California Screaming Rollback - POV

There was an E-stop Friday on California Screamin' that caused one of the trains to rollback and valley after the loop. The incident was caused when a rider lost their backpack on the ride tracks. The video has some foul language (in front of a terrified child no less).

http://youtu.be/vZwSX4UWNxw

Hanging in the loop during a rollback looks like fun to me. You'll have to see beyond the "classiness" of the rider doing the filming to notice though.

I love how everyone freaks out, then once they realize they're OK, they start to like it, kind of.

Love the parents cursing at Disneyland. Well done. That would be a terrible place to rollback though.

Isn't it against park policy to be filming that?

This video is very interesting to me, not because of the mechanics of a rollback, but because of the reactions of the riders who are in a situation that seems dangerous.

Yea, grown adults cursing at Disneyland seems... well, it's just not right.

^ It's pretty interesting to see how people react to a roll back when they don't fully understand what it is.

I can't imagine that an E-Stop would cause it roll back at that particular point on the course? I'd guess something caused an unusual amount of friction and the train was unable to complete the course?

Rick - the first post explains what happened, a book bag on the tracks.

Jerry said:
Isn't it against park policy to be filming that?

Disney is pretty lax when it comes to cameras on board most of their attractions. They let me in Screamin' with my camcorder so many years ago.

Wow! That ride is dangerous! I'm never going on it!

Anybody here ever experience a valley on a coaster? (besides TTD/KK)

That seems like a strange place to valley, but I suppose if something got stuck on the track, not entirely surprising either. Where did the bag come from? Someone on the train or on the ground? I'm always surprised at how Disney lets people bring big-ass bags on rides. I've taken my large-ish camera bag on practically everything at WDW, including Space Mountain and Rock-n-Rollercoaster.

I originally thought that perhaps the train was mid-way through the prior block brake when the e-stop occurred. The block would effectively trim the train rather than being able to completely stop it. Then there is a set of magnetic trims (not capable of stopping a train) just prior to the loop that would have really slowed it down if it wasn't going full speed to begin with.

I read in a post on one of the Disney fan sites that "The backpack departed the train at some point going over the launch hill. There was debris found from the launch hill all the way to the loop area. The train that valleyed had the back pack plus a sweatshirt wrapped around the wheel assembly. They even found stuff stuck in the train that was up on the big hill."

That would make sense, but it's not official word, so take it for what it's worth.

Flashes and/or external camera lighting are not permitted on Disney rides. Cast members may give you several suggestions to secure your camera (especially at Tower of Terror and the coasters), but they will not tell you it is not allowed because it surprisingly is allowed on all the rides.

I think all the freaking out and swearing by adults probably does more to scare the kids (and big kids) more than anything.

Right on, Billy. A panicking adult can scare a kid, and tells the kid that maybe they should panic too. I don't have any kids, but that should be common sense. I am always surprised at the parents that scare their children because they are overprotective and panic unnecessarily when their kid falls down.

Very, very true. I was lucky enough (well, lucky for me) to be evaced from Tower of Terror during the show scene right before the drop. There was a little kid in the front that wasn't too keen on riding in the first place, but when we stopped, the group of teenage girls sitting next to me in the back row started screaming, freaking out, and making a big fuss of it while we were sitting there stuck. This just frightened the kid even more, and he was a wreck by the time we were evaced. We tried to tell the girls to shut it up nicely because they were making the kid even more scared, but that didn't work as well as most of us hoped.

They could just as easily have been excited to be part of such a rare event and the kids would probably have enjoyed it. Kids will more often than not take their emotional cues from adults. Like when a kid trips and falls. If you over react, they will probably start crying, even if they really aren't hurt that bad if at all.

^ You guys need to stop thinking like coaster enthusiasts and think more like Joe Public.

Judging by the comments, it sounds like some of the riders were familiar with the coaster, so when something 'went wrong', it gave them a genuine cause for concern.

Their gut reaction to panic, without an understanding of how roller coasters and block systems work - I don't think it would be too far fetched for a member of public to think that a train could head right into the back of the one that had stopped, seemingly without reason.

If something did wrap around some wheels, they are fortunate that they valleyed in such a smooth manner. They could have been forced to a halt much faster if it had been worse.

Rihard said:
I originally thought that perhaps the train was mid-way through the prior block brake when the e-stop occurred. The block would effectively trim the train rather than being able to completely stop it. Then there is a set of magnetic trims (not capable of stopping a train) just prior to the loop that would have really slowed it down if it wasn't going full speed to begin with.

I happened to actually be right there when this happened. I got off California Screamin' went to the bathroom behind the carousel and the ride shut down. Within seconds people were talking about the stuck train after the loop and I was standing right outside Toy Story Midway Mania. I walked to the other side of the lagoon and got to witness the valleyed train rocking back and forth.

I think it's pretty obvious the ride was not e-stopped by an operator, but instead by the computer since a block violation was about to occur with the green train about to crest the second lift where it stopped.

An e-stop should NEVER make a train valley. If that were the case that really would defeat the purpose of an e-stop and an efficient evacuation.

Roller coasters are designed so that a train that is completely stopped on a block brake when released will gain enough momentum to make it to the next brake zone without any issue. In fact, it should have an excessive amount of potential energy. I don't know of a single ride that under normal operation barely makes it to the next potential brake zone. The ride would be a bore and if designed with such precise speed requirements it would regularly fail due to reasons like wind, weather, temperature, wear and tear and more.

All roller coasters I know have excessive momentum when they enter every brake run or block brake. So even if an e-stop occurred while a train was still partially in a brake zone, but had passed the point of no return, the trimming of speed should have no impact.

With modern computers, advanced programming and sensors I question whether the brakes would be applied at the instant of an e-stop if a train was already leaving the brake zone having been given the green light to go. It seems logical to me that an e-stop would make a train that's essentially already departed stop at the next brake run, not the one that it's already partially cleared. Maybe someone with some better knowledge could chime in.

I also don't believe the rumor that the backpack was thrown off the lift. It doesn't make sense that someone would purposely pitch their belongings. Kids will throw pennies, cups, crap, but people don't throw their backpacks. There is also hardly any negative G's at that top of that lift or during that descent.

I hadn't put that much thought into it initially watching. But you're right. There would be enough momentum for the train to make it from block brake to block brake even from a dead stop.

There's a rumor the backpack was thrown? That's nutty. That story could just be internet discussion trying to make sense out of the situation (how would a backpack just fly out of the train)? In fact all of this is. I doubt DCA is going to put out any sort of public explanation of what really occurred and they don't need to really. This was just an unusual situation. Not an accident. I just thought the video was interesting.