Why do rides close in bad weather?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- Have you ever been at a park and had your favorite ride close due to weather? Rides are affected weather events such as extreme cold, high wind, rain, or lightning. Each of these weather events affects each ride differently.
Join Our Discord: / discord
Music provided by Epidemic Sound 
Развлечения
sometimes in the summer or spring the wild eagle at dollywood gets closed because bees and wasps start to chill at the top of the lift hill
i know thats not really a type of weather but its frustrating when those little pricks ruin one of the best three rides in the park
How are there bees chilling at the top? According to the laws of aviation, there is no way a bee would be able to to use its wings to lift its fat body all the way up there.
And what are the wasps doing in Dollywood? I guess we worked out what's going on when the wasps are not harassing you at Alton Towers.
lol imagine riding through them
Oh! That sucks! Wasps are the work of the devil! But, there have been coasters with tunnels occupied by skunks! Oyyyveyyyyy!!!!
yeah its anoying
leave my bees alone they work hard daily for their queen
its weird how parks like darien lake close everything with one drop of rain but parks like holiday world run their coasters in hurricanes
Since when did indiana have hurricanes
@@bunja9101 hurricane laura or whatever hit when holiwood nights was happening and i got a rain ride on voyage
@@MillenniumForceMan how was it?
Little T it was amazing
Idk man I live in florida and all my local amusement parks close due to hurricanes
Fun fact: When giovanola was testing titan back in 2001, they had a problem with the wheels literally starting to melt on hot days, they solved this with a water misting system on the brake run.
Same thing happened with Intimidator 305 at King's Dominion. The wheels melted due to the high speeds, and now there are sprinklers in the station that run while guests are unloading and loading.
@@columbia81yeah and they also fixed the wheel compound
I honestly never even questioned it. It always just made sense to me, even the slightest increase on risk would be negative for the park
Even if it was not risky riding a coaster in pouring rain would be a painful experience
Riding a roller coaster in the rain is MISERABLE! Each drop feels like tiny needles on your face. Do not recommend lol
I rode the Twister at Knoebel's when it was just drizzling. It did not feel good.
Kingda Ka in the rain is the most excruciating thing in the world
I think its pretty fun
Gotta love rain rides
A rain-ride at night on Iron Rattler is something else.
Windseeker being down due to winds is hilarious to me for stupid reasons.
That’s what I always found funny
I came here to mention this! I always say "Ope! Windseeker found the wind! No need to run today"
This answers a mystery that had plagued me for years, as one time when I went to Cedar Point it started raining, and Magnum was closed due to rain, but when I came by it later, even though it was still raining, the ride was open again. So thank you for providing an explanation for this!
I rode Millennium Force in a downpour at night once..... I don’t recommend it.
Front row btw
@@Strike_Studios71 You are too brave for this species
Same, hurt like hell
I thought riding a B&M invert in the rain was bad... (Great Bear) You must’ve like died
So did I. It was my second time riding it. It was painful.
Aftershock at Silverwood: *sees a cloud*
"Nope, I'm out."
Yay it's always a good day when Brennan uploads
That’s me in the first clip lol. I was arguing with my manager that the swings were not safe enough to be running in the wind because they were bouncing around lmao
From what I've heard Thir13en at Alton Towers can't run in the rain or at temps of 5c/41f. Great for a coaster in the north of England...
It can run in rain but not below 5c
@@spinba11 Is that right? My mistake sorry
Haha....and part of that coaster is indoors.
This is because of the timings between top of lift 1 and entering lift 2. The trims brakes fitted to the first drop and the throughout the freefall section were added after the ride first opened in 2010 as the trains would reach lift 2 too quickly and would arrive at the track drop (can't remember what this is called) before the track was ready to accept the train. Trouble is, those trims are permanent magnets causing the train to run too slowly, and potentially valley in temps of 5C or less.
Wow! Mad respect for the ride operators for keeping everyone safe! and expensive rides operating!
Yeah, the Phoenix at Knoebels can definitely run in a downpour, I know from experience, It basically turned the coaster into a water ride.
Knoebels stops for no man. Those coasters have been there since before I was born and will likely be there long after I die.
