A coaster I used to operate often got stopped on the lift. I was pretty good at talking to guests so I had to climb the lift hill many times to keep folks calm. I'd always reassure them that they were on the safest place to be stopped at and just hoped I was telling them the truth.
I was part of an evacuation as a kid on The Beastie at Kings Island. After sitting at the very top of the lift hill for 45 minutes (in the August sun, which wasn't enjoyable), we were unloaded and walked down the hill and along the track back to the station. I actually thought it was pretty cool. That's not a perspective everyone gets to see a roller coaster from.
I had a failure to launch on icon Blackpool pleasure beach last year, and the maintenance staff were excellent so shout out to them. Came out to talk to us, made sure we weren’t stressing, gave us the option whether to carry on or not and gave us a free go on enso. Was just me and my partner on the ride so was a very surreal experience.
I worked at Hersheypark as a ride operator. Great Bear was my coaster at the time and they made every employee go through a lift hill evacuation and then put us back on and hit estop after going down the first drop. We hit the brake run and stopped instantly. At that point they made us get off and walk it off. It was the most fun I ever had at an amusement park while working.
I got evacuated off the Intamin Impulse at Valleyfair last summer. Before going up the front spike for the second time, the brakes kicked in and the train eventually stopped between the front spike and station. Maintenance was able to move the train back into the station and brought a battery pack to unlock each car’s restraints. As an enthusiast, it was actually a pretty cool experience!
All your videos have been so interesting to me, but this one may be my favorite so far. Really gives me an understanding for the relationship between mechanics and operators. Thanks!!!
I know Millennium Force at Cedar Point is a difficult and time-consuming lift evac. They have to send maintenance personnel up in the funicular lift with harnesses, manually release each restraint with allen wrenches, harness off the rider, and help them into the funicular. They can only take 2 or 3 people down at a time due to weight restrictions. Then repeat the process until the train is empty. That's why evacs on Millennium Force are rare, I saw a video on Facebook over the summer of it CRAWLING up the lift after it got stuck, they said it was better than having to evacuate
I operate Sidewinder Safari, which is a zamperla twister coaster at my home park. I never really have had to evac, but the ride did shut down once when the car was being dispatched into the pre-lift section and the car got stuck. We got the guests out when we were done, but very unfortunate experience
I lived in Georgia for about a year near Wild Adventures so of course had a season pass to there . I went at least once a week often more often. I remember one time I was on the cheetah wooden coaster and the operator tried to dispatch the coaster but it wouldn't go and after two tries said there was a power issue and we'd have to get off. Turns out the entire park lost power . Other people were talking about how they had to do on ride evacuation on various rides. I walked towards the front of the park and saw the boomerang was near the top of the first lift hill. That was the day I learned the boomerang had a generator that could slowly lower the car off the first lift Hill. When it was almost back to the station, power came on and they were able to have it do the last a little bit at normal speed rather than the generator slow speed. I had ridden the cheetah hundreds of times by that point and am I slightly disappointed I didn't get to do an on ride evacuation that day😂 I was at the park so often I got to know many of the workers and when rides would reopen from maintenance I would often be the first in line. I knew their General operations and knew that the ride was safest at that point as in order for it to reopen it had to go through a minimum of three Cycles empty and two cycles with a park employee on it!
Hi I was evac'd off the Mummy at Universal a few years ago. Was actually a really interesting experience. Staff were awesome really re assuring and we got a load of family fast passes.
Last weekend of ops at CP this year it was pretty windy, Gatekeeper was empty cycling super slow. We were first riders (as we often were this year) and it was so eerie (no pun intended) to go from that noisy B&M lift to quiet, then wind and vibrating track and supports after it E-stopped (im guessing from the windy conditions) Also, you should check out the TV show Off Limits episode that shows the Millenium Force Morning check on all the guide wheels for the cable lift- they have to climb down to the last wheel assembly 100 ft or so down the drop and push a button every morning or the ride shuts down. Gives a good insight into what a crew would have to do to evac people on Millie 😂 There's nothing like a ride on Millenium Force on a summer morning. Its a beatiful view
Take Millennium Force at Cp,evacuation on that ride is very time consuming . No stairs so they have a lil cart that goes up the hill..I've gotten stuck there 4 times this past season but never got evac'd.Usually 15 mins ..I tell ya what tho when that train stops halfway or more up that hill you can feel the hole thing shaking for a good 30 secs ,nothing more frightening than sitting up there at a angle with the whole thing shaking,that is the worst part
You could probably also feel it sway in the breeze as well. Yea when they stop they shake the track. Especially the speed they go up the lift on the cable lifts.
If I ever got stopped on a coaster or have to be evacuated I would be so excited… I like the mechanics too much. I’ve only ever been stuck in the brake run, or the station on a BnM flyer in flight mode. Stopping on the lift hill or mid course would be absolutely legendary
7:55 This is the same thing for train movement. Mechanical can move trains with minimal protection within the yard, train crews have a different set of rules and a lot of limitations in the yard. We as transportation (the revenue train crew) cannot do anything at all until it is released to us. Once it is released to us we of course have to make sure that everyone is clear before we move it if we had to have mechanical return to check anything, but they do not require the same level of protection that we require, as far as dropping electrical and such, though we typically give them the most protection we can give them in any scenario. When we have people on board, or are on main tracks, they cannot do anything. If we are at a station they can open a door to get in or out themselves, and fix stuff inside the train, but they cannot do anything at all, even something they might be more qualified to do than transportation. Even when we had a dead train set stuck at a station on a main track, nobody was on, and it was more of a 2 person job to break apart the train because of some defect, it came down to the engineer needing to help out, because mechanical rules do not qualify them on main tracks.
