Theme Park Safety

With a few topics posted lately about violence and mishaps at theme parks, I thought I start a thread asking a few questions.

1 which parks do you feel the safest at. Security wise and ride wise?

2 Which parks do you not feel safe at security wise and ride wise?

Edited part- This isn't a park rating thread. Its a thread for you to share your experiences at an unsafe park and or whatnot.

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

*** This post was edited by Crashmando 11/5/2003 11:14:53 AM ***

I didn't fell really safe at "Deathland". I can't put my finger on it but something didn't seem right.

Also, "Pedophile Point" was a bit of a disappointment. I wouldn't recommend it.

But seriously, I have yet to go to a "chain" park where I felt conditions were unsafe. I have seen some ride ops that I think could have been paying more attention but that is about the extent of it.

I have been to plenty of neighborhood carnivals where I wouldn't get on a single ride. That is a whole other topic.

I never feel unsafe at any park. I know that the liklihood of something going wrong is worse than me being struck by lightning while winning the lottery, so I don't worry about it.

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Take a trip to Big Chiefs sometime. They rarely check restraints before dispatching trains. There is also the nice little sign that says they don't have insurance so ride at your own risk!!! Seriously scary!! Scary enough that my nieces did not go with me there when I took them to the Dells this year.

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 25 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

Oh, I don't know...

I have seen some pretty scary things happen on rides in a particular Major Chain Amusement Park. Nothing that resulted in accident or injury while I was there, but Scary Things none the less. Rides doing Scary Things, operators doing Wrong Things, that sort of stuff.

Well, just consider...why do you think I've managed to create the Amusement Ride Hall of Shame? (submissions welcome...but illustrative photos are required!)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The only park I don't feel safe in is SFGADV. I don't know why. I just find it shady. As for rides the only coaster I was ever scared to ride was this one http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery401.htm?Picture=8

on a dare from my girlfriend I rode it. It had duck tape holding down half the restraints and it was just mad scary. The train held like 8 or 9 rows only 3 had seats people could sit in.

The park I feel the safest in is BGW. I don't know why. I hardly see security there but I just feel so safe.
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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Rideman that is a great site! Thanks for the hook up!

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Are we talking clientel or rides here? Clientel is not a park thing, more of a daily thing - there were two times their second season where I was worried for my safety at SFWoA, and one Saturday at Dorney earlier this year. But, as a counterpoint, I went back to Dorney two days later and felt safe as anything, and SFWoA I've been to dozens of times without incident (actually no incidents involving me happened either time I was a little nervous - some involving others, but not me)

As far as rides go, the only place that had rides I would be a little apprehensive about doing again was William's Grove. Beyond that, these things are so overengineered anyway that unless you're talking years of abuse and disrepair, you're not going to lose any safety. It may not look so hot, but you won't fall out unless you're too *ahem* large? or you don't follow the rules.

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 11/5/2003 11:57:27 AM ***

I was going to mention Williams Grove, but Brett beat me to it.

I live only 20 minutes or so from Williams Grove, but I really don't plan to return there again. Rode the Cyclone for the first time the other year and I have basically taken the stance of "Been there, Done that, Lived to tell about it, no need to press my luck".

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew

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Crashmando said:
As for rides the only coaster I was ever scared to ride was this one http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery401.htm?Picture=8

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Ha! To this day I still say that was the scariest coaster I've been on - for all the wrong reasons. The duct tape was a nice touch, but it was the imminent feeling that the whole thing was ready to topple into the Atlantic that really had me freaked.

You can see a little duct tape on the restraint of the #7 train in this pic: http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery401.htm?Picture=5 - it doesn't look as bad as it really was though.

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www.coasterimage.com

I was looking for pics of the duct tape and I came across this about FunTown Pier

Funtown Amusement Pier (732-830-7437, www.funtownpier. com) feature classic rides, from death-defying roller coasters to la-di-da merry-go-rounds.

Death-defying is the perfect word to describe this coaster. Or call it MAcgyver because it had more duct tape on it then the 7 years the show was on.

