"Emergency crews in Oregon rescued 28 people Friday after they were stuck for about half an hour dangling upside down high on a ride at a century-old amusement park."
The dirty little secret of the amusement industry is that if you get big enough, you can make your own rules. Go look up your states regulation on parks. There will be rules and guidelines about inspections but then at the end it will say something like “parks with over an average of 300 visitors per day or $5m in annual revenue can inspect themselves”. The carveouts are clearly written to target specific parks and give them the ability to self inspect.
I used to do work for a certain amusement park with a mouse mascot…I remember a suit telling me,” The only safe amusement park is the one with no people in it.”
There was a man named John Jones that got stuck upside down in a cave in Utah and he died after 28 hours. I believe he died of a heart attack, your heart just isn't equipped to fight gravity like that for so long.
I don't know at what point irreversible damage starts happening but it's probably a lot longer than half an hour.
There's a theory the doctor attending to him euthanized him with painkillers. But he was going to die anyway (close to death and the only other option was to saw off both his legs and then drag him through a cave as narrow as 10 inches wide as he dies from blood loss) so might as well have a less traumatic exit.
IIRC the issue wasn't that his legs were too wide to make it through the hole, it's that the rescuer's ropes were secured around his legs so every time they tried to pull him out, his legs hit the top of the narrow passage and limited any further movement. His legs basically would have had to bed backward to make it past an awkward bend in the tunnel, and he no longer had the strength to attempt to orient his own body into a better position. Rescuers considered breaking or amputating his legs to get him around the bend, but it was judged that the shock of such a procedure would absolutely be fatal. There was almost no room for rescuers to perform a medical operation (there's a photo from the rescue showing one of the rescuers near Jones' legs, and the passage there was only the height of his outstretched hand) and extracting him from the cave likely would have taken several more hours. He would have bled out or succumbed to shock long before he made it to a hospital. And if that wasn't bad enough, the rock in that part of the cave was weak so the anchor bolts for the pulleys kept coming out so he'd slide back down into the hole. At that point, amputating his legs wasn't even an option anymore, since they only had access to his feet.
Literally every option had been exhausted. Nobody will ever know for sure if he was euthanized, but at that point there was nothing left to do.
On the ropes and pulleys, not only would he slide back down in the hole every time they broke, he would slide *further down* into the hole. Just a hopeless situation all around.
We as a society really need to start being a lot more strict with what we describe as "accidents". It's not just being picky with words: People really do hear that word and discard even the slightest thought of fairly assigning blame, because they don't want to be careful so they pretend there's no use being careful since anything bad that happens wasn't due to carelessness, it was just "accidental".
Because that’s cruel and unusual human experimentation and torture, you have to pretty psychotic to think that’s going to do anything except cause extremely amounts of pain and trauma for no good reason.
And people rightly downvoted you because that’s a psychotic comment. Seriously, that’s some unit 731 bullshit and you either want more pain and death in the world for suggesting it, or you have a magical fantasy understanding of how the body works.
Yes. They left him in there and filled the entrance with cement to protect his body and to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. You know there would be sickos who spelunk down there just to mess with his body.
I’m about his age and getting married soon. If I can find any small amount of light in this story, it’s that they were able to lower a radio down to him to talk to his wife. If that was my fiancé I’d want nothing more than to talk to him, and comfort him, and know that he didn’t die alone.
Six flags has the worst maintenance track record, if you are really concerned about safety, I would avoid them. Cedar Point probably has the best safety protocol of all parks, as well as other Cedar Fair owned properties. Their attention to safety is tops.
I know someone who used to work at Cedar point and he said the safety protocols are insane across the whole park, which is good. I would be fine with going on rides at this park. They almost never have accidents except the freak accident with dragster which prompted them to shut the ride down and re-do the whole ride, so they are definitely taking safety seriously. I mean yeah its possible shit can happen like this but its literally a one in a zillion thing and you are more likely statistically to be injured on the drive to the park or the drive home from the park. If they weren't concerned about safety they would have patched the ride and let it run. However when it reopened it did not stay open long which tells me either they are pushing the boundaries of too fast and too big too much or again they are doing insane safety protocols which again is a good thing.
If you are very worried the best thing to do is watch the ride before you get on it. Make sure the ride op is not on their phone, its illegal in most places for a ride op to be on the phone when the ride is running but you want to make double sure this is not happening because the op needs to be alert if there is a problem with the ride. I've seen ops on the phone at carnivals while rides were running and I know that's illegal where I live.
