Knott's Berry Farm WindSeeker strands riders at top of ride for hours.

Raven-Phile said:

and if I slipped and was dangling by a cable, I'd have to buy new pants.

Or a new bear suit.

sws said:

Or a new bear suit.

Fur sure...

They should pack parachutes under the seats. ;)

Nobody makes those rides anymore.

janfrederick said:

They should pack parachutes under the seats. ;)

Interestingly enough, I had a dream before Windseeker even opened that related exactly to this. It was VERY vivid, in that I remember the part where I had to jump, and the sensation of falling was very real.

Basically, that was the ride, it spun you around, went up, then slowed to a crawl and everyone's lap bars opened. There was a game related to it, and places you had to try and land on the ground for more points.

Carrie J. said:

Therefore, that it took that long, likely means there was a legitimate reason.

Not enough people bought Fast Lane for the ride down?

I am still not sure why this was National news. I saw it on Inside Edition last night and in the local Lafayette, IN newspaper, the Journal & Courier.

The fact that this grabbed national headlines/news stories reflects on how safe, in fact, amusement park rides are stastically, that it would be such an irregular occurrence as to garner that kind of attention.

Pete, first you say...

Pete said:
This was not a safety issue, the riders were not in danger. Perhaps it took a long time to get riders down because they were being extremely prudent to ensure the evacuation method didn't cause a problem which potentially could put riders in danger.

And then you say...

Pete said:
Hey Kause, I'm not angry or offended - just hate when people talk like they know something when they don't have a clue.

As Carrie said ( ♥ ), calling people out for making bold statements is just something that happens here at CoasterBuzz. Saying that someone saying something makes them look stupid is a bold statement.

With all due respect, Pete, friend, I'm calling you out for trying to sound like you know what you are talking about, when you probably don't. For all we know, it could have been a major safety issue and the riders were in danger. For all we know, there could have been an AWESOME ( :) ) safety system in place that was not used because of any good reason. ...Or not.

How can you not be angry at all, yet "hate" when people say something that you don't like? Hate is a very hostile word that suggests anger.

Didn't many parks remove their goldola style skyrides in the 1990's because they constantly had to mointor wind conditions and they were hard to evacuate at that height? Could Wind Seekers be looking at the same long term extinction?

By the way... being afraid of heights, I might dare Wind Seekers for a quick ride, but being stranded that long that high... I would need serious therapy.

I hate when people say all kinds of things, but I don't necessarily get angry. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive. I hate the term YOLO, but I don't necessarly get angry every time I hear it. I cringe.

As far as Windseeker, I've ridden three, the one at Carowinds several times, and this always freaks me out hearing when they do this. I don't think there is any real safety concern for them to be stuck safely in a seat for 4 hours, and if there are heart issues that you know about, you're not supposed to ride anyhow.

Still, it would suck to be up there that long.

Carrie J. said:

And I'm just curious... what methods can there be to evacuate a ride at 300 feet? If anyone asked me to slide out of a Windseeker seat to transition to a rescue basket at 300 feet in the air... well, let's just say it wouldn't go smoothly. :-)

I'm curious about that also. I will say that some ski lifts in higher mountainous areas travel very high off the ground and the evacuation method is ski patrol putting skiers in a rescue basket or in an under the arm harness with a little seat that you straddle like sitting on a carousel horse. If that is an option for Windseeker, I'm with you Carrie, that would not go smoothly if they tried to get me to do that.

YOLO still makes me crazy.

I still don't get why this has been such a big deal. It made the local news here in Cleveland too. I bet 99% of the people watching the news thought they were talking about Cedar Point's WindSeeker. Most people here haven't even heard of Knott's.

It was on my local NBC TV news programming too. Seemed like it was a popular selection for a lot of the local stations to show.

According to the LA Times today,*all* CF WindSeekers will remain closed pending further investigation...didn't want to start yet another thread on the topic (regardless of "pointification")... ;~P

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-knotts-windseeker-riders-stuck-09201221,0,1284072.story

I think it's safe to say we won't be saying any more of these rides in the United States.

until they all end up at Dorney....

Maverick00 said:

I think it's safe to say we won't be saying any more of these rides in the United States.

Unless they fix whatever the issue is. Waaaay back when, loop-de-loop coasters injured many people. Look how many there are now with advanced technology and research in g-forces and physics.

I wonder how much of the hype is simply related to how tall these things are. I'm willing to bet that they'll be able to work out these kinks. Good grief, I've gone to a gob of CF parks, and if there's one ride that seems to be running pretty consistently, it's these. On my Canada's Wonderland visit, Leviathan broke down 2 or 3 times while I was in line. Does that make B&M hypers unreliable?

Honestly, it's as much a fault of evacuation equipment for fire/rescue teams as it is a ride fault. If they were much shorter and within reach of buckets or whatever, this would probably have been a non-issue.

Lastly, they're all just one or two years old. Some new rides are just a little tricky. It's a far cry from the early days of rocket coasters and such.