Real World Theme Parks Have you ever experienced a break down during a ride?

Gysan · Aug 6, 2016

mwells01 said:
I was riding the Haunted Mansion at Disney World and it stopped once for about 5 minutes. It was wierd because you noticed the looping in the music and the movements of the animatronics. There was an announcement and the ride started back up. We went about another 10 feet before it stopped again. Luckily this time it was only stopped for a minute or two. It was a longer ride than we expected but all in all it was pretty cool.

Well, the Haunted mansion rides doom-buggie system that just keeps going and going demands it to stop sometimes. For an example, getting someone in a wheelchair on and out of a buggy-cart and the whole ride have to stand still for that. So not always because of a break down.
However, can be really creepy were you stops. My cusin told me he got stuck in the Dinseyland Paris version, Phantom manor, once at the laughing phantom zombie guy for several minutes. That is creepy! [happy]

CoasterTycooner · Aug 13, 2016

Pirates broke down for me too, but only for 20 minutes. It was at Disneyland, and I was stuck next to the part that had a guy that said "Here kitty kitty." for 20 minutes straight.[cry][uhh][wacky][rolleyes]

Snowboarderss · Aug 14, 2016

Well Iv'e had a far share of break down. Mostly when I went to Disney World Orlando with my family. Basically every dark ride that we went on broke down or stopped. Also I have a few instances at my home park (Valleyfair) where people have had there phones out and the had to stop the ride (I really hate those people).

Dario85 · Aug 14, 2016

Once got stuck on Blackpool's Valhalla ride on the turn table where it turns the boat to face backwards. We were stuck for around 10-20 minutes before a member of staff appeared and told us the best news ever! We had to get off! Which of course meant a walk behind the scenes of the ride. The lights came on and the place is huge! As soon as the ride reopened I was right back on it lol. No fast track tickets t another ride though but who cares. The walk down the staires and seeing the ride with lights on was worth it. Plus the queues are never long at Blackpool lol

Crowdpleaser · Aug 15, 2016

Snowboarderss said:
Well Iv'e had a far share of break down. Mostly when I went to Disney World Orlando with my family. Basically every dark ride that we went on broke down or stopped. Also I have a few instances at my home park (Valleyfair) where people have had there phones out and the had to stop the ride (I really hate those people).

I have a Question about Disneyland: Videos i saw on Youtube give the Impression that the Rides (Dark Rides in particular) stop very often. Is this because to help disabled people on the Ride, or do they have frequent technical problems? And another thing: It seems to me they evacuate rides at the drop of a hat. Sometimes for no apparent reason. Like i said, this is just the impression i get when i watch onride Youtube Videos

Nerdman3000 · Aug 15, 2016

I've been on two(though technically one) breakdowns. The first was on the Amazing Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure, where the ride broke and we literally had to walk out of the ride, which was interesting to see the ride with all the lights off. The second was one I didn't technically go on, but I was literally at the end of the line and just about to go on it when it broke down and we had to leave, and that is Test Track at Epcot.

gregorburns · Aug 15, 2016

Crowdpleaser said:
I have a Question about Disneyland: Videos i saw on Youtube give the Impression that the Rides (Dark Rides in particular) stop very often. Is this because to help disabled people on the Ride, or do they have frequent technical problems? And another thing: It seems to me they evacuate rides at the drop of a hat. Sometimes for no apparent reason. Like i said, this is just the impression i get when i watch onride Youtube Videos

The Omnimover rides at Disney stop a lot and it's mainly due to people who need to take longer to get on or stupid people who do something wrong and cause the employees to stop the ride. You can expect to stop at least once on the Haunted Mansion but it's rarely a technical problem and it doesn't usually last too long.

As for the evacuations: I've been going to Disney for nearly my whole life and I've never been evacuated from a ride. I think it probably looks like it's a lot from YouTube but in reality my guess is that there's so many videos on YouTube of Disney evacuations because Disney actually let you take cameras on their rides, unlike many other theme parks. I have been on a couple of rides that have broken down but not evacuated and I know they only do the evacuation if they really have to.