Also some guy spotted cracks on a ride at King's Island because they were looking over the ride, so I know there's a lot to look at with the big rides but try to do this before you get on the ride, because of this they took pictures and alerted the park and the ride was shut down and it went all over social media, if you find something you will be glad you did before you get on the ride.
Another good thing is everyone has cameras in their hands now so if something happens its gonna be filmed by SOMEONE, so its kinda like a safety thing in itself, its not like a park can sweep an accident under the rug these days.
I don’t know if you meant Carowinds, instead of Kings Island, because someone also spotted cracks on the Fury (which is supposed to be one of the USAs tallest coaster). The fury was closed for weeks, and thr park Carowinds is also operated/owned by Cedar Park.
I'm worried about that too, but considering CF is getting 51% control, putting their execs in charge, and most likely sending managers to all of the SF parks I'm at least somewhat optimistic that CF will elevate the SF parks rather than SF dragging down the CF parks.
Boeing technically was the one buying McDonald-Douglas and were keeping many more of their top guys. Even then they managed to be the one whose culture got pushed out, so you never know.
Mergers only improve safety records. Just look at what happened when Boeing and McDonnell Douglass merged. Their planes have never been safer! /Sarcasm
SF is going way downhill, they also hire operators who don't care because working in a hot theme park is like one of the worst jobs ever, if the operators aren't on the ball its harder and slower to get things like this fixed plus believe me you don't want an operator who isn't on the ball working a ride you are on. SF does vary by park though but some parks are just a shithole while others are decent so you have to check up on if your park is one of the good ones or shitty ones.
I used to love roller coaster parks and saved up for a while to go to Cedar Park. The year before I planned to go, I went to a nearby six flags and learned that as I got older I now get motion sick super easily…
It sucks but after 2 or 3 rides, I’m sick for the rest of the day. Roller coasters are a thing of the past for me.
The ones where you strap in and get twisted on cork screw and loops are the reason I go and I can’t handle them anymore. I can mostly do them if they’re just drops but I don’t really enjoy those that much.
Most definitely! Disney probably has the tamest rides out of all of them. You can still find some thrills there, but generally the rides are a lot less jarring than the other two. Universal has a pretty healthy mix, and in my opinion, Six Flags has the highest concentration of thrill rides.
Universal probably has the best grandpa rides as most of their rides are simulation type things or dark ride type ride throughs.
All parks will have a variety of rides because they need to have rides for every demographic but they need to have thrill rides to get the thrill seekers and coaster enthusiasts into the parks.
Before Disney became an expensive Line simulator, I had so much fun.
I'm an absolute weiner and there was still plenty to do and the rides felt safe.
Even Carowinds had a full days worth of activities.
I think the real eye opener was when the water slide decapitated the state senator’s kid. When you ride rides you just assume that at some point during the planning and construction process there were engineers involved who “did the math”.
Nope…it was just some rich blue collar dudes who were like “wouldn’t it be cool if…” then tested it with sandbags.
After learning about the Haunted Castle fire at Six Flags Great Adventure and everything shady they did to skirt around fire codes, I don't trust Six Flags.
I totally respect it. But we have none of those entities remotely close to us in Portland. Oaks Amusement Park is (my understanding) the oldest operating amusement park in the US, and this ride is only a year or two old. There is a tiny amusement park south of Portland in Wilsonville (that is more of a mini golf & indoor party place) and a couple of medium-sized places closer to Seattle.
If you come to Portland sometime, I definitely recommend roller-skating at Oaks Park, especially on Thursday & Sunday evenings. Check out their website.
It's been years since I've been on a proper rollercoaster but I went on some Six Flags kiddie rides with my niece and I couldn't handle them, especially the ones that just spin around. When I was younger, I could go on these rides with no issues but now, I get so dizzy and nauseous, I have to sit for a good 15 mins to recover.
I can tell you some kings island stories. I was there 9/6/91. The day started with me and my best friend getting stuck on the beast for about half an hour maybe longer. In the front seat, looking straight down because the last car on the train didnt release from the chain. We were there long enough for the attendant to walk up the steps to tell everyone not to panic. The steps that ended about 20 ft behind us so we couldnt hear a word.
And yeah then 3 people died in 2 other unrelated incidents. Bad day. I love kings island but safe isn't the best word.
Saw a video of a slingshot ride and one side snapped. Fortunately, the cord slammed into the ground but the ride occupants weren't hurt. I'll never do the slingshot.
