The Infamous Top Thrill Dragster Accident 2021 (Documentary)
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
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The in-depth story of Top Thrill Dragster Accident 2021. Imagine moving from a standstill to a breakneck 120mph (193 kph) in just 3.9 seconds. That's the promise that the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster has delivered on since its first iconic ride in 2003.
But the 420-foot-tall (128 meters) Cedar Point ride hasn’t moved since a devastating accident left a woman with severe brain injuries.
So in this video, I am analyzing the incidents that ended the Top Thrill Dragster.
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The family probably hasn't said anything because when you're suing the living crap out of somebody your lawyer typically tells you not to talk about it publicly until after proceedings have concluded.
Hopefully she's okay.
Agree 💯 even with the logs saying all “recommended” maintenance was upheld, this won’t hold well in court. I hope she’s ok too.
Yeah, #1 rule from lawyers is always "shut up".
@@RandomPerson-nd2ey "shut up and don't consent to any field test, as they can only hurt you." [Apparently field tests can only be used against you, not in your favor]
Cedar Point is worth 3.38 BILLION dollars. They deserve compensation. The 1% get away with TOO much!.
You never speak publicly on an open case. Everyone needs to know that. Your lawyer is the only one who should be talking.
Working at Cedar Point over the summer, this was a pretty touchy subject. I’d often get people asking me (a supervisor) about it and I wasn’t really supposed to say much. Not because we weren’t allowed, but because we didn’t want to ruin people’s day at the park. We would sometimes talk about things at morning meetings but the number one thing was focusing on safety, and making sure something like this could never happen again.
that sounds exactly like the lawyers wrote it
Everything mechanical is going to break.All the inspections and maintenance in the world can't catch everything. Just remember that the next time you get on a thrill ride. Or in your car for that matter.
Yeah... _talking_ about safety is about all most theme parks ever do. Once the proposal comes in with a total the safety takes a back seat.
You've been very well indoctrinated: "Not because we weren't allowed..." 😉
yeah, it’s clear you’ve never worked in a theme park before, let alone any job that takes safety seriously.
The amount of precautions we were taught to ensure people are safe at the park is a staggering amount. There are an extreme amount of redundancies and checks and rechecks to make sure people are safe at not just our park, but every park.
Do some things happen? Yes. Are the common? Not in the slightest.
Don’t come here and say “indoctrinated” when you’ve got no idea what you’re talking about
@@TheNuckinFoob i think this is just largely unfair. There's a standard of diligence expected of operators and management and all pertinent documents showed that they were compliant to the last letter but these things are just so random, it's hard to pin liability. Even extraordinary diligence does not insure against absolutely any random risk or error.
i remember when i was a kid my family drove to cedar point from illinois, and my dad was super excited to ride the dragster because he loves cars. my sister and my mother were too scared to ride, so it was just me and him on it. the whole experience of riding it was ingrained in my memory, i remember them weighing us and doing all these extra safety percautions. my dad was pointing out how all the mechanics worked for the lauching system while we waited in line. and although it was a short ride it was so wonderful. being at the top and looking over to my dad was such a wonderful memory. it's a shame to see such an innovative ride get retired, but it's for the best. the ride has gotten too old and hurt too many people. i hope she makes as speedy and as full of a recovery you can get with those injuries.
actually, there is a good chance of the ride re-opening, as construction at the park points towards the ride not closing, and instead being refitted with a new launch system, along with possibly new trains.
@@olileoli2788 I really hope so. I'm from California and only visited Cedar Point once. It was kinda sad thinking I'd never have an opportunity to ride it again. If it is retired, I'd glad I got to ride it three times, it really is amazing. My last ride was right at park closing when the fireworks were going off.
I live less than 2 hours from Cedar Point and have so many great memories there. Millennium Force is my favorite ride but Top Thrill was exhilarating, especially after a few hours of hitting all the other rides. The adrenaline rush has you seeking out a bigger and faster coaster than the one you just stepped off of. The fastest and tallest ride at Cedar Point and also one of the fastest and tallest coasters in the entire world, Top Thrill Dragster is the ultimate rush for many roller coaster lovers. After riding the Top Thrill Dragster all the other big coasters no longer give you that jittery anticipation and nervousness like before. The rides are still an absolute blast and I will definitely be running back in line to ride the Magnum for the 4th time in a row since it’s late in the day and there is basically no line. Get off and get back on in 5 minutes. Ride the Raptor and Millennium Force and all the other top rides as many times as you can once it turns dark and families start to trail out. Like I said so many great times at Cedar Point.
Why did they have to use simple metal angle iron ? It would seem that a softer plastic with a rare earth magnet could be redesigned.
It truly is amazing isn't it. This poor ride has had nothing but problems though. Whether you have ever experienced it or not we all know the name for all the wrong reasons.
I did a quick Google search, and according to current reports from February 2022 the victim did in fact survive. They have not come out about her overall status, but I feel for now knowing that she is still alive is joyous enough. Keeping her and family in my thoughts and prayers
Thanks for the update
Victims of traumatic brain injuries of this magnitude generally have a relatively low quality of life. The outcomes are so much worse than something like a loss of limbs that they’re almost incomparable. Truly tragic.
Yeah having a bad head injury isn't joyous. I'd rather die then suffer a lifetime of misery
Wow thoughts AND prayers, you're such a great person!
Thanks for doing the research the creator of the video overlooked.
My goodness, this poor woman. I’m glad to hear she survived, but I hope she’s recovering alright. A serious head injury could completely change someone’s quality of life.
fr especailly with how fast it flew straight at her and how she fell from pain jesus
oh really?
unfortunately, the story is not looking good. her quality of life has been dramatically impacted according to the lawsuit. really tragic stuff
@@skippythealien9627 my goodness, how horrible
She's permanently disabled now.
Those countersunk screws like those holding the bracket to the car have to be EXTREMELY precise in order to hold properly. You can also see at 6:49 they sheared right at the base of the head, and had no Loctite to hold them in to keep them from backing out, and being improperly re-torqued. This was a design flaw.
work on mining equipment, if the penalty for failure for having a stud back out is something can fly off and hit someone we use loctite / topcoat on the threads, and tack weld the nut to the bolt. Or in this case I would have tack welded the head of the set screw on 2 of the corners. It sucks to take off cause you need to gind the weld off and, the set screws are single use, but you know its on and you know its not coming out until you want it to.