I just did four days of roller coaster tech lessons and never thought to include stuff like this. Well, looks like there is going to be a second week of roller coaster tech for my students in the near future. Thanks for these great videos. You and Coaster Bot make my life so easy by helping me with these seeds of where to start. I and my students are in debt to both of you.
That's awesome to hear! No problem!
@@CoasterCollege Both of you guys and Amusement Labs really lay out all the science all we have to do is copy you guys and add a bit of Newton's 3 Laws and a bunch of physics vocabulary and bam, way smarter kids who had a great time making coasters with the knowledge you all are nice enough to provide from your hearts and brains.
I rode Fury at Carowinds in the rain. It hurt.
I did leviathan in a pouring rain and my face couldn’t feel a thing after getting off
I've done Orion and Millennium in the rain and it does hurt.
Hawaiian Coasters 325 giga in rain=insane experience+pain
I rode Fahrenheit in the rain and it hurt as well, especially when you were going straight up.
I used to do the ride photos for fury. We could tell if it started raining by the way everyone in the photo was suddenly trying to hide their faces.
Ah, I remember working the ferries wheel and people asking me when it it will open again and complaining when I told them go to guest relations, even tho It was company policy.
This was at Casino Pier
You guys should have picture books to show scenes from horror movies of what they will look like if they are on these rides when lightening hits or winds push it over. How great to see their eyes bug out when they see the crispy burnt bodies, and you say, "Well, I can make an exception if you insist, but when you look like this there's nothing I can do to help you." LOL!
Show them the scene from professor Layton when the Ferris wheel comes off and chases them. Tell them that will happen lmao
Alton Towers' bigger coasters have wind sensors around the ride that will sound an alarm in the ops booth if the wind exceeds the safe limits. You can see the panel on the wall behind the operator.
A lot of our newer consign programed rides have that as well.
These videos are so interesting and informational. I have mad respect for what park staff does to protect their riders and guests.
I would love to know how a train that has had a valley is brought back.
Maybe people push it up whatever element it’s on if it’s close enough to the station, and if not they full-on just take it of the track (disassemble)?
Depends where it is in the layout, in some cases they can be winched back, in most cases though it’ll be a job for a crane to disassemble it one car at a time then reassemble on the brake run/transfer.
@@greghudson4906 Wow, you know more than I do, and I’m studying to be a rollercoaster engineer! I mean, I only started a few months ago, but still! :O
We've had a couple short shots at the park I work at. All of them we had to tie off the train, remove the up-stops and crane them over to the storage track. 6 of us stayed and took us about 17 hours straight to get the job done.
Fun times lol
@@shawnspencer8766 mega Oof
I rode El Toro at Great Adventure in POURING rain. Painful and awesome all at once
I remember more than once I was instructed by the ride operator to sit on a specific seat.
I didn't know why until now. Thanks for the information!
I remember when I rode a wooden roller coaster in the pouring rain. I thought it would be fun and exciting. It was an experience, but I'd never do it again lol! I couldn't even open my eyes the whole time. At that speed, a rain drop feels more like an ice pellet!
I think it would’ve been cool to tackle indoor rides and roller coasters. I know here at KI, FoF doesn’t go down unless a thunderstorm and active lightning are directly overhead but that could totally mainly be for the sense of not wanting say a launch sequence happening and then the grid gets struck with lightning and momentarily overloaded until it goes to the designated ground or something of the sort. We also have a level system of our rides. Diamondback and the other 4 300 foot rides cycle off or clear out in towers case, at our highest level of level three I believe. Smaller yet still tall rides such as beast, racer, banshee, etc, all cycle off at level two. And then flat rides will go down at level one along with any remaining rides. FoF is a special case and dodgems will also really only go down for lightning close by but not rain.
That's a disadvantage to Cedar Point. It has a beautiful location but because of it, if it even sprinkles a tiny bit, a lot of the major roller coasters will shut down. Especially Top Thrill Dragster!
Couldn’t imagine riding TTD in literally any form of rain. Probably feels like taking a shower with needles.
I was at Cedar Point when a sudden thunderstorm blew in within a matter of minutes. I was in the station for Millennium Force at the time and I ended up riding it with lightning in close proximity. I have never been more scared on a roller coaster in my life than at that moment going up the lift and watching the lightning strike all around the peninsula
It looks so strange seeing everyone wear face masks at an Amusement Park.
