Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Discussion Thread

[tarheel1231]

Great. More reason for the stupid General Public to be afraid of roller coasters. I hope the man is okay though.

[TyRush]

Great. More reason for the stupid General Public to be afraid of roller coasters. I hope the man is okay though.

Hopefully not! I haven't seen this accident on the news like NTAG so hopefully it stays out of the GP.

[tribar]

Great. More reason for the stupid General Public to be afraid of roller coasters. I hope the man is okay though.

 

Fine with me. Shorter lines.

[cal1br3tto]

So it never actually said it was in motion.....15 - 20 feet, could that be the brake run area? Maybe he fell getting out of the car, perhaps to the left instead of right, and hit the ground inside the structure.

While it's true it doesn't sound like the incident could have happened there, I was actually just thinking about how I could see that happening on this ride. If I remember right, there's no platform or railing where you'd expect one to be, and even if that's not dangerous in and of itself it seemed a little too easy to possibly get into the track area.

[gerstlaueringvar]

I don't remember OPA spins a lot or provides airtime that can eject a rider. Is it possible that the rider stood up or had a wrong position on the ride because there was a big rider sharing the same lap bar?

[Philrad71]

^"Opa" is "grandpa" in German... .

 

That was my first thought when I saw this coaster during a visit.

 

"The name of the coaster is 'Grandpa' in German? "

[djcoastermark]

Doesn't Mt O have more of a greek/greek mythology theme to its coasters? If so wouldn't Opa! be much more like a greek flaming cheese? You know, when they pour the whatever on the cheese, light it and say, Opa ? Some how a german name for a ride there doesn't seem to fit IMHO.

[cal1br3tto]

^^^You know, I thought the lap bars might be shared between two people, but they're actually individual. I was probably thinking of Ragin' Cajun which we rode the next day.

[Dr. M]

Doesn't Mt O have more of a greek/greek mythology theme to its coasters? If so wouldn't Opa! be much more like a greek flaming cheese? You know, when they pour the whatever on the cheese, light it and say, Opa ? Some how a german name for a ride there doesn't seem to fit IMHO.

 

I can't tell who's joking and who's not, but yes, "Opa!" as in Greek for "Hooray!", not "Opa!" as in German for "Grandpa!".

 

Glad we've cleared up this very important matter.

[rcjp]

Well I'm sad to hear this and I too wonder how someone could fall from a spinning coaster like this (although I've never ridden one).

Fortunately it doesn't seem to be very serious (right?) and I hope he recovers well.

[ilrider]

^The victim was found unconscious with severe bleeding from the head and arm, and was airlifted to the hospital according to an article I posted. That sounds potentially serious to me.

[djcoastermark]

I hope all is OK with the guy. But on a lighter note Hooray for Grampa ! Opa Opa!

[Ccron10]

I'm thinking that it could be the double-up before the second set of switchbacks. Maybe depending on how fast the car might be spinning it might do something there. But still there might need to be another factor included. But I do think it might be an intense part of the ride where I could see this happening.

I do kind of hope that this gives the park a wake-up call to be more safety conscientious, but I doubt it. I'm surprised they got this far without something happening.

[gerstlaueringvar]

^ The car is not spinning yet at the double up, it starts spinning at the first straight track of the second switch back.

[Ccron10]

^ The car is not spinning yet at the double up, it starts spinning at the first straight track of the second switch back.

I totally forgot about that! The toggle switch for the spinning is right after that hill, but still I kind of have a feeling whatever happened occurred somewhere around there.

[Dr. M]

^My first thought was the double-up as well, but that doesn't really make much sense, since I doubt the airtime is that strong. If he was thrown out due to forces, a la NTAG, which we don't even know, I would assume it was around one of the turns, generally the part of any wild mouse that's the most intense. Given the openness of the cars I can easily see someone getting thrown off around a turn if not restrained properly... but it's this last part I have a hard time imagining.

 

Will the cars even dispatch if the lap bars aren't all down?

[Schrecken]

When my friend and I were at Mt. Olympus this past summer we were actually rather disappointed with this ride (as far as mice go) because there was hardly any spinning going on at all. We stood in line for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and very few of the cars managed more than a couple of spins in certain places (as opposed to the kind of mice that spin like teacup rides), and over all, even for a mouse, it was pretty lame.