Last summer, I was working at my home park in operations and there was a random power outage one day. All the rides had to be evacuated since all rides had to be e-stopped in case the power came back on. I was working the park's morgan hyper coaster at the time, and one of the trains stopped at the midcourse, so I got to evacuate it. It was stressful but it was a cool experience!
Yea those power outages can be a pressure cooker for all ops and maintenance alike. It’s one thing to evac a ride. It’s different when you have to do 20 in a row
I've never actually been evacuated, but I did get to find out that I can get out of the ptc type wooden coaster restraints when they're locked while in the station once. As a disclaimer I was actually instructed to do this and not breaking rules.
There's a ride at the park I used to work at, not a roller coaster, but there was a very rare situation wherein if the emergency stop was hit, it wouldn't clear and we'd have to call the fire brigade or an abseiling team to evacuate riders, the nearest abseiling team is 3 hours away. I know that in some situations a roller coaster has to be evacuated by the fire brigade if, say, half the train is off the lift or dangling out of the brake run or station - but this was a dark ride! Flying theatres are no joke.
Fire department training in theme parks is quite a bit more common than you might think! In the Netherlands fire departments and other emergency services go once a year to walibi Holland to do specialized training. In belgium a similar thing is done at Plopsaland de panne.
From a professional perspective ride evacs can be quite the challenge, but I have to admit that I do enjoy bringing the situation to a happy end. That being said, it should be avoided as much as possible. I will always try to get the trains unloaded in the station as a break-down happens, even if that means transferring trains of the track and back on again. I also find it interesting how different parks in different countries handle ride breakdowns and evacuations. I’ve worked in two different parks here in the Netherlands and their procedures are massively different, while at one an evac will take place before any attempt at an repair (every fault that can’t be soft reset) the other will try and do everything before an evac is necessary. Block faults are always the tricky ones, I usually want to start an evacuation if the train is going towards an high speed part of the ride. I’m quite the geek when it comes to ride faults and how to resolve those by the way haha.
Funny about that. Some people say hog did you get things done with all those procedures in the way. I would look at those people and say how have you not killed anyone with the lack of your procedures. Does it balance out? Maybe, but I’d rather be safe when it comes to peoples safety.
At my home park all tech are certified for full operations. Manual override is ALWAYS done by a tech with a rides op supervisor doing a checklist. Different parks different rules
Raptor has a similar evacuation platform. I was evacuated once from the brakes at the end of the ride and they just put this wheeled platform that was as wide as the train under one row at a time and used a wrench to release the restraints for that row. We just stepped down and then walked under the track into the back of the station and out.
I have been evac'd twice in my life (not counting unloading in the station before being dispatched, as this is not an evacuation imho). Once on a water coaster in the Netherlands, we were like 3-4 boats away from the station, but there was already a kind of sidewalk platform. Not more thrilling than boarding your average flooded mine ride. The other was a bit more fun, Lost Coaster at Indiana Beach. The front car was already in the station, we were in the rear and had to somehow climb out. It was quite a step, but doable. It would never even occur to me to call 911 for a stopped ride. The only time I would do that is when there is either actual danger (partially derailed ride vehicle, fire or similar) or when someone is injured. But not for just a regular ride stop. What it's like to have a machine gun pointed at you... well, I can tell. And in my case all of them (about half a dozen) were loaded and ready to fire. And believe it or not, I was just doing my work too. 😅 (Not going into more detail here in public...)
General in rides, if it can stop there then they place an evacuation platform. Anywhere you can be unloaded that does not have automatic unlocking for restraints would be considered and evacuation in my book. The gun want bad because I knew what was going on hand happening. Still king of an odd feeling starring down a weapon pointed at you. If I had not known that it would have been a different story.
I love watching your videos you have such a positive demeanor! Can you make a video about winter maintenance during the off-season, or the trainings you have to do, or a video about your interactions with operations??? I am excited for next season to work at my 3rd park on a supply chain internship in the warehouse! (Which gives me another good idea for a future video suggestion- ride parts procurement/purchasing and working with the warehouse on that!) (I have worked at cp and sdc in the past)
That was an AWESOME video. So much to learn from this one. The one thing you didn't clarify, though: During an evac from a lift hill (let's say, 80--150ft in the air or more)...do the mechanics and/or operators put a climbing harness and help walk each person down the stairs? I'm afraid of heights, but being strapped-in on a coaster, I'm perfectly fine. But being evac'd from a lift hill, and having to walk down the plethora of tiny stairs is not an experience I'd ever want to take part in. 😊
It depends on the ride, park, company. We only had to put a harness on when evacuating the suspended rollercoaster and that was only the front row. And for the front row the guests needed a positioning belt to be worn. But none of the other rows or rides needed that. The park did not require harnesses to be worn on normal lift inspection either. Everything was a designated path or accesses area that met OSHA standards.
