California Screamin' trains collide, dozens sustain minor injuries

Man, wtf is wrong over there?

One incident, maybe... two? three? After a certain point it becomes a trend, and not an accident.

Who inspects their rides? Dopey and Goofy?

The KNBC link above has the best photos. It clearly shows that the collision happened at/near the brake run at the end of the ride following the final low helix where on-ride photos are taken.

What's odd is that this ride is FILLED with blocks. In fact there is a block not more than a few hundred feet prior to the helix, just after the bunny hops. If there was a train in the final brake run the train behind it should have been stopped before the helix. I've been on the ride when this has happened.

Odd indeed. Glad no one was seriously hurt.

Some kid on another forum made the comment that this shouldn't be uncommon on a coaster with so many trains. I'm like "This should NEVER happen".

Moosh is right, this has to be one of, if not the most, highly blocked *real* coaster (no RCT imitations) out there. There is a block every few elements. Double station, launch, one between the first hill section and the 'lift', 'Lift', one before the loop, one before the helix, brake run. Am I missing any? How did this happen? Oh, wait. Who built the thing? Right. Nevermind...

seriously...... who is doing the ride control programming?!?!

I'm glad no one was seriously hurt or killed.

is it just me, or is disney this year's leader on accidents?

Glad to hear nobody was seriously injured. :-/

This is NOT a good year for Intamin (or Disney). I smell lawsuits. Whiplash isn't a good thing.

I had no idea Big Thunder derailed at one time.

I don't get it either. It's not ever supposed to happen, and with tens of millions of rides given each year around the world, it generally doesn't happen. I smell manual mode. That's what caused the Thunder Mountain collisions.

Manual mode would explain it. Is it common practice for parks to operate in manual mode with guests on the ride?

Everytime Disney says "Minor Accident", you have to wonder...I hope everyone is OK. On another note, Disney is also partly responsible for the storage of fireworks in residential neighborhoods. (In violation of State and Federal laws). For the last 3 days residents have been evacuated from their homes while the bomb squad removes 2 huge trailers of commercial fireworks. A second location in Anaheim was also found to have fireworks now.

This has nothing to do with Intamin, but everything to do with the ride's programmer, which is probably a completely different company (though i suppose intamin may do their own programming), or possibly Disney's maint. staff trying to take shortcuts around things. It happens. It shouldn't, but it does.This seems to have been a few bad years for disney..makes me wonder what has changed leading up to the last few years and why things arent being taken care of.
*** This post was edited by Xander 7/30/2005 12:43:39 PM ***

Your right^ Intamin has nothing to do with this, Intamin just designed and built the ride, Disney had the PLC and blocking done inhouse. Also I don't know if this was mentioned in the news or anything but Jeff is right the coaster was operating in Maunel mode.

Also when does it become the parks responsibility, Disney has operated this coaster for over 4 years.Within that 4 years the ride has ran fine, so it's seams like the product Intamin delievered is not the problem here. Now if this happened in the first year, then yes that seams like the ride manufacturers problem. After 4 years that seams like the rides owners problem, am I right in this line of thinking. I'm just trying to figure out the logic behined people saying Intamin my be at fault here, Intamin didn't do the computer/blocking systems and Intamin signed the ride over to disney 4 years ago. *** This post was edited by westcoaster man 7/30/2005 1:34:28 PM ***

It just doesn't make any sense why the ride was operating in manual mode with guests still on the attraction.

Can someone enlighten me....doesn't CS have like 4 or 5 trains running simultaneously? If so, wouldn't that be a nightmare to run in manual mode?

Yes, Disney does do all the ride safety systems in house. I met a girl who worked for Imagineering doing these systems at my friend's barbecue last week. She said they did everything inhouse because no one else had as high of safety standards as Disney.

I almost laughed right there. Especially after this incident. Maybe they should consider letting the ride manufacturer's normal people do the work. Seems that Disney has lots of problems with blocking. How many other blocking violation accidents have we seen lately at other parks?

Oh, I also found out, Disney Imagineering counts it against you if you're a park or coaster enthusiast. You have to show interest, but enthusiasts get bumped from the hire list. I guess you can brainwash them into thinking Disney is the best at everything that way.

I agree with the thoughts on manual. Someone said in the LA Times article that the trains didn't appear to be moving quickly at all - sounds like manual to me. The only reason I could think of that they would be moving in manual with riders is if they had a mechanical auto mode or Estop, and the operator tried moving the train in the back block into that front block and wasn't paying attention and crashed them.

I know its already listed on here, but AOL has their own section with some inteviews. It also lists the trend of previous crashes. here--> http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050730001309990009&ncid=NWS00010000000001
The link works I've tried it. Glad to hear they are not seriously injured. I would think they would keep better maitnence and inspection on their rides seeing how they are a major family destination.
*** This post was edited by Dominator56 7/30/2005 4:43:35 PM ***

For what it is worth...

the slug said: "Disney is also partly responsible for the storage of fireworks in residential neighborhoods."

Disney had no connection to the fireworks. The story in the LA Times says that 1000 pounds of fireworks, explosives and blasting agents were discovered, illegally kept in a storage yard behind residential homes.

The fireworks did not belong to Disney, nor were they being used by Disney. The owner of the fireworks had licenses to manufacture pyrotechnics for the movie industry. The article states that in the past he had worked for Disney. That hardly makes Disney "partly responsible".

View the whole article HERE.

*** This post was edited by Rihard 7/30/2005 9:06:09 PM ***

Wow, unhappy birthday Disney. The timeing of this couldn't have been worse. Unfortunately Disney is developing a reputation. Sure, the volume of people coming through the park is much greater then any other park, yet reporters don't care about that, and they shouldn't.

Somebody ought to be fired over this, while hiring someone who can turn this trend around. Disney works hard to stay in the spot light, but the spot light is no fun when when your are caught with your pants down.

Disney has connection cause the dude has worked there 30 years doing fireworks shows.

"Helgason, who holds a federal license to manufacture explosives, said during a telephone interview Thursday that he has worked for 30 years putting on pyrotechnic shows at Disneyland and other venues."

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/07/29/sections/local/local/article_615252.php

You'll have to register to read full article from Orange County Register newspaper...

So what? Is an employer supposed to keep tabs on people after they don't work for them anymore? Of course not!