Lab Bar Situation going viral - Alpine Fury

I thought this is super interesting. A woman put up a TikTok describing her situation, where her young daughters lap bar was not pushed down all the way, and even though they were both signalling to the employees and shouting, the guy gave a thumbs up anyway and sent them on their way. She describes a nightmare scenario where she felt like she had to physically hold her daughter in the seat the whole ride. It's an interesting watch, and the video is getting super popular and she's made some followup videos.

It's hard to say if the lab bar was actually so high that it was unsafe, but still sounds scary nonetheless. I'm sure as enthusiasts we probably wouldn't have thought it's such a big deal, unless the bar was literally like 10 inches or more too high. Hard to say. Here's her original first video:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Buu3sb/

I don't doubt her fear was real, but I do have some doubt as to whether or not her daughter was in any actual danger. Looking at pictures of the seats, they are deep and put the body in a position that appears to me to be very difficult to come out unless the restraint was nearly all the way up.

Not to mention the first major maneuver of the coaster after the launch is a high speed transition from -20 degrees to 90 degrees aka a high speed positive g maneuver which would cause the lap bar to tighten to the waist.

Her latest update; I can't find any official response from CW yet but she thinks it's out there: https://www.tiktok.com/@lif...1382072632

Sounds like a good time to update IROC procedures. Check bars, a second employees checks bars. All thumbs up given, then prior to dispatch a third op will walk and physically push down on all the bars, then two thumbs up given, then before the person running the ride hits the button they will walk down and personally verify those lap bars while all other ops keep thumbs in the air, then they can go back up, everyone scans for the final time and then the dispatch can occur.

If that isn't safe enough, add as many cycles of that process as needed until safety is attained. Hell, lets just shoot for dispatch once per hour.

Since dispatch times are now so slow we sell the IROC Fastlane pass, which gives you instant access to the ride for the next dispatch. limited quantities are sold. But this pass is so good that when you walk up another guest will be removed from the ride and you are given their seat. Just a low cost of $5000 per day. Included with gold pass.

Disney, meanwhile: "Push up on your lapbar..." Dispatch.

The way the employee was described as smirking and giving the thumbs-up after hearing their complaints, it makes me think probably the lap bar was perfectly safe, and he was kind of smirking because the guests were frightened but still safe. The way those seats are sunk way down with the legs bent low, I feel like the lap bar position was totally safe. He may have felt like "oooo she's going to have a fun ride with that lap bar position." But that being said, if someone is freaking out like she was, you gotta check the bar again and make sure she still wants to ride.

I remember when I went on Railblazer opening day at CGA, and it was one of the first few public rides ever, a young girl started screaming and crying as soon as it dispatched. They decided to hit the E-Brake to check on her, and it took almost an hour to get everyone removed from the seats and get the train back to where it needs to be. Probably an over-reaction, but I feel like most employees wouldn't just send someone off who is freaking out about her lap bar like that.