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Good one Dave. By the way I rode that particular Re-Mix at the Del Mar Fair a couple of weeks before the Ohio State Fair incident. IMO the ride cycle was way too long for the forces being applied to the riders.It's a really intense experience. My extremities were tingling when I got off it. I wasn't going to reride this one, period.

Personally, I thought the Re-Mix was a great ride spoiled. It's basically an Orbiter, which is an excellent ride, but Tivoli bought seats from KMG and welded them onto the Orbiter frame. So it has those big, heavy, badly designed, completely unnecessary shoulder bars on it that basically serve to bash in the right side of your head. If it weren't for that, it would be a fantastic ride.

I guess that Re-Mix is back on the road again with another name. I haven't seen what they did with the seat attachment, but given the fact that (according to local news) three of the ones that didn't break were cracked, I presume they made changes! There are few enough of those things out there that Tivoli or AmTech probably never issued a bulletin, instead going directly to the affected machines...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Dave.... great page.... very interesting stuff, but I don't see what "just doesn't look right" in that last photo. Care to enlighten?

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Men are like parking spaces... the good ones are all taken and the rest are handicapped or too far away.
www.TiggerMan.com

I think its the exit gate. Its wide open. Anyone can run right in why the ride is in motion!

It happen in Ocean City in 2001. A guy stole a soda from the dollar store and they chased him out back into the park that behind the store he jumped in a ride area and was hit in the head by the ride he got wrecked. All for $1.

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

The pic of the kid with the seat belt around his neck in that "Hall of Shame" link...

I notice that the bumper cars in that pic are the type with the island in the middle for "one way" driving. The car in the back ground is on the opposite side of the "island" and is facing the same way the kid is. I can't be sure, but the car that you can see a bit of between the pole on the kids car and the right side of the photo... are those "tail lights" I see?

IF this is the case, the car on the opposite side of the "island" and this "3rd car" appear to be gerneraly going the same direction... opposite of the kid. That means that someone is going in the wrong direction, and considering it appears that two cars are facing one way and the kid is facing the other, can we assume it is the kid? In any event, you have the makings of a good head on collision. As stated, lucky for the kid that the belt is ineffective as the caption says... else it could get real messy.
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"I don't think that the term 'Head Chopper' was meant to be taken that literally."

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 11/6/2003 1:03:00 PM ***

Er, well, that's another issue.

I'm not going to fault anybody's driving in that photo because neither sign nor operator said anything about the correct direction of travel, though both sign and operator indicate that head-on collisions are NOT permitted. It's not clear who is going the 'wrong' direction, so I'll excuse that part. It's not really my business to offer advice on the "right" way to run a set of bumper cars.

It's worth noting that one Major Bumper Car Manufacturer officially recommends the removal of center islands and wall springs, and the substitution of a 'free-for-all' pattern rather than the old "one way only" arrangement. With their low-presure wrap-around rubber bumpers, modern bumper cars are fairly safe at almost any collision angle so long as they are only colliding with each other.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I feel the safest at BGW. The atmosphere is so friendly and the setting is anti-violence. With all the liesures and the location of the park, I see no reason why there would ever be a conflict at BGW.

I feel unsafe the most at SFA. I still like the park (despite how low quality of a park it is), but having it in the city area, sometimes it just doesnt feel as secure.

Another thing I should note is that I tend to notice more security guards at PKD and SFA - perhaps a result of them being kinda close to cities. Not so much PKD, but SFA is deffinately close enough.

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Kick The Sky said:
Take a trip to Big Chiefs sometime. They rarely check restraints before dispatching trains.

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How does this make you feel unsafe? Can you not check your own restraint? If not, maybe you shouldn't be riding...

-Nate

Well that's a stupid opinion.

What if a GP member had a broken restraint, and they didn't check it? The restraint might fall off or something , and what if they were riding Cyclops?*The Drop* would then probably kill them.

Yeah , HE knows how to check his restraint, but what if someone else doesn't?

Plus , you may have missed his trip report but I think there was a tidbit of how the park let an untrained girl press the button to start the ride. Even though it's just starting it , that's not safe.

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Gotta(heavy breath) get myself(breath)funnier for(breath) offseason.(breath)So unfunny(breath) must.....try....harder.