GrapesLie Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I will mention Silver Dollar City has begun to retrofitted select seats (at least on Wildfire) so that veterans and other disabled individuals with prosthetic limbs may still ride. It allows them to attach a six point harness while still using the OTSR. It's very cool and was added last year. As far as I know they are the first and only park to do this! (I hope more do!) That said I think Six Flags did exactly what they should have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I will mention Silver Dollar City has begun to retrofitted select seats (at least on Wildfire) so that veterans and other disabled individuals with prosthetic limbs may still ride. It allows them to attach a six point harness while still using the OTSR. It's very cool and was added last year. As far as I know they are the first and only park to do this! (I hope more do!) That said I think Six Flags did exactly what they should have!Very cool, I would like to see that in more parks, it doesn't sound like a very "six flags" think to do though. Not at all surprised that SDC is the first to start it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribar Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 While Six Flags is well within their right to do what they've done and I want people to have personal accountability, it would have made good business sense to refund the guy's money. No it doesn't. Six Flags charges everyone admission to enter the park, whether you ride or not. It's been that way since day 1 over fifty years ago. All they are doing now is giving anyone that doesn't ride ammo to request refunds too. That's a good point. I'm starting to think he doesn't deserve his money back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I will mention Silver Dollar City has begun to retrofitted select seats (at least on Wildfire) so that veterans and other disabled individuals with prosthetic limbs may still ride. It allows them to attach a six point harness while still using the OTSR. It's very cool and was added last year. As far as I know they are the first and only park to do this! (I hope more do!) Some of the SeaWorld/Busch rides have this, too. I know it's on Kraken, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrapesLie Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 ^ Awesome I'm glad to hear this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccron10 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 When I read this story yesterday on Fox News, surprisingly it seems that there was actually some support for Six Flags with many of the GP actually saying that they made the right choice on their decision and recalled what happened at Darien Lake a few years back. Of course there were a couple complainers here and there who didn't read the rest of the story or understand the importance of safety, but it kind of gets me thinking that maybe it might not hurt the park too badly. Basically those who saying that they are going to boycott Six Flags are shallow and are only looking at the words "Military Veteran", "Denied", "Roller Coaster", and "No Refund." Just looking at the comments on the story posted to The Blaze on the first post... wow, that's mostly night-and-day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 (edited) While Six Flags is well within their right to do what they've done and I want people to have personal accountability, it would have made good business sense to refund the guy's money. No it doesn't. Six Flags charges everyone admission to enter the park, whether you ride or not. It's been that way since day 1 over fifty years ago. All they are doing now is giving anyone that doesn't ride ammo to request refunds too. Yeah, I stand by my thoughts that they shouldn't have given the guy a refund just because he made a scene. I'm assuming Matt means that it would have been a smart business decision to avoid the bad press, but lets be honest, I'm sure they were just talking to some 19 year old $8 an hour GR kid who was only doing the job he was told, and even if a supervisor got involved, they also were probably just repeating the company policy to the guy. You don't know how many people he REALLY talked to before going to the press and making a story out of it. At the end of the day, just because you are disabled, just because you served your country, doesn't give you the right to do "whatever you want" and make assumptions that you are above the rules. The policies are clearly stated on the website, they are clearly stated at each ride, and there is a disabled visitors booklet you can get at Guest Relations. I know for a fact that hundreds of these booklets are given out EVERY DAY at most parks. So if all these other people were able to know what they can and can't ride, why make an exception for this guy? Because he went to the press with his sob story? Sorry, pal. Not buying what you're selling. Edited March 18, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intaman Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 ^^^ Right. Talk about entitlement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccron10 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 At the end of the day, just because you are disabled, just because you served your country, doesn't give you the right to do "whatever you want" and make assumptions that you are above the rules. Exactly. It only took me two or three minutes to pull up the rider safety guide. If he knew he was disabled and was planning on visiting the park for the first time, why didn't he find out more information on their website? It says that he suffered the injury in 2011, so I really can't tell if he has been to SFFT before or if he went to another park before then. He would be an idiot if he did and he only complained about it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 It says that he suffered the injury in 2011, so I really can't tell if he has been to SFFT before or if he went to another park before then. He would be an idiot if he did and he only complained about it now. And regardless, when you have hundreds of people walking through the gate every day with disabilities, and they can all figure it out, there is simply no excuse for this guy, other than he wanted to create a scene for personal gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Well said. If they were to give him a refund, then they would have to give refunds and discounts to everyone that can't fallow the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booink Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 So, I completely agree with Six Flags on this issue. "Are you able to ride?" signs are everywhere in the park, on the park map, and on the website. It's not the park's fault that he decided not to read them. The article's comments section make Six Flags sound like an evil corporation that hates veterans, but one of the commenters (ModerateRepublican) actually sided with Six Flags and had some good points. That is sad to be sure. Don’t place the blame on Six Flags though, place the blame on the litigious nature