Riding For Your Life!

Hmmm...what is it about Chance rides? I was five when my Dad took my on a Skydiver. I came out of the restraint and tumbled around inside the cage for a few rotations.

Tumbled down one of those giant slides too about the same age (no wax paper though).

Had a dream that I was on a Round Up that got loose and rolled around the parking lot like a spinning penny coming to rest.

I was operating Orlean's Orbit at Great America Santa Clara when the main hydraulic hose blew while the hub was rising. Slammed down and spouted hot fluid in everyone's cars. Folks went to the hospital for whiplash AND poisoning. But that wasn't a Chance ride, and from the sound of it, this ride wont be drenching anyone any longer.

Ramble ramble.

I've had a couple of instances where the belt has come undone on me (I would NEVER do that myself) on Magnum, but I never noticed it until I came back into the station and went to undo my belt only to realize it wasn't connect anymore.

One wild ride on Nitro right after a good hard rain, I was riding outside seat, back row. Coming to the top of hill 2, I had my arms up taking in one of my favorite sensations in all of 'coasterdom' when I feel my thighs start to slip on the wet restraint! I don't know how likely I was to really slip out of the restraint, but I wasn't about to find out. Before we completely crested the hill, and before I could get that wonderful tossing/airtime sensation from that hill, I bearhugged the clamshell and didn't let go the rest of the ride. I haven't been able to fully "arms-up" Nitro ever since =( But, still a pretty good ride, even when you do hold on ;)

I also had a similar experience to the subway thing in Boston. Our band took a small contingent to the Boston College game. So, 4 19-20 year old guys and 4 19-20 year old girls went out into Boston by themselves and stayed in the city WAY too late. Apparently there was a flood right before we'd arrived in the city, so the subway line back to our hotel was out - which we didn't know.

So, we boarded the last train of the night, being very proud of our planning effort to maximize our time in the city while still making it home without having to take a cab or anything. But, instead of diverting us to another train, due to the late hour, we were unceremoniously dumped at a subway station in the middle of a very ROUGH looking area of Boston, sirens all around, no busses, and 8 scared, "whitebread" college students. The subway operator's advice before he packed up and went home? Stay in the light and don't get into anything but a Yellow cab!

We ended up having to split up, as all of the reputable cabs going the direction we were were packed due to the subway outage. Me and another guy were the last ones to leave but there were so many unmarked cars that pulled up with fareboxes claiming to be cabs, and calls to Yellowcab that sent out unmarked cars and folks giving us that "you don't belong here" look to last me a lifetime.

I realize that may not be much to some people, but we were all relatively sheltered suburbanites and that was just one BAD night ...

*** Edited 2/20/2006 11:18:38 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

I was once on a carnival merry-go-round , probably when I was 7 or 8, where the bottom of the "pole" came loose from the floor of the ride and my horse, attached only at the top of the pole, was swinging out as the ride turned (it must have been moving at a decent clip). It scared me to death but I guess I got over it pretty quickly :)

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I was riding Top Gun (an invert - Vekoma SLC) at PCW with a buddy when his retraint unlocked mid-course. The seat belt backup was the only thing holding his restraint closed. Yes, he white-nuckled it through the ride. Yes, Top Gun was closed for a couple hours after the incident.

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The exact opposite happened to a friend of mine. The ride came to an end and the restraint wouldn’t release. Call went out to maintenance but they would be about 45 minutes. Op gave her a choice, she could ride again and again or they could close the ride until the maintenance crew arrived. The line was huge so she sucked it up and kept riding.

She was never in danger – but she was actually green when it was all finally over.

(And no bleeding from the ears before anyone asks…)

One time while I was riding Viper at SFGAm, my lap bar flew off on the turnaround before the camelback double drop, if it would have happened a little later (during the camelback) I would have died (I seriously doubt a belt would keep me in) as my hands were no where near a hand grip and that hill as some serious air to it.

As it was like a reflex I slammed down my bar again and it locked, enjoyed the rest of my ride and have ridden that ride many times since then. The way I see it, we all have a time to go, and if it happens to be on a roller coaster then at least Ill die happy.

I can't remember anything specifically that happened to me, but I have heard of and seen a few things:

Back in the day, right after King Cobra at PKI opened, my mom's harness unlatched and she had to hold on for dear life... luckily it was after the loop...

Also, on the Beast, one of my friends accidentally clipped her hand in the final helix tunnel. By the time we got out, her hand was bleeding quite badly.... needless to say we went to the First Aid