Ride You Felt Was Unsafe?

Everything at Conneaut Lake Park.

Last year at Conneaut Lake Park...i rode the Blue Streak a bunch of times towards the back of the train. It was rough but I've been on far worse. I then took a front seat ride and first thing I noticed was a few split (broken) ledgers on the lift hill. Then I banged my knee really hard on the bolts that hold the handrail together. This was right after they had shut down for 30 minutes to do a track inspection in the middle of the day and had ignored issues I could see while riding it. I then decided that I'd taken enough of a chance by riding it a dozen or so times and that would my last ride.

I hate to see places close but other than the hotel the place is just painful to look at. With Waldameer so close and continuing to thrive and expand I just don't see Conneaut surviving. Sometimes you just gotta "let it go".

Little bit off topic but I have to admit, while I definitely trust most manufacturers about safety, NTaG and Shoot the Rapids accidents really had an impact on me. I used to leave a huge gap between my lap and the restraint to get more airtime, I completely stopped ever since that day.

 

The first two coasters I rode since the accidents were Superman Krypton Coaster and Pandemonium, SKC's anti-rollback was scarily quiet and Pandemonium makes some finicky noise before the magnets starts working. I really was freaked out by both of them but I think I covered my fear pretty well.

Then why do you love RMC so much, but you feel that they're unsafe?

I don't think I mentioned not trusting RMC in this post I mean the two accidents made me not as fully trust on roller coasters as I was before they happened. But it had turned better as the trip went on.

Two different coasters come to mind, both in their last year of operation:

The Wildcat at Bertrand Island, and the Thunderbolt at Coney Island- their track was in such a deplorable state, and both times I wondered if I would actually make it back to the station. In particular, the Wildcat was so overgrown with vegetation that we were constantly being hit with branches!

I'm with you guys on the Vekoma flyers, I always fall on the vest and it feels really loose. But, I know nothing will happen. B&M makes some pretty good flyers, I've always felt safe in them.

While I know they are perfectly safe, the Windseekers have always terrified me a little. Same with drop towers (particularly Lex Luthor).

When I went on Dominator, the shoulder harness unlocked while going up the lift hill. It locked back in before I crested the hill, but it was still pretty unnerving. What made it even more freaky is that a lady died on the ride a week later

^Did it unlock just one click? That has happened to me on raptor as sometimes the last "click" isn't fully "in" but nothing too serious.

The first time I went on YOLO at SFMM is the only time I've ever legitimately been afraid of falling out of a coaster.

For those unfamiliar with the lap bars on Yolo, they have an extra piece of padding that goes against your shins to keep your legs more secure inside the train. I circled the thing in red in the picture. You can see how well locked in the whole bottom half of a rider's body is... supposed to be...

HOWEVER... I have very long legs, and the shin-guard piece actually prevented the rest of the bar from lowering as much as it could, leaving the top piece about halfway between my lap and my knees (a good 10 inches from my hips). I was convinced that they were going to kick me off, but... lo and behold, the ride op pushed down and pulled up, and then said "clear dispatch". The top of the loop was terrifying, and I could feel myself being supported by the seat belt.

I'm totally guilty of not pushing my lap bar down that one last click on some rides (as I'm sure many of us are), but this was a whole different feeling.

^I can only imagine. I've heard several people here saying that it was the shin guard that was doing most of the holding job when they rode too.

Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake at night in snow flurries...I was pretty sure that this thing was going to fly off the track. But crazy as I am, I might go out there this weekend to go on it again, although I don't think the forecast is calling for snow.

Thunderbolt in an absolute downpour at night. You couldn't see anything and it flew around the slow curves. It pretty much felt like a scrambler with airtime... and a hole where the wall normally would be.

I'm personally not a fan of my 400ft Windseeker here at SFOT. I just don't feel ''secured'' when I'm looking at chains that I think God just laughs at, he's probably thinking to himself ''Really? It's not your time yet, but one little tick and you're done!"

Any Zipper ride.

Any "StarFlyer" ride. Something about just being held way up in the air by little bitty chains while the ride spins around, and your seats randomly twist. No, not a fan of that.

X-Scream I know it is not possible. However, in my mind every time we went over the edge of the tower, I kept freaking out thinking the thing was going to break, and we were going to plummet a 1,000+ feet to our death. I know it is not possible, but when you are on the ride "Not possible" becomes possible in your mind.

Insanity. Same issue as X-Scream. I just kept picturing the ride breaking and me falling to my death. I rode them both once, and I have sworn to never ride them again!!!