Once got evaced off of Maverick in the second launch tunnel - which is really rare. Only there for 20 minuted and the CP mechanics were friendly (I got a free exit pass that I used on Millennium Force that was epic)
I got an exit pass for getting stuck on gatekeeper and used my exit pass for the ORIGINAL top thrill dragster. Think that was my last time on top thrill one
I worked Disney Attractions for 9 years. My experience is with Dark Rides though running up and down and around Spaceship Earth was a unique experience. Most of the time we would cycle guests out if possible. I do have a funny story to tell. Horizons Pavilion had a fire alarm go off and sprinklers activated. There was a console in which the signal showed up. No actual sound was heard. Ride Operators had no idea anything was wrong until Guests started to exit ride soaked and dirty from the built up dirt on show scenes. They stopped loading and cycled everyone out. Reedy Creek had a station behind that building. They were notified immediately when the alarm went off. Still it took 15 minutes for them to respond.
I’ve seen several evacuation on rides. But I have only ever seen one happen at the ride I was operating at the time. I was at cobra a giant Tivoli coaster and it was because the train only slightly overshot. The restraints wouldn’t open and then maintenance came out and manually unlocked all restraints and then they just rolled the train up and went backwards and it was all good. Super weird but was kind of cool too
I've never been evac'd from a ride. knock on wood. I was wondering how block zones work on those really old woodies that are manually operated. like Cyclone at Coney Island.
Mercifully I havent had to be evacuated pretty sure when it happens it will be either Magnum and the 200ft walk down or Millennium Force. Cedar point has had a rash of stopping for cell phones at the top of the hill😂. The local fire departments do regular drills at Cedar Point too especially during the long off season. Press occasionally makes a big deal about the drills with lots of pics, lol.
@@ryantheridemechanic I think it's a bad look from press. Last year Magnum made it in the news several times because of the cell phone rule. The press played it up a few times that it had broken down with people stuck on the lift hill. Which happened one time the rest were cell phone related so they got to finish the ride but the news never mentions that. Although it is more entertaining for the gp watching them get the little cart out to retrieve a phone on Millennium Force.
Not 100%sure but they still make them like that and company’s buy them. So it just be enough to argue it’s fine. A lot of their new stuff fails closed however.
It depends what is meant by "fail". It sounds like they are safe in that a single point of failure will not cause an accident. A failure of a single brake will cause it to open, but the other brakes will be enough to stop and hold a train. A failure of the air supply to the brakes will cause the air to leak out and the brakes open, but it must take at least 20mins. Train brakes work the same. Air pressure applies the brakes. The "fail safe" comes from the fact that the control is via reducing air pressure to apply the brakes. Each individual brake assembly though is independent though and a failure will only affect that brake assembly. Remember, spring applied brakes can still fail open, if the spring breaks, or the linkage
I think everyone that goes to a theme park should to told about block zones. That way if something happens say on a lift hill then the people below know not to panic
Is their situations when the evac process needs to be expedited? For example, incoming thunderstorm, guest having a medical emergency, daylight fading away?
@@millenniumbryan can’t really rush an eveac, that’s when mistakes are made and people get hurt. All you can do is determine an evac is needed earlier and get people off sooner.
"most riders don't want to be evacuated" Meanwhile everyone watching this video "come on baby! Evacuate!" All us enthusiasts just want to walk the catwalk once.
You should watch blackpool pleasure beach documentary from the 90s, would love to see you doing a reaction video to how their OPS manager JR used to run the park ops. "Come on just get it open we're losing money" lol😂 would never cut it health and safety wise now
Yeah but it's something special to see, what at the time was the world's tallest rollercoaster not make the circuit due to high winds and JR order them to get the sand bags out and open the ride to guests because "this ride isn't going to beat me". Or when his second in charge, chasing the highest amount of money taken in the parks history told a child on the grand prix ride (think disney autopia) "hurry up or I'll hit you in the head" It's priceless viewing and worthy of a sitcom rather than a fly on the wall documentary
For me it is intersecting thing is I was never evacuate from a ride* in Europe (I'm Germany) but on my two Vacations in the USA I was both times evacuated from Coasters. This keeps me thinking what is the cause? Is the maintenance in Europe better than in the USA? Is this a cause of there different safety procedures in EU and US? Do EU parks take a path of more reliability when buying a new ride than the US parks? Did some experienced the same? Can someone prove my subjective observation wrong? Or can someone explain it to me? Edit: * this includes traveling rides like "Olympia Looping" and "Eurostar"
Just my opinion nothing more. Your country is not run by lawyers and lawsuits. The US is run by lawyers and lawsuits. For example fun time, in Austria, we had a ton of trouble with their restraint monitoring. They informed us they don’t normally monitor restraints on that type of ride. I asked but if a person fell out in Austria because they opened their buckle mid operation. The fun time tech said “this is their problem” hahaha!!! That’s the way it should be but lawyers in the US make tooo much money from sewing everyone over everything. Again just my opinion.
Why would a manufacturer design brakes to fail open? I was always under the impression that brakes require power to release (usually air) to overcome the spring tension. What would be the reason to have it the other way around??
