Homer Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/15/Tampabay/Coaster_riders_get_re.shtml Coaster riders get real scare Busch Gardens' Sheikra comes to a halt at its highest point, stranding passengers for nearly an hour. By EMILY NIPPS, Times Staff Writer Published October 15, 2005 TAMPA - Standing in line for Sheikra on Saturday afternoon, Marie and Greg Beach listened to the blood-curdling screams overhead as they waited to board the Busch Gardens roller coaster themselves. It was the same song over and over: First some screaming as the passengers slowly approached the 200-foot drop, a pause, then more screaming as the coaster took its 90-degree, 70-mph plunge. But then something disturbing happened. "Everybody screamed at the first stop at the top, and then it just got silent," said 25-year-old Marie Beach. "The second screams never happened. We were like, "What's going on?' " What happened was Sheikra, Florida's tallest roller coaster, was stuck at the horizontal platform just before the drop. As many as 24 passengers were stranded in the three-row car, which offered them a panoramic view of Tampa at a terrifying height for nearly an hour. A rescue trolley traveled up along the same incline the roller coaster takes to the top and brought the passengers down to safety, one row at a time. No one was hurt, and after about 40 minutes of test runs, the ride was deemed safe again for passengers, said Busch Gardens spokesman Gerard Hoeppner. "We understand it's an inconvenience to our guests, and we apologize for that," Hoeppner said. "But safety is our No. 1 priority, and if any error is detected on a ride, we operate in full safety mode." Sheikra, like Busch Gardens' other seven roller coasters, is constantly monitored by a series of computers. If a variance in its operating standards is detected, such as a change in speed or cars riding too close together, the ride will either be manually stopped by operators or the computers will shut it down. Sometimes the ride will be stopped as few as 10 or 15 minutes and then restarted, but when it looks like the problem will take longer to correct, an evacuation might be necessary. In Saturday's case, an error was detected in Sheikra's air compressor, causing the car to stop at the highest point of the ride. A ride will always be stopped at a horizontal part of the ride, Hoeppner said. "You would never stop upside down," he said. Sheikra's hourlong pause at the top didn't just scare folks on the coaster. Some who finally exited the line after being told Sheikra was temporarily closed stood and watched the passengers being slowly lowered in the trolley. "It sounds horrible to say, but it was amazing," said Marie Beach, who was given a free ticket along with others who were denied access or were stuck on the ride. "The poor group on board. We could see them from the Python (roller coaster)." Cheryl Harrison of St. Petersburg was riding the park's sky ride with her 12-year-old son, Zak Miller, and his friend Alex DeCosmo, when she looked to her left and saw two cars (the coaster car and trolley) sitting at the top of Sheikra. Already skittish because the sky ride was stopped earlier in the day and she saw people stuck on it, she and the boys stared in horror as they imagined what was happening a few rides away. "It's scary enough all by itself," Harrison said. "And this was a real scare. Not a pretend scare." The second to last paragraph is timeless... OH TEH HORROR OF A COASTER BEING STUCK ON A LIFT! I'd be horrified if it stalled out on the Immelman, but I doubt that would ever happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 Dang it Homer, if you are going to post about a local coaster at least spell it right!! SheiKra...not Shaikra . Anyways when we went to BGT last July the ride was shut down for around an hour right before we were going to get into the coaster. The same thing happened in that the car got stuck right before the first drop. Needless to say we did not wait around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 It would almost definetly roll back on way or another out on the circuit. I've seen that happen a few times on Oblivion at Alton Towers. Must have been a real slow day at their newsdesk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chauncey Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 It would almost definetly roll back on way or another out on the circuit. I've seen that happen a few times on Oblivion at Alton Towers. Must have been a real slow day at their newsdesk! No, if anything goes wrong on Rollercoasters, which are designed to scare you, of course, everyone panics, except those who know about rollercoasters. This is especially true of the media. The same thing happened on Splash Mountain yesterday when I was on it! Only they just had to restart all the blocks one-by-one. We were the last block though, so it took the longest, and everyone got scared. I tried to calm them down, explain what was happening, explain all the messages being sent down to us over the speaker system, etc, but they wouldn't listen, until, of course, it all proceeded as I explained it would. Oh, well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hercules Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 Dang it Homer, if you are going to post about a local coaster at least spell it right!! SheiKra...not Shaikra . Anyways when we went to BGT last July the ride was shut down for around an hour right before we were going to get into the coaster. The same thing happened in that the car got stuck right before the first drop. Needless to say we did not wait around. It's a joke... Shakira is a singer Anyway, that is pretty funny. I wouldn't mind getting stuck on that thing. I've been stuck on a few but nothing would compare to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haydawg149 Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 that happend when i was on boomerang at WOF, all the people were friggin screamin, i was like . . ."SHUT-UP" you'll be FINE ! ! ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro X 230 Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 she and the boys stared in horror as they imagined what was happening a few rides away. OMG people were stuck on a roller coaster :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandaman Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 If I was actually stuck on a coaster (block brakes aside), I'd yell, "OH, THE HUMANITY!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 she and the boys stared in horror as they imagined what was happening a few rides away. OMG people were stuck on a roller coaster :shock: Well, there is the danger of intense sunburn--or of being struck by lightning if a thunderstorm comes along. Still, "terror" seems a bit strong--"annoyance," that would make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twister II Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 ^Bee stings also! that happend when i was on boomerang at WOF, all the people were friggin screamin, i was like . . ."SHUT-UP" you'll be FINE ! ! ! ! That happens on Boomerang at SFEG too. But the its happened so often, people have just gotten use to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DATman Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 What a horribly exaggerated story, lol! It may be scary, but the article takes it to the point that it'd be traumatizing. "those poor people on board" WTF, theyt got stuck on a roller coaster-it's not like they died. Well, i guess that since it is the tallest coaster in florida, it would be mildly scary, but COME ON PEOPLE It HAD to have been an agonizingly slow day for this to be major news Imagine if they had stories like this in CA, they would be happening every day.