I have never felt unsafe on any ride myself however my parents on the other hand had a very horrible experience on a scrambler. Long story short back in the summer of 1974 they were at a county fair in Virginia. Dad wanted to ride the scrambler but my mom had a bad vibe about riding it but my dad talked her into it. While they were riding the scrambler according to my mom the ride got stuck running full blast. If that wasn't bad enough just before the carnival folks had managed to stop the ride one of the empty cars flew off from the ride and crashed into a nearby tree. My mom had told me over the years that when they finally got off the entire fair was totally quiet as everyone was in shock and the only thing they heard was the then Billy Swan hit song "I Can Help" coming from somebody's AM radio. That song gives her the creeps to this day.

I've had a few incidents.

A major one I had was while riding DeJa Vu at Magic Mountain a couple years before it was relocated. Those restraints are really good, they're huge and they feel safe, much like the feeling Tatsu's restraints give you.

But I was being pretty careless while getting in my seat. I just recall pulling the restraint down just a tad and I had a ton of leg room. If their was a seatbelt to be strapped, I didn't strap it. You might be thinking "come on old man it's your fault" but listen, the reason I didn't put my restraint all the way down was because I was in the middle of inhaling the most rancid disgusting and pungent fart someone in the car in front of me let loose. I had my hands covering my nose it was that bad. So I assumed a ride op would set my restraint up for me. Nobody did. Probably because of the fart. It did lock in place, but I could probably slide out if I tried (I'm a really thin guy). I wasn't thinking about pulling the restraint tighter while going backwards out of the station, but then we started going up the lift. I had no choice but to practically stand on top of the car in front of me trying to pull my restraint in. Oh my god I was sweating out of every oriface. I was standing on a suspended coaster car 160 feet in the air. Luckily once we dropped I could fall into my seat, and going up the second lift the restraint had already pushed itself in to me.

Safety first, guys. Don't let someone's disgusting farts stop you from pulling your lap bar down. And don't trust your safety to teenagers. I rode the ride again a year after and I was able to overcome my fear of it. Oh did I mention that part? I was pretty much in shell shock thanks to this!

^Did it unlock just one click? That has happened to me on raptor as sometimes the last "click" isn't fully "in" but nothing too serious.

It happened to me once on Shambhala, when we went over the first airtime hill, the restraint just clicked up a notch. My hands have never moved faster than when I grabbed onto the restraints when that happened.

Happened the same to me on Chimelong's Dive Machine, the OTSR popped up a click during the first drop. I was at the third row and I already spared two clicks for more airtime (before NTaG accident when I completely stopped doing that) But I wasn't scared because I know those restraints won't fail

Anyone knows how the restraint mechanics work on B&M coasters? What could be the factors that cause such thing? This seems to happen quite a lot because two of my friends told me they experienced the same thing.

I'm guessing they work the same way as a ratchet

It would make sense for it to accidentally pop up one notch, as it might be the ratchet is just off turning enough to lock into place, but 2 would be worrying.

^That has never happened to during the actual ride, only on raptor's lift so I wasn't very concerned.

^That has never happened to during the actual ride, only on raptor's lift so I wasn't very concerned.

Have the same thing on Raptor. The restraint doesn't go all the way down. I was 50% terrified because it didn't feel safe, but 50% relieved since I know that B&M makes fail safe restraints.

Dragon at Adventureland

1.) Small hills before a lift hill should never hurt like they did on Dragon.

2.) The train shook the rest of the ride and it felt like it was going to collapse.

I only had one time I was pretty concerned. I'm a pretty thin guy. On the back (left, here) seat of the (left, here) train on Rebel Yell at Kings Dominion, there is a big pop of ejector air as you crest the lift hill and get pulled down. Well my first ride I didn't expect it and wasn't braced properly, and knew something felt funny as I went down the drop. Upon pulling out of the drop I look down at my lap to find my right leg had slid out from under the individual lap bar, between the seat divider and bar!

I couldn't believe it actually could fit through, and freaked out a little bit, thinking that any strong lateral could spin me out of the car with my other leg going out the same path. I can't remember if there are seatbelts, I suspect there are so really no biggie. I must have kinda wiped the whole thing out of my memory because I'm not even sure if I slipped my leg back under during the ride.

When we visited again toward the end of the summer I did a sanity check and made sure my leg really could fit in the gap. Tight fit, but sure enough!

The only time I've ever gotten an "unreasonable" unsafe feeling was on Mean Streak. Going around those first two tall, sweeping, lumbering right-hand bends, the second one overlooking the lake on a blustery, drizzly day... it's just so raw... my stomach just sank into a "this... this does not feel safe" instinct. That's a small part of the reason I absolutely adore that coaster.

The HUSS Condor, named Hökfärden at Liseberg, was a one ride only for me. It did NOT have the high safety-bars / cage on the sides. You could quite easily just lean over the side and fall down. I have never wanted a ride to end that badly in my life before or since. Here is a photo of the deathtrap courtesy of Liseberg.

^Hershey has one, and at times I can see what you mean. Maybe they could put some seatbelts in them to make you feel a little safer.