Amusement Ride Breakdown!

[liftsifter]

I was stuck on Superman: Ultimate Flight's block breaks at Great America for about 45 minutes. Very uncomfortable. But, I got skip-the-line passes and a free meal. (And I met the park execs!)

 

I've had a load of occurances like e-stops on V2, and chain malfunctions on DEMON. Also got stuck on Whizzer once! That was enjoyable though.

[1pizza14]

I was on Revenge Of The Mummy at USF. We were in the room where the ride stops and the mummy breaks thru the window. After the fire went off we were all expecting the launch into the lava pit but we just stayed there. It was pretty cool because we got to see how the mummy resets onto the screen. After 10 minutes baking in that room the block brakes unlatched and we slowly coasted back to the station. Pretty interesting.. but we didn't evan get a re-ride

[jason10]

My weirdest breakdown was on Vortex at Thorpe Park. There was a power cut when it was swinging at half-height and so it just cut out. Of course it couldn't slow down because there was no power to the ride. We were left to swing to a stop by itself with no aid of a motor. It was a good 15-20 minutes before we stopped and that was a very long time to be swinging!

[jmicha]

^^A similar thing happened to me during one of my visits to USF. I don't remember the exact situation but I do know that when we were supposed to launch into the pit we didn't and the train behind us did come into the block directly behind the one you stop in when in the fake unload room. The effects had reset but didn't go off again (I believe they only start once they sense a new train having stopped in the block before the drop). Once we started moving again the lights inside the building were on which was cool since it offered a view (although very short) of the inside of the ride. The ride was closed for a while after that. Not sure what exactly had gone wrong but I believe it was in one of the stations since when we got back they were only sending the trains into the station that they usually don't load when the crowds don't justify the use of both stations (they had been using both when I entered the ride).

[Popcorn54]

Broke down on Haunted Mansion in Florida and got to see it with the lights on which was pretty cool. Also broke down on Splash Mountain and had to get Evacuated.

They are probably the most interesting ones.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

I hit the advance button at Tatsu once to advance the train from the transfer block to the station....and an airhouse on the transfer track popped off.

[aceospades1250]

My only actual "breakdown" was on Millennium Force. The train stopped about 20ft from the crest of the lift, so we sat there in the hot sun at 290ft in the air for about 20 minutes before they finally let the train advance. Great ride though, and we got to go on Maverick line-free on a day when the line was about 3 hours

[Scales44]

I got stuck on Thunderhead for about 5 min. due to a morbidly obese man getting stuck in his seat. In turn his lap bar wouldn't open so we just sat behind the station waiting.

 

I also got stuck on Space Mountain at the top of the first lift on the right side. The breaks locked and the lights came on, and the train on the left side started to evacuate. so they walked down the tiny little scaffolding staircase down to the area behind the station. I thought we would have to do the same, but nope, we just sat. After a few min. we were released and we rode our way out in the light. Don't know the cause though, the operators told us nothing.

[Astrojack]

My friend and I were getting on Shockwave at Kings Dominion. I finished buckling my seat belt when I looked over and my friend was holding the female connector of the belt. It came off of the strap. The operator looked a bit confused and told him he could ride near the front since there's a single rider up there. Once he got buckled in near the front, the operators were talking about what they should do. A few minutes later we all got off the ride and they said the ride will be down. I felt bad for the train sitting on the brakes since it was really hot out that day. We heard it would be a 20 minute delay so we left the line to ride something else. Luckily there was no wait for shockwave when that happened

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I was on Nitro back in 2007, and on the last day it was really windy and it knocked power out too that side of SFGAdv, so we finished the ride and got the final break run, and we had to be evacuated from it. It was pretty cool.

[Topdrag]

A few years back Steel Venom had some issues with butterflies and the light screen in the station. The butterflies set off the light screen many times during the ride cycle which automatically E-stopped the ride. Maintenance was tired of having to come out to re-set the ride so they resorted to getting a few nets out and having the employees try to catch the butterflies before reopening the ride. It was rather entertaining to watch.

