Things you've seen people lose on rides

Thabto said:

Yesterday, I saw someone lose their phone on Rougarou, but they didn't technically "lose" their phone. When we pulled into the final brakes, we could see it on on the metal part between the seats, just laying flat on that piece. I'm surprised it didn't fall off and into the ground or the water. It all depends on where it fell out of their pocket, but they are very lucky.

I usually put my cheap sunglasses in my ballcap and tuck the bill into the front of my shorts. When we arrive at final breaks I usually pull them out to put back on. I am always nervous that I will have a clumsy moment and drop something into the green slimy water.

jscll said:

There is a reason that I prefer cargo pockets with zippers (witch hard to find these days). Ones with snaps or hook and loop are generally useless.

A tip I have if you are wearing cargo pants with buttons. What I do is I put my keys, wallet, and phone into plastic bag (like the ones you get at the checkout at Walmart). Then I tie the bag shut before putting it into my pocket. This makes it one large item too large to fall out of my pocket. If I find myself at a park without a bag, I ask for one at a gift shop. I prefer the retail store bags because they are easier to untie.

Good idea. I leave everything aside from ID and money in the car. Those godawful drink refill cups are a real pain. I hope they just let you add all season drinks to my pass next year.

Get one of those plastic double-zip lock phone protection cases from a souvenir store (they're in every single one at Soak City for about $15). It's big enough for a phone, ID, credit card, cash, and a car key. It's water proof and it goes around your neck, so you can take everything with you literally everywhere.

I once heard that someone's prosthetic leg fell off on Raptor. I would have loved to seen that! When my mom was alive, I wanted to take her leg on the rides with me. :)

I worked with a younger guy once who had a prosthetic leg and he went to CP. Afterwards he told me when he got on Raptor, he took off his leg and handed it to ride-op, who stopped in his tracks and didn't know what to do. At end of ride, ride-op had leg waiting for him as train came into station. I would love to see guests reactions during these situations.

Lady 2 seats ahead of me on Woodstock Express wearing a floppy sun hat had it blow off on the hill... GF riding in the seat behind her caught it and handed it back when the ride was over...

^Many rides don't allow prosthetics anymore or require them to be certified as able to withstand high forces. Probably a result of the Darien Lake accident, where a veteran double amputee (without legs or prosthetics, IIRC) was ejected from an Intamin hyper (Ride of Steel) and died.

As for things lost on rides, I know people who have lost phones on Magnum and Gatekeeper, and a relative of a friend lost one on Dragster. Also, I believe during a CoasterMania backstage TTD tour a while back, I saw a broken phone near the spotlights lights in the grass under the tower.

I also once saw a glove fly off of MaxAir.

I saw the back plate of a Samsung Galaxy on one of the brick benches near Valravn's Immelmann a few days ago (where the drinking fountain used to be, I think.) Or at least I think that's where I saw it.

Also, I saw somebody lose their lunch a few days ago after riding VRon Dragon. (Pronounce it out loud, it kind of works :P)

Personally, I haven't lost anything from rides except loose change. I almost always use zippered cargo pockets, and I refuse to trust my electronics (camera, phone, and USB battery pack) to a mere Velcro/snap/button pocket. (My mom is good at sewing, so on the occasion that we really like a pair of cargos without zippers, she can easily sew one on.)

My dear friend Mark lost a baseball cap on Thunderbolt at Kennywood because someone ... I don't want to name names ... never told him the first drop on the coaster was directly out of the station.

Last fall, my oldest daughter lost her cell phone on the Firehawk at Kings Island. It rained a good bit later that day, but the lost and found eventually called my wife FROM my daughter's phone, so it survived both the fall and the water!

In late July, I lost car keys on the Hydra at Dorney Park - right in that slow speed barrel roll before the lift hill. Keys were [I thought] secure in a velcro cargo shorts pocket. But while still in station on the ride, the key was digging into my thigh with the tight molded seat form, so I manipulated the keys up a bit to alleviate that pain. In the process, I think I may have unsecured the velcro. It took two days to recover the keys (good thing we were staying at the hotel right across the street; had walked over that morning; were staying for 3 days; and wife had her spare set of keys at the hotel room).

Brings me to a different topic, but I'll post it here. I have NO IDEA what the purpose is for reporting missing items to their Lost and Found. I filed a report with a detailed description of the keys I lost (Mazda fob and standard Buick key) and was assigned a claim number and received one of those cards with a QR Code. They had my email and cell phone number to alert me if/when found. I never heard anything from them and eventually went back to lost and found to check... The woman at the window said: "Oh yeah. I think we have those..." Then she went into the back room and retrieved my keys. Don't get me wrong, I was very thankful that they found them, but is there rally a point to filling out the report and leaving contact information if it isn't used?

THIS year on Pipe Scream I got hit by a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses that fell off another rider. That same day, my younger daughter and I were on Skyhawk when someone's cell phone slammed into the pavement below the ride and ended up in several pieces. I had that brief moment of terror thinking it was mine, when I finally realized I had given my phone to my non-riding wife to hold.