What’s the exact block count on Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain per track if you exclude the station buffers? I’ve heard everything from 6 to 9, and I’m trying to reconcile that with the PLC’s separation logic and the ride’s dispatch intervals from a safety margin standpoint.
It’s 7 per track if you exclude the station buffers; the merge/transfer brake isn’t treated as its own block in practice. > that with the PLC’s separation logic and the ride’s dispatch intervals — that lines up with about 23s dispatches since the PLC holds two clear blocks after the lift. Are you counting the post‑lift trim as separate or part of the lift block?
I count six minus buffers; unload approach only splits on E-stop — fits 26–28s dispatch and your ‘PLC’s separation logic’.
Going by the ‘26–28s’ dispatch you quoted, you need seven true blocks per track, because the approach before unload is usually just a trim, not its own section. @janeP79 is right that ops can split that approach during faults/training, which is why some folks say eight. When people argue six, they’re typically lumping the top-of-lift release and first course segment together, which isn’t how it runs day-to-day.
But > When people argue six, they’re typically lumping the top-of-lift release and first course segment together, which isn’t — the section lights during a reset show them as separate. If you can grab panel video, count the red/green SECTION lamps outside the stations and you’ll see seven; do you have one?