The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

The Article just made the 3 o'clock news. just waiting for it to get out of hand...

[Chris Benvenuto]

^ When it does, the general public will be saying "TAER IT DOWNZ!!!!!!!11!!!!!"

 

Jeez, poor guys, that must of be horrible to experience that. Though, all of the accident interested me on the results of how this could of happened. I know it's a snapped cable, but I wondered what led up to the snappage.

[tkkyj]

ugh... don't you know it...

 

"...it was only last month when roller coaster riders at another Cedar Fair park were left stranded in the hot sun for hours while they waited to be rescued..."

[kidcoaster 2]

I am curious how this footage got out though? You would think one of the first things done would be to erase or secure that footage because I am sure those two did not buy a copy to remember their fun ride

 

Glad to see nothing was too threatning though.

[CGA_88]

Looks like Cedar Fair's West Coast parks (Knotts and CGA) maintenance departments are going to be very busy this fall with Xcelerator and Invertigo.

[alexinla]

Btw, the you tube video was taken down(guess cedar fair lawyers woke up), but knbc already has it on there own server and it is still up.

 

You know it will be on the 4,5,6,10,11pm news today...

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Knotts-Berry-Farm-Rollercoaster-Accident-Injures-Guests-59751017.html

[KnottsDisneyFarm]

Its been a while since this thread has seen life, but Ghostrider is going through major rehab and track replacement.

 

Yes! Finally. I can't wait for them to finish! I am totally psyched to ride the new and improved Ghost Rider. Does anyone know how much of the track they are refirbishing? Is it the whole thing?

[Cixot]

Wow... I probably wouldn't ride a coaster again if that happened to me. Did anyone see the smoke at the end? Just imagine if something caught on fire?

[Kennyweird]

"...but the drop towers are OTIS elevator cables." (Papas)

 

Otis (to my knowledge) makes very reliable elevator systems, and they had a hand in the design of Disney's Tower of Terror rides, too. However, normally, elevator cables aren't run as fast as they are on these rides.

 

Unless anyone's heard of an 80mph elevator...

 

Eric

 

It's acceleration, not speed, that puts stress on cables.

[deano]

Seriously, wtf happened to the kids seat? Is the restraint attached to the chassis or the actual seat? (just wondering if when the seat is dislodged like that, does the restraint move with it or crush the passenger?).

 

Hope those dudes are ok, this sucks balls because I was hoping to ride it in a few weeks.

[netdvn]

HA! My mom saw an article about this on Fox News and she said roller coasters were dangerous...

 

I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into negative publicity or a potential lawsuit, but knowing the GP, that's probably gonna happen sometime soon.

 

- Dan - Here's hoping both people are okay.

[atem122]

Well if people getting stuck for a few hours made international news, I don't even wanna know what people getting hit in the face with Intaminy goodness is gonna do. I mean it still isnt THAT serious of an issue as nobody was seriously hurt, but neither was people getting stuck on a ride...

[ginzo]

I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into negative publicity or a potential lawsuit, but knowing the GP, that's probably gonna happen sometime soon.

 

More than likely the "victims" will hire an attorney. But since the damages look really minor, the case will probably never go to court. KBF might have to pay some very small amount of money to settle it out of court.

[Jds03]

Since when can coasters attack?

 

Ahem.....

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZPVmgjRspU

[willh51]

Holy crap, that video is not something Cedar Fair is going to want on the net. It seems like they were pretty much OK until the end when the kid's seat moved, which is concerning. I can't imagine getting hit in the face going that fast, thank goodness neither lost an eye.

 

I wonder how long it took to get them out of the seat? I've been on a Volcano rollback and people were freaking out about that, I can't imagine if someone was actually injured.

 

Now is it "that big of a deal." I'm honestly not sure. It's definitely not the same as getting "stuck" on the lift for a couple of hours. It seems like some new environment-specific cable change regulations might need to be looked at. Or maybe this cable was just poorly constructed.

 

I honestly can't remember, but it seems like the the cables on these rides (at least TTD, KK, Xcelerator, all of which I've ridden) are completely uncovered. Is that the case?

[CreditCrazy]

Were the two people in the front row? I'm thinking they were, and if that's true I'm wondering if there will be some kind of shield in the front of the train or something (I hope not).

 

I do think this a pretty big deal. Luckily they weren't seriously hurt but they could have been.

[Jim1013]

Considering TTD and Xcellerator have had cable failures, I'd say they better start reconsidering the strength of the cable used for these rides or replacing the cables sooner. I just don't see humor in this. Whatever caused that smoke made those kids feel like they were going to burn up and worse, that they were trapped. Not a good time for the kids or CF. Imagine if something worse had happened to them and it was on tape.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

One thing that people are negleting to mention (due to it not being very severe of an issue, but important none the less) was damage the ride itself sustained. Folks. I think its done for the fest of the year at the very least.

[Rollerman87]

^Yep, Xcel will almost certainly be down all of Haunt,m which is slightly ironic since maintenance kept claiming they'd have her back to full operation by the Haunt. I'm very curious as to the details of this accident. Even in the park, no one can say a word. And no, I don't know anymore than what the news reports are saying.

[Airtime&Gravity]

While it may have been the result of maintenance, is it possible that an earlier rider's cell phone fell into the launch track like with Kingda Ka back in 2005/06?

 

Either way, hopefully those injured make a full recovery. As for the effects this will have on the media and general public, of course it will be blown out of proportion like amusement park accidents are. Then again, the general public says rides that have never had an accident have had deadly accidents, so there will probably be no long term effect.

[KnottsDisneyFarm]

Was the accident just a fluke or does this happen very often? It kind of makes me not want to ride in the front row anymore...

[natatomic]

Incredible that both guest didn't have any eye injuries (that I know of) after all the debris from the cable flew right into their faces. God really took care of those two.

 

At first I was thinking, "If I were ever in a situation like this, at least my eyes would probably be protected since I wear glasses." And then I realized wait, no, this is Knott's. They didn't let me wear my glasses on most of the rides, including Xcelerator (yes, even with croakies). Funny how I can wear them on TTD - shoot, I can wear them on any ride at any other CF park - but Knott's, for whatever reason, does not allow them.

 

Okay, sorry to veer a bit off topic. But if this had happened to me after they made me take my glasses off, I'd be even more upset at the situation. Assuming my eye was actually injured, of course.

[nitrofan]

First the drop tower at SFKK, now Xcelerator. Where does Intamin buy its cables?

 

Eric

 

Millenium Force's cable snapped not to long ago too.

[Chris Benvenuto]

Was the accident just a fluke or does this happen very often? It kind of makes me not want to ride in the front row anymore...

 

Obviously not, because these rides would be shutting down all the ride if what you said was true.

 

Accidents happen, and it should not prevent you from riding in the front. Heck, I'll be riding TTD in a few weeks, and I'll probably ride right in front if I'm lucky with a short wait.

 

*veers back on discussion, nothing to see here *

[Angry_Gumball]

Yay...another West coaster to get bad publicity...I could in a sense understand this being on the news as someone did get cut, but were the cuts anything worse than what they could have gotten if they bit it on the sidewalk while skating/walking/doing whatever?

 

I already know how the GP's going to think. They will most likely claim that all coasters are dangerous now, and fear that a cable might snap in their face even if the ride doesn't utilize cables. I guess only time will tell. Still curious to find out Invertigo's future, when it will (or won't) be running.

 

Lastly, the news showing that video really does not help things. They're only going to make things worse. In a way, I'm glad that the video was pulled from Youtube...now they need to get the media to pull the video.