The air applied brakes are super simple to fabricate and control. So I’m GUESSING that’s a good chunk of the reason. Most all manufacturers make spring closed brakes but some still offer the others as a cheaper lower maintenance brake.
Haha! Well it actually stemmed from another video. Someone thought they were going to die on a ride and apparently comped dip-n-dots. And I had a funny reaction to it. So I keep bringing it up from time to time. Thanks for watching! Link for video below. What to do with amusement park guest complaints ruclips.net/video/8exT3c65QAo/видео.html
Shout out to Knott's Berry Farm's maintenance team for restarting Silver Bullet's lift hill in about 2 minutes after it stopped. Also shout out to Pacific Park's maintenance team for getting West Coaster to operate in an hour after the first car of the train got pushed out of the station due to strong winds overnight. Those are the 2 best maintenance teams I have ever seen. Also shout out to Knott's Berry Farm (on the same day as the Silver Bullet thing mentioned earlier) for evacuating my mom and dad first from the ferris wheel after it broke down, and me and my brother last. I know they have no real control of that, but I found it funny that it was like a 45 minute difference between my mom and dad getting off, and me and my brother getting off the ride.
Evacuation times on a Ferris wheel can be difficult depending on the load placement. It’s harder to move one direction. But can’t get too far out of balance.
Sir, may I ask a bit stretch from this topic. Nowadays there's more and more Rollercoaster that use double final brake block (such as B&M Giga, or Velocicoaster). It provide more tighter dispatch time (by clearing the first final block on almost full speed) and much easier evacuation since most likely all train would stack near the station. But, why we don't see more and more something like this assuming there's enough room to implemented? Is it exponentially more pain in the butt to increase the number of block? Or simply the park didn't really care THAT much about capacity?
@ryantheridemechanic Aye, I have noticed it mentioned repeatedly. Was just curious *why*. Do people always want them? Are they expensive? I finally ran across your explanation of the stay off the air gates, which was really neat, but I am still puzzled by this one lol. I am not really a coaster enthusiast per se, or a mech, or operator, I love learning about new things from people who are enthusiastic and well versed in their interests. Appreciate you!
@ they are a profit share program so the park doesn’t really make money from them. So in general you don’t comp things that would cost more money to give away.
If you ever had to evacuate a train from a position that wasn’t designed for evacuation, I’m assuming you’d comealong the train so it stays in position. Are there typically specific pick point areas on a track to support the weight of a train or are all the track ties or rails typically capable of that sort of weight?
Yea you want want to chain both sides and use a come along on both side to 100% sure the train can not shift even a CM either way. The track can easily support the train anywhere. And gravity will find the lowest spot. In a corkscrew you would want to move the train a bit to try and make each row unloaded as level as possible.
Could be. Or rope access team. The specialized part needed it the ability the take a person out of a seat sitting at maybe a 95° angle. Parks are not used to that. If the coaster is level or on a flat incline, no big deal, but twisted it might be a bigger problem than the park can safely handle.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
As a gift after an evacuation, parks should not only give free Dippin Dots but also free rides on the air gates.
😂
I love that the most universal solution to any mechanical or electrical problem with a piece of technology is the good ol’ ‘turn it off and on again’.
A coaster I used to operate often got stopped on the lift. I was pretty good at talking to guests so I had to climb the lift hill many times to keep folks calm. I'd always reassure them that they were on the safest place to be stopped at and just hoped I was telling them the truth.
I was part of an evacuation as a kid on The Beastie at Kings Island. After sitting at the very top of the lift hill for 45 minutes (in the August sun, which wasn't enjoyable), we were unloaded and walked down the hill and along the track back to the station. I actually thought it was pretty cool. That's not a perspective everyone gets to see a roller coaster from.
I had a failure to launch on icon Blackpool pleasure beach last year, and the maintenance staff were excellent so shout out to them. Came out to talk to us, made sure we weren’t stressing, gave us the option whether to carry on or not and gave us a free go on enso. Was just me and my partner on the ride so was a very surreal experience.
Nice. A lot of times we do give OPS the “it’s your call” option.
I worked at Hersheypark as a ride operator. Great Bear was my coaster at the time and they made every employee go through a lift hill evacuation and then put us back on and hit estop after going down the first drop. We hit the brake run and stopped instantly. At that point they made us get off and walk it off. It was the most fun I ever had at an amusement park while working.
Fun
I didn't like SEP training when I learned a small coaster at a small park
I got evacuated off the Intamin Impulse at Valleyfair last summer. Before going up the front spike for the second time, the brakes kicked in and the train eventually stopped between the front spike and station. Maintenance was able to move the train back into the station and brought a battery pack to unlock each car’s restraints. As an enthusiast, it was actually a pretty cool experience!
Awesome!
All your videos have been so interesting to me, but this one may be my favorite so far. Really gives me an understanding for the relationship between mechanics and operators. Thanks!!!
Thank you so much!!
Definitely stay tuned for more!