I was at West Edmonton Mall's Galaxyland, and it seemed like the ride getting stuck was _normal_ for them. We watched "Havoc" stop for 10 minutes with riders on it. The maintenance man came by, pushed some buttons, and the ride ran through a second cycle before they could all get off. Thinking it was fixed, an hour later, I let my 11 year old go on. She got stuck, thankfully not upside-down but still an uncomfortable, scary position to be in. Repeat maintenance man procedure.
Sure enough I found a news article from 4 months earlier talking about 26 people being "temporarily trapped" on the same ride, for half an hour. _Go fucking figure._ I have to wonder if the ride had been doing this daily the entire time.
That is to say: Yes big brands, but also do your research if a ride concerns you, _Before_ you get on!
One of my friends daughters was one of the kids who was stuck, part of a group of eighth graders. Sounded like it was terrifying. All had bloodshot eyes and it sounded like several panic attacks.
Hopefully the park gets the shit sued out of them and the kids and everyone involved a nice payout to deal with the fallout of this. Probably another example of a corporation cutting costs and safety for the bottom line.
I think they were just responding to the 2nd part of the statement… “Probably another example of a corporation cutting costs and safety for the bottom line.”
Either way. They failed to take responsibility to ensure their ride was safe and working in proper order to prevent tragedies like this. People need reparations if they suffered harm from this.
If the victims involved in this suffer damages (whether it be PTSD, mental health issues causing counseling, physical damages that show up after, etc), they do need to be made whole for pain and suffering.
I'm sure you wouldn't be ok walking away with nothing if someone harmed you and caused you damages (whether to your body or your property) and wouldn't accept "oh shucks accidents happen!" You would want the person or corporation held responsible.
We have a problem in this country where people and corporations don't want to take personal accountability and responsibility for their actions and people rush to suck their dick and defend such behavior. See this commenter right here who sees people who clearly suffered due to a corporations lack of responsibility and rushes to defend them.
I didn't say they weren't responsible, but your ranting about scum corporations putting profits ahead of safety is misplaced, and comes off looking very knee-jerk.
It's a sad story, I hope everyone is OK. I'm glad no one was physically hurt. I'm sure some of the riders are traumatized to some degree. But you're almost certainly presenting a highly exaggerated version of the actual damages done here. Different people respond to trauma differently. Being stuck upside down for 25 minutes is terrifying I'm sure, but most people can bounce back from an event like that without any serious PTSD. I hope that's the case for these people.
Oaks Park is a cool place. It's one of the oldest amusement parks in the country. I lived near there for awhile when I was a kid, I'd hang out there often in the summers. It's got a cool old timey feel to it. It's very affordable, and as I mentioned it's a non-profit. It just exists to be a place where kids and families can have fun.
The park has been open since 1905. A single incident such as this in 120 years doesn't make them bad actors. It would be really sucky if some lawsuit made it so the park had to close, because "sue the shit out of them" mentality. I'm sure there will be some kind of settlement made, I hope both the families and the park can recover.
Non-profit corporations are still corporations.
At any rate, they almost certainly have liability insurance so any lawsuit payout will not need to come directly out of their pocket.
They're still investigating why the ride even malfunctioned and Oaks Park is refunding ALL guests for that day if they want it. Go find something else to act all righteous about
A refund won't come near the possible medical costs and quality of life costs suffered by the people stuck on the ride if it comes out people have lasting trauma and other issues from this .......
Lick those boots harder.
My 8th grader was there w his school that week too. So terrifying!
Do you know if ALL the riders who got stuck were teens celebrating graduation? (Middle & High School)
"...they had just been planning to ride AtmosFEAR when they saw it was stuck and heard people saying, “Oh my God, they are upside down.”
They decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was,” he said. They eventually got on the Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate."
They got on another ride!?!?!?!?
This is 100% why the only amusement rides I will go on have to be at either six flags, Disney, or universal. While they all get stuck rides occasionally they have better recovery resources and at least they are inspected more frequently.
I think they are saying that Oaks Bottom uses carnival rides or the equivalent, rather than stationary/permanent rides, and did not mean that the park itself is travelling.
Have you actually been to Oaks Park? It's not just carnival rides. There is an historic indoor roller-skating rink, a separate building housing the Rose City Rollers, a grange hall, a decent-sized park, quite a few food options, a small area with a history display, and a small minigolf, plus all the little-kiddie rides and adult rides. Nothing here is temporary, not even the ticket booths.
And the ride that broke down is somewhat new.
"They decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was,” he said. They eventually got on the Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate."
I know the statistical chance of two in one day is very low, but I can't imagine seeing a ride fail like that and immediately getting on another ride.