Gangsta Shots but it’s a good sight as well
Yea and then seeing them not wear them in a packed restaurant or eating area... makes no sense to me
Yeah it’s just not right.
Yeah, it's great especially when the people making videos wear them too. Too many coaster youtubers ignoring safety for content
@Hannibal Lecter I suppose if there tight or loose they could ?
5:06 This is where Oakwood comes in and advertises to ride the coaster in heavy rain.
I'm glad you did a video on this, since some people don't really understand the logistics of how weather can affect the rides in terms of the wheels, the track, rider safety, what the manufacturer says to do during weather conditions, etc. I agree with the rain factor. I remember operating a classic antique cars ride made by Bradley and Kaye at Canada's Wonderland, and that ride cannot operate in the rain at all. We have to basically evacuate all guests by taking them off, running empty cars so that no guests remain on the ride, and park all the cars in the station until the ride stops. Once it clears and we are safe to operate, a maintenance guy actually uses a leaf blower to dry off the track, since it is electric powered and the parts on the track are pretty exposed, and then we test the ride to see if it functions normally.
I was once at Six Flags Great America when the rain got so bad they closed *indoor* rides.
huh????
At six flags we tested rides by picking 2 random ride workers and put them on. 1 in the front and 1 in the back
Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. I rode I305 in the front seat during fairly heavy rain. Painful on the face but sure was awesome too. Thanks for posting this.
I also got a ride on the Voyage in pretty hard rain, the thing hauled
Old ride op from Michigans Adventure
Their rules was the lightning rule. Can’t remember how long the timer was, but it reset after every bolt was seen.
Bumper cars would shut down in bad rain due to the electricity being overhead
Mad Mouse would shut down (arrow coaster breaking)
Ferris wheel shutdown for overshooting
when trying to break
Thunderbolt in rain due to having a steep metal walkway
As well as other rides you mentioned :)
Also got to shutdown the log flume one day for rain. Water somehow caused a short and my control panel kept rebooting non stop. Was a weird day
The first time I went to an amusement park it literally started hailing the size of golf balls, it was so evil...
Very informative! Great job.
Cool video! Didn’t know most of this facts, very informative!!
Love your content keep up the good work!
My most cherished park ride was on medusa at six flags, midnight on new years. I was riding with my dad and older sister, and it started to rain while we were on it. The rain stung, but it felt amazing
The first time I went to Carowinds almost none of the rides were open because there was a literal thunderstorm. It got so bad at one point that at one point everyone was huddling into a restaurant in the park
Woah, it's nice to see a local coaster in the background of a video. Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach at 0:08, always fun to see.
This is super informative, thank you! This makes amusement parks more fun (knowing a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes.) Thank you!
No problem!
I was on Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa with my dad and brother and the rain had stopped, but as soon as we left the lift hill it starts pouring again. Probably the most painful rollercoaster experience of my life. Couldn't see much either because it hurt to keep my eyes open.
I'm not going on Roller Coaster 1 while it's raining.
**closes ride**
Guest 789: thx for doing what a real coaster does
About 20 years ago I remember going to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. It was an overcast day and was raining gently. We went on a coaster called the Great All-American Scream Machine. The rain hitting your face at top speed was one of the most painful things I ever felt. It was like hornets just continuing to sting your face constantly.
I visited a water park many years ago in Arizona. My sister talked me into climbing up for the tallest water slide there. There were two of them, one with a trapdoor and one where you pushed yourself down. When we got to the top the closed the ride due to rain and lightning. Once the storm had passed and the slides were back open, I had completely lost my nerve and couldn't go back up. XD
It's funny, in Sweden, at Grona Lund in Stockholm there are literally signs by their biggest coaster that says "make sure to ride this coaster in the rain, it goes super fast!!" lol
Love that lol
Great video give pretty good insight on why certain rides don't run in rain or in the winter. Now that you've said about B&M's don't run if the temperatures are under 32F, shocks me that for Busch Gardens Christmas Town that they don't have Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist and Griffon running and for Hersheypark Great Bear. They announced that Candymonium will be opened during Christmas Candylane this year, which really shocks me. If I do go to Christmas Candylane I'm def riding Candymonium! Just this past Saturday, I was frustrated that at Hersheypark they shut down all the roller coasters except for Laff Trakk and Great Bear while it was raining, and all it was doing was drizzling, no downpours. They had all those coasters shut down for 45 minutes!!! By the time my friends and I realized Great Bear was opened everything else was starting to open again.