I know Millennium Force at Cedar Point is a difficult and time-consuming lift evac. They have to send maintenance personnel up in the funicular lift with harnesses, manually release each restraint with allen wrenches, harness off the rider, and help them into the funicular. They can only take 2 or 3 people down at a time due to weight restrictions. Then repeat the process until the train is empty. That's why evacs on Millennium Force are rare, I saw a video on Facebook over the summer of it CRAWLING up the lift after it got stuck, they said it was better than having to evacuate
I operate Sidewinder Safari, which is a zamperla twister coaster at my home park. I never really have had to evac, but the ride did shut down once when the car was being dispatched into the pre-lift section and the car got stuck. We got the guests out when we were done, but very unfortunate experience
No fun. Didn’t make the lift
I lived in Georgia for about a year near Wild Adventures so of course had a season pass to there . I went at least once a week often more often. I remember one time I was on the cheetah wooden coaster and the operator tried to dispatch the coaster but it wouldn't go and after two tries said there was a power issue and we'd have to get off. Turns out the entire park lost power . Other people were talking about how they had to do on ride evacuation on various rides. I walked towards the front of the park and saw the boomerang was near the top of the first lift hill. That was the day I learned the boomerang had a generator that could slowly lower the car off the first lift Hill. When it was almost back to the station, power came on and they were able to have it do the last a little bit at normal speed rather than the generator slow speed. I had ridden the cheetah hundreds of times by that point and am I slightly disappointed I didn't get to do an on ride evacuation that day😂
I was at the park so often I got to know many of the workers and when rides would reopen from maintenance I would often be the first in line. I knew their General operations and knew that the ride was safest at that point as in order for it to reopen it had to go through a minimum of three Cycles empty and two cycles with a park employee on it!
Hi I was evac'd off the Mummy at Universal a few years ago. Was actually a really interesting experience. Staff were awesome really re assuring and we got a load of family fast passes.
Nice. It helps when people getting off aren’t terrified of the situation. It allows those perks to come through naturally.
Last weekend of ops at CP this year it was pretty windy, Gatekeeper was empty cycling super slow. We were first riders (as we often were this year) and it was so eerie (no pun intended) to go from that noisy B&M lift to quiet, then wind and vibrating track and supports after it E-stopped (im guessing from the windy conditions)
Also, you should check out the TV show Off Limits episode that shows the Millenium Force Morning check on all the guide wheels for the cable lift- they have to climb down to the last wheel assembly 100 ft or so down the drop and push a button every morning or the ride shuts down. Gives a good insight into what a crew would have to do to evac people on Millie 😂
There's nothing like a ride on Millenium Force on a summer morning. Its a beatiful view
Take Millennium Force at Cp,evacuation on that ride is very time consuming . No stairs so they have a lil cart that goes up the hill..I've gotten stuck there 4 times this past season but never got evac'd.Usually 15 mins ..I tell ya what tho when that train stops halfway or more up that hill you can feel the hole thing shaking for a good 30 secs ,nothing more frightening than sitting up there at a angle with the whole thing shaking,that is the worst part
You could probably also feel it sway in the breeze as well. Yea when they stop they shake the track. Especially the speed they go up the lift on the cable lifts.
If I ever got stopped on a coaster or have to be evacuated I would be so excited… I like the mechanics too much. I’ve only ever been stuck in the brake run, or the station on a BnM flyer in flight mode. Stopping on the lift hill or mid course would be absolutely legendary
7:55 This is the same thing for train movement. Mechanical can move trains with minimal protection within the yard, train crews have a different set of rules and a lot of limitations in the yard. We as transportation (the revenue train crew) cannot do anything at all until it is released to us. Once it is released to us we of course have to make sure that everyone is clear before we move it if we had to have mechanical return to check anything, but they do not require the same level of protection that we require, as far as dropping electrical and such, though we typically give them the most protection we can give them in any scenario. When we have people on board, or are on main tracks, they cannot do anything. If we are at a station they can open a door to get in or out themselves, and fix stuff inside the train, but they cannot do anything at all, even something they might be more qualified to do than transportation. Even when we had a dead train set stuck at a station on a main track, nobody was on, and it was more of a 2 person job to break apart the train because of some defect, it came down to the engineer needing to help out, because mechanical rules do not qualify them on main tracks.
@@MichaelNolhan all rules made from safety or close calls I’m sure.
Last summer, I was working at my home park in operations and there was a random power outage one day. All the rides had to be evacuated since all rides had to be e-stopped in case the power came back on. I was working the park's morgan hyper coaster at the time, and one of the trains stopped at the midcourse, so I got to evacuate it. It was stressful but it was a cool experience!
Yea those power outages can be a pressure cooker for all ops and maintenance alike. It’s one thing to evac a ride. It’s different when you have to do 20 in a row
I've never actually been evacuated, but I did get to find out that I can get out of the ptc type wooden coaster restraints when they're locked while in the station once. As a disclaimer I was actually instructed to do this and not breaking rules.
There's a ride at the park I used to work at, not a roller coaster, but there was a very rare situation wherein if the emergency stop was hit, it wouldn't clear and we'd have to call the fire brigade or an abseiling team to evacuate riders, the nearest abseiling team is 3 hours away. I know that in some situations a roller coaster has to be evacuated by the fire brigade if, say, half the train is off the lift or dangling out of the brake run or station - but this was a dark ride! Flying theatres are no joke.
