Dr. M

^I don't mean to come across as defensive. I'm just a little upset about this because to me, this is as big if not a bigger deal than NTAG, and yet it hasn't made headlines anywhere outside the local media, and isn't getting as much attention online. It doesn't seem right. Almost like some kind of conspiracy in the industry to avoid any more bad publicity, or something. Also, NTAG was more complicated because the restraint didn't fail. In this case it did, so the park maintenance staff is clearly responsible.

I'd cope as that hill was insane, but the rest of the ride was pretty rough IMO. If this would cause the closure of Mount Olympus (which I doubt), I really wouldn't expect the wooden coasters to go anywhere since most of them are built to their terrain. Cyclops is on a hillside, Zeus is somewhat the same, Hades360 is a mixture of hillside, tunnel and flat land, but Pegasus might have potential, but I really don't know who could want it as it would probably need all new wood. I would kind of miss the water park as the indoor slides and Poseidon's Revenge were fun. Wasn't Pegasus built high up in the air to fit over an existing ride that isn't even there anymore? I thought I remember reading that. Might be? The locking mechanism was stripped, causing the restraint to fail. What more evidence do you need? It doesn't sound like some people are really getting the full picture here. This is NTAG all over again except the park is unambiguously 100% responsible.

^^^The difference between two and three trains is drastically smaller than the difference between one and two, it would definitely not be worth it to heavily modify the ride to run three. Bay Beach is better than Mt. Olympus. At least they know wooden coasters can run 2 trains on purpose. I hope that man sues the park and I hope Mt. Olympus realizes the error of their ways. Um, the guy could be dead by now for all we know. The place doesn't need to be sued, it needs to be shut down.

I think this is really key. Seeing a park once in awhile out of context is one thing, knowing what it used to be and seeing the steady decline is something else entirely. It really isn't complicated, SF just does a lot of things that are easy to hate. Excessive advertising, abandoned theming, entire portions of the park gone derelict, poor operations/food choices, forcing all of their parks to have DC theming all over the place, naming groundbreaking coasters Goliath because the numbers say that's the name that will sell the most T-shirts. They have no soul and allow their parks to have very, very little individual personality of their own. You know, all the same stuff that I'm sure most people in this thread have already said. Also, parking lot coasters.

^I'm thinking it's possible that the locking mechanism wasn't completely broken until enough people rode in it to loosen it the rest of the way. I bet the mechanics did a cursory inspection without looking at the mechanism at all, pulled up on each lap bar once, drank some coffee, and sent the car on its way.

I'm lucky, I've more or less liked every park I've been to, with one exception. Six Flags America. Really not much about the park to like, other than one or two solid coasters. For a more thorough explanation, please refer to this post.

Well I have to admit, that's not something I ever thought I'd hear. Yeah, at the time I didn't even know what an SLC was, and I thought maybe the name "Mind Eraser" was too literal. Having your head banged around so much you have memory blackouts. Definitely never again. I do not have that problem. When I ride a ride I always let my body fall where the rides wants it to go. I have rarely been in a pain from even the roughest coaster because I do not hold on tight and clench up my body. Oh, so that's the problem! I'm experiencing head banging on an SLC because I'm holding on too tight! That explains everything. Next time I'll be sure to stay loose and let it throw me around like a ragdoll, I'm that'll make the ride completely comfortable and enjoyable. Thanks for the suggestion!

I don't know how many "chances" a park should get. If it were up to me, the first time somebody is seriously injured on one of your rides due to total negligence on the part of you or one of your employees, that's it, you're done, no more ride-operating for you. I mean, HELLO? The state's just gonna say "Here's some fines, see that it doesn't happen again"? Yeah right. This kind of thing really upsets me. Coasters are supposed to be safe.

Life is hard and expensive. That applies to everybody. It's no excuse to make it Knoebels' problem. And honestly, if you are of the physical condition that tripping over a tree root puts you thousands of dollars in medical debt, then it was really just a matter of time and could have happened anywhere. Also, it's not just medical bills they're trying to cover. They're double-dipping. The husband wants money because the accident supposedly affected their relationship (this). These people are slugs.

The part about the locking mechanism being stripped was in one of the previous articles, this just comfirms everything I already suspected. The biggest new information is that the victim is in a coma. So he still might not survive. Shut the f*cking place down.

^Some have argued that higher trims actually make rides like Mantis more rough, since it gives the train more to time to shake and shimmy around the track. All I know is Mantis was terribly rough and uncomfortable when I rode it last year, and Green Lantern which I believe runs considerably faster after the MCBR was much smoother and actually a lot of fun.