of our country and the overabundance of lawyers many of whom see bucks in suing a deep pocket company for any injury that happens at a park. No doubt the ride Six Flags wouldn’t let him get on was a roller coaster or some similar ride where the safety features of the ride, the features that keep you from flying out of your seat depend on the body of the person in the ride. I have a relative whose legs were blown off in Vietnam so I know some of the issues. It’s not clear from the photo if the guy’s legs were gone above or below the knee, and that’s crucial. I don’t know, but “functional leg” may mean that you have a leg below the knee. The primary safety feature that keeps you from flying out of your seat in a roller coaster is the pad that sits firmly just above your knee when they lock you in. If you don’t have a knee, the stress of the ride is going to be transferred to your prosthetic with unknown results. Seriously folks, this has nothing to do with Six Flags discriminating against disabled vets. It has to do with Six Flags not knowing if the guy will fly off the ride and smash head first into a concrete pillar after falling 100 feet while his daughter watched. Please, don’t try to make this some anti-veteran thing. I'm happy to see there's some GP with common sense !(at least this guy sounds like a GP... But he did reflect about his comment before clicking "submit" and I'm truly happy to see that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golddisk Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Robb, I completely agree with you. It sucks for Theme Parks because they are stuck in a 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' place. However, obviously letting anyone with a disability like this ride could have a lot worse consequences for the park then not allowing him to ride if something were to go wrong. It sucks that everyone in this world so sue crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy later tries to sue the park for discrimination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 No lawyer would take on his case. He just wanted to cause a shitstorm because he thinks his status entitles him to get golden blowjobs forever or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfelice Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 No lawyer would take on his case. He just wanted to cause a shitstorm because he thinks his status entitles him to get golden blowjobs forever or something. Thank You. Someone had to finally call it exactly how it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 No lawyer would take on his case. He just wanted to cause a shitstorm because he thinks his status entitles him to get golden blowjobs forever or something. Learned a new language here I guess he knew about the rule before and just simply want to annoy the park. He knew he would possibly fly out on Iron Rattler if he got to ride it so he chose Boomerang whose OTSR's don't need to touch rider's lap to secure a rider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBH Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 ^I doubt it was that strategic, I honestly believe it was just plain ignorance of the signs. Even if he had read the posted warnings, he may have still used them as an excuse to get attention when he couldn't ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 In my opinion, Six Flags did the right thing here as bad as it might sound. Basically, they would not let a veteran ride because he had 2 prostetic(sp) legs and it was against there rules. The rule states that a person must have at least 1 functioning leg and arm to ride. Now....Does anybody remember what happened at Darien lake about 5 years ago? Same situation, only they let him ride and it did not turn out so well. Here is the news story about the incident.... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/15/what-six-flags-allegedly-did-to-a-veteran-reduced-him-to-tears-in-front-of-his-daughter/ Thoughts? My thoughts - they should have give have a copy of the Darien Lake article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xVicesAndVirtues Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Ugh...after a friend of mine posted this article on Facebook the other day, I shared it on mine and also blew up some conservative website's blast of Six Flags for being anti-veteran and all of the idiots on there being all "CANCELING MY FAMILY'S TRIP RIGHT NOW!" and "SHAME SIX FLAGS" and "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS USA<3333 DOWN WITH SIX FLAGS!!11". Here's the analogy that I used: I'm allergic to peanuts. When I go to a restaurant, most menus state "please inform your sever or a member of management if you have a food allergy". Many people would just assume "meh, I ordered the chicken parm, how could a peanut end up in that?". Well, the food prep area is usually shared for multiple things, so there's absolutely a reasonable chance that a peanut or trace of peanuts could hypothetically share the same space where my chicken parm got thrown together. I know that the restaurant can't possibly have a mile of endless space in which every single entree gets prepared entirely separately from the next, so I inform them. I know that I'm part of a small portion of the population that has this allergy, so I'd be naive to just assume that the restaurant would know to account for this. The same thing goes for this situation at a theme park. This guy knew that he was part of a small portion of the population visiting the park, so why wouldn't he ensure that he review every policy and call guest relations with any questions that he might have prior to visiting? Even the most naive of the general public know that some rides at parks include your legs hanging or going upside-down. As has been stated previously, this is just a no-win press situation for the park. If they let him ride the coaster and he fell out, we'd be reading a headline like "More Flags, More Negligence? Decorated War Vet Killed on "Safe" Six Flags Ride". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richards.adam Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I feel sorry for the Vet but that has nothing to do with him not being able to ride a roller coaster. However if he's not careful he will end up worse than he is with his current attitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I totally agree with Robb on this one too. I always thank military veterans and those serving for serving our country but at the same time you can't play that card to get what you want. If the ride is t designed for your disability, you don't ride just like the specs say. Heart conditions,back conditions, etc. Don't play the war card jut to try to get your way. As at as six flags is concerned, the did the right thing. Period! As far as refund the money, they should have done research. It's in their site and on signs. Disabilities aren't a free pass and I personally dispise people who try to use that to try to get what they want. *end drunken rant* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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