Yikes. Wow 3 hours is so long and to not be able to recover it. That’s not good at all
Fire department training in theme parks is quite a bit more common than you might think!
In the Netherlands fire departments and other emergency services go once a year to walibi Holland to do specialized training. In belgium a similar thing is done at Plopsaland de panne.
They used to practice swift water rescue from our rapids ride but they stopped that before I started working there.
From a professional perspective ride evacs can be quite the challenge, but I have to admit that I do enjoy bringing the situation to a happy end. That being said, it should be avoided as much as possible. I will always try to get the trains unloaded in the station as a break-down happens, even if that means transferring trains of the track and back on again.
I also find it interesting how different parks in different countries handle ride breakdowns and evacuations. I’ve worked in two different parks here in the Netherlands and their procedures are massively different, while at one an evac will take place before any attempt at an repair (every fault that can’t be soft reset) the other will try and do everything before an evac is necessary. Block faults are always the tricky ones, I usually want to start an evacuation if the train is going towards an high speed part of the ride. I’m quite the geek when it comes to ride faults and how to resolve those by the way haha.
Funny about that. Some people say hog did you get things done with all those procedures in the way. I would look at those people and say how have you not killed anyone with the lack of your procedures. Does it balance out? Maybe, but I’d rather be safe when it comes to peoples safety.
@@ryantheridemechanic People's safety should always be the highest priority in this industry. Better safe then sorry.
At my home park all tech are certified for full operations. Manual override is ALWAYS done by a tech with a rides op supervisor doing a checklist. Different parks different rules
Yes. No two parks even in the same company are the same. No two rides are the same either!
I got evacuated off Gatekeeper at the end of the ride (not in the station.). They had a special step stool for us to get off.
Raptor has a similar evacuation platform. I was evacuated once from the brakes at the end of the ride and they just put this wheeled platform that was as wide as the train under one row at a time and used a wrench to release the restraints for that row. We just stepped down and then walked under the track into the back of the station and out.
Can you do a video on how you got into the industry and what training you had to do and how long it took , we want to know your journey!😊😊
Hmm an RMR origin story….
I really want to see this!!
I have been evac'd twice in my life (not counting unloading in the station before being dispatched, as this is not an evacuation imho). Once on a water coaster in the Netherlands, we were like 3-4 boats away from the station, but there was already a kind of sidewalk platform. Not more thrilling than boarding your average flooded mine ride. The other was a bit more fun, Lost Coaster at Indiana Beach. The front car was already in the station, we were in the rear and had to somehow climb out. It was quite a step, but doable.
It would never even occur to me to call 911 for a stopped ride. The only time I would do that is when there is either actual danger (partially derailed ride vehicle, fire or similar) or when someone is injured. But not for just a regular ride stop.
What it's like to have a machine gun pointed at you... well, I can tell. And in my case all of them (about half a dozen) were loaded and ready to fire. And believe it or not, I was just doing my work too. 😅 (Not going into more detail here in public...)
General in rides, if it can stop there then they place an evacuation platform. Anywhere you can be unloaded that does not have automatic unlocking for restraints would be considered and evacuation in my book.
The gun want bad because I knew what was going on hand happening. Still king of an odd feeling starring down a weapon pointed at you. If I had not known that it would have been a different story.
I love watching your videos you have such a positive demeanor! Can you make a video about winter maintenance during the off-season, or the trainings you have to do, or a video about your interactions with operations??? I am excited for next season to work at my 3rd park on a supply chain internship in the warehouse! (Which gives me another good idea for a future video suggestion- ride parts procurement/purchasing and working with the warehouse on that!) (I have worked at cp and sdc in the past)
I have the first two videos I made early on in the channel but I could remake them as well
That was an AWESOME video. So much to learn from this one.
The one thing you didn't clarify, though: During an evac from a lift hill (let's say, 80--150ft in the air or more)...do the mechanics and/or operators put a climbing harness and help walk each person down the stairs?
I'm afraid of heights, but being strapped-in on a coaster, I'm perfectly fine. But being evac'd from a lift hill, and having to walk down the plethora of tiny stairs is not an experience I'd ever want to take part in. 😊
It depends on the ride, park, company. We only had to put a harness on when evacuating the suspended rollercoaster and that was only the front row. And for the front row the guests needed a positioning belt to be worn. But none of the other rows or rides needed that. The park did not require harnesses to be worn on normal lift inspection either. Everything was a designated path or accesses area that met OSHA standards.
@@ryantheridemechanic 😳
Once got evaced off of Maverick in the second launch tunnel - which is really rare. Only there for 20 minuted and the CP mechanics were friendly (I got a free exit pass that I used on Millennium Force that was epic)
Nice
I got an exit pass for getting stuck on gatekeeper and used my exit pass for the ORIGINAL top thrill dragster. Think that was my last time on top thrill one
I worked Disney Attractions for 9 years. My experience is with Dark Rides though running up and down and around Spaceship Earth was a unique experience. Most of the time we would cycle guests out if possible. I do have a funny story to tell. Horizons Pavilion had a fire alarm go off and sprinklers activated. There was a console in which the signal showed up. No actual sound was heard. Ride Operators had no idea anything was wrong until Guests started to exit ride soaked and dirty from the built up dirt on show scenes. They stopped loading and cycled everyone out. Reedy Creek had a station behind that building. They were notified immediately when the alarm went off. Still it took 15 minutes for them to respond.
