Why does barf = "minor technical difficulties"?

On my trips to SFMM and KBF whenever somebody throws up the ride ops announce something like "the ride is delayed due to minor technical difficulties". Based on the groaning and complaining I hear and my own thoughts when I hear this, I think that when most people in line for a ride hear the words "delayed due to minor technical difficulties" they assume the ride has broken down and possibly decide to leave. I have thought a few times that parks should have a different statement to use when this happens so that people know that the ride is not actually broke down. Perhaps something like "the ride will be delayed for a few minutes due to a clean up". It seems to me that a statement more accurate than "technical difficulties" should be used and if they said something which implied some sort of clean up, people would know that they should not leave. Also, are there any parks which have some kind of alternate statement for situations like this? Any thoughts?

Yeah, why would anyone use the phrase "technical difficulties" when a "clean up" would be better? I totally agree. I mean, what is worse, grossing people out by announcing that there was a vomiter, or freaking people out by announcing technical difficulties? LOL

I guess "minor technical difficulties" sounds more attractive than "someone just hurled." ;)

-Tina

I belive the correct term for puke would be "involuntar protein expsulsion" :)

There's a couple reasons, in my opinion.

If you were GP, and you were waiting in line, and someone just hurled, would you still want to ride? At Millennium Force, since the queue would walk right past the unload station, guests would see us cleaning up, and would sometimes reconsider. I think their main concern was more towards where they'll be sitting on the ride, worried they would be sitting in a seat that was recently unsanitary. Of course, that seat would either not be loaded, or it would have been cleaned up already, but no one wants to sit where someone just vomited.

Second, think of respect for the ill guest. If you just got sick on a ride, your shirt was covered, you were still feeling upset, and it probably just ruined the rest of your day (or even a good chunk of your day... no pun intended), would you want the operator to announce over the PA system that "someone" just threw up on the ride? The guest would hear this and would be embarrassed.

Is there an alternate statement? Sure, you could say a few things, like "we need to take care of a housekeeping issue," or if it's at a theme park, you can even theme it to your attraction. I know at Men in Black we would refer to it as "slimy alien goo."

Sometimes I think you guys think way too much about minutiae when you're at a park. :)

Any thoughts?

I have lots of them...most of which have words that voilate the TOS on this site so I'll limit my comments to this: a rider barfs, the ops proclaim "technical difficulties," and a bunch of people leave the line thus making the wait shorter for you. Be friggin happy! Jeez!

Tech difficulties does sound better than "Spontaneous Human Eruption..."

I think "minor technical difficulties" has become a pretty benign term these days. It practically gets used in regular conversation for any situation that isn't quite going right.

And I would agree with TTD in that an announcement that someone threw up would do more to deter me from riding than something that could be as minor as a seatbelt getting kinked up momentarily.

Personally, I'm waiting for a park to say that there was an AFR or AUR and see people scratch their heads. Then freak out when they find out what it is.

Ok, I'll bite. What do those acronyms mean?

Would you rather they announced "there will be a brief delay while the crew tries to guess what the rider in row 3 had for breakfast" ?

^That's why I always make it a point not to eat until after my riding is done for the day,case in point I nearly lost it on Ricochet after woofing down that burger at jukebox diner & this was an hour or so before riding the darn thing.

What TTD said is pretty much the reason. In my experiences with coasters, people who overheard or found out that someone hurled were more likely to leave the line than if someone thought the ride had a mechanical situation. This includes the exact senerio he mentioned (I spent a summer on MF).

Carrie M. said:
Ok, I'll bite. What do those acronyms mean?

AFR= Accidental Fecal Release
AUR= Accidental Urine Release (Guessing here because I have never heard this one used. CP just uses AFR for any bodily fluid).

Top Thrill Dragster said:
Is there an alternate statement? Sure, you could say a few things, like "we need to take care of a housekeeping issue,"

I like that one. I get all of your points but I still don't think "technical difficulties" is the right statement. There should be something to say so that people know that the ride has not broken down.

Mamoosh said:
Any thoughts?

I have lots of them...most of which have words that voilate the TOS on this site so I'll limit my comments to this: a rider barfs, the ops proclaim "technical difficulties," and a bunch of people leave the line thus making the wait shorter for you. Be friggin happy! Jeez!

Mamoosh is being rude and sarcastic in his responses again. What a shock. Selfishly, I would be happy that people left and made the line shorter. But I don't think people should choose to leave because they have been led to believe the ride has broken down. This almost happened to me on my last visit because somebody threw up on X2, out of view from where I was standing.

I don't think he's being rude at all. And frankly, he draws a lotta water in this town, Lebowski.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about the rudeness. What troubles me is that the 2nd half of your post implies that if you have been on the site long enough, it is ok to be nasty to people because the nasty comments get responses.

Hey man, sometimes you've gotta be initiated into this site. Those of you around long enough know what I had to endure when I was kid around here.

Pancakes, anyone?

^^^ Sarcastic? Youbetcha! Rude? Anyone who knows me knows I'm rarely rude. But I don't waste time worrying about it. You want to think I'm rude? Fine by me! Now, back on topic:

Regardless if it's "technical difficulties" or "barf" when the announcement goes out that there will be a "temporary delay" everyone single person in line immediately makes a decision on how long they're willing to wait. That includes you, me, Jeff, and everyone here on Cbuzz. Some will wait longer than others but we all have own own breaking points.

I still don't see why you have an issue with this....