* Edit* In this case the wrong grade of bolts being used is more worrying, Grade 5 would be minimum for this application but we only allow grade 8 and higher when a bolt is securing something that protects/ lifts people. I would also absolutely make it mandatory to scrap any and all bolts/ set screws on the ride train, twice a year and only allow re-torquing once before they are replaced. You do not want to allow the bolts or set screws to stretch or get fatigued from repeated torquings. Grade 8 hex head cap screws with a drilled in security pin (castle nuts) are not that expensive we are talking, $5-6 per nut, bolt washers and cotter pins. and you'd only need to take those measures on the ride train it. Safety is cheap to fix this sadly.
I bet the park makes those proxy sensor brackets themselves...it's just angle iron that's clearly been rough cut and drilled. If it's a wear item they just probably fab them up themselves. Either way, there was not even bolt marker paint on the screw heads nor retaining compound. Both of these are pretty industry standard on roller coaster trains due to extreme vibrations and forces. It's negligence and the state investigation was s piss poor cover-up, they didn't even connect with the ride's OEM, Intamin on service procedure.
@@BType13X2 I'm just randomly curious. How does temperature fluctuations affect torque screws? Whether from morning/night freeze to in the sun and heat of operation. Without the tack weld? It's certainly a design flaw by Intamin. Who are well known for their design flaws. Sadly. Kind of seems silly to me to have a flag plate at all. Why not just use the train itself. Aim the sensor upwards, or something.
@@jonny-b4954 The tempurature fluctuations shouldn't matter as long as you are setting the screws into a similar type of metal. Steel expands and contracts at the same temperatures and generally at the same rates. As long as the metals are similar it will have no discernable effect. Now the same can't be said if you are using steel bolts to join brass plates, or aluminum with brass, the expansion and contraction would be too different and either your studs or plates would fail. But again these are steel studs/ cap screws going into steel plates. Once torqued and tack welded they don't go anywhere.
We have 48 bolt pattern into a flange holding a final drive together on a crawlerframe. Each 1.25" bolt gets topcoat, and torqued to 3,000 ft/lbs. They din't move at all from -40C to +35C. We went to retorque them after a winter installation there was no need to do so, hydraulic wrench didn't even engage.
You will only have problems with a grade 5 or 8 bolt stretching if you continually re-use that bolt and continually subject it repeated over torquing's or retorquing. Hell we even have tattle tale bolts that if you overtorque them a red strip appears on the bolt and nut, and those again are pretty cheap. This was 50% poor design and 50% the park using the wrong hardware. In the video it was mentioned that the park was using the wrong grade bolts from the manufacturer. I don't know why the park didn't get more blame for this.
Where did all you folks get your engineering degree?
I find it so amazing that you can be stood this close to a ride (especially a launch ride) without any overhead protection. It’s the same with stealth at Thorpe park you’re right next to the launch. And whilst I know there’s a lot of safety on rollercoasters there’s still accidents like this that slip through. Personally think if you’re going to put the queue that close there needs to be something overhead
I was a few feet away from the front of the ride in 2004 when the launch cable snapped. It was terrifying to witness at that distance. I vividly remember the sound of it snapping, the sound of it hitting the fence in front of me (it was so fast I couldn't see it) and snapping back onto the front of the ride. I can still remember the first few riders screaming. After that, I went about my day disappointed that I didn't get to ride TTD. Looking back I was lucky that neither I or the riders in the car didn't get hurt or killed. I also remember thinking at the time that I thought the ride used strictly magnets and was confused by the cable snapping.
No that's a great point at that speed glasses hats or even jewelry could fly off and cause injury definitely should've had overhead covering protecting people in line. I had a good friend almost get hit by a camera around a person's neck in the 90s on the Magnum at Cedar Point it shouldn't have been on the person but they hid it under there zipped up jacket and on the last stretch of hills it flew off almost hitting my friend Square in the face going about 60mph.
@@midwestmike613 I genuinely think it should be a mandatory requirement. A good example of what I’m talking about is the smiler at Alton towers. The queue is like metal cages so if anything falls out of anyone’s pockets (with 14 inversions it’s not unlikely and the queue is directly beneath) it’s only going to hit the bars.
Even the other rides at Alton towers have nets where there’s potential drop zones, I can think of many parks that don’t have anything. It’s stupidly dangerous and it’s not unlikely thinking about how big rollercoaster queues get
Yeah, they should just send trains while others are rolled back on the track like Alton Towers, then you smiley for the x-ray cameras.
@Troll2640 you tell this to the enthusiast 😂
Meanwhile you’re doing a great job of living up to your name 🤡
I was working at Millennium Force that day and we initially assumed TTD went down due to wind or mechanical issues. We only found out about the incident after our shift and from the guests who were frantically asking us what we knew (which was nothing). It's a ride operator's worst nightmare and something I'm sure haunts the minds of the operators working the ride that day as well as the guests in line. From what I heard, a couple more cars were launched before the operator working merge was able to phone up to controls and the guests were in panic and ducking not knowing if something else would fly off from the remaining cars. With that said, as a former ride op, knowing the things I found in the danger zones during a lockout-tagout I doubt this was the first time something like this flew off the train or track, but rather it was the first time someone got hit. The same season, Gatekeeper's lift completely snapped causing an evacuation from the hill and not long after Millie's catch car overshot the hill. So next time you see a ride down and it isn't because of the weather, know it's for your own safety.
Oddly enough, I ended up running into a relative of the victim back in the Fall of 2021. I don't remember much about about the conversation other than at the time at least, the victim was alive but still in the Hospital and the family didn't want the attention nor the negative press for the company. It really is a small world.
Hmm, the other trains didn't cause an error to come up and stop the ride? Since that flag sensor thing was broken?
TTD has no Merge. It was Crowd 1 and it was me.
Now you know that Cedar Point's number one concern isn't safety or guest satisfaction....it's *SECRECY* . Someone who worked maintenance has actually been telling things to that effect, that they've been skimping. The training on rides for new employees was pathetic that year, despite all this IROC stuff.
I think MF is in a different area so I assume "W" wasn't your area manager (I don't have my list on me). In retrospect was there an attempt to enforce a gag order? Was there an attempt at communication with your fellow ride operators, TLs and supervisors regarding safety?
Lies
@pk26pk26 either you worked for a really sketchy ass amusement park, or said mechanic was making shit up. As a coaster enthusiast, one that especially enjoys the mechanical engineering side of things, I can assure you that roller coasters are too regulated. You could get rid of a lot of safety standards and they still be safe. Not following said standards is extremely illegal and with daily inspections its almost impossible to get away with. NJ has a law where if a coaster is over a certain hight it needs over the shoulder restraints which makes no fucking difference other than comfort. Restraints are actually chosen based on what would be the most comfortable for riders.
