Amusement Ride Breakdown!

[Aceattack52]

Some other ones: (im not completely sure if these are counted as breakdowns)

 

On Tulireki in Linnanmäki i went on it and noticed my lap harness wasn't locked. So basically i just kept it down and held on and pressed my legs towards the front of the car for dear life. I survived (you dont say) and it was quite traumatizing.

Yes, I have heard quite a few stories about things like this happening, usually they are at parks that aren't in the US. The majority of the stories I have heard, though were of accidents like this occurring at parks in China.

[grinch1313]

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.

 

I have this photo on display in my room. It's amazing. There was also Dive to Atlantis where our boat kept bottoming out and the ride op told us we were "gonna have to push."

 

The best breakdown story I know about didn't happen to me, but my cousin and aunt a long time ago. When my cousin was 3 (she's 21 now), she and her mom were on Peter Pan's Flight when there was a loud clunk and the ride shut down. It turned out to be a very bad breakdown as the cast members starting hand wheeling in all the cars that were out on the track except for the one my cousin and aunt were in. A cast member 1 at the exit called out to another one to check on the situation with their car. Cast member 2 calls back that they can't hand crank this one in because it's hanging on by one part of the track. One calls back "So everything's fine, right?" And two calls back "Of course. Everything's fine." They ended up having to climb out using a ladder. Ever since then my cousin will not get anywhere near that ride.

[dstephe9]

I was on Thunderhead at Dollywood and the cart stopped on the lift hill.. After about five mins a ride OP said "we are waiting on the train to pass". He, of course, was talking about the Dollywood steam train. After another 5 mins I knew he was just making things up bc i have been to dwood many times and thunderhead never stopped to let the steam train pass.. 20 mins total went by and the cart finally starting going up the lift hill again

[Rocket Rodder]

One time we were on Pirates at DL (California) and we were stuck before the bottom of the lift. Suddenly things got all quiet... the water pumps had shut off. It was a deafening silence. I thought for sue we'd be getting evac'd. But then the pumps turned on again. As we eventually climbed the lift, we stopped AGAIN, this time the boat rolled back a few inches to catch onto the anti-rollback. Seeing a boat full of 20 people all getting lurched at the same time was... quite hilarious, actually. I couldn't help but burst into laughter as some children started screaming and crying, AS WELL AS SOME ADULTS. We did get to moving again and got back to the station.

 

I laughed again as these people complained at how "unsafe" the ride is and how some asshole was laughing at how "they almost died"....

Yeeeah. Well, it WAS funny and if it happens again I'll laugh again.

[Aceattack52]

^ Yeah, I don't understand why people go absolutely crazy like that when something goes a little different, like the train going up the lift has to slow down (not even stop) to let the train ahead of it clear the block.

[rctneil]

A few of the ride mishaps I have encountered. None particularly thrilling but here we are:

 

1. Mr Freeze - SFStL - Ride stopped on launch track on return run and took several minutes to return to the ride station.

 

2. Space Mountain - Disneyland - Our ride train was weighed and found to be overweight so the switch track took us into the maintenance bay so we could split into 2 trains.

 

3. Nemesis: Sub Terra - Alton Towers - The ride was doing it's normal cycle and we were on the lift back up to the top and each side stopped between two floors for about 15 to 20 minutes. The show sequence ended and interior lights came on. Gave a nice little chance to have a look around and see how things worked and there is a lot more theming in there than you expect or know about as it's so dark normally.

 

4. Jurassic Coaster - Shijingshan Amusement Park - Not exactly a breakdown but the train slowed to a halt and stopped around 3/4 of the way through. The video is on Youtube somewhere. This one was pretty funny.

 

I think overall I have done quite well with avoiding breakdowns on the rides I have ridden.

[Aceattack52]

Just now I had an odd breakdown on Intimidator at Carowinds- the ride shut down and all three trains stacked, then they told us to wait 10 minutes. Then a ride op was sent out to talk to everyone on the break run. Then they unloaded all three trains and sent each one once with no passengers. At no point did any mechanics enter the station and no one did anything during the downtime.

[JJLehto]

Not a breakdown I guess but once on MForce going up the lift the train came to a near halt for a moment, then proceeded up very slowly.

 

Obviously there's no slow down on MForce and going up the lift at that speed just for it to stop dead (and felt like we may roll back) was the most terrifying moment I've ever had.

[Zem]

I've seen the Boardwalk Bullet breakdown at least 4 different times on the chain lift and 2 times at the same spot while I was on it. This used to be a common problem but I haven't seen it happen in my past few visits so I suspect that they have fixed the faulty detector or whatever was causing the problem.

[Sheep-O-Matic]

One night at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk I was riding the old Haunted Castle dark ride alone. The ride was not scary as it was, but I was in for a surprise. In the middle part of the ride, my car stopped. Before I could even wonder what was going on, another car hit my car from behind, followed by another. The lights turned on in the whole ride, but then they went out. Before I knew it, an employee came with a flashlight, and escorted me out of the ride. Apparently, a section of the track had lost power, causing my car to stop, and I guess everything else was malfunctioning as well. It was weird to walk through the rest of the ride, but kind of cool.

The Boardwalk's new version of the Haunted Castle ride has broken down a few times as well, but resumes after a few moments.

[Aceattack52]

Not a breakdown I guess but once on MForce going up the lift the train came to a near halt for a moment, then proceeded up very slowly.