They should build a theme park in Philadelphia, it’s always sunny there.
lol. They wouldn't because Hersheypark is only an hour and a half away and Dorney park is probably a bit closer.
I went on Phantom's Revenge and Expedition Everest while it was raining. Pretty painful. Also, I went on the Wild One and it broke down before a thunderstorm... that would've sucked if I wasn't let out before the storm hit the park.
First clip, Flying Swings at Waldameer.
HEY I KNOW THOSE WORKERS
I remember once I rode Cannibal in a thunderstorm (we were already in the course when the lighting began to strike). A huge lightning strike went across the whole sky just was we began to drop. It was like something you'd see in the ads.
Six Flags Great America uses ThorGuard for lightning detection. They have horn like alarm (siren is reserved for tornado warning) that alert all operators of approaching storm. I was in the water park when the alarm sounded as a severe storm blossomed over the park. With prompt instructions I was able to get to the nearest safety shelter the park had. I don't mind storms as an upside to them is most guest leave the park and it not as congested.
I was at a water country... and I was in the lazy river... and suddenly I noticed dark clouds and thunder was there... then they warned everyone that a severe weather alert was happening... this was the most scared I ever was
4:30 I remember I was at 6 flags discovery Kingdom in California in line for the Medusa coaster when we got hit by a surprise heavy rain shower (it was so heavy that they ended up closing the park early). My dad and I were the next in line when they closed down the ride. The rain kept on tripping the sensors preventing the train from leaving the station. Unfortunately the fully loaded train behind it did not have a roof over where it was stopped so they spent 20 minutes just sitting in the downpour while the attendants were desperately wiping the sensors and trying to get the trains to move a few inches at a time between emergency shut downs. I guess I was lucky I didn’t get into the line earlier than I did.
As a kid, I remember it beginning to rain at lakeside and personally just wanting to find a pavilion to eat something and wait it out. They closed the carousel... so what’s the point 😂 lakeside is a park in Denver. It has a house of mirrors and I’m nostalgic for it
I’m going to CP in October, forget the date, hope I can see you there!
Got a little story involving rain and rollercoasters. We were in Europapark, Germany, when massive rain set in and right when it stopped, we went to Silver Star (relatively tame b&m hyper) which was closed during the rain but just reopened.
We reach the end of lift and as soon as gravity takes over, the train just bolts forward on the still wet track and we have airtime on the entire first drop which usually doesn't happen. What then followed was the best ride I ever had on that thing. Was not expecting a little bit of water to make that much of a difference.
Also, I don’t know if you still make the What Really Happened videos, but I would like to see the Verrukt incidence at Schlitterbahn Kansas City in 2016. That park is only 30 minutes from my house and I feel like it’s barely talked about anymore and just talking about how Kansas has extremely bad inspections for rides. Like I always had a bad feeling about that ride but didn’t know how messed up the history of making that ride was. They cared about world records and publicity over safety, the ride even started out with a age requirement and they quickly got rid of that.
It’s such a complex and tragic story and I’m surprised how quickly it was shoved under the rug.
I love your content!
storm runner & great beat are awesome in the rain especially when its hot & humid
I found this interesting as a current ride OP. Nice
I live in the UK and in Thorpe Park there is a ride like Kingda Ka and once I saw they ran the ride in strong winds and just as it got to the top it rolled back.
heavy rain (not a storm): happens
everyone: closes the amusement park
canada's wonderland: it just makes leviathan better
I wasn’t frustrated, but my mom was.
On our vacation to Florida 3 years ago. We were at bush gardens and she was about to go on one of the water coasters while my dad stays with me (I was too scared to go on it lmao) and about 2 minutes after getting in line it shut down. Closing time was in an hour so we just went on 1 or 2 small rides that were still open it the lightning. Then we left and my mom said “i’ll just go on it next time” and 3 years later we still aren’t on it.
