PremEx, I know you've done some work with Disney (or do you work for them yourselves...), so help me out here.
Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is really on the "second floor". Below the public "outside" level is a unique system of "utilidors" (utility corridors) that run throughout the entire park. So "Cast Members" (employees) can go to their designated part of the park in coustume without walking through the public areas. Same with the characters. They appear through "secret doors" in shops, etc. Thus the effect of the coustumed employees and characters is not lost. This is not available at Disneyland. So, PremEx, you don't climb any stairs when you enter the Kingdom, so when you arrive via Monorail or Ferry (from the T-T-C or Magic Kingdom Resorts) are you already on the second level? Obviously the utilidors can't be underground, as then they would be underwater. And, here's an interesting story (don't read if you don't want to know a Disney secret!). If you visited the Living Seas at Epcot, you know that you take an elevator down to the visitor's level. Supposedly you decend 15 stories or something in like 25 seconds. A woman sued the Walt Disney Company claiming that the pressure in her ears from the rapid ascent/decent caused intollerable pain. Disney lawyers provided the lady's lawyers with the plans of the attraction that clearly show that the elevator is a fake, and doesn't go anywhere, except to shake and rattle for a minute. The suit was dropped. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif |
Bizjet questions:
So, PremEx, you don't climb any stairs when you enter the Kingdom, so when you arrive via Monorail or Ferry (from the T-T-C or Magic Kingdom Resorts) are you already on the second level? Some parts of the Utilidor (such as those that pass under The Rivers Of America) dip down below the water table. In those areas there are sump pumps running constantly in chambers below to keep the water from entering the tunnels. And thanks for mentioning the "Hydrolators" at The Living Seas! I guess it's a great effect when someone sues over what they just think has occured! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif Also, did you know that you don't just freefall the 13 stories in the Tower of Terror elevators? You are actually "falling" much faster than a freefall. That is because the elevators are literally "sucked" down the shaft by huge air compressors that create a vacuum in the chamber as it begins it's decent. That compressed air is charged and discharged in order to make the elevator run up and down with incredible speed, accuracy and safety, which could never be accomplished with the conventional mechanics other "free-fall" rides employ. [This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 12-04-2000).] |
If those Pasternosters are the small platforms that you hop on and off of as they move up and down, then yes I've been on one a couple of years ago in Munich at the Siemens building and I think one in Antwerp at the Alcatel building. They would be a lawsuit waiting to happen in the U.S. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I agree with Premex that the Hollywood Tower ride is the scariest elevator there is. I used to live in the Hancock building in Chicago and had to ride one of the high-speed elevators everyday to get to my 50th floor apartment. It took about a month to get used to the instant pressure difference and keep my ears from popping. |
PremEx: As per the Tower of Terror, apparently the speed of gravity was just too slow for the Disney Imagineers! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Stimpy: Very cool about living in the Hancock Building, IMO. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I was watching a special on the learning channel a couple of weeks ago about Super Skyscrapers, and they interviewed a couple who lives in a Hancock apartment. No other home will move five feet on a windy night! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I've always wondered about the apartments there. Are their designated floors that are residential, or are they spread thruout the tower? |
I decided to see what I could dig up about residential and the Hancock Building...
From: http://www.worldstallest.com/96/hancock.html John Hancock Center is located on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile," an elegant length of Michigan Avenue which has long been famous for its smart shops, galleries, restaurants and the historic old Water Tower which survived the great Chicago fire of 1871. The building's lower floors contain 812,000 square feet of office space. Over seven hundred apartments ranging in size from studios to four-bedrooms are located on its upper stories. Office and residential tenants are served by separate entrances and elevators, so both groups enjoy complete privacy and security. The entrance for apartment residences is on Delaware Place. Office and commercial entrances are on Michigan Avenue, Delaware Place and Chestnut Street. Apartment dwellers step into street-level elevators and travel non-stop to the 44th floor "Sky Lobby." The Sky Lobby's amenities include a restaurant, commissary, health club, service shops and the highest above-ground swimming pool in the world (546 feet). From 44, another bank of elevators carries residents to apartments whose features include glassed-in "sky terraces" for year-around lounging in sky-high surroundings. A resident gazing out of his living-room window on the 92nd floor (the topmost apartment level) in the John Hancock Center stands precisely 1,003 feet, 6 inches above ground. Our resident enjoys a view unequalled in any other dwelling place on earth. The same individual, if he or she works in the building, can "commute" to the office in 90 seconds. Other features, from the concourse level through the 12th floor, include Bonwit Teller, a store in keeping with the "Magnificent Mile" tradition; a broad variety of service and retail shops; Upper Avenue National Bank; and heated indoor parking for 1,400 cars which enter and leave floors 6 through 12 via a spiral ramp. More than 50 percent of the 104,000-square-foot site on whicch the building is located I devoted to open space. The landscaped plaza area features a skating rink in winter which serves as a reflecting pool in summer. John Hancock Center's unique design reflects the logic of form following function. Consider the building's tapering sides, for example. Office space is most efficient and produces optimum flexibility when it is offered in large blocks. This space is thus located on the lower and larger floors of the building. Apartment dwellers wish to enjoy an exciting, high-level view of the city. In John Hancock Center, apartments begin where many building's end-at the 45th floor-and continue through the 92nd story |
In the antique category : Hotel Polana, Maputo, Mozambique. With operator. I'm not sure the elevator survived the recent renovation of the hotel unscathed. The operator probably did, although he may no longer be employed in his original capacity.