^The idea that Knoebels would need to hire a P.I. to defend themselves against this makes me gibber with rage. People have a responsibility to keep their sidewalks clear in the winter. If you're too lazy to shovel and salt your sidewalk and one of my loved ones slips and seriously injures themselves, I'd have no qualms suing your ass off. Of course there is a difference between one little patch of ice and your entire sidewalk being covered in a 2 inch thick layer, but still. Conversely, Knoebels does not have a responsibility to keep their paths free of tree roots, because that's, um, insane? Do they expect every state park, graveyard, and any other place with trees, to go around digging them up or covering over the roots? If they win this case I'll be amazed, unless someone knows about a case just like this before that won.

Not immediately sure, but nine months? What, they needed time to prepare their case? Document the crime scene? Gather all the root-related evidence?

How can any statement be made about the "GP" when the "GP" is anybody who visits amusement parks other than enthusiasts? The title of this thread might as well be "Humanity In General". As if enthusiasts themselves never do anything worth complaining about. Statements like this are hilarious. Do you think there's a person alive who only associates with other coaster enthusiasts, who doesn't have any other friends at all? I find the whole enthusiast/GP dichotomy, at least the way it's often talked about on this site, to be one of the most ridiculous and pretentious things in any hobby I've ever bothered getting to know. But whatevs, it's cool, I love you all anyway. Like, with the exception of the rule-breaking issues, why would any of this bother you? Who cares what other people say, or what opinions they have? It doesn't affect you in the slightest. What's the point in getting annoyed over it? We should be happy to see people enjoying coasters, even the ones who think rides should have a million loops. The source of your irritation is just pretension, pure and simple, and I ain't got time for that. EDIT: I 100% agree with larrygator.

That's hilarious. A tree root? They're suing nine months after the fact?

Oh brother.

And I'm sure they swim around all day going "WHEEEEEE!!! Everything looks so curvy and far away and awesommmmeee!!!!!"

To have the money and free time to stay long enough at a great park to get burnt out on it? Good lord, I wish. Should've picked a better major at college (me and my parents both).

Haha ok, that's why every park in America has one. Next time I go to the local pizza shop and no one else is in it, I'll declare that pizza is dead and soon every pizza shop will go out of business.

I've heard Hershey's is particularly good. Is that what most people think? I haven't ridden it in ages and I don't remember anything particularly special about it.

^It's hard to say how popular stand-ups are, all the ones you mentioned are at big coaster parks that commonly have long waits for all the major coasters. That doesn't say anything about if those rides would be more popular if they weren't stand-up. My general thesis is "GP loves big shiny coasters and will ride them no matter what." If the GP really loved them that much relative to other coaster styles, I think there would be more of them. As for if any more will be built, I think that as it's been pointed out, B&M's biggest concern at this point seems to be making the most comfortable ride possible. Stand-ups are more intense and less comfortable, therefor it doesn't fit their current business model. Though I totally agree, I think the modern vest design (much as I hate it on wing coasters) would do wonders for the stand-up coaster and would love to see that happen.

Them working with Sawyer could amount to a couple emails bounced back and forth, that's all it would take for them to not be completely lying.

How should that area be labeled on the map? "The Other Golden Kingdom"? "The Golden Fiefdom"? We should have a naming contest.

Ok so the faulty car had been swapped in that very day, and the locking mechanism was stripped on the restraint that failed. Obviously the maintenance department is completely at fault, how have they not opened a criminal investigation? Mt. Olympus needs to face some serious consequences for this. Someone could have died! I'm not saying this is enough to get them shut down, but... maybe it should be? Also if that witness was telling the truth that she had to hold the bar down the entire ride, why didn't she say something when the ride was over? That's pretty gross negligence on her part.

I find it very hard to believe they could keep the investigation from going public. People deserve to know what happened, especially anybody who's ever given Mt. O their money and assumed their rides were safe. I can't believe people aren't asking more questions. This is pretty frustrating to me, I really want to know what happened. Is people falling out of roller coasters a thing? Does this happen more commonly than I realize, parks are just able to hush it all up? I've been on many Zamperla Spinning Mice (Luna Park, SFGAm, Mt. Olympus, Fun Spot USA, Martins Fantasy Island, and Beech Bend) and have never even had a click outside the station. I fully blame Mt. Olympus on this. OPA doesn't even provide airtime. People got throw off can't be due to the reason on NTaG or S: RoS. If the lap bar already has the ability of protecting the riders, I think the problem is partly at Zamperla. Of course Mt. Olympus' operation is a huge problem, I wasn't saying that Mt. Olympus shouldn't be the one to take the most blame. We have absolutely 100% no idea whose fault it is, or any way to even begin to speculate.