 

That is the only weird breakdown I have seen. I have been on many ride breakdowns but they are usually simple computer freezes and things like that. The longer times I was stuck on a ride was just mechanical issues light a lift motor dyeing completely or something. Those I can understand since parts just go bad over time. Nothing really weird about that.

[The SETGO Guys]

Removed by user

Edited January 5, 2012 by The SETGO Guys

[Midgetman82]

Not too weird, but it was the first ride I ever evacuated from. In SWO on the ride Journey to Atlantis, my boat came to a halt behind the boat that was about to go down the main big drop. Soon someone came and told us that we were going to have to evacuate, and after a few minutes we did. We had to go up one flight of stairs to the top of the entire ride before taking the stairwell down to the ground. At the exit of the stairwell all riders were given a pass to skip the line for JTA.

 

The only other stop I can remember was when I was stuck on Chang in KK for about 30+ minutes on the brakes before the station.

[jynx242]

This past summer on the Middle America tour, right at the end of Mr. Freeze ERT we went through the course, but stopped before the train got back to the loading station and smelled burning electrics. They finally got things worked out, but had to push the train back to the loading platform. Needless to say, that side did not operate for the rest of the day.

 

On Garfields Nightmare at Kennywood, our boat kept bottoming out, so we had to push ourselves along to keep moving. Then, where the photos are taken, we felt like we almost flipped the boat - our looks of terror are awesome so I bought the souvenier photo as a refrigerator magnet and have it to this day.

[CorkscrewFoley]

I was stuck on Mean Streak for a few minutes, my restraint wouldn't open. So I turned to the op and was like 'does this mean I get a re-ride?' I got to think I must have rattled my brain good on it--more than usual.

[MagnumUnlimited]

I have very bad luck on launching coasters. I also remember when me and some friends were on Backlot Stunt Coaster at Kings Island, we launched out, went through the ride. Then we we were about to bust out of the billboard, we coasted to a stop. The lights came on and we must have been sitting there for 20 minutes, until we finally were pushed out and finished it.

[Goliath513]

I was on DarKastle at BGW a few years ago when the video and audio stopped working, and the worklights came on. The "golden sleigh," however, kept bucking and spinning through its usual sequence, but in reaction to nothing. It was hilarious! The ride ops were handing out exit passes as people got off the ride, and they had it all up and running about an hour later.

After seeing this happen on Elitch's Ghost Blasters, I wondered what it would be like to be in the middle of the much more epic ride sequence like DarKastle and have it shut off and lights go on. I'm surprised the ride kept moving as this is usually a fault and should stop the ride movement.

 

Other interesting breakdowns I've seen when operating, were Turn of the Century (Vekoma Wave Swinger) spinning backwards full speed at ground level, Chaos coming to a stop up in the air and having to be manually brought down, and Sidewinder (Arrow shuttle) getting stuck not quite up the farside hill with the front of the car stopped in the brakes and the back halfway down the hill

 

Has anyone ever been on a rapids ride when the river drains in operation?

[typhoon200]

The worst Breakdown I've been on, is on a HUSS Topple Tower.

The ride Called El Volador in Bellewaerde Park Belgium. (Used to be in the Sixflags Europe Group)

I've been on the ride for more than an hour. (Now THATS ERT!)

The view was spectacular, firefighters in the park...

Unfortunately it was a cold April day. So not very enjoyable...

The positive side was, A free annual pass...

 

Have been on some other rides braking down in my life. They didn't took very long.

Like Air(Alton Towers), Space Mountain (Disney Paris).

[WW1 Flying Ace]

I was on spider man at IOA and in the spinning mist tunnel the ride stopped. We moved forward with no spinning straight the rest of the ride with random scenes appearing at the appropriate times some showed up some didn't. We only started moving after about 10 minutes of waiting though,

 

I don't think this counts but, I was on one of those single tube slides at Blizzard Beach where some are enclosed and some aren't. (I don't remember the name) I was maybe 6 and I was out of control on the slide and made one complete loop upside down on the ride before making another loop and not making it all the way around the enclosed flume and hit my head and the rest was a body slide!

