“It takes you up and splashes you down,” says the Cedar Point website about the “Shoot the Rapids” water ride. “Then it takes you up again and, well, the rest is a surprise. Shoot the rapids feels like a real wild river adventure with canyons, a tunnel and something unexpected around every corner!”
Well, it turn’s out, that description is pretty accurate. Seven people on the Shoot the Rapids ride were hurt yesterday evening when the boat flipped, sending the riders into the water. According to the Sandusky Register:
Sometime around 6:30 p.m., a Shoot the Rapids boat was ascending the first lift hill when the ride malfunctioned, sending the boat backwards and into the entry chute, witnesses said. The entry chute is hemmed in by concrete and the chute itself is filled with water.
The paper reported a witness said one woman appeared to have a head injury and some of the riders “were submerged for a few minutes before rescuers could correct the boat.” According to a statement from the park, all seven of the riders were taken to the park’s first aid station where six were evaluated and released and one was trnasported to the hospital.
Here’s the 911 call, obtained by the Sandusky Register:
Here’s a video of how the ride is supposed to happen, from the Cedar Point youtube channel:
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2013.
Intamin sure builds great rides. I wonder if Dick Kinzel got secret kickbacks for building this junk. This Shoot the Rapids ride was delayed from opening due to problems with the boats. During its first season, the back seat in every boat had to be left unoccupied. Maverick had to be redesigned while it was being reconstructed due to excessive G’s. Hersheypark had to reconstruct huge parts of SkyRush. Stick with Bollinger & Mabillard (Gatekeeper, Raptor, Mantis). Hopefully they’ll go trackless (ETF Ride Systems) on their 2014 Dark Ride. Unfortunately i’ll probably be Peanuts-themed due to it’s proximity to Kiddie Kingdom and Planet Snoopy.
If this ride is so bad, then how come this is the first that something like this has happened? I can’t imagine that it’s good business for a company to have a product that causes 911 calls and injuries, so really, what was the advantage to them supposedly building junk? Saving a few bucks now so they can pay out the rest in lawsuit money later and then close down the ride for good? I’m sorry, but the whole “junk ride” theory just doesn’t make sense.
Adam Hall: Companies in this country make money hand over fist long before their liability insurance ever has to payout a few paltry lawsuits. It’s just good business sense in a country like the United States that favors corporation’s profits over the safety of citizens. And the lawyers will end up with the majority of the payout from any lawsuits and the people left injured will be lucky if they can cover their medical cost and loss of work. You see the headlines of massive payouts, but you don’t see what the individuals end up with. In class action suits, it can be next to nothing.