Stupid Guest Tricks

Oops, thought is was Six Flags because my former home park was Six Flags Great America.

Syndrome wrote:... to be used by the theme park and all the other guests ...

Aw, I was just starting to imagine all the cruel ways an SG could be used when I realized you probably meant sued. <sigh> Oh, well. ;)

Hmm..ok here is what Themeparkinsider.com had for Paramount Great America (posted 2002 for a 1998 accident):

A woman broke her leg, and a man was killed. A couple went on the Top Gun rollercoaster, where the wife lost her hat. After the ride, her husband decided to jump a fence, ignoring several warning signs, to go get his wife's hat. As he was getting the hat, the train came by, he was kicked in the head by a female rider. The woman on the coaster broke her leg, the man on the ground was killed.

MAPO

This has happened more than once...turns out it DID happen at a Six Flags park too:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373341,00.html

Oh, and Wombat, I suspect that was a Freudian slip on my part.

techie-13 wrote:The follow-up is usually the family of the Darwin Award contestant suing the park because there were not enough signs or fences. I know of a case where the family claimed the park was in the wrong because the gates he went through (to get backstage) and the 6ft. (locked) fence he went over (into the ride area), only had signage in English. And unfortunately, they often cause others to get hurt in their attempts to retrieve the article. :mad: He died but before that happened he shattered a woman's leg (she was on the ride)with his skull. Since this occurred at the first drop of the ride, she was forced to endure the G-forces of the rest of the coaster ride with a broken leg.

something similar happened at the Jersey Shore, I think it was at Wildwood on the Nor'easter about 5 years ago or so. Let me google.

shinysparklybubbles wrote:something similar happened at the Jersey Shore, I think it was at Wildwood on the Nor'easter about 5 years ago or so. Let me google.

OKay, so I was really off on the date, it was 1995 and it was a worker that was struck.

Syndrome wrote:This has happened more than once...turns out it DID happen at a Six Flags park too:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373341,00.html

That's the one I was thinking about. Sad part when it was discussed on Fox News (call ins),about 75% of the people laid the blame completely on the park. :mad:

Bizarre Coaster Accident Kills Hayward Man at Great America

BYLINE: Chris Heredia, Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writers

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 504 words

DATELINE: SANTA CLARA

A man trying to retrieve a cap from under the tracks of a high-speed roller coaster was struck and killed yesterday in a bizarre accident at Paramount's Great America amusement park in Santa Clara.

The victim, identified as 25-year-old Hector Mendoza of Hayward, had gotten off the Top Gun roller coaster about 2:30 p.m. and apparently climbed over a chain-link fence to retrieve his cap in an area that is off-limits to park visitors, Santa Clara police said.

As he was getting the cap, the Top Gun ride passed overhead and he was hit in the head by the dangling foot of a woman riding the coaster. Paramedics rushed him to Valley Medical Center, where he died about an hour later.


Top Gun, which opened in 1993, is a Swiss-made inverted steel roller coaster with floorless coaches suspended below the track. Passengers ride, with their legs dangling, at speeds of as high as 50 miles an hour. A ride lasts two minutes and 26 seconds.

After getting off the ride, Mendoza had pushed open a door marked "Employees Only," park officials said.

Then he climbed the fence and "entered a secured area to go after his hat," Sergeant Anton Morec said. "It was a freak accident, a terrible tragedy."
The coaster rider, 28-year-old Jessica Medina of San Jose, was treated for a fractured right leg at Valley Medical Center.

The Top Gun ride was shut down for the day, but the park remained open. The black cap lay on the ground in the shadow of the coaster track, with a police evidence tag on it.

Mendoza, who had moved to Hayward from the state of Jalisco in Mexico, worked for a window company. He was visiting the park with his wife of two months and his brother-in-law.

At the family home in Hayward, relatives were distraught.
"It's very sad," said Jose Ledezma, the victim's uncle. "He was a nice guy. Just got married. It is sad for someone to die at his age."

It was the third fatality in Great America's history. In 1989, a 9-year-old boy was killed when he fell under a fiberglass log on a water ride. In 1980, a 13-year-old boy was killed on the Willard's Whizzer roller coaster after two trains collided.

In another accident on Willard's Whizzer in 1982, 16 people were injured when a train with worn wheels rolled backwards into another train at the loading station.

Park officials would not allow reporters to speak to patrons or employees inside the park yesterday. Public relations manager Timothy Chanaud said it would "ruin their day."

In the parking lot, departing patron Ruben Ramirez was shocked to learn about the accident from bystanders. He said the park had made no announcement.
"They should close the ride," he said. "And there must be more security."

Chanaud said precautions at the ride were adequate, pointing out that there was a sign in place on the door and no holes or gaps in the fence surrounding the area where Mendoza was struck. He said the park plans to reopen the Top Gun ride to visitors on Saturday, the next day the park is scheduled to be open.

Teddykeiko86 wrote:I don't get what goes through their minds as they hope a fence ( there for reason) to retrieve an article that most likely didn't survive the fall (phones).

Not saying what they are doing is right. but if the phone had the insurance plan then broken or not it has to be turned back in to make a claim.
That's different then a Lost or stolen phone claim.