 

Obviously there's no slow down on MForce and going up the lift at that speed just for it to stop dead (and felt like we may roll back) was the most terrifying moment I've ever had.

This instance also seems like it is another case of your train being dispatched fast and the train ahead of the one you were riding on didn't clear the block in time.

[3Mutts]

Was on Volcano at Kings Dominion launched fine and did the whole coarse but when our train got into the breaks it stopped and we were stuck for maybe 10min. IDK what happened but when I got off I saw matenance men pushing the train out of the station, the ride opened shortly after.

[Taylor Finn]

I was at Magic Kingdom with my high school marching band senior year and Pirates of the Carribean had been closed all day until an hour before we had to be out of the park, so my friend and I decided not to go back to the front and be early for Wishes. We got a quick ride in on Haunted Mansion and stepped on Pirates about 20 minutes before we were all to be at the entrance to watch the fireworks.

 

The ride went as normal until right after the drop where we got stuck in a scene with, 'Pirates Life For Me' playing. The ride stayed playing for a while until they turned everything off after attempting to start the ride up again multiple times. We waited some more until ride ops in wetsuits had to push the boats backward and forward to evacuation areas which took forever. They were all very strict about no photos, to avoid 'ruining the magic.' We got off the ride walked backstage and re-entered the park after being given a fast pass for any ride in any park. We ended up being late to the front but it wasn't too too bad, definitely an interesting experience.

[RCjunkie]

Not as weird as it was funny. In June 2010 during early entrance morning ERT on Raptor the lift hill chain just stopped running. Of the 5 trains that just had their 1st run of the day 4 of them made it back to the station (we were train #4) and the 5th one was trapped at the mid brake so none of the trains would let people off because the restraints would not go up without any power. 15-20 minutes go by and we finally see from the train a maintenance guy with about a 3 foot long wrench in his hand walking towards the machine shed next too/under Raptor. He looked really upset, I am guessing by his body language and look on his face that this interrupted his morning coffee break routine. The funny part was right before he opened the door to the shed he let out a loud primal yell in disgust, we heard the door slam and then less than 2 minutes later Raptor was running again.

[Gay:The Ride]

I got stuck on Spash Mountain for 15 minutes... I still cant get Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah out of my head.

[CoasterPrince]

I'd rather 15 mins than the near 60 I was stuck on Splash Mountain and at 1am nonetheless. It did make for a memorable Senior Trip though, especially trying to exit and not being able to view our picture for partial nudity. Oh Highschool

[jray21]

On the October 'Wisconsin' trip we all rode Dinosaur and it broke down at the perfect place for a few minutes. It was right when the guy yells out, "We're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it!" Right after he said it, the lights went out, the ride stopped, and all the sound stopped. We didn't make it! It was pretty funny and we all just started laughing.

[Canobie Coaster]

Last summer I went to Dorney Park. The forecast called for thunderstorms later in the night, but I hoped that I could hit the coasters before it arrived since I hadn't been there since 05. Well after riding Talon twice, I decided I wanted one more ride. Unfortunately our train got stuck at the top of the lift hill since the ride powered down. Meanwhile, the thunderstorm was approaching and all of the other attractions shut down. We ended up having to evacuate and walk down the hill in very windy conditions. But kudos to the park staff for keeping everyone calm and evacuating the ride quickly and safely.

[linearinduction]

Got stuck on It's a Small World at Disneyland for 20 Minutes right at the end of the ride in '95. 20 Minutes of that darn song and I never need or want to ride or hear it again!

 

-Sid

[Aceattack52]

I find it odd that I go to parks 20 times a year or so, and I have never experience or anything like a breakdown. Maybe some of you guys should come with me next time.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Somewhat of a breakdown...

 

I was at SFGAdv last year and got in line for Kingda Ka right after it had opened after being broken down. My friend and I waited about 10-15 minutes and got into the second seat. The train out on the launch pad wasn't moving and was brought into the left station. Passengers from both trains were taken out of the train. After several minutes, our train successfully completed a dry run. The opposite train was loaded with the previous passengers and was launched faster than it should have. I had never been to the park, but I've seen TTD launch many times, and it NEVER traveled as fast as I saw that train go over the top of Kingda Ka. We were put back into the train, and we launched. The maintenance team or somebody must have adjusted the launch speed because not only did we not have enough momentum to go over, but we didn't even have enough momentum to fall back! We were stopped 256 feet in the air. Everyone on the train was, obviously, freaking out. Luckily, the train was able to make itself go over the hill and down the drop. We really weren't up there all that long, but it was a really cool experience. Naturally, Kingda Ka was closed once we got back to the station.

[gerstlaueringvar]

The kiddie coaster at Little Amerrica rolled back to the station on the second circle.

[HouchenMagouchen]

I was an inverted boomerang and we got stuck on the second pike. It was just scary lying down in the air for 30 minutes or so.

[gerstlaueringvar]

I was waiting for X2 and it happened right before I'm ready to ride. The restraint couldn't release! They reversed the train to the break run and pull into the station again.

[Blue Turbo]

During WCB while we were sitting on the break run for YOLOcoaster it broke. The train being launched misfired and didn't even make it past the magnets. We got stuck on the turnaround before the station. It took at least ten minutes for the train to return to the station. When they finally got it to launch properly, our train had to be pushed back into the station because the drive wheel couldn't bring us in from a full stop.