That said, it is also possible that this rider (especially given his age) might have suffered some kind of medical problem and then lost consciousness and maybe slumped over and was tossed out.

 

As for the maintenance in the park, my friend and I did get the impression that things aren't quite the way they should be - I can still see that maintenance man jumping down onto the track at the brake run on Hades with his can of WD-40 spraying and banging on some mechanism (I think it had to do with the lapbars - as a couple of them would not automatically release and they had to release them by hand). And this was all while the ride was running - the man had to constantly look and listen (while trying to work) for the returning train and leap out of the way back up onto the platform as the train came around that last turn. And I kept thinking to myself that that had to be illegal - as far as I know most OSHA rules (both federal and state) generally prohibit people from working on machinery that is moving and operating. Let's put it this way - I've been to many parks and have never seen anything like that. So if an employee of Mt. Olympus was to get hurt or killed while working on a ride, I wouldn't be at all surprised based on what I saw (and that was my first and only visit to that park).

[Rollercoaster Rider]

When my friend and I were at Mt. Olympus this past summer we were actually rather disappointed with this ride (as far as mice go) because there was hardly any spinning going on at all. We stood in line for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and very few of the cars managed more than a couple of spins in certain places (as opposed to the kind of mice that spin like teacup rides), and over all, even for a mouse, it was pretty lame.

That said, it is also possible that this rider (especially given his age) might have suffered some kind of medical problem and then lost consciousness and maybe slumped over and was tossed out.

 

As for the maintenance in the park, my friend and I did get the impression that things aren't quite the way they should be - I can still see that maintenance man jumping down onto the track at the brake run on Hades with his can of WD-40 spraying and banging on some mechanism (I think it had to do with the lapbars - as a couple of them would not automatically release and they had to release them by hand). And this was all while the ride was running - the man had to constantly look and listen (while trying to work) for the returning train and leap out of the way back up onto the platform as the train came around that last turn. And I kept thinking to myself that that had to be illegal - as far as I know most OSHA rules (both federal and state) generally prohibit people from working on machinery that is moving and operating. Let's put it this way - I've been to many parks and have never seen anything like that. So if an employee of Mt. Olympus was to get hurt or killed while working on a ride, I wouldn't be at all surprised based on what I saw (and that was my first and only visit to that park).

 

15-20 Minute wait? Was Speedy Gonzales, The Flash and Sonic The Hedgehog operating it? I think I had to wait like 30 minutes in January.

[Schrecken]

^^^^^^^ I guess we just happened to hit a day (it was in late July) where the crowds were light. I don't think we waited anymore than about 35 minutes even for Hades, which I guess wasn't bad at all considering the slow ride ops and one train operation on all of the woodies.

[Dr. M]

Still no official report? Am I the only one really anxious to find out what happened here? How does somebody just fall out of a wild mouse?

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Still no official report? Am I the only one really anxious to find out what happened here? How does somebody just fall out of a wild mouse?

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they sent out the ride without the restraint locked.

[Dr. M]

That shouldn't even be possible, or so I thought.

[Ed Farmer]

Apart from dispatching a train with the lap bar open, sending a train with more riders than is allowed, or permitting someone that is especially festively plump (or way under height requirements) to ride, I can't think of anything that would be specific to Mt. O but wouldn't be a potential problem on all the other Zamperla spinners that would cause this (but hopefully that doesn't stop anyone from posting any more cute Mt. O safety jokes).

[gerstlaueringvar]

I wouldn't be surprised if the lap bar was unlocked when the car dispatched. It's a cheap Zamperla spinning mouse with Mt. Olympus' fantastic operation and maintenance. But hopefully my guess is wrong.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I wouldn't be surprised if the lap bar was unlocked when the car dispatched. It's a cheap Zamperla spinning mouse with Mt. Olympus' fantastic operation and maintenance. But hopefully my guess is wrong.

 

 

I've been on many Zamperla Spinning Mice (Luna Park, SFGAm, Mt. Olympus, Fun Spot USA, Martins Fantasy Island, and Beech Bend) and have never even had a click outside the station. I fully blame Mt. Olympus on this.