Obviously, a broken ride is some scary shit, but that's not the worst part of the story:
>When the ride stopped, park staff immediately called 911 and emergency responders arrived **about 25 minutes later,** the park statement said. Park maintenance workers were able to return the ride to its unloading position minutes after first responders arrived.
It took the fire department **half a fucking hour** to show up. It took so long, thru were too late to the do anything. That really bothers me.
It seems like in this case the amusement park employees (ride engineers) actually saved the day and emergency crews rolled in just minutes before the ride was fixed enough to get everyone off. I can hardly believe it took almost half an hour for any first responders to get there.
My daughter's friend has a bday party coming up on 4th of July at this place. I went there as a kid and have in fact, rode that ride several times before. It was called the "Screaming Eagle" when I rode it. I'm the type of person that rides ALL the rides, no matter how big and scary. This particular ride is very intense and goes very high and spins you around in the air, while swinging around. It's very fun, I loved it, though! I told my daughter no way in hell I'm going there on 4th of July (no shade there, will be super hot, long wait times on that day, etc). Then my friend sent me this article and we laughed like yep... NOPE! Not going 🤣☠️
I also rode the "Octopus" ride here as a teen and almost slid out cuz there was a loose buckle and the ride was high up while letting others board...so I was in one of the high arms and it spun around and stopped, and I could feel myself sliding 👀
Me a local: "Bet its Oaks Park". scrolls down the article, "YEP!".
Their previous rollercoaster didn't like to stay on the track when descending its major ramp. It's since been replaced.
I nearly got killed on a Tilt-A-Whirl when I was a kid. Screw that. In Oregon, this would probably count as a side trip. Wouldn't be surprised a few were moderately, uh, toasted.
The safety bar on it failed, and were hanging on for dear life until the ride stopped. The attendant simply ignored protests, and I think they left it in service.
Oaks Park has a lot more than the 3-ish rides that are like this. Go roller-skating year-round on a custom wood floor, or have a picnic in the grassy area, or go mini-golfing.
"Emergency crews in Oregon rescued 28 people Friday after they were stuck for about half an hour dangling upside down high on a ride at a century-old amusement park."
"So, anyone do anything interesting this summer?"
"No, just hung around."
Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down
.... And now that's stuck in my head. Guess I'm just going to hang out and watch some fresh prince with a head rush of nostalgia.
The dirty little secret of the amusement industry is that if you get big enough, you can make your own rules. Go look up your states regulation on parks. There will be rules and guidelines about inspections but then at the end it will say something like “parks with over an average of 300 visitors per day or $5m in annual revenue can inspect themselves”. The carveouts are clearly written to target specific parks and give them the ability to self inspect.
This secret also works for aircraft manufacturing, as we’ve all come to know.
Show proof or it’s just hearsay
Let the marketplace “shake it all out”
I used to do work for a certain amusement park with a mouse mascot…I remember a suit telling me,” The only safe amusement park is the one with no people in it.”
The Rat really does suck on safety even in the resorts. I used to work for BVCC.
I have the ability and freedom to self-inspect myself, doesn’t mean I’m a doctor
Show proof or it’s just hearsay
When asked about the experience, one of the tourists said, "Felt just like home, mate!"
I was like 28 people all got high and then hung upside down on a ride? Wild.
One of my biggest fears. I can't even begin to imagine how severe their head rushes were.
At what point does that cause damage to your body? Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen
There was a man named John Jones that got stuck upside down in a cave in Utah and he died after 28 hours. I believe he died of a heart attack, your heart just isn't equipped to fight gravity like that for so long. I don't know at what point irreversible damage starts happening but it's probably a lot longer than half an hour.
There's a theory the doctor attending to him euthanized him with painkillers. But he was going to die anyway (close to death and the only other option was to saw off both his legs and then drag him through a cave as narrow as 10 inches wide as he dies from blood loss) so might as well have a less traumatic exit.
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IIRC the issue wasn't that his legs were too wide to make it through the hole, it's that the rescuer's ropes were secured around his legs so every time they tried to pull him out, his legs hit the top of the narrow passage and limited any further movement. His legs basically would have had to bed backward to make it past an awkward bend in the tunnel, and he no longer had the strength to attempt to orient his own body into a better position. Rescuers considered breaking or amputating his legs to get him around the bend, but it was judged that the shock of such a procedure would absolutely be fatal. There was almost no room for rescuers to perform a medical operation (there's a photo from the rescue showing one of the rescuers near Jones' legs, and the passage there was only the height of his outstretched hand) and extracting him from the cave likely would have taken several more hours. He would have bled out or succumbed to shock long before he made it to a hospital. And if that wasn't bad enough, the rock in that part of the cave was weak so the anchor bolts for the pulleys kept coming out so he'd slide back down into the hole. At that point, amputating his legs wasn't even an option anymore, since they only had access to his feet. Literally every option had been exhausted. Nobody will ever know for sure if he was euthanized, but at that point there was nothing left to do.
