Amusement Park Horror Stories
The amusement park is heaven on earth for a thrill-seeker. There are roller coasters, carnival games, live shows, parades, fireworks, and several other exciting attractions that ensure the adrenaline keeps pumping. But sometimes, things go terribly wrong. No matter how accident-proof the rides may seem, there's no guarantee that they are actually safe. Here are some amusement park horror stories that will make you think twice about hopping on a ride.
1. Good Riddance
I used to work at a small water park where there were some dry rides up the southern end.
There was this eight-year-old kid just being a little brat; pushing in line, climbing up the slide of the playground, knocking other kids' hats off, that sort of stuff.
I warned him several times to stop and eventually asked him to leave, but he didn't. So I went to ask my supervisor what to do and he said, "Get the scissors."
That meant he was going to cut his wristband, which would prohibit him access to any rides. I called him over, and he surprisingly complied. Then, before he could react, I grabbed his wrist and cut off his wristband. Naturally, he started crying.
He ran off to get his mom and she came back about 15 minutes later to talk to me without her son.
She asked me why I did what I did, and I explained the situation to her, making sure to emphasize that it was standard procedure. She nodded and explained that her son is known to be a demon-child. She then left, but, lo and behold, 10 minutes later, there he was, approaching us. He tried to cut in line again and I stopped him, telling him to go back to his mom. I couldn’t believe what he did next.
His first reaction was to punch me in my sensitive parts. My supervisor saw and immediately called security. Apparently, his mom saw it too and she came running.
She didn't say anything to her child—instead, she gave my supervisor the go-signal to “scare” him. When security arrived (30 seconds later), they grabbed the kid, whirled him around, and handcuffed him.
He was wetting himself at that point. They grabbed him and escorted him off the premises in their golf cart. A few minutes later, they returned and the kid had obviously been crying.
He jumped out of the cart and ran straight to his mom, who grabbed him and walked out. People watching were stunned, but amazingly, some applauded as they went off. Best day of work I had at that place.
2. The Ocean Motion
I'm an ex-employee of Calaway Park. I was often stationed at the Ocean Motion; you know, the swinging boat ride?
While working on rides is probably the most tedious thing in existence, the Ocean Motion was always my favorite because it had a shelter and a stool, so if it was ever raining, you'd stay dry and you could sit while the ride was operating.
One day, the Ocean Motion was doing its thing, swinging back and forth. It was pretty full and the lineup was getting long. All of a sudden, I heard a "POP" noise, and tons of this black inky fluid started spraying right up through the center of the ride while the boat was in mid-swing. I was freaking out—but it was just the start of my nightmare. I hit the emergency stop button, but the ride didn't stop.
While the boat was in its downswing, all the black inky fluid came falling down on the ride passengers. At that point, I was mashing the stop button. Stop, stop, stop, stop. Emergency stop. Anything. Why wasn't it stopping?
The boat was still swinging. Then, I noticed that the wheel that was usually used for braking and slowing the boat down wasn't raised at all.
So of course it was not going to stop! I immediately pieced together that it was likely hydraulic fluid that went up—a hose must have cracked or something. I grabbed the phone and called security, as was the procedure.
Usually, you would call during instances when you had to close the ride for a few minutes for any reason. Then they just log it in their records and the day goes on as normal.
So I called security and I was like, "Send everybody," and they were like, "What?" I elaborated: "Mechanics. Managers. Maybe even paramedics. The Ocean Motion just spewed oil or something all over the passengers and it won't stop.
It literally won't stop." Of course, the Ocean Motion is located at the farthest end of the park, so even with people rushing, it would take them a few minutes to get there.
And you guys know how a pendulum works—conservation of momentum, and all that? The Ocean Motion was at peak swing and it just kept on swinging. By the time I hung up the phone, everyone in line figured out what was going on and just noped the heck out of there. But here's where it gets really freaking gross. Imagine you're a 12-year-old kid going on the Ocean Motion for the first time.
Due to some unexpected failure, you've got hydraulic fluid in your face creating an awful stench. Not to mention, it has been in full swing for well over five minutes. You want to get off and you're feeling sick, but you can't.
So what happens involuntarily? You throw up. Of course, the Ocean Motion is still in full swing, so the vomit goes everywhere; on pretty much everyone in front of you...on their heads, in their faces...