It's sad that even when doing everything right something can go wrong.
Well nothing in the world Is perfect :(
@Nobody Important The biggest danger at any park is some a hole with their phone out they can kill you just as easily as coaster tail fins
They weren't doing everything right though, they noted that the bolts that were being used were of the wrong type / grade. To a layman who doesn't know any better they did the maintenance as prescribed. But there are massive differences betweens grades 3, 5, and 8 bolts and set screws. The forces underwhich they will shear and fail are magnitudes different, and this tragedy was the result of the hardware failing.
@Nobody Important parks are very safe, but shit goes wrong, rarely but it can go wrong
@@BType13X2 OK... but the state found that they did nothing wrong... even when noting the bolt issues, and did nite cite, fine, or otherwise issue a ruling against them.
Whenever I hear these stories I always think imagine being the riders that rode safely right before the tragic accident or being the people on line being next up to ride after the accident and how lucky they are.
Eminem was booked on a 911 flight but missed it because he was too high on drugs
Or even the people on that specific car, not knowing what had happened when they got off
@@rmac3217 I heard that about Seth Mcfarlane. But he just overslept. If Eminem died in 9/11. He would def be ranked #1 Rapper All Time.
@@rmac3217 Hahaha that's the best pro-drug argument I've ever heard :D
@@Shabon67 Actually it's a good way to look at life. I justify poker mistakes like this, every action creates a reaction.
There seems to be a lot of misinformation surrounding theme park ride in the comments. To start off, theme parks are very safe, much safer than driving a car in fact, the chance of getting injured on a ride is almost 0, unfortunately some parks around the world have decided to cheap out on inspections and maitenance, or just have incompetent workers, leading to many of the theme park "disasters" you see today. Cedar Point is one of America's most popular theme parks, and is located in Ohio, a state which has some of the strictest ride laws in the world. Cedar Point is an extremely safe theme park, and incidents like this are EXTREMELY rare at the park. Many believe this incident was due to "teens doing inspections" or "Cedar Point being cheap" when in truth it's illegal for an unqualified person to be a ride technician, and Cedar Point definetly doesnt cheap out. The true culprit would be Intamin, which is the company that designed and built Top Thrill Dragster, and provides instructions on how to maintenance the ride. The company is actually known for becoming recent enemies with Cedar Point due to their very expensive ride that require very high maintenance constantly. Top Thrill Dragster was probably the worst of these, costing Cedar Point millions in maintenance a year and the ride closing down nearly every day of the summer for small issues that effect the entire ride. I hope this clears some things up and let me know if I missed anything.
Edit: this comment is like a month old why are people still replying to this
That sure didn't help their case if they're complaining about doing proper maintenance. I didn't see type of bolt, what the bolts job was or a torque figure in that form about tightening 16 bolts either. I also didn't see an engineer sign off. I have a feeling these bolts had a habit of loosening and park staff whatever their title over-torqued them. Bad design too as they appear to rely on bolt stretch as their only way to stay tight which is for single use bolts like head bolts in some cars or rod bolts.
The only thing I noticed in the video that would lead me to point blame at cedar point is where it was stated that in the incident report the wrong hardware was used. The differences between grades 3, 5 and 8 hardware are massive in terms of what loads they fail under and what their shear strength is. If all procedures were being followed why did they find incorrect hardware after the indicent in use? I don't want to cast blame on those doing maintenance because they may not have known the difference, to them a bolt may have been a bolt and a a 3/8" -16 set screw to them may be the same as any other 3/8" -16 set screw. This accident ultimately came down to a failure in the hardware securing that bracket to the ride train. Now Ceder Point may have been cleared from all responsibility because of the crappy design of that bracket, and a crappy design of the ride systems which cause the bracket to be hit, but the incident report would have me absolutely pissed off at the maintenance department heads for the wrong hardware being on the train and it being noted. They dodged a liability bullet on this.
some are saying how the rules and inspections should be even more stricked...well....these same people cry about how high the costs are now for theme parks and the costs will go even higher if the rules were even harder to pass inspections and these same people will still cry about higher prices to get in now....the fact that people today(Americans mostly) can't wrap their tiny heads around the fact that accidents sometimes happen no matter what is retarded. yes, park should still pay the family, that is what liability insurance is for in business. nothing is ever 100% safe. some people can't be happy unless they are complaining to look morally superior to others....pathetic and arrogant and ignorant
@@tihspidtherekciltilc5469 yet you comment on the topic as if you are educated on the issue but I bet you didn't read a single page of the investigation and maintenance logs. lol. the arrogance
Oh you may not know the whole story Moussy. There is a reliable source on a popular message board who claims that they won't hire full-time professional ride mechanics nowadays, and as a result there's a greater shortage in maintenance than ride operators. The whole $20/hour offer was a stunt meant in desperation by Joanne Mueller on orders from her higher-ups, and they had no serious intentions of keeping most of the ride operators they hired. The lack of work ethic and poor attitude displayed by Top Thrill Dragster's supervisor (who normally works in Human Resources) and one of its TLs who blatantly lied about training procedures are a well-known indisputable fact. Not only if Cedar Point cheap, they are obsessed with secrecy. And they let their own Boss Hogg, Ron Gilson, enforce the climate of fear that permeates that park. Intamin wasn't the one that wanted to engage in a "coaster war" with another amusement park chain; Cedar Fair's obsession with preserving the title of having the most coasters in any park helped contribute to this mess.
It sounds to me like they had real issues finding good work post-Covid and despite filling out maintenance forms the actual maintenance was not done properly. 🤦♀️ Seems like they loosened bolts up so it wouldn’t hit, got drunk, had sex, didn’t finish, and forgot to tighten them but managed to fill out forms properly. You know I am right.
For how many people this ride has serviced, I’m surprised that there has only been one major incident resulting in injury. It’ll be sad to see the park’s most iconic ride go.
Rumor has it that it's getting an lsm launch and redesigned queue
to be fair, they didnt say it was 100% gone, just that it was dead as it was... sounds like they are going to update it, perhaps simplify and up its protections.
three major incidents.... watch the video until the end.
I was lucky enough to ride it.
@@mikatu I don’t think everyone would consider those other two incidents to be “major” incidents, especially given the amount of damage a ride like this is capable of.
