And that’s why I don’t watch them! DH and DS11 loved it…
I’ve been on rides like that. Son of Beast at King’s Island was so horrific, you’d think I was exaggerating if I really showed you how rough it is. But eventually they tore it down because it was so bad!
There was an accident on the Smiler a couple of years ago and 2 young girls literally lost their legs.
Now that’s the truth!
I think I remember that. Wasn’t that because one train collided with the train in front of it?
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You beat me to it.
It was a shame because the Smiler was (is?) an awesome ride. I really enjoyed it.
The problem was not with the ride. It was with the fact that Alton Towers appears to be literally run by teenagers.
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Yes. The kids in charge (I’m not joking) thought the track was empty so they sent another one through. I think they might even have over-ridden the computer that said there was another car there, but they couldn’t see it and assumed it was wrong.
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Yes it had broken down but the ride operators overrode the system and one train smashed into the back of a stationary one.
Okay. Yes, I’m remembering correctly. Scary stuff. The ride designers these days have to design the coasters so that they can practically run themselves and prevent idiotic ride operators like that.
Speaking of terrible amusement tragedies, I looked at the above picture of the Rip Roaring Rocket and I thought it looked an awful lot like the Verruckt water ride in KY that beheaded that young boy!
Now that was awful. And looking at the design of that thing, I was just shocked it was even allowed. I could see with my untrained eye that having sporadic hoops to hold up netting was a disaster waiting to happen. The folks involved in that have been arrested. It has been determined that they built it without really any design experience at all and rushed it without going through a normal process just because they could.
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Yes it still is great, just a bit nerve wracking - I was fine the second time (not at the front or after a breakdown lol).
The whole thing was outrageous. I’m very glad they are holding the owner accountable. It’s shocking that the whole thing was designed and built with no actual engineering experience and never inspected in any way. Not wanting to drag the thread down, I just thought that pic looked like a similar design, though I’d be WAY more comfortable at a Universal theme park.
On thread, I’ve never yet been to Universal because I don’t consider myself an extreme “coaster” person (interesting to learn that there are fewer than WDW!). I went to Busch Gardens as a teenager and loved the coasters there, but don’t think I could stomach those now. I would love to do Harry Potter but now need to wait until my sons are old enough! At this point in my life I’m more of a “family coaster” person. I actually wish Disney had some more coasters that little, little kids could ride (ala Story Land or Thomas Land) and am a little disappointed in the height restrictions at TSL.
Also, come to think of it, as an (older) millennial girl, I’ve never found a lot of the IP appealing. I’m not much of a Simpsons fan, or action movie person. I have seen Jurassic Park but it doesn’t really interest me, same as Kong, etc. I was in high school and college when Harry Potter came out and while I definitely love those books, I think it is a little different than “growing up with” HP.
But I can’t miss a chance to meet Belle, ride under the sea with Ariel, FOLK, etc and I have a lot of nostalgia for the old “Disney Afternoon” IP at DHS/MGM Studios.
Some day I’ll go to Universal, but I have yet to tire of Disney - trip #6 is in 44 days. Disney has always made our trips magical with something special or out of the ordinary (last trip our flight was delayed, supposed to arrive at 10:00AM - we didn’t make it to the resort until 11:30PM - missed a whole day - went to guest services the next morning, after deciding we would try to stay an extra day if it was possible…not only did we get to stay for the extra day, we did not have to switch rooms and Disney paid for it, did not cost us anything extra - that made us a customer of theirs for life)
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Our first Disney is next week, and we REALLY want to go to Harry Potter. But my family isn’t into thrill rides or even the “scary” 3d/4d types, yet. I wasn’t going to buy 4 of us park-to-park and get transportation just to “see” Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. It was going to be minimum $800+ for a one day experience. If you don’t cram everything in, or end up waiting in line all day, it just didn’t seem worth it.
We figure we’ll try to go again in a few years after Galaxy’s Edge opens, and hopefully then the kids will be up for more thrills so we can trade a day or two at Disney for a day at Universal.
I am 5 foot 6 and also find that RRR bangs my ears around. I still ride it, but wish my head would stay still.
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I’m waiting for DS to get a little older. He’s mastered all the rides at WDW, but I think he needs to be a little older (and a little bigger) to really enjoy everything Universal Studios has to offer. I think probably in 2 years we’ll make a trip there.
1: Disney’s military deal uses up our allotted vacation time with what it includes. To go elsewhere would be incurring extra expense and wasting some Disney time we paid for.
2. The ages and interests of my kids.
3. I have a hard time turning down Disney in any binary choice of Disney vs something else.
Doing both wdw and universal for the first time end may with 14 day flex tickets for both. Probably why we will never be afford to go back to Orlando again!