Patent ID: 8117968

Claim:
A method of pacing a vehicle in an amusement park ride, comprising: at a first location in the ride, releasing or launching the vehicle with energy to travel an entire length of a section of the ride; providing a controller with memory storing speed settings for the vehicle in a portion of the ride; positioning a plurality of magnetic thrusters proximate to the portion of the ride at a second location spaced apart from the first location within the section of the ride, the magnetic thrusters including at least one position sensor communicatively linked to the controller; in response to a signal from the at least one position sensor after the releasing or launching, operating the controller to determine a velocity of the vehicle in the portion of the ride at more than one location along the portion of the ride; with the controller, comparing the determined velocity with the stored speed settings; determining a magnetic force to apply to the vehicle based on the comparing; and operating the magnetic thrusters to generate the magnetic force that acts upon the vehicle to pace the vehicle by selectively operating individual ones of the plurality of magnetic thrusters over the portion of the ride, wherein after operating the magnetic thruster to generate the magnetic force the vehicle continues to coast in a direction of travel at a velocity greater than zero and within a velocity range defined by the stored speed settings, wherein the vehicle is coasting at an initial velocity upon entering the portion of the track in the direction of travel that is within the velocity range, and wherein the magnetic force is selected in the determining to retain the vehicle at a velocity within the velocity range along the portion of the ride.