Very interesting story. The ironic thing is that I was at the park that day (took a day trip by myself) and had ridden TTD twice before that happened. Was in line for MF and heard the sirens and hustle and bustle. CP did a good job at keeping everything calm and status quo. There are still unanswered questions by many but loved reading the comments from engineers and mining folks.
Dude... You should've called me to accompany you 😁
That’s not ironic. It’s coincidental
Why is that ironic
@@nathanvanderpool1175 Because it was contrary to expectations. No one expects it to happen to them... The irony of life sure is ironic isn't it?
@@rsmetz88 Thats not irony bud
The rumors from coaster enthusiasts is that the ride is not being completely taken down. Rather it is having its launch system gutted and replaced with a newer system.
The announcement from the park implies that
The only reason I continued to visit CP was for TTD.
I truly hope they're redoing it.
It was honestly hard for me to imagine going to CP and there being no TTD.
It literally was an iconic part of the park.
Probably replacing hydraulic with catapult or LSM. Hydraulic has always been notorious for reliability issues.
@@MsRuggy80 I’ve heard that TTD was sent back to Intamin (the shipping records show) and that a Cedar Point employee said that they’re redoing it. Not sure how true that is, but that’s that.
@@ireadysucks3026 Nope! In September 2022, it was announced that Top Thrill Dragster would be retired and would be replaced with a new ride experience. ☹️
I hope she fully recovers. If she does it will take a while from something like that if at all.
Yeah it depends as you cannot fully recover from a brain injury. With enough time and treatment you can get pretty close.
@@Haarschmuckfachgeschafttadpole it depends where too. some parts of the brain can regrow no problem, but some can be permanently damaged
@@iamunamed5800 I belive that the back is not as strong as the front
Very few victims of traumatic brain injuries of this magnitude ever live anything close to a normal life again. It’s likely that this partially explains the high level of privacy the family maintains. It is hard to imagine how profoundly this event would have affected them.
From the damage I saw walking past her, I don't believe there's a possibility of a full recovery. But I hope she's able to make it through.
This is such a weird video, because the voice acting really is professional level, but the writing sounds like a teenager in the attic writing youtube shorts for some money......
I rode the dragster a few days before this happened. I can tell you for a fact that nothing appeared off at the time (no weird noises, extra shakes, etc.). We were gonna try and ride it for a second time that day, but it rained a bit during the day and, as everyone whos been to cedar point mid-rain knows, the top thrill dragster closes up as the drop of a feather (or water in this case).
This was a fun ride, but generally not worth the wait. The Millenium Force offers a lot more time to enjoy the experience.
it's more like the "big" ride you gotta ride at least once
Last time I went for some reason there wasn’t a big line for the dragster so I rode it like 5 times that day. It’s one of the few rides I could still fit on (I’m 6’7, 370 lbs, don’t fit on most coasters lol).
I was there that day. Crazily enough, I was waiting for my friends with exit passes to ride TTD before heading home. They got stuck on Gatekeeper because somebody threw up in the train in front of them, and arrived maybe 10 minutes after the incident occurred. I’ll never forget the chaos and the scared reactions of the workers at the TTD station, as they only knew to stop sending trains based on guests reactions, not what happened (assumed the absolute worst of someone falling out).
So crazily
I'm very sure the systems detected a problem after it would've happened. TTD can go down multiple times a day for small reasons because the systems detect everything
as a european i find it strange that the department of agriculture is responsible for investigating roller coaster accidents ?😅
They normally aren't but they are trained well enough to deal with it and have specific people for it. We normally have amusement park safety divisions do it, state governments often distribute regulatory responsibilities among various departments based on resources, expertise, and historical precedents.
I read that as soon as the news about this got out, and what part failed, Six Flags Great Adventure shut down its own similar-functioning strato coaster _Kingda Ka_ for a few days and did several complete and thorough inspections and tests of the whole ride!
Been well over a hundred times. It’s incredibly safe and well maintained. Awful accident, but they run a top notch park.
it feels like nearly every theme park accident i know about that’s not involving six flags or disney is cedar point
..They are STILL liable.
@@m118lr they followed manufacturer guidelines and state laws to the letter. If it was inadequate then the state government and intimin is liable.
@@misseselise3864 because they own the majority of parks. so it's a odds game at that point....
@@m118lr some are saying how the rules and inspections should be even more stricked...well....these same people cry about how high the costs are now for theme parks and the costs will go even higher if the rules were even harder to pass inspections and these same people will still cry about higher prices to get in now....the fact that people today(Americans mostly) can't wrap their tiny heads around the fact that accidents sometimes happen no matter what is retarded. yes, park should still pay the family, that is what liability insurance is for in business. nothing is ever 100% safe. some people can't be happy unless they are complaining to look morally superior to others....pathetic and arrogant and ignorant
Ive been a fan of the dragster since its first opened. Ridden it hundreds of times. Things flying off the cars has been a common theme since the beginning. The first story I heard was when the ride was brand new. One of the tires came off and flew across the park. Soon after the mock engines and wheels were removed.
THANK YOU!! This was my second video about this incident and for the life of me wondered where the wheels were if it was a dragster. Some had some didnt.
@@xXxGanjaGoddessxXx You’re Welcome. When the ride first opened all the trains had mock engines and dragster wheels. I personally saw them all in place during the first week of operation. I don’t remember when the incident happened but I know it was in the first year. After that I only saw one train with wheels and engine remaining and that was always on the maintenance track. I haven’t been back since 2009 so my account ends there. Hope this was helpful.
I rode it a couple times. My dad and I got bugs in our teeth lol
This will unfortunately continue to happen as long as the Department of Agriculture is governing the laws and regulations ensuring ride safety. The DOA has too much on their plate as it is with our struggling farming and agriculture industries. It makes no sense at all to have them the governing agency of rollercoasters and amusement rides. Can’t blame Cedar Point either. This is just a clusterfuck that needs to be fixed from the top down. Until then…. God help us all .🙏🏼
What do you mean “this will unfortunately continue to happen”? It wasn’t happening before this accident and it isn’t happening now. Roller coasters, especially in Ohio, are extremely safe.
@@triple7marc If you reread my comment, I was referring to all “rollercoasters and amusement rides”. Not just this ride. Not just this state. Read up on it, you’ll be surprised rip find out how many people really do get injured in rides every year. The DOA can’t properly oversee that many moving parts. It’s a numbers problem at its core. Too many rides and the majority of the industry is self-governed between the mandatory checks and tests.
