Shoot the Rapids?

SteveH said:
All parks learn from mistakes, but if they aren't discussed and known about they are bound to be repeated.

Complete nonsense. Just because you want to know doesn't mean you need to know.

The park does a very good job keeping guests safe. If you cannot be convinced of that, then you're in luck, because no one is forcing you to visit the park.

I see nothing wrong with a simple explanation about what mechanically went wrong and what had to be changed (unless the silence is related to a lawsuit). They "told" us what happened with the Wildcat roll back a few years ago.

Ok, the anti-rollbacks on the lift hill failed causing a log to slide back down the hill.

They have repaired the anti-rollback system.

Now you know what went wrong and what was fixed.

Until the statute of limitations pass, the threat of lawsuit is always a possibility. I'd stay mum too given the potential.

I would have believed you John, but you said "log". Everyone knows it's a boat. Yeesh! You can't even get the right info correct! ;)

Jugga I feel so much better now. Such a wise guy...

Wayne B said:
Until the statute of limitations pass, the threat of lawsuit is always a possibility. I'd stay mum too given the potential.

My thoughts too. I always thought SOB was finally abandoned because they could not evade the threat of multiple new lawsuits every year...even when people had not really been injured.

I would guess that STR will re-open with whatever "fix" is needed to keep it from happening again. But it will still be a 2/10 log flume when it does.

Chuck Wagon said:
But it will still be a 2/10 log flume when it does.

Can you explain what this last sentence means please? I'm confused.

It's a 2 on a scale of 10.

Shawn's blinded by love.

SteveH said:

Other rides like Windseeker have had similar track records and you have to wonder if they did enough to pass inspection or really fix the problem. Moving the Windseeker out of Knotts to Worlds of Fun is a perfect example of this - because it didn't meet the local inspection, so they moved it to another state where it would pass inspection.

The governments of Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Ontario have all decided that Windseeker is safe; just because the liberal nanny state of California demands another layer of unnecessary redundancy does not make something unsafe. Cal/OSHA is not some clairvoyant organization that can detect flaws that manage to pass hundreds of others.

I heard what Cal/OSHA wanted to be done to the tower to make it "safe".....and it sounded overly redundant.

I never heard of it, but it sounds redundant. You'll have to explain it to me sometime. ;)

If I remember hearing right, they wanted a cage ladder installed on the outside of the tower. This would have not been possible with the gondola and how close it is to the tower. It would have had to been completely redesigned to work with a cage ladder and Knott's didn't want to put anymore money into it.

That's what I heard.

http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/4236536
Here is an article about Shoot the Rapids and about the accidents in the summer.

Thank you Jordan! Your Awesome! Hopefully they still have Shoot the Rapids open by opening weekend. :)

^^Couple issues with the article:

1. Doesn't report headaches, etc..Ok then Mean Streak is ganna have a TON of paperwork..Sorry we don't report minor things that someone could do by just shaking their head in various directions for about 40 seconds..

2. Flipping out a bit on Ohio's Dept of Agriculture..sorry it's not like NJ or Cali..it's still pretty damn good, and better than the states that don't have an inspection process/etc.

3. Cali..amusement park Mecca..excuse you :P

4. How do they know STR chain came off, I never saw that quoted anywhere else, ever

5. They brought up SOB, how does that not surprise me...especially bringing up the Brain Aneurysm..which btw that doesn't just happen..that means a vein or artery..means weakened vessel wall..that just doesn't normally happen like that..sigh..

6. They fail to address the safety stuff that the manufacturers and the park work with, like ASTM, etc..

7. Fail to address that CP has not had any ride related fatality

Very biased article and someone with a grudge I believe

Was that written by Ed Markey's intern?

The interesting thing I found from that article is (and you will have to contact them directly for their source on this)…
“When someone at the park is injured so badly that they’re admitted into a hospital, it’s the state investigator’s job to travel to the park, investigate and inspect the ride. The state, however, only has the authority to investigate accidents that involve an injured rider who either gets admitted or stays overnight at a hospital.
Sometimes that rule means the state won’t inspect the most serious amusement park mishaps— like what happened on Shoot the Rapids last summer. None of the riders injured in that accident were admitted to a hospital. The ride was immediately shutdown by Cedar Point, but the state never opened an accident investigation or issued a citation over the event.”
Now you can disagree with that author however it substantiates the wording of the Cedar Point OFFICIAL press release that many seem to overlook and trivialize…
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/4308286
“Cedar Point officials are currently investigating the incident and have reported it to state of Ohio officials.”
Walt has suggested….
“Amusement ride safety reports from the Ohio Department of Agriculture are public record. I don't think they're online, but I'm sure it's easy enough to request them. http://www.agri.ohio.gov/rides”
However this clearly states why no one can find anything concerning the incident. Essentially it’s because the owner wants to decide its safety…
“Federal oversight would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, said Speigel, a former manager of Kings Island and Coney Island.
“The industry as a whole is very self-policing,” he said. “If we’re not safe, people won’t come back.””
So let me get this right, we are all good with - whatever they did to fix - whatever happened - based on a quiet reintroduction - of a “better than ever” STR?

You do realize that to reopen each season, the ride will be inspected by the state every time, right?