Test Track is probably the exception to that since it does break down about twice a day and shuts down in the slightest hint of rain. That's because it is a technically complex ride more than anything. And because of Test Track's design it often has to shut down completely if someone takes too long to get on and requires an evacuation.

Crowdpleaser · Aug 15, 2016

gregorburns1 said:
Test Track is probably the exception to that since it does break down about twice a day and shuts down in the slightest hint of rain. That's because it is a technically complex ride more than anything. And because of Test Track's design it often has to shut down completely if someone takes too long to get on and requires an evacuation.

That is/was the same Issue with Arthur in Europa Park (I refuse to call it "Arthur - The Ride", because this american Trend is extremely pointless. I can plainly see this is a Ride and not the Movie).

The Ride System is pretty complex with the Vehicles being aware of each other and can slow down or speed up accordingly. This however can cause issues when the minimum Distance is violated. Then the whole System shuts down as a safety precaution. There was a time when the Ride broke down every Day. When i heard they wanted to put more Cars on the Train and more Trains on the Ride i smacked my head on the Table. But to their Credit, they seemed to have ironed out the trouble the Ride System gave them. But to break down on that Ride can be pretty annoying. Especially if your Train is at a Spot where the only thing that can get you down is a Scissor Lift. The whole Showbuilding has to be evacuated to bring the Lift in. This means: All of the Mini Droptowers, the Jumparound, the Cafe AND the Slides have to be closed for this to happen. ALL have to leave for this. Imagine this every Day once or twice.

gametimeuk · Aug 26, 2016

well when i worked at a theme park as a ride operator i had to do many evacuations on the rides i worked on, but personally as a visitor to a theme park the on that springs to my mind is the big one at blackpool pleasure beach that got stuck up at 215ft up due to a sensor getting water in it

and had to walk down the steps of the lift hill good fun for me scary for other people who disliked heights

got stuck also on Valhalla at the same park that was an interesting evacuation as its a dark water ride

BJ4RN0 · Aug 27, 2016

I once was stuck on the third hill of Flash Back (log flume in Walibi Belgium). The boat in front of was stuck a few meters before the final drop... They had to be evacuated ,while we had to wait almost 10 minutes before the lift hill started working again. Unpleasent experience, as we were on a boat with a couple of people, and I was at the back... thus everyone was pushing their weight on me... No backstage area for me

Maisydae · Sep 4, 2016

Got stuck 2-3 minutes into the mummy ride at Universal Studios California earlier this year. We queued quite a while for it and after telling us we would be allowed back in at the front of the queue they ejected us from some side door and disappeared! Luckily some park employee was stood nearby and gave us some fast passes after we complained to him.

I never got to go on the Smiler at Alton Towers, we queued for 1.5 hours to get on it shortly after it was built. Then, when we were about 10 minutes from getting to the station a large bolt fell from the track into the queue line and caused the ride to be closed for the rest of the day. Couldn't believe it, we were so close. [ugh]
My husband said he would never go on it after that happend. Then a few months later the big crash happened. Super scary.

BaronVonMoose · Sep 4, 2016

I was on 'The Bullet' at Flamingo Land when it stalled on the backwards run through the loop, its was an amazing but seriously rough schwarzkopf tyre launched shuttle coaster where the loop encircled the station, don't seem to remember being there too long, they had a winch thing built in to pull the car up and it was back open later that day, so I'm guessing it wasn't too rare an occurance, was weird sat there though, horrible restraints too.

Spectre1 · Sep 6, 2016

One time, when I was riding the Wipeout at dreamworld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(Dreamworld)). About halfway through it just stopped, was sitting there for about half an hour before they got it going again.