@@GuyFromSC Yeah and how many of those injuries are due to mechanical error or negligence? The industry being self-governed actually works in its favor because it’s in a theme park’s best interest to maintain their rides well and prevent accidents.
I still remember riding it within the first few years of it's life and despite it's short length it was easily one of the best rides there since for me the acceleration alone basically forced an adrenaline rush. Once I decided I wanted the front row and I think I'll remember for the rest of my life the force of the wind being so strong while speeding up it forced water out of my eyes and they didn't stream down my face but instead horizontally to the side of my head.
Can’t even ride a roller coaster in Ohio
I worked for the police department at Cedar Point the summer of 2003 when the dragster opened. It was...well, a nightmare. Between the constant maintenance delays/closures while the engerineering staff figured out the quirks of the [insanely complex] hydraulic launch system as well as the massively long queue lines that year that never seemed to move, it quickly got the nickname "Top Chill Dumpster". That being said, the maintenance staff at Cedar Point had always been phenomenal and took a lot of pride in their work, making sure everything was good to go each and every morning. The fact that improper fasteners were used is very surprising to me...clearly a lot has changed there in the last 20 years.
That is the story of when we tried riding it. We came halfway across the country and after waiting 3 hours in line we had to bail for bathroom breaks. The ride was down for 3 of the 5 days we were there.
Was Ron Glison there when you worked there?
Why are they trying to defy the law regarding open records? Is there a culture which puts loyalty to the company first?
Never going back, it was the best in the early 2000's, it is garbage and weak now.
i took a day trip to Cedar Point and of course I was stressed because I still have a bit of anxiety with coasters (not as much anymore thank goodness lol), but also because i wanted to ride as much as possible and a lot of rides were closed at various times that day. Steel Vengeance had an hour delay, Raptor was shut down pretty much all of the late morning, and Millennium Force, Magnum, and Gatekeeper also closed a few times too
at first i was annoyed, but i quickly realized that if anything it is awesome that a company like Cedar Point puts so much effort and care into making sure these rides are as safe as possible for the visitors. that is definitely commendable
@@truthseek3017 I used to go in the early 2000's and it was definitely great then. Oddly enough, I had never got to ride this and we go to Disneyworld all the time and I was on a bus with a guy that had a Cedar Point shirt a few years ago and was telling him how I used to love going there. That was when I first heard of this ride and he told me that he considered himself a pretty big thrill seeker but he said there was absolutely no way that he would ride this. That actually made me want to ride it even MORE. LOL! Sucks that this happened and sucks to hear that the park isn't what it used to be. The Millennium Force was absolutely incredible back then!
The first and probably the only time I went to Cedar Point and saw that thing, I noped the fuck out. My parents and my sister weren't thrilled about it, but guess now I can tell them I wasn't a completely downer for doing that.
I mean any ride there you ride at CP has risks. This ride might have a few more then any other there tho. Definitely was an intimidating ride just looking at it tho for sure
Been on it many times..love it.
Do keep in mind you are still safer on any rollercoaster at Cedar Point than you are on the way to the park!
Cedar Point is one of the, if not the most safe amusement parks in America, something like this happening was a 1 out of a million chance.
Went from a video on Richard Hammond's crash to this. UA-cam be listening.
I was lucky enough to get a rollback(when it doesn't gain enough momentum to make it over the peak and the train rolls back down the hill in reverse) on this ride one time, one of the only times in my life I grabbed onto the seat. If you thought it was scary forward just imagine that ride backwards 😳🤣
I remember when the ride first came out there were a lot of rollbacks, so because of that reason I was too afraid to ride it. When I got a little older the rollbacks stopped and I finally got brave enough to get on. It was a very fun ride!
I got one of those too! It was better than going over the hill LOL
If you havent seen it you should see The Bat at Canadas Wonderland. I have never been on it, but I stood there and watched it lol. It goes frontwards, then backwards and its pretty fast.
Me too. ❤️it seemed it happened when it was colder out for some reason.
We rented a house down the causeway very early in that first year. We could see the TTD from the house and would sit there and watch it go up and most of the time it went over, but every once in a while it would roll back.
Slight thought on how the improper re torquing of the bolts especially of the wrong grade, could have led to this disaster. Ill say up front this is only speculation on my part, but its plausible.
Repeatedly over torquing a bolt can cause it to stretch. Once the bolt is stretched the strength characteristics change. The force it takes to stretch a bolt also changes with grade. Given the ride was know to have issues with the bolts, as well as the high vibrations of the ride. It is entirely possible this could have been prevented with proper bolts, proper torque, and the use of a proper amount of permanent thread locker. Which souds extremely obvious in retrospect.
I thought the same thing.
Very true, and they should have received a huge fine for the use of inappropriate grade bolts, at the very least.
@@anhedonianepiphany5588 agreed, the conclusion that they were "technically" following the law doesnt excuse this. That said it does open up an easy win for any civil suits.
A real top fuel dragster does 330mph in 3.9 seconds! 😏
Accidents like this are extremely rare, especially at a Cedar Fair park. All of the Cedar Fair parks I've been to place safety as a top priority. My heart goes out to the family and victim and I hope she recovers
She passed away last year sadly
@@scottcook2568 :(
@@scottcook2568 Seriously? Someone else said she's alive.
@Scott Cook Source?
@@scottcook2568 this has never been reported
There is no way they could have figured that those bolts were secure at the beginning of the day.. 😂😂😂 come on man. Many of the things that people put on paperwork isn't always what it seems. I work in the oilfield and know for a FACT how paperwork can be fake. But at least this paperwork seems very legitimate. Furthermore, I see how it could be very difficult to go through every part of any coaster to find every potential problem.
"top thrill dragster, AS YOU KNOW IT, is being retired" I'm pretty sure they're changing the launch track, and maybe modifying the peak, but I don't think they're going to be getting rid of one of their most popular rides.
It wouldn't be the first time a ride that is new(ish) and extremely popular got removed from a theme park.
Imagine if they opened up the top of the curve of the ride, made it more rounded....it would look like a giant ____ in the sky.
I rode it 2x back in 08' for my senior trip. What a ride, nothing lasts forever.
This was my favorite coaster at ceder point made the trips to Ohio fun. Have family that lives in Lorraine and Akron and the summer trips were boring unless we went to Ceder Point
@@sooners2037 it definitely was a spectacle at first glance, especially for only being 5 years old at the time.
Millennium force was always scarier
@@TheOnlyAvid Same for me!
Aids...
