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Credit: HersheyparkA coaster had to be restarted at Hersheypark this weekend.
When Guests go on an attraction, there is always a chance that something will go wrong. At Walt Disney World Resort, we have discussed evacuations on nearly every attraction. Some rides, like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, is an easy attraction for Guests to evacuate since it is on a flat surface. Other attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom require a little more work from Cast Members, who often need to physically get in the water to ensure a safe exit for Guests.
Luckily, a lot of these attractions are slow-moving, and Guests do not need to worry about one ride vehicle moving into them at top speeds. At Hersheypark, Skyrush recently had a problem going up the lift hill, however, when this happened, another coaster was already in the loading dock, directly behind the coaster stuck on the incline. Cheapthusiast (@cheapthusiast) took to Twitter to share the footage. It seems that the Guest associated this problem as something that is common with attractions manufactured by Intamin, which is the same manufacturer of Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Orlando Resort. We have seen plenty of rollbacks on that coaster since it opened. That being said, both coasters are different and this attraction does not have the same rollback features.
Intamin Intamining
Intamin Intamining pic.twitter.com/EFnKbeXdZm
— Cheapthusiast (@cheapthusiast) May 1, 2022
One viewer shared their worry asking what happened next. Thrill Seeker (@Thrills_Orlando) said:
Were they able to unload the train in the station? How long were they down?
As an update, a worker at Hersheypark reached out to let us know there was a controlled stoppage on Saturday on Skyrush. The maintenance team had to restart the attraction in order to correct the issue, and no Guests were injured. It is possible that the stoppage in question is the same as the one above, as the Tweet was posted on Sunday, the following day.
Skyrush is described at Hersheypark as, “Ride the edge and feel the rush! Skyrush® roller coaster climbs 200 feet into the air before flying downhill at 75 mph. Experience 4 high speed turns, 5 zero-G airtime hills – all from a thrilling, winged-seat coaster train!”
Recent Coaster Evacuations
In Doswell, Virginia, Cedar Fair’s Kings Dominion theme park has just recently opened Tumbili, a coaster that whips Guests around as if they are a monkey swinging on trees. Tumbili is Swahili for “monkey,” which fits with the theme of the coaster perfectly. The coaster is 112 feet tall and reaches speeds of 34 miles per hour. The coaster is a short one, lasting nearly one minute.
The coaster is shaped in an interesting “S” patterns which allows the spin coaster to move freely, as the seats are not static, but will swing as Guests move through the track. Tumbili is the first new addition to the park’s rethemed Jungle Expedition land, which used to be called The Congo.
Although the ride just opened at Kings Dominion a few weeks ago, it seems that the Team Members of the Park are already putting their evacuation skills to the test! Guests recently rode and after being stuck for 10 minutes, received an evacuation from the coaster. Luckily, we saw that the Guests were already on the ground level of the coaster, and not incredibly high up, so the team at Kings Dominion were able to safely extract the Guests to ground level with a ladder.
It seems we are unsure as to what exactly went wrong for the coaster to have come to a stop like this, but no Guests have been reported injured in any way, meaning this evacuation went off smoothly!
Have you ever experienced a rollback on a coaster before? What about an evacuation?
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