Interesting no sound, bet the alarm company got a phone call about that one.
I’ve seen several evacuation on rides. But I have only ever seen one happen at the ride I was operating at the time. I was at cobra a giant Tivoli coaster and it was because the train only slightly overshot. The restraints wouldn’t open and then maintenance came out and manually unlocked all restraints and then they just rolled the train up and went backwards and it was all good. Super weird but was kind of cool too
Yea. Probably wet or hot? Happens with those.
@@ryantheridemechanic it was hot. It hadn’t overshot in a long while though. It’s been running pretty well recently.
How does the park maintenance team coordinate with a ride manufacturer to build a new flat ride or coaster
@@TheJames4746 a lot
I've never been evac'd from a ride. knock on wood. I was wondering how block zones work on those really old woodies that are manually operated. like Cyclone at Coney Island.
Probably a question for El Torro Ryan, he’s really good at explaining block zones. I believe he has a video on old woodys.
Mercifully I havent had to be evacuated pretty sure when it happens it will be either Magnum and the 200ft walk down or Millennium Force. Cedar point has had a rash of stopping for cell phones at the top of the hill😂. The local fire departments do regular drills at Cedar Point too especially during the long off season. Press occasionally makes a big deal about the drills with lots of pics, lol.
Yea they do that! Opinion can be either good or bad on that press coverage. Most general public will swing to the bad side. (My opinion)
@@ryantheridemechanic I think it's a bad look from press. Last year Magnum made it in the news several times because of the cell phone rule. The press played it up a few times that it had broken down with people stuck on the lift hill. Which happened one time the rest were cell phone related so they got to finish the ride but the news never mentions that. Although it is more entertaining for the gp watching them get the little cart out to retrieve a phone on Millennium Force.
@@LTCoasters right. And they keep Saying (probably) “it did it again!” Making news clickbait
Why do Vekoma brakes fail open? That seems like it goes against all laws of ride safety.
Not 100%sure but they still make them like that and company’s buy them. So it just be enough to argue it’s fine. A lot of their new stuff fails closed however.
It depends what is meant by "fail". It sounds like they are safe in that a single point of failure will not cause an accident. A failure of a single brake will cause it to open, but the other brakes will be enough to stop and hold a train. A failure of the air supply to the brakes will cause the air to leak out and the brakes open, but it must take at least 20mins. Train brakes work the same. Air pressure applies the brakes. The "fail safe" comes from the fact that the control is via reducing air pressure to apply the brakes. Each individual brake assembly though is independent though and a failure will only affect that brake assembly. Remember, spring applied brakes can still fail open, if the spring breaks, or the linkage
I think everyone that goes to a theme park should to told about block zones. That way if something happens say on a lift hill then the people below know not to panic
Is their situations when the evac process needs to be expedited? For example, incoming thunderstorm, guest having a medical emergency, daylight fading away?
@@millenniumbryan can’t really rush an eveac, that’s when mistakes are made and people get hurt. All you can do is determine an evac is needed earlier and get people off sooner.
@@ryantheridemechanic I meant make the decision sooner, sorry for the misunderstanding
@@millenniumbryan it’s really just a judgment call. Likely hood of repair vs time.
Bro I DEMAND dippin dots after an evac or im telling the news yall were rude. And one of those giant plushies. And a free ride on the slingshot thing.
@@frankalphonso268 haha! Oh you’ve done this before?!
"most riders don't want to be evacuated"
Meanwhile everyone watching this video
"come on baby! Evacuate!"
All us enthusiasts just want to walk the catwalk once.
@@Wifi_Cable it’s a rare credit
Separation of duties is not a weird thing, it’s responsible operation. Maintenance should never operate attractions with people on them.
You should watch blackpool pleasure beach documentary from the 90s, would love to see you doing a reaction video to how their OPS manager JR used to run the park ops.
"Come on just get it open we're losing money" lol😂 would never cut it health and safety wise now
@@steveminor9932 yea that mindset still runs ramped in ticket based operations. Operators can see the money losss wanting to cut corners to open.
Yeah but it's something special to see, what at the time was the world's tallest rollercoaster not make the circuit due to high winds and JR order them to get the sand bags out and open the ride to guests because "this ride isn't going to beat me".
Or when his second in charge, chasing the highest amount of money taken in the parks history told a child on the grand prix ride (think disney autopia) "hurry up or I'll hit you in the head"
It's priceless viewing and worthy of a sitcom rather than a fly on the wall documentary
For me it is intersecting thing is I was never evacuate from a ride* in Europe (I'm Germany) but on my two Vacations in the USA I was both times evacuated from Coasters.
This keeps me thinking what is the cause?
Is the maintenance in Europe better than in the USA?
Is this a cause of there different safety procedures in EU and US?
Do EU parks take a path of more reliability when buying a new ride than the US parks?
Did some experienced the same?
Can someone prove my subjective observation wrong?
Or can someone explain it to me?