Hawes got 10 million this year in a settlement. Cost 2 million in medical bills for her to reach whatever state she's in today. Hope she's doing well.
Bro i swear if I see 1 Ohio joke
Only on ohio bro
That local hospital will lie and obfuscate for CP. I learned that the hard way.
So I know this was awhile ago that this was posted, but I was there the day this happened, and in the line. I saw the object come from the actual ride…but it didn’t hit her directly, it bounced 2-3 times off of the poles/ other metal objects around us. I had even made the comment to my mother and others that were with me that it “was a phone or something…” even finishing my statement with “…but that’s weird I didn’t hear it hit the ground or anything” this being when I heard everyone saying someone was hit. I just thought that was relevant because everyone has been making it seem as if it straight up hit her. My heart hurts knowing that it hit her let alone that it ricocheted off of several things and then found it’s way to her. Anyone of us could’ve been within its path.
I hope she has a complete recovery. This freak tragedy sucks. Rollercoasters (in major parks) are pretty safe. If you check the stats, most parks do a helluva job keeping them safe. I live in Pittsburgh, and Kennywood has rollercoasters nearing or exceeding 100 years of service. Of course maintenance over the years has seen them pretty much rebuilt several times (in a Ship of Theseus way.) They have a damned good safety record, and (even at 60 years old, LOL) ride them annually. I have also been to Cedar Point many times. I'm not worried about riding any of the coasters there either.(Have been on all of the current ones) In reality the DRIVE to an amusement park is the most dangerous part. I will ride coasters until I become physically unable to. I hope I'm at least 90 at that point, Ironically I'm not cool with heights (no Ferris Wheels for me) so the slow initial climb is what "scares" me. Once wer'e rolling though... HELL YEAH give the "g"s ,twists and inversions!!! T.T.D. eliminated the SLOW part of the "climb", Cool as all get out! Hate to see it go.
Also, the coolest thing about this ride was watching people go from still to the craziest speed! You would see people’s faces being pulled back from how fast it was going 😂
And seagulls are common off Lake Erie. People would occasionally get hit by a bird lol
After having spent a little time working in maintenance/machining, I'm terrified of anything "maintained" by anyone other than myself. Not that I'm all knowing or awesome but that I've witnessed 20 year machine shop vets lose appendages in stupid ways.
Edit: I've also discovered that it's much cheaper to pay off OSHA violations or law suits than it is to train competent employees or use quality materials.
Amusement park rides are tested TONS of times each time and if any issues arise, they will be solved as soon as possible. They are perfectly safe and VERY carefully engineered.
@@phantomhourglass13 I'm not talking about the testing or engineering. I'm talking about the day to day maintenance that I know is subpar. Obviously not every single ride at every single place but to say we're all out here doing a good job is just wrong.
I looked up news articles about the incident and there’s a video where you can hear her screaming and crying and it’s like horrific how she’s being treated. Not by medical personnel, but the people who work for the park keep talking about her like she’s not even there and like it’s a giant inconvenience that she was injured by their ride. Un-freaking-believable
And then you have people like this who make a video about it monetize it and even have a sponsor for the video, all while that womans life is changed forever this person makes money off that tragedy.
@@xxjayxx517 yet we would have never known this story about the ride or the woman if we didn't watch.
@@crystalray2907 So what? It's none of your business anyway! As if that families tragedy should be your viewing entertainment.
@Sam Antha im not from ohio so yeah...
@@xxjayxx517 i can watch whatever i want its a free country ain't it?
It's crazy that the accident from this intense ride didn't even occur ON the ride
that caught my ears like she was in line and not on it, like wtf
Actually, about 40 people had a piece of their roller coaster train fall off while they were riding it, and it's lucky none of them got hurt. It's all a matter of perspective.
It's called a fraudulent maintenance report. No, it didn't spontaneously fail between the morning of the inspection and the accident, or whatever. It's called, the inspector check marked the boxes and didn't check anything else.
Update: Sadly, she is permanent disabled and had over $2 million in medical bills. She sued and settled with Cedar Point’s parent company just yesterday and I hope this never happens again.
Update: The ride is back and it’s now reimagined as Top Thrill 2!
@@tigerrocks503chase8its down again
Im confused, how was cedar point not found to be at fault even though they were found to be using bolts that don't meet the safety standards for a roller coaster. That sounds this is 100% their fault.
actually, they were using bolts that were allowed by intamin, the rides manufacture. it also passed state inspection and park inspection.
Over the past several seasons, I’ve ridden the top thrill dragster at least a half dozen times. Usually in the front seat. I’ve always thought of Cedar point as being very safety conscious. They are much quicker to shut down rides when it begins to rain than other places I’ve been to.
I think some of these comments highlight something that irks me with society today. Accidents happen, and generally someone is to blame, but it seems we’re quick to forget the achievements and innovations when something doesn’t go according to plan. Top Thrill had 19 MILLION rides. 19,000,000 times they shot human beings over 100mph in a matter of seconds, sent them over 400ft in the air, spun them around on the way down and safely came to a stop so they can walk off and resume their day. That in itself is fucking incredible. Before you start foaming at the mouth in the comments hunting for justice, remember that we cannot completely eliminate risk in life, especially in the pursuit of thrill.
Dang, I just realized how long it's been since I've been there, 2001 the year after the Millenium Force was built. I never got to ride the TTD and I'm sad to hear they're dismantling it. I wish the best for her.
There not dismantle it for good, they said that the will create a new and remigined ride experience. Maby a new launch trains and convered/ rerouted que
@@micoasters Oh I though when he said there were cranes that meant it was being dismantled. Thanks.
Having ridden on both TTD and KDK, I could say that both rides feel practically the same. Besides the restraints, they are both almost identical. You could still experience this at Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka.
There are cranes dismantling some of the track so they can get new track for whatever there doing
@@micoasters Good to hear, thanks again.
My wife was working as a travel nurse in Toledo during that time. The lady got messed up really bad, I’m truly surprised she survived at all.
Could you describe her injuries? Did the piece of metal penetrate her skull?
@@afridgetoofar1818 why you would want to know that? You get off on this kind of stuff? You are fucked up in the head.
@@afridgetoofar1818 pretty sure it did falling down that fast
If your wife told you any specifics about the patients condition I would keep it private from the internet. She could get in a serious HIPPA violation. Just looking out as a fellow RN. :)
@@JessicaGarciajhipaa
Me and my wife were 15 ft away when this happened.. it was a chaotic mess.. wish the best for the injured lady
Top Thrill Dragster was by far my favourite coaster. I'm sad to see it go but it's fully understandable after this accident. I hope Rachel has made good progress in her recovery.
well if you really miss Dragster, King Da Ka still exists and is pretty similar
Its being rebuilt. this video is misleading.