Great video!! Thanks
How do Tornado watches effect rides? I assume warnings cause immediate evacuation, but have no clue about watches
Typically with stuff like that parks keep a eye on see what happens. May close them as a just in case thing
@@wrestlingandamusementparkl7789 makes sense, can you imagine a tornado forming and touching down in a park though, almost no warning?
@@Matthew-oi6kz yep. I saw at my home park they had to get people to shelter with a bad storm come in. Bad wind heavy rain.
Rode intimidator front row when it was raining and that was painful to my eyes
At Darien lake my dad has tried for many years to get on the ride of steel but every time there has always been either bad weather or the ride was broken down and the last time we went (a few years ago) he was finally able to ride it for the first time
I work at a small amusement park and we almost always have a train Valley when it's cold out. When the temperature drops below 35°F. We continually run trains every 2 minutes to keep the brakes and wheels warm if there are no riders. Once we do that for a while the trains gain a little speed compared to the first hour of opening
The rides at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas has these too. I no longer work there but each ride had weather restrictions. Insanity was the weakest when it came to the elements and is the most common to shut down. There is another ride that can’t run in extreme cold or rain as the magnetic breaks become compromised.
I rode a roller coaster when it was raining once, felt like tiny needles were pricking my skin, was still fun though.
I was on a spinning ride when it suddenly started raining mid-ride and the rain felt like needles on my skin. I then understood why rides close during the rain lol
Operating a pirate ship (not naming which one or where) was always fun in a heavy downpour watching the poor sods swinging continuously as the drive wheels couldn't get any traction on the gondola.
When I worked at Fantasy Island in NY, we would shut down all the big rides that r in the back of the park if lightning was 10 miles away. The canoes and water park would shut down at 10 miles as well. The antique cars would shut down at 5 miles with all the rest of the rides including kiddie rides and the train. We called it Phase 1 and Phase 2. Then I think they would stay closed another 25-30 minutes after the last strike then retest to clean them off
I was at cedar point when they saw a storm. There was definitely thunder (I was in the waterpark at the time) and almost everything closed. But luckily the storm only skated by with not even any rain, and we got to continue our day
One time me and my mom went to the fair and it started to rain. This so happened to be the one time our 4H fair had a water ride, and is the only time I've ever ridden a water ride too
As a teen in the 80s it was a huge deal for me to go to Darien Lake or Fantasy Island, and I only got to go once a year. Besides that, my health issues made it necessary for is to go only late in the day, as a long day in the hot sun world have devastating effects on my health. So in the couple occasions when it began to rain, it was devastating. I was promised a return trip but it didn't always happen.
So about the flooding after rain, I went to cedar point a few weeks ago and it was after a rain storm, and tons of people were in line for steel vengeance including me, and as the ride started testing again there was water everywhere so steel vengeance basically turned into a 200 ft tall log flume. Everyone waiting in line for it to open (including me) got drenched by the train going through the wet sections and making huge splashes of water.
I remember being at Wonderland and a tail end of a hurricane was coming through, almost all of Vaughan lost power so we sadly had to leave early. I think they tried to open Halloween haunt that day but ended up closing that too
I rode the mean streak right after a heavy rain before you could definitely tell a difference in speed and feel it hydroplaning and drifting on turns was kinda cool actually felt like a totally different experience
when i went to blackpool pleasure beach on opening day 2020 i was in the big one queue for quite a while and when i got on the ride they had to stop it due to high winds
vortex at canadas wonderland has automatic trim breaks called rain breaks that activate automatically when its raining or if the train is running too fast as the transfer tracks are too close together to transfer off trains, because of the swinging trains if they swing more than 80degrees, it could hit a train in the storage.
While I know that Disaster Transport is no longer there, it's an example of a ride that could not reopen immediately after any type of rain storm. Because it was a Bob Sled Coaster rain would pool in the valley's of the ride and take time to drain and dry. Yes it was an indoor ride, the building that was built around the original ride was not properly sealed from water causing the above issues.
Loved that coaster and could ride it all day.
R.I.P.
