Grand rapids water ride.

I cant believe they had to turn off the waterfalls at GL because of that, Are they still off? I mean, its a water ride, and people are going to be that stupid to stand up to not get wet, theres a reason they have those "you may get wet" signs prior to riding. Next time Im on Talon I should wiggle out of my restraints after the first drop before the loop because I "dont want to go upside down". Take the whole ride experience, or don't bother going on at all so you don't do something stupid or complain leading to ruining the ride for others. *** Edited 5/12/2006 7:48:46 PM UTC by P18***

I passed on the GL ride last year and I can't remember how rough these rides are? I don't think you'd be thrown around, but I can see someone jumping in the next seat over or on top of a friend to escape a waterfall.

I think a girl was trapped by a flipped boat like this one at Astroworld once; she died. Not having a seatbelt may have saved her.

The one at VF in Minnesota has Seatbelts. It's pretty cool, but really short. Also, not many people see it, or even know it's at the park due to the fact that it's all the way in the back of the park.

Here is some info on accidents for these types of rides.

http://www.rideaccidents.com/2000.html

The story is just over half way down. It seems there were quite a few accidents on these rides.

I was just watching the local news out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Fox 17) It was science day at MA, and they showed a few brief clips of Grand Rapids.

The ride was Open! The rafts looked like they were moving fairly quickly, and spinning quite a bit. One was loaded with a bunch of screaming girls, and, looked like they were having a good time!

There are no seats on the ride, and I did not see any kind of restraint on the ride. The rafts look pretty much like the ones from the construction photos at Ma's Website.

The Park also looked very busy. I would assume that the water park is not open yet. But, there were hords of kids seen throughout the broadcast.

School days are allways packed at MA. Glad I wasn't there! But, will be hitting the park soon!

Anything but another water ride for MA.

There are two types of restraints: Active and Passive. The idea behind restraints on rides like a wave swinger or a river rapids is that it reminds you to stay seated. However, some river rapids rides, particularly those with start / stop conveyors like SFKK and SFGAdv are necessary as the starts and stops are pretty bumpy and the seat belts keep you in your place. The benefit of reminding you to stay seated and keeping you in your seat during start, stops, and the occasional bump into a wall out weighes the HIGHLY unlikley event a raft will overturn. Many river rapids have been retrofitted with anti sink rails which prevent the raft from flipping and all parks train thier operators to ensure a boat is balanced... so buckle up.