The ride isn’t going anywhere they’re just changing the launching system
@@iamdauntetv Oh, I'm glad to hear that!
@@iamdauntetv Let’s hope they’re changing a lot more than that. You did hear the part about them using the wrong grade of bolts, right?
It will reopen in 2024
With all the past accidents involving flying debris I’m surprised more parks don’t have catch fences around the queue areas I’m sure the argument against it is that they are unsightly and obscure vision but if it keeps people from getting hurt why not do it, same argument I have for the MLB not putting up more netting around the stands to keep foul balls from hitting and in some tragic cases, killing people
Good point you made about safety for baseball games. Money is the reason why amusement parks and/or sports leagues don't do more to protect the people who attend events. It's perfectly fine for these organizations to charge exorbitant fees for folks who wanna go to a game or an amusement park but Goddess forbid they ensure patron safety by spending money on proper maintenance;how else will the big shots afford to buy another vacation home somewhere if they have to keep the users safe? I'd be more inclined to attend an amusement park if there were obvious safety catch netting around the rides and if the ride operators weren't overworked, underpaid,and poorly trained.
Orrrrr just avoid putting yourself in those positions.
Twice a year seems crudely minimal, criminal even🤔 Twice a year? 900 people per day?
Many many years ago, I was almost hit by a flying cell phone that likely came off of a Top Thrill Dragster ride. I was in line at the Snake River Expedition and heard something hit the ground and crack a few feet to my left. Looked over, and it was a cell phone.
It took me like 12 years to ride this and I only did it once-I only lived an hour away 😂
To the like 5 people that will get it... Brewstew also went on this coaster.
I would probably pass this ride. 120 mph is too fast, that's the top speed of most motor vehicles and also, standing near the ride is damgerous this video shows
Standing near the ride is dangerous? Dozens of millions of people stood in line for the ride between 2003 and 2021. This was a freak accident.
Cedar Point is my home park, my family is unbelievably lucky to spend our holidays at Lighthouse Point cabins and a ton of time every season there-making memories.
That being said, the incident with Mrs. Haas is horrific. It took me a dozen attempts to watch the 4 minute video in its totality. Hearing the pain she was in is nearly unbearable. I feel deeply for her family, and of course her.
Cedar Point is one of the safest places in the world to enjoy rides, and still this. While TTD was such an innovative ride when debuted, it’s time has past.
It’s so easy to see something and react. I am just going to put it out there that this situation is not one I was present for & I have no right, or place, to chastise the victim here-or Cedar Point. Perception plays a major part in how we feel about the world around us.
Again, I am terribly sorry this happened to anyone at a place that is meant to be such fun.
i'm amazed you were able to get through the video. I saw barely a minute of it and realized this was not for me and I don't have any desire to watch it again
I visited Cedar Point for the first time ever this past summer and I had such an awesome, fun, and honestly joyous day after going through an extended period of depression and passive suicide ideation. I love what you said that Cedar Point is a place where we are all meant to have fun and enjoy life...and i just feel so terrible that the victim and their family were doing nothing wrong and their lives were horribly damaged. I really hope she and her family are continuing to heal and maybe find some peace through this all
Have you ever thought of hiring someone who knows punctuation to write your on-screen transcripts?
I just finished a four day assignment at Cedar Point working at one of its food vendors, and I had to walk past the Top Thrill Dragster to get to my work site. Although I've never experienced the ride itself, just looking up at the sheer size and height of it's framework sends chills through my body!
The coasters at Cedar Point all have varying levels of intimidation, but yeah there's something particular about Top Thrill Dragster that really strikes the fear in you hahaha
i admit by the afternoon, I was more annoyed by it then anything, because it prevented me from cutting across the park to go to the beach and water park lol
I rode this roller coaster 2 months before the accident happened. Nothing looked or felt out of place when I rode it, but given the ride's history with maintenance issues, an accident like this was bound to happen one day.
My first visit to the park was that day and I was in line when it happened. I was ahead of her by about 15 minutes, but I was separated by a queue building. To get out of the area we had to walk past her and it's a miracle she lived. I believe the ride is completely safe, but I will never get in line for it.
Well yea because it’s shut down…
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Top Thrill Dragster will not actually be shutting down permanently, and is reopening in 2024 with (probably) a new launch system.
that first sentence made me think you were gonna pull an eltororyan
I've been going to Cedar Point for 20+ years. Top Thrill was my favorite ride. As with anything man made, things can break and it's part of the risk all riders take, though the chances of accidents are slim at a park like this unlike carnival rides. Sad to see it go and I'll be there this weekend to take some last pics of it before it's totally gone, but the good news is that Cedar Fair said they would re-imagine it, so I'm hopeful. If they can re-imagine Mean Streak to the AWESOME Steel Vengeance, then I'm excited to see what will be next.
why is the Ohio dept of Agriculture inspecting roller coasters
@1:41 says it uses same propulsion as a real draster? so it uses a nitromethane v8 with a blower? sound expensive for a rollercoaster...........................
Yeah, it is hydraulicly launched, using a cable to pull the cars forward.
Except that’s not what he said 🤨”in fact the top thrill dragster gives you the complete drag racing experience with true to life countdown of the so called Christmas tree light before the rollercoaster springs into action”
So what the heck are u talking about?
This sounds a lot like an issue that was prevalent in the A/C industry awhile back; aftermarket products that are used in maintenance are supposed to meet a certain standard, yet, because of “capitalism”, those purchasing the after market products will go with the cheapest product, or whatever product will keep things up and running to reduce down time. Which can result in a substantial market of counterfeit products. With so many moving parts on these things, there should probably be a little more regulation in order to make sure certain standards are met. 🤷♂️
It takes 1 person to ruin everything fir everybody else. Should not have shut down the ride.
Facts they should’ve just shut it down for like a few months to fix it and inspect it
@@Datb4con13ikr
That one coaster at carowinds literally had a split support and it reopened within months
The ride was already extremely problematic. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m sure the park wanted an excuse to close the ride anyway.
2:22 wait, there was a 6-year-old in line for this ride?
must’ve been a pretty tall 6-year-old, haha
You can tell I'm an idiot by the fact that I sit here and think, "Man I wished they hadn't closed that down, it looks fun!"