The police headquarters in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) had a paternoster, which I believe also fell victim to a renovation. johan |
The Hancock condos go from 45 to about 92 with our lobby on the 44th. Also on 44 is our private grocery store, swimming pool and health club. 94 is the French restaurant and 95 is the view bar. Below 44 are offices for let.
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PremEx, thanks for reminding me about WDW. The Tower of Terror was super. My better half, who used to jump out of airplanes for a living, was scared to death!
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Originally posted by stimpy: If those Pasternosters are the small platforms that you hop on and off of as they move up and down, then yes I've been on one a couple of years ago in Munich at the Siemens building and I think one in Antwerp at the Alcatel building. They would be a lawsuit waiting to happen in the U.S. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif And yes, there were accidents. Most caused by stupidity - in some cases from people scrambling to get out because of the false belief that the "little cubicle" in which one was lifted or lowered actually turned over when it reached the top or bottom. (It doesn't - picture an endless chain-link belt with the cubicle attached at its top to the axle of the link itself; as the belt rotates the cubicle travels alongside the belt and pivots on the connection to the axle when the link reaches top or bottom. Thus the "bottom" of the cubicle remains the floor no matter whether the cubicle is going up or down, and it is completely safe to ride "around" the cycle. The powers that be finally had to post signs in the cubicles saying it was safe to ride them around.) But the most fascinating thing about the Farben Building, if what I was told is true, is the rotunda (which was used as a cafeteria when the building was V Corps Headquarters in the 1960s and 1970s at least). When the Farben Building was built, circa 1925 IIRC, the domed interior ceiling of the rotunda was covered with a thin layer of one of the most precious metals then known to man. Guess what it was. |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Guess what it was. </font> [This message has been edited by yevlesh2 (edited Mar 14, 2004).] |
Actually, the hankock building in Boston has two story elevators, theyre kind of wierd but you get used to them http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif
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I used to ride in one of those Pater Nosters a few years ago, I know there are still one or two in use, but can't remember where. As I was trying to find out more I stumbled on this:
http://www.camblog.com/blog.php?admin=browse&blog=3 I think that one is in Dublin. |
I've been in many (we call them lifts over here) in coal mines in the UK and elsewhere. There are some substantial engineering feats there, including double-decker cars.
Some descend more than 2,000 feet, and as they do not have proper doors, only mesh screens, the air pressure is immense as you rush down. The head house that contains the machinery is usually the tallest structure for miles around. I've also had to go in ones which are not yet completed, where we were let down the mine shaft in a bucket. Going down 2,000 feet in one of those, with no lights (we had out miners lamps on our helmets, of course) is something else. So is getting in/out of the bucket at the top, with the 2,000 foot drop beneath you as you clamber across. |
High speed elevators (>8m/s) are technically interesting, and quite different from normal elevators. Some of their features:
- direct drive motors (gearless) - double wall construction for soundproofing - aerodynamic fairings at top and bottom to reduce wind noise - ceramic brake shoes to cope with high kinetic energy (which increases as a square function of velocity) - sealed doors - various vibration-reducing devices The current fastest elevator, Toshiba's 1010m/min model in the 509m tall Taipei 101 building, is the first to feature an atmospheric pressure control system, a feature I would have welcomed when I rode Mitsubishi's 750m/min then-fastest version in the Yokohama Landmark tower. Something tells me I wouldn't enjoy a ride down WHBM's mine shaft! In case of failure, the Taipei 101's elevators have an oil damper with a 6m stroke, capable of handling a cab descending at the full 600m/min rate; 4m stroke in the Landmark tower. At the other end of the scale, I recall the janitor's fully manual and jealously guarded elevator in my New England high school dorm http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by monahos: Something tells me I wouldn't enjoy a ride down WHBM's mine shaft!</font> |
Washington Monument
Looking at all the plaques on the inside wall as you descend from the viewing platform also, does anyone else look down the gap between the elevator and the floor? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, that building scares the bejesus out of me, I was fine about going up and came down and my Mum told me how scared she was and now I am slightly afraid to go up it http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif |
Now no one would believe you could have an elevator that you could sail a sizeable boat into, be taken up 50 feet, and then sail out into a canal at a higher level. That's just ridiculous!
Anderton Boat Lift |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UAL Traveler: On the west side of the Landmark Hotel in Bangkok you'll find twin fast glass elevators (when they are working). What is interesting is that they start in an atrium, and then blast through the roof and emerge outside the hotel on an express run to the 31st floor. </font> |
For the best elevated, spinning view I have to name the ride up to Table Mountain in Cape Town South Africa. The elevator/tram car not only rises and descends but spins. Obviously it is not operating on excessively windy days.
