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Credit: DollywoodA piece of a roller coaster flew off the ride at a popular theme park, allegedly hitting a young guest riding the attraction.
For the most part, roller coasters are exceptionally safe. However, as with anything in life, accidents can – and do – happen. In the past, Inside the Magic has reported on debris falling from a roller coaster at Cedar Point during Memorial Day Weekend. This followed another incident at the Park in August 2021, in which a 44-year-old woman was hit in the head by debris from Top Thrill Dragster.
Related: Woman Files Lawsuit Against Popular Theme Park Following Life-Threatening Incident
There was also the infamous incident at Carowinds when its Fury 325 roller coaster experienced a significant crack in one of its support beams, which had gone unnoticed by Park employees until it was pointed out by a Guest.
On a visit to Dollywood – the park famously co-owned by Herschend Family Entertainment and country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton in Pigeon Forge, just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee – a guest experienced another unexpected incident on a ride. In a Reddit thread, one user shared an experience that “could’ve been very dangerous.”
During a visit in June 2023, “it had been raining hard all day but had finally stopped for enough time for the rides to re-open.” The guest boarded a Dollywood roller coaster named Lightning Rod – a hybrid coaster themed to hot rod cars from the 1950s, converted from a wooden roller coaster in 2021 – and sat in the last car in the first row while their brother and his girlfriend sat in the car in front of him in the back row, and some young riders sat behind him in the same car.
Early on in the ride, the roller coaster fan says that “the padding on [their] brother’s car detached and flew right above [their] head and hit one of the kids behind [him] in the arm.” The young Guest reportedly “started freaking out and screaming” but, fortunately, wasn’t hurt.
Related: VIDEO – Young Boy Plummets 40 Feet From Theme Park Attraction
“After the ride, I saw that these pads are attached with velcro,” they wrote. “I tried lifting my padding, and it was coming off without much force. I tried letting the ride-ops know what happened, but they didn’t really care.”
As they later pointed out, it would be tough for the loose padding on the Dollywood roller coaster to do any “serious damage,” but “you never know what freak accident could possibly happen” and that Rocky Mountain Construction (Lightning Rod’s manufacturer) “should probably use something stronger than velcro.”
Safety is always everyone’s top priority when building a theme park. While details like this may be at minor risk of causing actual harm, the fragility doesn’t exactly put riders’ minds at ease.
Lightning Rod Undergoes Updates
Despite its groundbreaking design, Lightning Rod notoriously struggled with reliability issues for years, leading to frequent downtime and guest complaints about inconsistent operations.
In September 2023, Dollywood announced an extended closure to remove the problematic launch system. The ride was retrofitted with a high-speed chain lift hill and updated trains. The park clarified that Lightning Rod would still hit its top speed of 73 mph, preserving the thrill while boosting dependability.
Lightning Rod reopened in March 2024 with its new upgrades. Guests noted a smoother and more consistent ride experience. The modifications addressed years of technical setbacks, transforming the coaster into a more reliable—and still adrenaline-pumping—staple of Dollywood’s ride lineup.
Have you ever noticed anything concerning at a theme park? Let us know in the comments!