AngryGumball · Sep 7, 2016

Yup, got stuck on Indiana Jones a week ago on my trip down at Disneyland. We found the whole experience actually kind of funny. We did get to ride through again once the ride had reset itself, didn't have to leave our transport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJhV5nu28tc

Also last year we broke down on Alice in Wonderland, came to a screeching halt right as the queen shouted "THAAATS ENOUGH!" and everything came to a dead silence. We sat there staring at a silent queen as she waved her arms overhead. We did get evac'd on that one.

Gysan · Sep 7, 2016

AngryGumball said:
Yup, got stuck on Indiana Jones a week ago on my trip down at Disneyland. We found the whole experience actually kind of funny. We did get to ride through again once the ride had reset itself, didn't have to leave our transport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJhV5nu28tc

Also last year we broke down on Alice in Wonderland, came to a screeching halt right as the queen shouted "THAAATS ENOUGH!" and everything came to a dead silence. We sat there staring at a silent queen as she waved her arms overhead. We did get evac'd on that one.

Wow, that is hilarious! [big grin]

Strik3r · Sep 8, 2016

Worst ride accident I've ever heard of was at California's Great America. Back when the ride was still called Top Gun (now called Flight Deck because of licensing) a visitor hopped the fence of the ride to retrieve their hat that flew off while riding the coaster. Unfortunately this person was not paying attention to the ride as the coaster came flying down towards him and a riders foot decapitated the guy (that's what I heard from friends who were at the park). News articles state a head injury with no further details aside from the man dying at the hospital an hour later.

Article for proof: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bizarre-Coaster-Accident-Kills-Hayward-Man-at-2992233.php

AngryGumball · Sep 9, 2016

Worst ride accident I've ever heard of was at California's Great America. Back when the ride was still called Top Gun (now called Flight Deck because of licensing) a visitor hopped the fence of the ride to retrieve their hat that flew off while riding the coaster. Unfortunately this person was not paying attention to the ride as the coaster came flying down towards him and a riders foot decapitated the guy (that's what I heard from friends who were at the park). News articles state a head injury with no further details aside from the man dying at the hospital an hour later.

Article for proof: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/B...at-2992233.php

Yup, I remember that accident, though I didn't realize until now that the dude that disregarded the rules was from my home town. CGA is my home park. More recent, there was an incident in which somebody lost a phone on Flight Deck's brake run. One of the workers thought they would be quick and run out onto the brake run catwalk to retrieve the item when he was struck by a train entering the brake run. For those unfamiliar, Flight Deck/Top Gun still has quite a bit of speed left when it hits the brake run. Most of these accidents are human-caused, primarily disregarding the rules. One of the things I remember about the Flight Deck incident from 1998 was that the guy couldn't read the signs. But common sense would tell you that if there's a fence surrounding something, it would mean to keep out.

Speaking of CGA, I was there the day before the infamous Drop Zone accident happened. The accident still remains a mystery as to how the kid slipped out from the restraint and fell to his death. I was also there at the park the day before Invertigo broke its chain, stranding riders for several hours. We no longer have Invertigo as it was relocated to Dorney Park as Stinger.

TomTheDuck · Sep 21, 2016

I know I'm late, but when I went on Holiday(British word for Vacation) I got stuck on space mountain In Walt Disney world...

Worst Part was I had only gone about 1 metre out of the station. Fire crew got me out 30 minutes later, quite an expereience [big grin]

gregorburns · Sep 21, 2016

TomTheDuck said:
Fire crew got me out 30 minutes later, quite an expereience [big grin]

Fire crew? Wow, what happened that required them to get you out? [shocked]

TomTheDuck · Sep 22, 2016

gregorburns1 said:
Fire crew? Wow, what happened that required them to get you out? [shocked]

Well, I guess it was mainly because on space mountain you sit in line with the floor. We left the station, went down a tiny bit and i guess the track said nope and stopped us.

Ima make a visual diagram to like show it [big grin]

Sort of around where the curve is, but we were further down and a bit further into the ride (Only like another metre)