[BelizeIt]

About a year ago my cousin and I were on Disneylands Splash Mountain, when it came to a sudden stop. (On the second lift hill) Cast members showed up and helped us unload from the ride, which was GREAT because we received a excellent back stage tour of the entire ride.

 

In fact when we were 'behind stage' we got to see the fully assembled Christmas Tree before they moved it to Main Street USA. It was a unique experience, that I've always enjoyed.

 

Breakdowns can be disappointing, but also entertaining.

[rcdude]

The weirdest breakdown I have experienced was probably on Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was on the ride and secured like normal. Once the train was checked, they pressed the dispatch button and the horn sounded like normal. The floor then dropped away like normal, but the train didn't more. It sat there for a minute, then they announced that the ride was experiencing technical difficulties. For whatever reason, the floor never came back up. After about ten minutes, they managed to raise the floor, then unlocked the restraints and made everybody get off and go back behind the gates. They then locked all the restraints and secured the train, then unlocked everything and reboarded the train. The ride then proceeded as normal.

[tt.repo.man]

Its tied between the first time I got evacuated from Universe of Energy (it was a long step down) or Toy Story Mania (First they spin you, then they pull steps out from the vehicle, then they parade you around the building) .

[samisthabomb]

One of these is weird, and the other one was just uncomfortable.

 

Let's do the weird one first: I was riding a YoYo swing ride at the State Fair of Louisiana. For about a minute or so, the ride was acting fine and was very enjoyable. Then, all of a sudden, I feel this sudden jerk. I ignore it, considering it was a carnival ride and some traveling rides jerk when they begin to slow down. However, the ride wasn't slowing down, and I felt the jerk again a few times. Then, out of nowhere, lights and other crap started to fall off the ride! This continued until the ride op finally got control and ended the ride. He then tells us that he put all the riders on one side and they needed to be separated so the weight is balanced. Wow.

 

Breakdown 2: A few years ago, I was on Test Track at WDW. When the vehicle reached the heat room, it stopped. Thinking it was part of the ride, everyone ignored it. But after the ride didn't move for a few minutes, we knew something was wrong! While I was proceeding to be fried by the hundreds of heat lamps, some ride ops came in and led us to the emergency exit.

This wasn't the only breakdown I experienced at Disney; at least one ride we were on broke down every day!

[Techno Dude]

I've been thru alot of ride breakdowns (probably because alot are Disney related! )

 

 

1st: I was on Space Mountain (Disneyland ) and we just started going up the 1st lift, and after a 2 hour wait in literal 120 degree heat, we stop, and the lights come on! And after a 45 minute wait in the train, we start moving again, but with the lights on! Man it ruined the magic.

 

 

2nd: This one isn't really Disney related. My dad and I (I was about 9-10ish) went on Journey To Atlantis at SWO. Everything seemed to be working fine at that moment. We got on the boat, and started traveling up the lift as normal. But right after we left the station, we heard a really loud and high pitch squealing sound from under the car. We just ignored it at first as the boat's wheels get fully sumerged under the water on some parts, so it was most likely rusty. But about half way up the lift we heard a loud snap and the whole boat shook, and at the same time the squeak stopped. Shortly after that we stopped traveling up the lift, and we saw an operator coming up the lift, with alot of people looking at our boat. We had no idea what to expect! After the operator manually opened the restraints, he told up to look down at the ground under the catwalk, he said "see that little dot down there? That's one of the wheels to you guy's boat!". By the looks of it, one of the bolts or something got so rusty that it snapped off! At least we think. IDK if the boat would run with minus one wheel, but I didn't want to find out!

 

 

 

That's all I could remember for now lol.

[cal1br3tto]

^^ Yo-Yos are janky enough when they're working properly!

By the way, you're lucky nothing worse happened. An innocent little Lolli Swing came crashing to the ground in 2009, and improper weight balancing was a rumored cause (although I believe this was eventually disproven). Poor kids!