But it gets worse. Now, imagine you're in the exact same situation and someone just vomited on your face. How could you hold it in at that point? MORE people start vomiting. This cascading chain reaction caused like five people to vomit all over each other. When the managers, mechanics, and medics all got there, they were dumbfounded. At that point, there were very few options.
No one wanted to go under the boat and do the repairs because the boat was still swinging wildly. Plus, stopping the boat should be the primary concern.
So they basically positioned people at either end of the ride, waiting for it to swing by, then when it was at its peak, they tried to grab it and put some friction on it before letting go, to take a bit of its momentum.
It took another good seven or eight minutes to actually get the boat stopped. I know the managers tried everything—full refunds, dry cleaning for all the clothes, any number of things—but it didn't stop the lawsuits.
I believe there were some rather large out-of-court settlements. I worked there for the rest of that summer, but I've never gone there as a patron since.
3. Teenage Antics
When I was a lifeguard lead manager, this happened. It was mid-July, and it was 100 degrees outside. Not a cloud in the sky. It was hot for me, since. I was wearing a set of khaki shorts and a thick polo shirt.
I had the guards go on water runs as needed, and they were permitted to rotate in by swimming in the pool. This was to keep them happy, and to keep them from dropping like flies in the deadly summer heat.
Naturally, the cycles of the day began like any other. We delegated starting spots and determined the final rotation based on the number of guards who had shown up, which was all of them. For that, I felt lucky—but I’d quickly learn how wrong I was. At our park, we had a slide that was about 60 feet high. This slide had three channeled slides that started off as a pipe and then became fluted channels. One pipe, and the most popular, was this slide that went down at an 80-degree angle.
It was completely open. You sat and slid down 60 feet within two seconds. Quite a thrill really, if not a quick one. Two guards manned the ride, one at the bottom and one at the top, to control the antics of the guests at all times.
As midday came around, I settled into my usual rhythm, occasionally serving as a master arbitrator for the minor problems that our guests had.
Bored, I began watching the slides go down. Four people came every 15 seconds, like clockwork, as they should. The technique was flawless on the part of the guards; almost robotic at times.
If I were to approach these guards, they would likely be lost in their own world of thoughts and repetitions. At the top, I noticed one of the guards turn around as a teenage male prepared to get into the slide.
This was a problem. Teenage males were the trolls of the park, with their antics being a perpetual source of problems for all staff. Then, I saw the kid take two steps backward. My blood ran cold. I knew immediately what he was about to do. He must be stopped, I thought to myself. But, alas, what was I to do? I had no way to contact the lifeguard up at the top. There was no phone, no radio. I blew my whistle twice. The guards nearby looked at me, and the guard at the top turned around. He saw me pointing at the kid.
Too late. The kid ran and jumped clean off of the slide. Now, up to that point in my life, I had been afraid of things. Getting in trouble at school, failing something miserably. They all made me a tad anxious.
A lot of things had made me scared, and a lot of things had made my stomach churn. But nothing, in all of my life, had made me as scared as I was at that moment.
Seeing a young man fall to his impending doom gave me the queasiest feeling. I felt, by some extension of logic, that I was responsible for the tragedy. Never, in my life, had my stomach dropped so fast. I watched—and waited—in horror. To his credit, he assumed the proper position of arms and legs being crossed. But he was clean in the air, flying like a lead brick. As he was flying, his body turned ever so slightly.
It was something he noticed and fruitlessly tried to correct. Instead, he fell some distance before hitting inside the flume and chaotically tumbling down the ride.
I called the paramedics immediately, and we had to backboard this kid out of the splashdown flume.
4. Anger Issues
I was managing a few ride photo booths and I was talking to an employee when a guy looked at our prices, picked out the package of four photos for $20, and said: "$20 for one photo? That's unfair to families."
I told him that the price was $20 for four, and if he'd like a single photo, it was $10. He got very close to my face and growled, "Are you getting smart with me?"
I told him no, tried to walk him through the different prices, and he kept saying, "Are you getting smart with me?"
Finally, I just walked away, around to the back of the booth to check on some stock, at which point he told my employee that if he saw me again, I was getting punched in the face.
