Are you afraid of lightning at Parks?
Are you scared to death of lightning at Parks. When I work at Valleyfair I get nervous when lightning is over head because of the trees and all the steel coasters around. I don't like lightning at parks, you afraid?
Nope because I know all the coasters are grounded, and that usually if there is lightening, there is rain. Therefor, im usually either in an arcade or some sort of building
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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den
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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den
Only if I'm on Millennium Force. J/K. Mill. Force won't run in lightning, I don't think any coaster will. If it is lightening, I will usually eat lunch or dinner. Maybe go into some of the shops and look for cool coaster stuff. Just waiting it out.
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Mindbender...Can you hear the Riddler chuckling?
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Mindbender...Can you hear the Riddler chuckling?
The rule for PKI at least regarding lightening is the first sight of lightening they close down the ride for at least 10 minutes. Then, if it is clear, they will run it. If its not, they keep going at incriments of 10 minutes for the last strike.
On Thursday, there was a bad storm that went over PKI. We were getting off of White Water Canyon, and there was a loud clap of thunder. The resulting storm lasted a good hour. Literally, the Vortex car was on the hill, they were evacuating people on the second brake run onto the station, and got everyone either out of the rain or out of the station (didnt get a clear shot).
SOB had a car at the top of the hill that they ran through to the brake run, and they stopped the car in the station empty on the lift hill.
FOF didnt see what they did.
Racers were almost empty anyway, so they let the people off in the sheltered brake run.
Reptar only one car and they just unloaded.
Face/off had a car at the top of the first hill that they just brought down slowly.
Didnt see the rest of the coasters. All of thses are eye witness accounts. I was stuck in the Arcade in Rivertown and when we got out, everyone was talking about the evacuation of the coasters. PKI evacuated the rides cleanly and professonally.
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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den
On Thursday, there was a bad storm that went over PKI. We were getting off of White Water Canyon, and there was a loud clap of thunder. The resulting storm lasted a good hour. Literally, the Vortex car was on the hill, they were evacuating people on the second brake run onto the station, and got everyone either out of the rain or out of the station (didnt get a clear shot).
SOB had a car at the top of the hill that they ran through to the brake run, and they stopped the car in the station empty on the lift hill.
FOF didnt see what they did.
Racers were almost empty anyway, so they let the people off in the sheltered brake run.
Reptar only one car and they just unloaded.
Face/off had a car at the top of the first hill that they just brought down slowly.
Didnt see the rest of the coasters. All of thses are eye witness accounts. I was stuck in the Arcade in Rivertown and when we got out, everyone was talking about the evacuation of the coasters. PKI evacuated the rides cleanly and professonally.
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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den
I was at Universal's Port Aventura in Spain during a MASSIVE electrical storm, the sheer amount of lightning was amazing. The rain was pouring down so hard that it was painful to walk in, so we all took shelter under a seating area in the China restaurant. I really wish I had been able to take photos because the lightning was literally hitting Dragon Khan - it really was amazing to see. When it got dark, the storm was still above but it had begun to sheet across the sky instead of fork to the ground and to our delight, Dragon Khan opened. Believe me, although it might not have been overly safe, you havent had a superlative coaster experience until you have experienced travelling slowly up Khan's lift hill, staring into the lightning, before being subjected to eight smooth, fast inversions. I was scared out of my mind by the lightning at the park that day, but after riding Khan three times in a row without getting off in the lightning, I now look forward to being there in a thunder storm!
Rule of SFoT is that if lightning strikes up to 20 miles away, rides shut down. BTW, most tall rides have lightning rods anyways.
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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com
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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com
At Cedar Point, our rule is 15 minutes without lightning before anything will reopen, and all the rides shut down that have exposed metal, not just the coasters: this includes the Cadillac/Antique Cars and the Turnpike Cars. And yes, they are all grounded with lightning rods and other assorted paraphernelia!
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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html
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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html
At MGM Grand only the water rides and sky coaster will close in lightning most everything else stays open. As for the roller coaster it will only close in rain. SOUNDS DUMB BUT HEY I DONT QUESTION IT
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"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"
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"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"
Not realy, but lighning upsets me, I couldn't ride the sky coaster at Kennywood durring KennyKon because of it, LoL.
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MF Drops-22
SOB Rides-2
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MF Drops-22
SOB Rides-2
I'm afraid of lightning anywhere, not just at parks. I live in California where I see lightning perhaps once every two years.
At Alton Towers they've never stopped the rides when ive been there and i've been there in a lot of bad weather. Thats probably because the rides aren't tall enough though.
I was at SFGAm and there was a thunderstorm 20 miles away but it was clear at the park but they evacuated all the rides. I know because I was on Raging Bull and I was half up the lift when they stopped it and everyone got off and the op told us there was a t-storm coming and they had to take us of. I was glad because 3 min. later the lightning kept hitting Raging Bull. The storm came really quick and ended with in the matter of minutes.
Am I afraid of lightning at parks...? Heck yeah! Because they shut down the rides. I'm not afraid of getting struck though, because there are tons of 100-200 foot (metal) things it would hit before hitting me.
Hehe....I'm afraid of lightning anywhere, buddy!
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"Highways should have beer lanes."
-George Carlin
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"Highways should have beer lanes."
-George Carlin
Remember that you don't want to be at the highest point during a storm, so stay off the hypercoaster or the drop tower if things look bad. The parks are usually pretty good at shutting down things though if things look bad. Me and 2Hostyl were riding Joker's Jinx recently when the ride op announced that the ride was closed after our ride, even though nothing seemed mechanically wrong. Well the storm arrived about 15 minutes later.
I was going to Kentucky Kingdom on my recent 21 day/15 park tour and we were just on the heels of that nasty storm swirling around the midwest. Anywho, it was raining and we were in a Waffle House (I'm not proud of it but we were hungry) and asked the waitress if they close the park during the rain. She said,"Oh, they only close it if there's lightning."
Just then...you guessed it...Topo Gigio pops out of nowhere! Oh, I mean lightning struck a tree parked next to our car.
Oddly enough the park was closed the next day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just mismanaged fumbling of our schedule.
Just then...you guessed it...Topo Gigio pops out of nowhere! Oh, I mean lightning struck a tree parked next to our car.
Oddly enough the park was closed the next day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just mismanaged fumbling of our schedule.
i love lightning at parks because even though the rides close down people start to leave the park and if it ever stops real short lines for me.
Proper lightning rods provide a bleed that reduces the chance of a lightning strike and reduces the likely hood of damage if there is a strike. They don't protect someone on a coaster from electrocution. A lightning bolt can be several million volts. With this kind of voltage around, it's very easy to a find a differential voltage of the few hundred volts across your body that will stop your ticker.
Most parks now have lightning detection systems and rigid shutdown procedures. I do question unloading trains half way up the lift as mentioned above since this probably takes far longer than running the train around and adds fall hazards.
Yes, I do fear lightning. I've been hit twice (Never at a park), and I don't want to try it again.
Another thing to consider in a storm is the effect of rain on braking systems. Most fin brakes work OK in the rain, but skid brakes don't work well.
Most parks now have lightning detection systems and rigid shutdown procedures. I do question unloading trains half way up the lift as mentioned above since this probably takes far longer than running the train around and adds fall hazards.
Yes, I do fear lightning. I've been hit twice (Never at a park), and I don't want to try it again.
Another thing to consider in a storm is the effect of rain on braking systems. Most fin brakes work OK in the rain, but skid brakes don't work well.
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