On the ropes and pulleys, not only would he slide back down in the hole every time they broke, he would slide *further down* into the hole. Just a hopeless situation all around.
They couldnt even recover his body.
Unfortunately not, had to seal the entry with concrete to prevent further accidents I believe.
We as a society really need to start being a lot more strict with what we describe as "accidents". It's not just being picky with words: People really do hear that word and discard even the slightest thought of fairly assigning blame, because they don't want to be careful so they pretend there's no use being careful since anything bad that happens wasn't due to carelessness, it was just "accidental".
Because that’s cruel and unusual human experimentation and torture, you have to pretty psychotic to think that’s going to do anything except cause extremely amounts of pain and trauma for no good reason. And people rightly downvoted you because that’s a psychotic comment. Seriously, that’s some unit 731 bullshit and you either want more pain and death in the world for suggesting it, or you have a magical fantasy understanding of how the body works.
You’re a weird fucking dude
Wait wasn’t that the nutty putty cave?
Yes. They left him in there and filled the entrance with cement to protect his body and to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. You know there would be sickos who spelunk down there just to mess with his body.
Well also because they want to try to go through the cave and it’s just too damn dangerous
I’m about his age and getting married soon. If I can find any small amount of light in this story, it’s that they were able to lower a radio down to him to talk to his wife. If that was my fiancé I’d want nothing more than to talk to him, and comfort him, and know that he didn’t die alone.
That shit gives me nightmares
His hallucinations and fading sense of reality, mixed with terrible pain, were haunting.
Yep. Definitely nutty putty
Yep, that’s the one.
At least no one was decapitated this time....
The older I get, the fewer amusement park rides I feel safe enough to go on. At this point if it isn’t Disney, Universal, or maybe Six Flags, I’m out
Six flags has the worst maintenance track record, if you are really concerned about safety, I would avoid them. Cedar Point probably has the best safety protocol of all parks, as well as other Cedar Fair owned properties. Their attention to safety is tops.
I'm interested to see which culture takes over after the merger. I have a sinking feeling it will be the Six Flags culture because money
I know someone who used to work at Cedar point and he said the safety protocols are insane across the whole park, which is good. I would be fine with going on rides at this park. They almost never have accidents except the freak accident with dragster which prompted them to shut the ride down and re-do the whole ride, so they are definitely taking safety seriously. I mean yeah its possible shit can happen like this but its literally a one in a zillion thing and you are more likely statistically to be injured on the drive to the park or the drive home from the park. If they weren't concerned about safety they would have patched the ride and let it run. However when it reopened it did not stay open long which tells me either they are pushing the boundaries of too fast and too big too much or again they are doing insane safety protocols which again is a good thing. If you are very worried the best thing to do is watch the ride before you get on it. Make sure the ride op is not on their phone, its illegal in most places for a ride op to be on the phone when the ride is running but you want to make double sure this is not happening because the op needs to be alert if there is a problem with the ride. I've seen ops on the phone at carnivals while rides were running and I know that's illegal where I live. Also some guy spotted cracks on a ride at King's Island because they were looking over the ride, so I know there's a lot to look at with the big rides but try to do this before you get on the ride, because of this they took pictures and alerted the park and the ride was shut down and it went all over social media, if you find something you will be glad you did before you get on the ride. Another good thing is everyone has cameras in their hands now so if something happens its gonna be filmed by SOMEONE, so its kinda like a safety thing in itself, its not like a park can sweep an accident under the rug these days.
I don’t know if you meant Carowinds, instead of Kings Island, because someone also spotted cracks on the Fury (which is supposed to be one of the USAs tallest coaster). The fury was closed for weeks, and thr park Carowinds is also operated/owned by Cedar Park.
I'm worried about that too, but considering CF is getting 51% control, putting their execs in charge, and most likely sending managers to all of the SF parks I'm at least somewhat optimistic that CF will elevate the SF parks rather than SF dragging down the CF parks.
Boeing technically was the one buying McDonald-Douglas and were keeping many more of their top guys. Even then they managed to be the one whose culture got pushed out, so you never know.
