Credit: Adventure IslandChaos unfolded at a theme park earlier this week when several people brandished machetes outside the park’s entrance.
Guests expect thrills and adrenaline from any theme park visit. However, sometimes this adrenaline stems from more than just roller coasters and thrill rides.
Over the years, we’ve reported on several scary incidents at theme parks worldwide. While some of these — such as the Jetline roller coaster derailment that killed one parkgoer at Grona Lund last year — occur on actual rides, others have to do with an element that’s much more temperamental: the guests themselves.
Even at Disney’s theme parks, which are supposedly the happiest, most magical places on earth, tensions can run high enough to trigger actual violence. Only recently, a fight allegedly broke out on the ferry boat from Magic Kingdom Park to Disney’s Transportation & Ticket Center at Walt Disney World Resort.
“It was awful and super frustrating,” recalled one guest on Reddit. “Why are people like this?”
The guest claimed that they were stuck on the ferry for roughly 15 minutes before they were let off due to the incident. Police were reportedly called and escorted those involved in the fight away from the scene.
Universal Studios isn’t immune from this behavior, either. Earlier this summer, a guest was removed from Universal Studios Hollywood after punching a member of Universal’s security team who intervened when the guest allegedly threw his wife to the ground.
However, both of these instances are relatively tame compared to an incident that occurred in the UK earlier this week.
Footage shared online shows at least four people — all dressed in black — slashing at each other with machete knives near the Adventure Island theme park in Southend.
According to Southend East and Rochford MP Bayo Alaba, several people were “critically injured.” Police seized seven weapons after the attack, which occurred in the wake of an unauthorized beach rave — allegedly organized via TikTok.
Mr Alaba told the BBC: “I do want to send out my thoughts to all the people involved, there are some people in hospital with quite serious injuries.”
He added: “This time last year it happened as well, this is a pattern now and because it is a pattern we have to look at it differently and see what we can do to mitigate it. I am just speechless looking at the videos and seeing how it unfolded, it is truly alarming.”
Police subsequently put a Section 60 dispersal order in place. This allowed officers to stop and search members of the public for weapons until 8pm on Wednesday.
Adventure Island is a popular amusement park located in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK. The park features over 40 rides and attractions, including the thrilling roller coaster The Green Scream, which takes riders on “a snappy spin around the edge of the park,” and Rage, which made headlines when guests got stuck on the ride last summer. Additionally, families can enjoy attractions like the Pirate’s Cove and Adventure Golf.