I'm thinking the same. I tried to ride it over ten years ago, waited for three hours & then it broke down. 😔
Apparently everyone in the comment section was there that day.
Dragster is actually currently under construction with a new "reimagined" ride experience. Cedar Point hasn't actually closed it permanently, it's being reconstructed currently 😉
If roller coasters move forward, how could this metal piece have hit the "Back" of the womans head?
She was standing in line. Had not gotten on the ride yet.
I'm fortunate to have gotten about a half dozen rides on it on my 3 day stay I did in like 2018. It's got a kick to it, that's for sure. Super sad incident. A women out just trying to get out of the house and do something with her loved ones only for a life altering incident to happen out of no where. For no real reason besides a subtle design oversight decade plus ago.
Logic:
Top Thrill Dragster has an accident: OMG It's so dangerous shut this thing down forever! (Or just neuter the launch)!
The Smiler chops off people's legs: Meh
Mindbender kills 3 people: Meh
Coney Island Cyclone kills 3 people in 3 separate accidents: Meh
Disneyland and Disneyworld have hundreds of accidents and dozens of deaths at each of the parks: OMG! They're the greatest places on earth!
I loved this ride. The year they started "Halloweekends" I went the very first day and the park was empty because apparently, no one knew it was open. Most of the rides you could just walk on but there was still a line at Top Thrill and at Maverick. But then, amazingly, a storm blew in and they shut the rides down. Me and my friends were getting food and almost everyone else left. About 45 minutes after it started, right as we finished eating, the storm had blown over and they reopened the rides.There was probably 150 people left in the whole park🤤 We rode Top thrill dragster at least 6-10 times in under an hour😍 The only line was for the front seet and it was about three rides deep. Which we did for the last ride, but other than that, the longest part of it all was just running as fast as we could down the empty line Gates😂 I'm sad to see it go but I could never go back after that amazing day. Especially since I've waited in that two and a half hour line before. I've ridden it more times than 99% of people and it was all in one hour. We'll miss you big guy ❤️
Thank you for sharing 💓 I'm really glad I scrolled long enough to read joy & I'm glad you had such a great experience
@@Elhastezy888 lol it's quite the scroll to get through it😂 I appreciate you reading it. I don't know how many times that happened in its history but me and my friends may have set a world record for the most consecutive rides in an hour. That's a real possibility
@@ClappOnUpp 🤣NOOO!! Oh my gosh I meant scroll all the comments!! NOT scroll cause yours is kinda long hahaa
now I got a good laugh to start my morning 👍🏼
Dude same me and my brother as kids rode it on off season, after a storm and no one was there so we road it all day lol. We drove all the way from MD just to ride it once
@@bradleypuckett9408 where is md?
The lady got a unique 1 of 1 exclusive souviner not sold in any gift shop and she's upset about it?!?!
I rode the ride in 2005. I rode Kingda Ka (a slightly bigger version of Top Thrill Dragster) in 2014.
I'm just wondering what makes The Department of Agriculture qualified to determine amusement park ride safety?
Growing up my parents only took me to a couple amusement parks; they were the ones who did their own rigorous inspections. First thing in the morning the operators had to ride the rides before the customers had a chance.
Then an inspection was done on the hour every hour. And last thing at night the operators had to ride it again.
In an update Rachel Hawes is still alive, her and her family are airing Cedar Point, the suit clams she suffered ‘permanent, disabling injuries’
Also in the suit family, husband and father suing for mental anguish amongst other things.
The only roller coaster at cedar point I have never ridden. I never got around to it in summers past and obviously it was closed this summer…my prayers to that poor woman and her family.
Other than waiting in line for ages, you haven’t missed out on anything. Unpopular opinion, I know.
This coaster has to be the inspiration for the Spongebob episode "Roller Cowards" coaster that has such a high arch it goes out the ocean!
TTD is not "Ended".
Ohio department of Agriculture investigated this? what? why would they be given jurisdiction?
I was in the park when this happened, absolutely insane. My fiance and I take our daughter there for a a week basically every summer. Sad situation hope she was able to make a full recovery.
she has permanent brain damage
Technically roller coasters are treated like proper names. So it’s Top Thrill Dragster (the narrator said the Top Thrill Dragster). I was my favorite coaster of all-time. I have one rollback. It feels like your back’s going thru the seat. My maintenance friend has pushed it over the top hat when it's been stuck. Ironically she was standing underneath a sunshade but it’s angled so the trajectory was crazy. Yet it kept her out of the sunlight when she was down. The weather was great that day. I walked behind the paramedic’s truck with its sirens on when it drove thru the maintenance gates by the motor house as it drove towards TTD’s entrance. The trains were being rolled back into the station. A supervisor was talking to the riders. There was a line of park visitors waiting along the fence. I didn’t stick around. I read The Ohio Dept. of Agriculture report. The ride ops did a very good job handling the situation.
I rode this one the first day it opened. I was 19 at the time and went on with my younger brother. On the way down my entire boob came out of my tankini and I obviously couldn’t do a whole lot about it at the moment. Luckily it’s moving so fast that if your eyes are open when you start the ride they stay open and if they are closed, well, guess you don’t see anything. My brother was the latter and forever grateful. They definitely blacked out our photo afterwards.
I wonder the age and experience of the inspectors. Unfortunately, they likely missed the problem. So sad.
June 2018 was the first and only time (so far) that I've been to Cedar Point. I remember the excitement for being able to ride these record breaking coasters, esp top thrill. We rode it several times as I enjoyed the thrill of being launched so fast and so high. Completely understand how getting hit w something while riding can really really hurt. We rode at night and got front row seats, we quickly learned our mistake because we acted as a windshield for all the bugs that evening. They may have been tiny gnats but it felt like getting hit w a pellet gun. I am at least grateful that I had a chance to ride before this heartbreaking incident
I don't understand why a department in charge of agriculture who's speciality is all things agriculture would be involved in inspections on theme park rides 🤔
Which as far as I know has nothing to do with farming
I remember walking past this coaster with my cousin. He didn’t want to ride it, so we didn’t. Crazy to hear this happened.
honestly there should be monthly inspections on things that go over 100+
I was literally there. In line at TTD when it happened. I was around 20 yards away and so I didn't see the actual bracket fly off and hit the woman only the pandemonium, chaos, and confusion. Man, I still wonder about had I gotten in line a minute sooner, could it have been me instead...
Same. To get out of the queue we had to literally go right next to her and saw the blood on the concrete it was horrifying.