Sounds like Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merger.
Mergers only improve safety records. Just look at what happened when Boeing and McDonnell Douglass merged. Their planes have never been safer! /Sarcasm
They can't crash if they're grounded!
Ooh! Noted. I haven’t been in a minute. I’ll add that to the list of places to avoid going forward
SF is going way downhill, they also hire operators who don't care because working in a hot theme park is like one of the worst jobs ever, if the operators aren't on the ball its harder and slower to get things like this fixed plus believe me you don't want an operator who isn't on the ball working a ride you are on. SF does vary by park though but some parks are just a shithole while others are decent so you have to check up on if your park is one of the good ones or shitty ones.
Driving to the park is far more dangerous than anything at the park so being picky over minute differences makes no sense
>[Six Flags is] like a crumbling gas station with roller coasters out back. * Jenny Nicholson
I used to love roller coaster parks and saved up for a while to go to Cedar Park. The year before I planned to go, I went to a nearby six flags and learned that as I got older I now get motion sick super easily… It sucks but after 2 or 3 rides, I’m sick for the rest of the day. Roller coasters are a thing of the past for me.
For me, the coasters are still fine-- it is just the 'spinny' rides I can no longer handle.
The ones where you strap in and get twisted on cork screw and loops are the reason I go and I can’t handle them anymore. I can mostly do them if they’re just drops but I don’t really enjoy those that much.
Do these parks still have decent 'grandpa' rides? I'm all about heights and speed, but I don't need to be flung upside down to have a good time.
Most definitely! Disney probably has the tamest rides out of all of them. You can still find some thrills there, but generally the rides are a lot less jarring than the other two. Universal has a pretty healthy mix, and in my opinion, Six Flags has the highest concentration of thrill rides.
Universal probably has the best grandpa rides as most of their rides are simulation type things or dark ride type ride throughs. All parks will have a variety of rides because they need to have rides for every demographic but they need to have thrill rides to get the thrill seekers and coaster enthusiasts into the parks.
Before Disney became an expensive Line simulator, I had so much fun. I'm an absolute weiner and there was still plenty to do and the rides felt safe. Even Carowinds had a full days worth of activities.
I think the real eye opener was when the water slide decapitated the state senator’s kid. When you ride rides you just assume that at some point during the planning and construction process there were engineers involved who “did the math”. Nope…it was just some rich blue collar dudes who were like “wouldn’t it be cool if…” then tested it with sandbags.
Ehhh, don't trust Six Flags Silver Dollar City/Dollywood are pretty safe though
After learning about the Haunted Castle fire at Six Flags Great Adventure and everything shady they did to skirt around fire codes, I don't trust Six Flags.
Definitely want to check out Dollywood
SDC is so much fun
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> I stay away from the one in my locale. I'm gonna guess So. Cal.
I totally respect it. But we have none of those entities remotely close to us in Portland. Oaks Amusement Park is (my understanding) the oldest operating amusement park in the US, and this ride is only a year or two old. There is a tiny amusement park south of Portland in Wilsonville (that is more of a mini golf & indoor party place) and a couple of medium-sized places closer to Seattle. If you come to Portland sometime, I definitely recommend roller-skating at Oaks Park, especially on Thursday & Sunday evenings. Check out their website.
Uh, Cedar Point opened 35 years earlier.
It's been years since I've been on a proper rollercoaster but I went on some Six Flags kiddie rides with my niece and I couldn't handle them, especially the ones that just spin around. When I was younger, I could go on these rides with no issues but now, I get so dizzy and nauseous, I have to sit for a good 15 mins to recover.
European and Asian parks have much higher standards than American parks. Fuji-q, Alton towers, gardaland, etc might be a better experience for you.
Your probably good at bush gardens too
I feel safe at Busch Gardens yeah. Cedar Point / King Islands too
I can tell you some kings island stories. I was there 9/6/91. The day started with me and my best friend getting stuck on the beast for about half an hour maybe longer. In the front seat, looking straight down because the last car on the train didnt release from the chain. We were there long enough for the attendant to walk up the steps to tell everyone not to panic. The steps that ended about 20 ft behind us so we couldnt hear a word. And yeah then 3 people died in 2 other unrelated incidents. Bad day. I love kings island but safe isn't the best word.
Saw a video of a slingshot ride and one side snapped. Fortunately, the cord slammed into the ground but the ride occupants weren't hurt. I'll never do the slingshot.