Having been a ride operator at legoland california resort, weather does happen there, contrary to popular belief, and I remember one storm that rolled through while i was operating the legoland express, started off with a light drizzle, then all of a sudden, massive downpour, however there was also a threat of lightning with that storm, and i was on the lookout for visable lighting anywhere near the park, as my rides location allowed me to kind of over look most of the park, and had i seen any, I would have immediately shut down, and evacuated the line, recomending everyone get to the lego movie world section of the park as it was the closest shelter to my rides location, thankfully it was just rain, but as operators we had the discretion, to shut down our rides, for lightning if we felt it was close enough. Granted that rarely ever happened before management chose to shut down the park for lightning.
B&M's can run in under 32 degrees. Six Flags Great Adventure does it a lot during Holiday in the Park. It's possible that they have done some modifications to the trains to allow operation in colder temperatures, but I don't know for sure. On the coldest nights, they disable the MCBR to avoid valleying. Since a train that stops there would be unlikely to make it back, I think that would mean disabling the entire block system. That of course means running only one train.
I used to work at Waldameer! I’m seeing so much footage from there in the video!
such a nice little park!
GP To Enthusiast for sure. One of my favorite parts of Erie!
Ello I've joined your disc server but all I can see is rules and info and front gate when do job think I will maybe get full access to general or other chats?
I was at thorpe park fright nights last year and it was raining a less then average so I ride swarm Front seat Biggest Mistake of my life
have you ever been on stealth in the rain because that really hurts
@@rollercoasterman8114 no but I think I don't wanna
@@rollercoasterman8114 I imagine falling with the rain would be kinda bitching visually but O W W holy shit
I've got a bit of a random question.
I'm curious, if money wasn't an issue with regards to creation and maintenance of a rollercoaster. is there any kind of material or technique that could maximize safety on them?
I've thought about that with regards to aircraft before but never considered on amusement park attractions.
i seem to have an uncanny ability to very often be on the last train that ends up running on a ride, just before the ride has to be closed due to weather conditions. personal favourite example of this was one time i was at alton towers, a couple who were just about to get on nemesis asked if me and my friend wanted to swap with them (i think one of them needed to find her glasses case to put them away or something) and the nearby ride operator said it was fine. of course as we're heading up the lift hill it suddenly goes from "cloudy, maybe some light drizzle on and off" to "torrential downpour", and had started hailing a bit by the time we got back into the station. nemesis is already a very intense ride, i certainly didn't need the added disorientation & feeling like my face was held directly under a pressure washer lol
Just curious, you mentioned that some parks have a lightning timer system but cedar park doesn't use it. What does cedar park use?
That was a decent amount of Waldameer footage I am happy because that is my homepark
Also Ravine Flyer 2 in the Rain is probably one of the most painful thing that isn't a ride failure in that park
I remember riding batman the ride at six flags new england during the storm. It was absolutely horrible, we were going so fast that the rain hitting our faces felt like bee stings. We were soaked, but we laughed after. We also managed to get to ride superman in the rain, that was much less horrible, more epic.
I would really love if someone who does these sorts of ride videos would do a sort of in depth coverage of The Whizzer at Six Flags Great America. I know the ride is very unique (with electric motors in each car). I know that they actually need to "cook" the trains on cold days, which entails putting them under tarps with space heaters to warm them up so that the electric motors can function. I also hear rumors about how difficult it is to maintain and refurbish all of the time. It's a really cool classic ride that I find very fascinating because I know it requires a lot of special care.
I was on king da ka when it first started to drizzle and I was in the front row.... That was so much fun but it felt like being stung constantly
I rode everything at Kings Island in a pretty decent storm all at night during Halloween Haunt, definitely one of the craziest nights of rides I've ever had!! Delerium (Giant Huss Frisbee) is just bonkers in a heavy rain!
Very rarely does any of the sensor input or hot rail equipment get affected by rain. Thru-beam photo eyes will operate no problem in rain and fog alike.
Retro-reflective photo eyes however sometimes get affected by fogged lenses.
The main reason is because of road wheels hydroplaning and can cause a short shot.
KI does phases for 2-9 weather. I work the Eiffel Tower and we are considered phase 1 along with rides like Drop Tower and Windseeker. My other ride the grand carousel is the very last phase and very rarely closes for weather. The only time it does is if it is a torrential downpour where rain is coming down sideways.
About how long after Lightning until rides can reopen? I’ve always been thinking 30 minutes, but I think that’s with public pools.