Universal Just Patented a Water Ride Boat That Steers Itself, and Three Claims Would Hand the Controls to the Rider

Log flumes mostly work the same way. The water moves, the boat goes where the water tells it, and the parts that change its speed, the lift hill and the drop, are built into the course rather than into the boat.

Universal has just been granted a patent for a boat that argues back.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued patent 12,697,553 to Universal City Studios LLC on Tuesday, August 4. It is titled "Propulsion for amusement park ride," and it describes a ride vehicle that carries its own propulsion assembly and can independently speed up, slow down and steer itself, driven by a moving channel of water running beneath it.

A front view from Universal's patent. Two seated riders at 200, a steering control between them at 222, and the propulsion assembly at 202 hanging below the hull into the second fluid trough at 103. Diagram: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Attractions Magazine

How it works

The boat floats in one body of water, the way any flume boat does. But hanging below the hull is a propulsion assembly that dips into a second, separately flowing channel of water underneath, and that assembly carries two control surfaces that can each be adjusted independently, either pivoted or raised and lowered. The patent also floats variants, including running the trough beside or above the vehicle and using air instead of water, but the arrangement it draws out in detail is the one below the boat.

Turn both surfaces broadside to the flow and they catch the maximum push. Feather them parallel to it and they catch almost none, which is how the boat slows. Set the two to different angles and one catches more water than the other, and the boat turns toward the side catching less. The moving water is no longer the thing steering; it is just the power source, and the vehicle decides what to do with it.

The patent's abstract puts it this way: "Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods, apparatuses, and systems for implementing a vehicle system for amusement parks. A vehicle system can have one or more vehicles for carrying passengers. Each vehicle can be propelled via a propulsion assembly that is propelled by a flow of fluid. In some aspects, the propulsion assembly can provide one or more adjustable surfaces that extend into the flow of fluid in a trough."

FIG. 6, a bottom view, shows the steering. Water flow, marked 105, hits two vanes, and the dashed lines mark where each one can be swung to. Set one nearly parallel to the flow so it catches less, and the boat steers toward that side. Diagram: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Attractions Magazine

Other claims fill in the ride system around the boat. There are gates in the trough that move between positions to change how fast the water flows, which would let a ride speed up or slow a whole section on demand. Another claim adds beacons spaced out along the trough and an onboard receiver that reads them, so each boat can work out where it is on the course. The patent's own stated reason for the whole approach is safety: it argues that conventional under-ride wheels, chains and tracks create hazards and pinch points, particularly as guests board and exit.

The claim worth reading twice

Claim 5 reads: "The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the propulsion assembly is configured to provide a passenger of the vehicle with control of the first controllable surface, the second controllable surface, or both." Claims 10 and 15 cover the same idea for the vehicle and for the method.

That is a patent claim covering letting the guest steer. In the front view above, the steering control labeled 222 sits on a shaft between the two seated rider figures.

Universal has interactive rides and it has water rides, and at Epic Universe it has Fyre Drill, which is both at once. What it has not announced anywhere is a water ride you actually steer.

Before anyone starts building a Creature attraction in their head

The patent names no attraction, no park, no land and no character. It was filed on February 24, 2023, and granted this week, which is a normal patent timeline and not a construction schedule.

Attractions Magazine, which reported the grant, put the caveat plainly: "It's important to remember that patents protect ideas, not construction projects." The outlet also noted that any link to a specific property is fan speculation, writing that those connections "remain purely speculative, as the patent does not refer to any specific intellectual property, park, or land."

The Creature from the Black Lagoon as he appears in Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment at Epic Universe. The patent does not mention him, and no Creature water ride has been announced. Photo courtesy of Universal

Attractions Magazine reported that "some fans have already begun wondering" about a Creature connection. Two pieces of unrelated construction news explain why that guess was close at hand. Universal currently has two conspicuous holes where a water ride could go. Poseidon's Fury is coming down at Islands of Adventure, with the facade gone and interior demolition still underway, and site preparation has already begun on the cleared plot next door, where the theater for The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad stood in The Lost Continent until it was torn down in June. At Epic Universe, an approved permit for the expansion pad behind Dark Universe includes a ride maintenance bay, and the Creature is already an established resident of that land.

Neither of those is evidence, and Universal has announced no ride for either site. They are just the empty space the speculation is filling.

Sources

• United States Patent 12,697,553, Propulsion for amusement park ride, Universal City Studios LLC
• Attractions Magazine, Universal awarded patent for advanced water ride propulsion system
• WDW News Today, Poseidon's Fury Facade Completely Torn Down as Demolition Continues at Universal Islands of Adventure
• Orlando ParkStop, Dark Universe New Ride Expansion Approved for Epic Universe

Image credits: Patent diagrams by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Attractions Magazine. Creature from the Black Lagoon photo courtesy of Universal.