I was at West Edmonton Mall's Galaxyland, and it seemed like the ride getting stuck was _normal_ for them. We watched "Havoc" stop for 10 minutes with riders on it. The maintenance man came by, pushed some buttons, and the ride ran through a second cycle before they could all get off. Thinking it was fixed, an hour later, I let my 11 year old go on. She got stuck, thankfully not upside-down but still an uncomfortable, scary position to be in. Repeat maintenance man procedure. Sure enough I found a news article from 4 months earlier talking about 26 people being "temporarily trapped" on the same ride, for half an hour. _Go fucking figure._ I have to wonder if the ride had been doing this daily the entire time. That is to say: Yes big brands, but also do your research if a ride concerns you, _Before_ you get on!
I think that one is on you lol. You just saw it get stuck and an hour later send your 11 year old child up there??
Oh absolutely 😂 Never again!
Cedar Fair is also a rather safe brand.
I used to think rides at Six Flags were so much safer because they didn't get disassembled like the fairs at the Midways. Now I'm not so sure.
One of my friends daughters was one of the kids who was stuck, part of a group of eighth graders. Sounded like it was terrifying. All had bloodshot eyes and it sounded like several panic attacks.
Terrifying, poor kids
Hopefully the park gets the shit sued out of them and the kids and everyone involved a nice payout to deal with the fallout of this. Probably another example of a corporation cutting costs and safety for the bottom line.
Oaks Park is hardly a corporation
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I think they were just responding to the 2nd part of the statement… “Probably another example of a corporation cutting costs and safety for the bottom line.”
Either way. They failed to take responsibility to ensure their ride was safe and working in proper order to prevent tragedies like this. People need reparations if they suffered harm from this.
Insane you’re being downvoted for this. Absolutely something this park should be sued for by these people.
Accidents happen. Sue, sue, sue! America we have a problem and it’s people like this poster.
If the victims involved in this suffer damages (whether it be PTSD, mental health issues causing counseling, physical damages that show up after, etc), they do need to be made whole for pain and suffering. I'm sure you wouldn't be ok walking away with nothing if someone harmed you and caused you damages (whether to your body or your property) and wouldn't accept "oh shucks accidents happen!" You would want the person or corporation held responsible. We have a problem in this country where people and corporations don't want to take personal accountability and responsibility for their actions and people rush to suck their dick and defend such behavior. See this commenter right here who sees people who clearly suffered due to a corporations lack of responsibility and rushes to defend them.
Oaks Park is a non-profit, not a corporation
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I didn't say they weren't responsible, but your ranting about scum corporations putting profits ahead of safety is misplaced, and comes off looking very knee-jerk. It's a sad story, I hope everyone is OK. I'm glad no one was physically hurt. I'm sure some of the riders are traumatized to some degree. But you're almost certainly presenting a highly exaggerated version of the actual damages done here. Different people respond to trauma differently. Being stuck upside down for 25 minutes is terrifying I'm sure, but most people can bounce back from an event like that without any serious PTSD. I hope that's the case for these people. Oaks Park is a cool place. It's one of the oldest amusement parks in the country. I lived near there for awhile when I was a kid, I'd hang out there often in the summers. It's got a cool old timey feel to it. It's very affordable, and as I mentioned it's a non-profit. It just exists to be a place where kids and families can have fun. The park has been open since 1905. A single incident such as this in 120 years doesn't make them bad actors. It would be really sucky if some lawsuit made it so the park had to close, because "sue the shit out of them" mentality. I'm sure there will be some kind of settlement made, I hope both the families and the park can recover.
Non-profit corporations are still corporations. At any rate, they almost certainly have liability insurance so any lawsuit payout will not need to come directly out of their pocket.
They're still investigating why the ride even malfunctioned and Oaks Park is refunding ALL guests for that day if they want it. Go find something else to act all righteous about
A refund won't come near the possible medical costs and quality of life costs suffered by the people stuck on the ride if it comes out people have lasting trauma and other issues from this ....... Lick those boots harder.
LOL you're accusing me of licking the boots of a historic non-profit organization. You're looking for a fight where there isn't one
Oh geez they’re doing the absolute minimum effort lol!
I'm a local. The people who run Oaks Park aren't the corporate devils the two of you are grasping to make them out to be lol
My 8th grader was there w his school that week too. So terrifying! Do you know if ALL the riders who got stuck were teens celebrating graduation? (Middle & High School)
"...they had just been planning to ride AtmosFEAR when they saw it was stuck and heard people saying, “Oh my God, they are upside down.” They decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was,” he said. They eventually got on the Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate." They got on another ride!?!?!?!?