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Benny Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 I'd be scared if that happened to me only because I'm really afraid of heights (ironic, huh?), but I wouldn't scream or anything. I mean, it's just a coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 I've seen people get stuck on the first spike of Deja Vu @ SFMM, and they weren't screaming. Honestly, I would hate the feeling of hanging in your seat facing down, but being on Sheikra would be annoying but kinda cool. ---Brent 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrasher Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 Im more interested in this trolley device they speak of. I wonder if its stored in the maintinance bay or something. Ive never seen or heard of one of these used before. I cant tell from pictures if the lift hill has stairs or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 Im more interested in this trolley device they speak of. I wonder if its stored in the maintinance bay or something. Ive never seen or heard of one of these used before. I cant tell from pictures if the lift hill has stairs or not. To get the people down the stairs they'd need to be harnessed to the handrail - this might be some kinda new inovation to get people down quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannerdw Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 When I got stuck on Ninja @ SFOG nobody was terrified, but I was slightly irritated that I was staring up at the sun for 20 minutes and getting sunburned. I think it would be really cool to be stuck at the top of a tall ride like Sheikra, but not for a whole hour. I would be kind of mad if took time away from my day at the park that I could have spent riding other rides. Here is a pic that shows a closeup of the cool trolley system and the evac. steps on the other side of the lift. http://rcdb.com/ig2662.htm?picture=60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 I laughed through the whole story simply because the reporter's name is "Nipps", but maybe I'm just stuck in the gutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStig Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 Oh the horror! What a tragedy! We must stop the production of these horrible rides! Funny how people overeact when a ride E-Stops. If an article were written everytime a coaster broke down with people on it, we would all be famous! Colin"Rode SheiKra last night with no problem"C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 It would almost definetly roll back on way or another out on the circuit. I've seen that happen a few times on Oblivion at Alton Towers. Must have been a real slow day at their newsdesk! No, if anything goes wrong on Rollercoasters, which are designed to scare you, of course, everyone panics, except those who know about rollercoasters. This is especially true of the media. The same thing happened on Splash Mountain yesterday when I was on it! Only they just had to restart all the blocks one-by-one. We were the last block though, so it took the longest, and everyone got scared. I tried to calm them down, explain what was happening, explain all the messages being sent down to us over the speaker system, etc, but they wouldn't listen, until, of course, it all proceeded as I explained it would. Oh, well... I got stuck on Small World and everyone started to scream. Now if they could only turn that song off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterking Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 I mean really, would you rather the ride be stuck or have it not stop, crash into the next train and hurt or kill people on board? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Milk Drinkers get real scare Milk goes bad, leaving group thirsty for nearly an hour. By EMILY NIPPS, Times Staff Writer Published October 15, 2005 TAMPA - Standing in front of a the Dairy section on Saturday afternoon, Marie and Greg Beach tried to decide what to drink. It was the same song over and over: First some water, a pause, then some soda. But then something disturbing happened. "Greg picked up the carton, and then it just got silent," said 25-year-old Marie Beach. "The putting in the cart never happened. We were like, "What's going on?' " What happened was the milk they had picked to buy had expired. As many as 4 people were stranded with no dairy substance to buy, for nearly an hour. A rescue worker raced to the the back and to get some new cartons, one case at a time. No one was hurt, and after about 40 minutes of restocking, the new milk was deemed safe for drinkers, said Dairy Board spokesman Gerard Hoeppner. "We understand it's an inconvenience to our customers, and we apologize for that," Hoeppner said. "But safety is our No. 1 priority, and if any spoilage is detected in a carton, we operate in full safety mode." Milk, like the store's other dairy products, is constantly monitored by a series of workers. If a variance in its freshness standards is detected, such as a change in consistency or sourness, the milk will either be manually pulled by clerks or the workers will destroy it. Sometimes milk may be unavailable for as few as 10 or 15 minutes and then restocked, but when it looks like the problem will take longer to correct, an evacuation might be necessary. In Saturday's case, an error was detected in the carton, causing the milk the spoil prematurely. Milk will always spoil if left unpurchased in the refridgerator for a long time, Hoeppner said. "You would never see week old milk in our grocery store," he said. The Dairy Section's hourlong pause didn't just scare folks in the section. Some who got their grocieries watched the workers replace the milk. "It sounds horrible to say, but it was amazing," said Marie Beach, who was given a free coupon along with others who were denied access or were stuck without milk. "The poor shoppers. We could see them from the bread aisle." Cheryl Harrison of St. Petersburg was shopping in the vegetable section with her 12-year-old son, Zak Miller, and his friend Alex DeCosmo, when she looked to her left and saw two spoiled cartons sitting in the Dairy section. Already skittish because the store was out of Snapple Diet Iced Tea earlier in the day and as she saw the spoiled cartons, she and the boys stared in horror as they imagined what was happening a few aisles away. "It's scary enough all by itself," Harrison said. "And this was a real scare. Not a pretend scare." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Wow, I was stuck on the mean streak lift for about 15-30 mins I must be traumatized(sp?lol)for life!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarmor Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 everytime I ride a coaster at SFA it always seems like im stuck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFanatic Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 People are such hypocrites. Always talking about how they waited 2 hours for a 2 minute ride. Finally you give them a better value and they are all bitchin. Hypocrites I tell you ... hypocrites! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Milk Drinkers get real scare ..."It's scary enough all by itself," Harrison said. "And this was a real scare. Not a pretend scare." Now imagine being stuck on a lifthill for an hour with a carton of expired milk . . . The horror! The horror! Funny stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now