Purificato presents.

A childhood dream of building roller coasters led a young Floridian to the USC Viterbi School and to the finals of Disney Corporation student engineer contests.

 

One of six finalists in Disney’s 15th Imagi-Nations Conference, she met and networked with the technical and creative Disney staff in the field. While her project did not place in the final three, she did interview for a possible intership with the company.

The Coral Springs, FL native has been an amusement park fan most of her life, an enthusiasm fueled by yearly family pilgrimages to Disney World in Orlando and other temples of art.

“When I was in high school, I knew, that’s what I wanted to do, design rides.” Purificato was “good in science and math,” but also had a passion for visual arts. A ride-create career, she thought, was a perfect way to combine her enthusiasms.

When college admission time came, she was accepted at eight engineering schools, including Carnegie-Mellon, but decided to come to USC “because I liked the Trojan Family idea; I like the idea that going to school was the beginning of a continuing relationship.”  

And it was in a warm place: “I also liked the fact that it’s in California.”  

Purificato singled out the classes of Oussama Safadi as directly useful to her work. Since arriving, she has become vice president of administration of the USC chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the Society for Women Engineers.

According to the Disney description, the Disney “judges apply the same criteria to the student entries as they would to their own work – reviewing whether the concept is appealing, exciting, or well researched; whether it provides an engaging guest experience; the technical and creative innovation; the quality of the presentation; and the ability of the attraction to demonstrate

The Incredibles: one passenger, one supersuit

respect and inclusion for the diverse array of families who visit Walt Disney Theme Parks all over the world.  

Here’s Purificato’s description of her ride — and views of her model.

“In this rollercoaster, the passengers are superheroes protected from the elements by their super-suits better known as their pod vehicles that are designed by Edna “E” Mode. 

Their mission is to stop Syndrome from launching another Omnidroid from the Island.  The passengers receive help from the various members of the Incredible family.  Elastigirl gives the family a “fling” in the right direction as she sling-shots them backwards with her elastic body.  
Mr. Incredible tries to give them a “lift” out of the volcano to catch up with the ramped Omnidroid, but at 190 feet Syndrome foils his plans by sending the passengers downwards with his zero-point energy.  The guests then coast through the Lava Hallway to escape the looming Syndrome and exit the hall just as the lava closes behind them.  

Incredibles overview

Next, Violet helps the superheroes by putting her force field around their pod and her brother Dash.  Dash in turn, runs quickly through two loops dragging the passengers with him.  

As Violet lets down her force field, Syndrome takes control of the car with his zero-point energy and sends the car in an upward spiral that brings them outside of the volcano.  At the peak of the volcano, the Omnidroid VX9 is waiting for them and lunges toward them as they drop 400 feet downward at a 90-degree angle.  

When the pod lands in the Incredibles’ driveway, the Incredibles inform the superheroes that they were able to defeat the Omnidroid VX9 using the pod as a diversion.  The passengers finally exit the ride into the gift shop where photographs of their incredible Omnidroid VX9 Drop can be purchased.

This attraction asks the Disney guests to be a part of the adventure rather than be along for the ride.  The Incredible family interacts with the guests by touching their car, talking to them, and having the ride entirely centered on their movement.  The Incredible Adventure calls for the passengers to be superheroes and save the world along with the Incredible family.