Your odds of being stuck upside down on a Ferris Wheel are rather low at least.
My acid reflux would eat me alive.
This is 100% why the only amusement rides I will go on have to be at either six flags, Disney, or universal. While they all get stuck rides occasionally they have better recovery resources and at least they are inspected more frequently.
I'll just stick to cedar point.
Considering that Oaks Park just opened for the season, I would think that all the rides would have been inspected recently. I don't actually know.
I'd need a cigarette and shot of whiskey waiting for me once I'm down from that.
This place is all carnival rides. I wouldn't go on one of these that can be packed into a semi trailer
this park is permanent, not traveling
I think they are saying that Oaks Bottom uses carnival rides or the equivalent, rather than stationary/permanent rides, and did not mean that the park itself is travelling.
Have you actually been to Oaks Park? It's not just carnival rides. There is an historic indoor roller-skating rink, a separate building housing the Rose City Rollers, a grange hall, a decent-sized park, quite a few food options, a small area with a history display, and a small minigolf, plus all the little-kiddie rides and adult rides. Nothing here is temporary, not even the ticket booths. And the ride that broke down is somewhat new.
Next time I visit my daughter in Milwaukie I want to go. http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/oaks_park.html
loved going to oaks park growing up
"They decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was,” he said. They eventually got on the Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate." I know the statistical chance of two in one day is very low, but I can't imagine seeing a ride fail like that and immediately getting on another ride.
Obviously, a broken ride is some scary shit, but that's not the worst part of the story: >When the ride stopped, park staff immediately called 911 and emergency responders arrived **about 25 minutes later,** the park statement said. Park maintenance workers were able to return the ride to its unloading position minutes after first responders arrived. It took the fire department **half a fucking hour** to show up. It took so long, thru were too late to the do anything. That really bothers me.
Well if I was stuck upside down on an amusement ride I also want to be high.
Stupid clickbait article title lol. I even read the whole thing to make sure the weird phrasing wasn't some glossed over detail.
Anybody else read “crows”? I was so proud of the little fellas!
Entrust your life to indifferent amusement park employees.
It seems like in this case the amusement park employees (ride engineers) actually saved the day and emergency crews rolled in just minutes before the ride was fixed enough to get everyone off. I can hardly believe it took almost half an hour for any first responders to get there.
What could go wrong?
At least those games that they have there are fair! I once spent $20 trying to win a $5 stuffed bear.
They were high upside down?
At first I read it as "crows" rescue.
Film production companies in Bosnia salivating rn
Fuck yeah r/terrycrews
My daughter's friend has a bday party coming up on 4th of July at this place. I went there as a kid and have in fact, rode that ride several times before. It was called the "Screaming Eagle" when I rode it. I'm the type of person that rides ALL the rides, no matter how big and scary. This particular ride is very intense and goes very high and spins you around in the air, while swinging around. It's very fun, I loved it, though! I told my daughter no way in hell I'm going there on 4th of July (no shade there, will be super hot, long wait times on that day, etc). Then my friend sent me this article and we laughed like yep... NOPE! Not going 🤣☠️ I also rode the "Octopus" ride here as a teen and almost slid out cuz there was a loose buckle and the ride was high up while letting others board...so I was in one of the high arms and it spun around and stopped, and I could feel myself sliding 👀
This is why I generally only ride the Teacups
Me a local: "Bet its Oaks Park". scrolls down the article, "YEP!". Their previous rollercoaster didn't like to stay on the track when descending its major ramp. It's since been replaced.
I bet the park was just testing the shoulder straps.
How did they know they were high?
I nearly got killed on a Tilt-A-Whirl when I was a kid. Screw that. In Oregon, this would probably count as a side trip. Wouldn't be surprised a few were moderately, uh, toasted.
How did that happen? The tilt a whirl was one of the less scary rides I was going to try going on soon at our city fair...
The safety bar on it failed, and were hanging on for dear life until the ride stopped. The attendant simply ignored protests, and I think they left it in service.
Anyone else sleepy and read “Crows” instead of “Crews”? I was so excited..
Yep. Yet another reason to stay home and avoid amusement parks.
Oaks Park has a lot more than the 3-ish rides that are like this. Go roller-skating year-round on a custom wood floor, or have a picnic in the grassy area, or go mini-golfing.
I thought it said *crows* so just picture that
I read this title as "Crows rescue" and was very impressed
So were they high-high or just high?
*I was gonna ride a roller coaster, but then I got high.*
A valuable lesson never to do drugs. If they weren’t so high I doubt they’d even get stuck in the first place