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Better than Space Mountain at Disneyland!</font> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by WHBM: Now no one would believe you could have an elevator that you could sail a sizeable boat into, be taken up 50 feet, and then sail out into a canal at a higher level. That's just ridiculous! Anderton Boat Lift</font> |
I love the beautiful little cage elevator at the Hotel Bristol in Paris.
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I like those elevators that you step in, have maybe room for one more person, and when the door closes, you pray that:
A. It opens B. It goes to the floor you requested (in that order). http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif |
Well, for something different, you can always ride the "elevator" at Epcot's Living Seas. It actually travels about an inch or so, while the floor rattles and shakes and you see the "rock walls" going by in the window. Here's the funny part: a few years ago, some guy tried to sue Epcot because he claimed the depressurization caused by the "rapid descent" caused his ear drums to burst.
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The elevator itself wasn't at all impressive, but riding in one on the old Queen Elizabeth during extremely rough seas was always an adventure. Going down as the ship plunged almost lifted you off the floor and going up as the ship rose almost PUT you on the floor.
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The Hotel Metropole in Brussels has a great old cage elevator- but what made it special to me was a photo in the lobby of a conference once held there. The picture include Marie Curie, Max Planck, de Broglie, Einstein and just about anyone who had had a constant or an element named after them. I'd ride that elevator and picture Albert Einstein in it!
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Anybody else notice that this thread was bumped after more than three years in hibernation?
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by redbeard911: Anybody else notice that this thread was bumped after more than three years in hibernation? </font> Why not? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif How about the elevator in the St. Louis Arch? Claustrophobic little thing, creeping up an arched trackway... |
Not exactly an elevator at all but still going up and down...
Has anyone who has climbed the stairs up the Arc de Triomphe in Paris looked up the centre of the spiral? The stairs are so tight with an almost endless twirl heading into the abyss above. You've just got to make sure some punk doesn't spit their gum down the shaft while you are looking as the shaft is so small you are bound to be hit |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by WHBM: Now no one would believe you could have an elevator that you could sail a sizeable boat into, be taken up 50 feet, and then sail out into a canal at a higher level. That's just ridiculous! Anderton Boat Lift</font> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by monahos: Only in England http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif </font> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The first hydraulic balance lock built by Edwin Clark in 1874 at Anderton, on the River Weaver, in Cheshire, England, was followed by similar locks built in Belgium and France. Engineer Frank Turner recommended such locks for the ill-fated Huron and Ontario ship canal in 1879 and raised the notion again as a member of the Trent Valley Canal Commission. The challenge at Peterborough was to create a device for lifting a vessel from one level to another without wasting water and with one efficient mechanical lock replacing a bottleneck series of standard locks that resembled giant steps. Richard B. Rogers, as superintendent of the Trent Canal, latched on to the hydraulic lock concept and greatly expanded its possibilities, suggesting that a hydraulic lock could raise or lower a vessel 70 feet in the same time as a typical lock could raise or lower one a mere 7 feet. He figured such a lock would reduce construction costs, alleviate concerns over water supply on the canal, and be more efficient. Rogers actually designed the lock before he travelled to Belgium and France to see how existing models worked. </font> On another note, I always liked the big old lifts in the deeper stations of the London Tube, such as Russell Square. [This message has been edited by Mehdron (edited Mar 16, 2004).] |
My first summer time job, in 1966, was being an elevator operator. Thanks to good education I don't do that sort of thing anymore...
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The infamous elevators of Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon side, Hong Kong. As people deboard, the boarding stampede begins until there is absolutely no more room. A sensory overload, as many passengers are afficianados of the Pakistani messes in the building. There are always too many for the doors to shut, and the one blocking the doors is shoved out. The doors close, and the weight overload buzzer sounds, the door opens and a passenger is shoved out. The process is repeated with passengers being shoved out until the elevator is able to begin its groaning ascent.
There are some pictures of the elevators here - http://www.cromwell-intl.com/travel/...gkong-pix.html |
Thanks for resurrecting this thread!
Most interesting elevator I've seen since 2000: The high rise ones in the Westin Times Square, where the cars never seem to reach a steady cruising speed. Instead, they seem to continually accelerate, then start decelerating. The higher up you are in the building, the longer the acceleration phase lasts. Really neat. I'm still searching for still-in-use manual control "car switch" cars, preferably ones with pneumatically operated doors. Examples include Seattle's Smith Tower, San Francisco's Coit Tower, Detroit's Fox Theatre, and, until a few years ago, London's Harrods. Does anyone know of more of these 1920s-era lifts still in operation? [This message has been edited by AlexB (edited Mar 16, 2004).] |
If you come to Greenwich in London there is a pedestrian tunnel under the River Thames which has huge octagonal lifts at either end, you could probably get 100 people in. Originally hydraulic, the docks hydraulic supply was shut down and the lifts were substantially refurbished a few years ago with new cars (being out of action for about a year). They're still manually operated and they still have all the original wooden interiors, which at refurbishment were painstakingly transferred across from the old to the new cars - having ridden in the old ones there's no difference in sensation at all.
Can't find a photo of the car but here's the head house over the top of it. Greenwich Foot Tunnel Some of us used it to get to Greenwich at the recent FT London Do. |
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