Kings Island’s ‘Adventure Express’ evacuated

Must be the slowest day for news in the history of reporting news.

If this was any more of a non-story, it'd be a headline about someone staring at a wall.

It's surprising that park visitors are still surprised when this stuff happens. Surely the average customer is going to see at least one ride break down every visit. Why is anyone still alarmed enough to call the news?

Thank God it wasn't something serious, like dry ice left in a water bottle. I'm surprised they didn't call Homeland Security.

The angry stone dudes were right... you will pay.

Next after the break: A restroom stall in Kings Island's Rivertown backs up...twice!

The Magnum XL-200 evacuation on Friday afternoon was far more interesting. For that one there were four seats that were past the end of the catwalk.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Some day, when the blocking system fails and there's a collision in the middle of the ride, the headline will read: "Riders spared the horror of lift hill evacuation."

RideMan said:

The Magnum XL-200 evacuation on Friday afternoon was far more interesting. For that one there were four seats that were past the end of the catwalk.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

That should have never happened unless the braking system was not working.

I've seen video of of a train with its first car crested being evacuated and the train rolling over with its otsrs up and people still in the train. I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is, Clearly they evacuated from rear to front, A Big Mistake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-h92bKZ7w

Next time you ride a coaster at Kings Island, notice the little signs on the lift hills indicating that if the back of the train is past a certain point the train must be secured for evacuation.

I don't recall seeing that anywhere else, but it does make sense.

As for the Magnum situation, it was the block brake just past the last tunnel. Somehow the train stopped with the lead car partway past the end of the catwalk. I'm going to guess that was part of the reason they evacuated instead of just rolling the trains on down.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

RideMan said:

Somehow the train stopped with the lead car partway past the end of the catwalk.

From what I've observed, that's actually quite common when a train comes to a full stop there. I assume it's a bit of a balancing act, as that catwalk there is just about the same length as the train. Stop the train too hard, and the last car will be hanging into the tunnel. Don't stop it hard enough, and the first car goes past the catwalk.

Oh, Ok, If the brake is engaged, I could see it being done there. I thought you meant on top of the lift an from side shot video two seats past the catwalk would put the third car right on the fulcrum.

I think folks can be a little hard on people who get freaked out in these circumstances. Just because the emergency stops all kicked in as they are supposed to doesn't mean it's not unnerving for folks.

They know something failed on the ride. It's great that the protective measure to prevent catastrophe in a mechanical failure kicked in. But still...something on that giant machine they're riding failed and that can be scary, especially for an already timid rider. And that's not even to mention how some of those catwalks don't look to be the most stable things in the world...even if they are.

Besides, it's not like it's even something cool they can brag about...like a walk down on Everest. ;-)

On one KI trip, they stopped Adventure Express just before we loaded due to a deer getting into one of the tunnels. Imagine going into a tunnel with a scared deer inside, yikes!

That could turn out to be one bloody ride. lol

Pagoda Gift Shop said:

On one KI trip, they stopped Adventure Express just before we loaded due to a deer getting into one of the tunnels. Imagine going into a tunnel with a scared deer inside, yikes!

"Now you will prey...."

Well, the tunnel does have 'head' lights, in a manner of speaking.

On a trip to KI last year, I overheard a ride op telling another that a guest saw a deer near the track of the Beast, but they still proceeded in sending my train. Luckily it went away from the track

That is something I asked on a walkback of the Beast at Beastbuzz a while back. I was told that not only does the Beast have fencing around the low zones of the ride, but that the front of the train has those noise emitting devices that scare away deer, similar to the ones on cars. I didn't see anything maybe someone else has.

After close to 35 years of running one would think there have been issues with deer.

~Rob