Edit:
* this includes traveling rides like "Olympia Looping" and "Eurostar"
Just my opinion nothing more. Your country is not run by lawyers and lawsuits. The US is run by lawyers and lawsuits.
For example fun time, in Austria, we had a ton of trouble with their restraint monitoring. They informed us they don’t normally monitor restraints on that type of ride. I asked but if a person fell out in Austria because they opened their buckle mid operation. The fun time tech said “this is their problem” hahaha!!! That’s the way it should be but lawyers in the US make tooo much money from sewing everyone over everything. Again just my opinion.
Why would a manufacturer design brakes to fail open? I was always under the impression that brakes require power to release (usually air) to overcome the spring tension. What would be the reason to have it the other way around??
The air applied brakes are super simple to fabricate and control. So I’m GUESSING that’s a good chunk of the reason. Most all manufacturers make spring closed brakes but some still offer the others as a cheaper lower maintenance brake.
How would a park evacuate a person that is blind from a train?
Carefully
Found this really interesting!! Watched til the end. Why would you advise not to give out dip and dots?? 😂
Haha! Well it actually stemmed from another video.
Someone thought they were going to die on a ride and apparently comped dip-n-dots. And I had a funny reaction to it. So I keep bringing it up from time to time.
Thanks for watching! Link for video below.
What to do with amusement park guest complaints
ruclips.net/video/8exT3c65QAo/видео.html
But why no dip n dots!
Park looses money hand over fist because there’s no price break to the park so…..
NO DIPP’N DOTS!!!!!!
When's the "Stay off the airgates" Merch coming out? I need a new baseball cap and tshirt
Yea I really need to work on that. I’ve had many requests so far
@@ryantheridemechanic I agree I need a cool ryantheridemechanic T-shirt to wear to opening day in May.
Stay OFF the AIR GATES!!! ❤
Never been evaced, but i did get lift stopped on wildcats revenge at hershey
Shout out to Knott's Berry Farm's maintenance team for restarting Silver Bullet's lift hill in about 2 minutes after it stopped. Also shout out to Pacific Park's maintenance team for getting West Coaster to operate in an hour after the first car of the train got pushed out of the station due to strong winds overnight. Those are the 2 best maintenance teams I have ever seen.
Also shout out to Knott's Berry Farm (on the same day as the Silver Bullet thing mentioned earlier) for evacuating my mom and dad first from the ferris wheel after it broke down, and me and my brother last. I know they have no real control of that, but I found it funny that it was like a 45 minute difference between my mom and dad getting off, and me and my brother getting off the ride.
Evacuation times on a Ferris wheel can be difficult depending on the load placement. It’s harder to move one direction. But can’t get too far out of balance.
Sir, may I ask a bit stretch from this topic.
Nowadays there's more and more Rollercoaster that use double final brake block (such as B&M Giga, or Velocicoaster). It provide more tighter dispatch time (by clearing the first final block on almost full speed) and much easier evacuation since most likely all train would stack near the station.
But, why we don't see more and more something like this assuming there's enough room to implemented? Is it exponentially more pain in the butt to increase the number of block? Or simply the park didn't really care THAT much about capacity?
Ok, I gotta ask. What's with the Dipping Dots? I know it's a sweet but...
@@cursedseductress token conversation in a video so it’s a running gag.
@ryantheridemechanic Aye, I have noticed it mentioned repeatedly. Was just curious *why*. Do people always want them? Are they expensive?
I finally ran across your explanation of the stay off the air gates, which was really neat, but I am still puzzled by this one lol.
I am not really a coaster enthusiast per se, or a mech, or operator, I love learning about new things from people who are enthusiastic and well versed in their interests. Appreciate you!
@ they are a profit share program so the park doesn’t really make money from them. So in general you don’t comp things that would cost more money to give away.
@@ryantheridemechanic Thanks!
Did your boomerang ever get stuck in the middle of the cobra roll?
One time yes.
More common for inverts
@@ryantheridemechanic how did this happen? 😱
@@circuitbreaker1434 just need a poorly timed Estop or power failure while the train is passing in the station. Boom valleyed.
@@ryantheridemechanic now i have to hope this doesn't happen with the train full of fursuiters next time when we are at the themepark again 😅😅
If you ever had to evacuate a train from a position that wasn’t designed for evacuation, I’m assuming you’d comealong the train so it stays in position. Are there typically specific pick point areas on a track to support the weight of a train or are all the track ties or rails typically capable of that sort of weight?
Yea you want want to chain both sides and use a come along on both side to 100% sure the train can not shift even a CM either way. The track can easily support the train anywhere. And gravity will find the lowest spot. In a corkscrew you would want to move the train a bit to try and make each row unloaded as level as possible.
I just went down the rabbit hole with the Chinese coasters RUclips. I just got back. I was gone a while!
Also these folks got stuck on the inside part of splash mountain during a pandemic. Some luck!
Some odd ones out there. What a ride.
Specialized assistance = Ladder Truck??? Lol
Could be. Or rope access team. The specialized part needed it the ability the take a person out of a seat sitting at maybe a 95° angle. Parks are not used to that. If the coaster is level or on a flat incline, no big deal, but twisted it might be a bigger problem than the park can safely handle.
Hello. First comment ☺️
2nd