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Delivering Thrills

By Ritu Upadhyay

Sumner's Grizzly River run has a 22-foot drop, the highest of any rapid-water ride.

As a kid growing up in southern California, Mark Sumner spent many happy days at Disneyland. "I loved the rides!" he exclaims. As an adult, Sumner combined his passion for thrills with a love of building and became a ride engineer. He has designed 28 roller coasters over the past 23 years. Sumner is a part of Disney’s Imagineering team, a group of artists, engineers and business people who create attractions for Disney resorts around the world.

Most recently, Sumner worked on two major rides for Disney’s new theme park, California Adventure, which opened last February. Each ride took three to five years to create. It’s a long process, but Sumner says the results are worth it. "Seeing something go from just an idea in someone’s mind to a ride that brings smiles, screams and laughs to people is just fantastic," he says.

The early stages of a project involve a lot of creative problem solving. Sumner studied engineering at California Polytechnic University. He calls on that mathematical training and his imagination to plan how a ride will work and move. To share ideas with his team, he makes sketches, but pen and paper don’t always get the ideas across. Recently he pulled out his trusty Erector Set, a building toy from his childhood, and made a model. "The ride," he says, "ended up looking just like the model."

Rides aren’t Sumner’s only big thrill. In the 1980s he worked on what was then the world’s largest telescope, in Hawaii. "No matter what you are engineering, you use the same basics of math and science," he says.

Now Sumner is back at the drawing board, putting together the nuts and bolts of his next big ride. What can thrill seekers expect this time? "I have to keep my lips sealed, but it will be big!"

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