The Breakdown thread.

[Mark9]

Easy thread for today. What rides have you been stuck on and  what rides have you been evacuated from?  For example I was stuck on Inferno's break run for twenty minutes once. So.. *coughs*

 

- Icon. Stuck on the break run in the pouring rain for ten minutes. Got given a poncho. Nice.

- Detonator. Stuck at the top for fifteen minutes. Had to be winched slowly down. We ate cookies that I had in my pocket. Got comped a free ticket to come back. Cheers Thorpe.

- Dragon Falls. Boat stopped at the bottom of lift one. Got an exit pass.

- Stealth. Kind of launched but then slowed immediately and stopped on the launch track. Eventually made it back to the station and got let off. 

- Indiana Jones Adventure. Got about half way through the ride when the house lights came on, walk ways sprung up and slowly got evacuated through the ending of the ride. Makes you realise how steep everything is and how most affects are just black light paintings. Got given a free Fastpass for re-entry.

-Peter Pans Flight at DLP - Got to the final scene when all the lights came on. Cast Member in a hat came round declaring we'd lost our pixie dust. No gifts.

 - Dragons Fury - Numerous block shutdowns. Makes sense when I worked on the thing I suppose.

- Autopia at Disneyland California. A car stopped in a bad place so we had to walk the track to get out. 

 

[LK_]

Gotten pretty lucky with rides. been stuck on the lift for tidal wave for about 10 minutes, and evacuated from Gatekeeper's lift hill at CP. 

[JoshuaA]

Pretty lucky to be honest, but the two that stick out to me the most are:

• Gemini- This one was by far the most odd. Gemini's MCBR really is easy to forget about, so when we halted to a stop on the emergency brakes it shocked me. I'm not sure why the ride stopped, as it was only on one train per side (it was a dead day). But it was amusing, its MCBR is also fairly tall too. Luckily got a free ride access pass from this, which gave me another ride on Maverick.
• Stampida- It was December, and I remember this ride stopping on the lift hill. It was a heavily rainy day in Salou, and before boarding the train it was chucking it down. The 30 minutes on the lift hill was dreadful, the coaster afterwards was nearly as bad. Thats not the even the worst part, I was in PortAventura! Bad enough by itself.

[JoshC.]

Mine are largely very boring...

 

-Got stuck on Thunder River at Thorpe in the late 90s / early 00s after the power went off. They turned the ride back on and I completed my ride as normal.

-Got stuck on Slammer after a cycle for about 10 minutes because restraints wouldn't release.

-Got Stuck on Chiapas just before going onto the mini lift that takes you to the first turntable. Staff member came along and shoved our boat onto the conveyor. 

 

No compensation for any of these incidents.

 

My one slightly interesting one is being stuck on X's lift hill and subsequently evacuated. But it was all part of a training drill during my days of working at Thorpe; was completely aware it was going to happen. However, no one else on the train was aware, which made it a bit more enjoyable.

[Benin]

Got evacuated off Tomb Blaster, unfortunately was only on the lift hill. Presumably got some form of Fastrack comp.

 

I'm wracking my brain as to why we ended up with exit passes for Rainbow Magicland @Mark9 that we used on Huntik. Was it just a dodgy ride through where things were broken?

 

Elsewhere I technically had to evacuate Sea Dragons during a Chessie power cut. That was incredibly difficult as you can imagine.

[Matt 236]

Got stuck on Bubbleworks where we were literally the last boat before the station so couldn’t get off. No evac either.

 

Got stuck on Swarm’s breakrun for a little while during a breakdown. No evac again although I’ve been up Swarm’s lifthill during a coaster climb experience.

 

Shut down on De Vlieglande Hollander on the break run(recurring theme?). Again no evac.

 

Stuck on Helix’s brake run. Mr Fish was on the train behind and got some kind of evac, so I’m very jealous there.

 

Now some more interesting ones:

 

Stuck on Ninjago ride at Legoland, evac’d off from final scene with the help of steps from vehicle.

 

Evac’d from the Dragon brake run at Legoland 

 

As a result of working for Thorpe, I have assisted with breakdowns and evacs on rides including Rumba, Storm Surge and Tidal Wave.

[Coaster]

I can't remember all of mine, but here's a few;

 

Ghost Trains

- At a very young age, I broke down on the Ghost Train at Folly Farm (back in the days when it was pretty scary) next to a skeleton, we were sat there for ages before they put the lights on and came and pushed us out.  I was terrified!

- Terror Castle at Brean - breakdown and evacuation, enjoyed it!

 

Valhalla

- Breakdown before lift 1 and evacuation

- Boat failed to engage lift 1, staff pushed it and continued ride as normal

- Block breakdown in waterfall room before turntable, blocks had to be operated manually to enable us to enter the turntable, leave it and go down the drop

- Breakdown in wind tunnel, lights came on, three boats stuck in wind tunnel and a fourth waiting to go down the drop!

- Breakdown and lights on before the last drop (has happened multiple times)

- Boat bump in last section before final drop

 

Alice Ride

- Breakdown and evacuation, again was very happy!

 

The Big One

- Multiple e-stops on the final break run (when the ride is running too fast)

 

Steeplechase

- Temporary stoppage on second lift-hill, restarts after a few seconds usually.

- Standard not quite making it back into station and being pulled in by ride staff job - happens a lot.

 

Big Dipper

- Stoppage on lift-hill (not the one where it waits for the block to clear, this was longer and Infusion was also stopped on its lift so can only assume it was a power-cut of sorts).

 

Grand National

- Train didn't quite make it off the brake run and back into the station, got evacuated (I'm counting it!)

 

Samurai

- Stuck on it for 20 minutes whilst they tried to park the thing, I had a nosebleed and no tissues so was dripping blood everywhere!  I think people in the queue thought there had been some sort of accident.  I did offer to clean it but was told they would do it!

 

The Swarm

- Breakdown before entering the station, then it overshot and went back onto the lift-hill where we sat for ages before they had to send us round again to get us off.

 

Stealth

- Four times in a day it failed the launch, fifth time we managed!

 

Astro Storm

- Breakdown on the first block brakes after the initial drop, sat there for ages, lights came on, then staff gradually moved us manually from one block to the next.  Took about 40 minutes in total but I was quite happy getting to see the ride with the lights on!

 

Megafobia

- E stop on the brake run at the end of the ride, staff reset and got it going again in 10 minutes.

[Han30]

A couple of these I find terrifying - Detonator - I’ve only ridden it 3 times and can’t bring myself to go on it again but getting stuck up there - just 😱😱.

 

I always dread getting stuck or delayed on The Swarms break run - I really struggle with The Swarm these days - it’s the only ride that seriously affects my breathing and by the time I’ve hit the break run the damn vest restraint is so tight.

 

I don’t have any exciting tales - got stuck on Rumba a few years back when all the boats gathered at the bottom of the conveyor lift at the end.  I was with someone who worked there but was on a day off and her ride manager chucked over some rope and pulled us to the side so we could get out (not sure what happened to the other people as we were first off).

 

Got stuck on the final break run on Vampire many years ago - felt like a lifetime but in reality it was probably only 5-10 minutes - this was when I was just overcoming agoraphobia and my main fear was getting stuck on a ride but I dealt with it ok.

 

I don’t so much fear getting stuck on a ride but I do have claustrophobia and I would hate to get stuck and have a full blown panic attack.

 

Just remembered - Rameses Revenge last year - got stuck twice in one day - the thing couldn’t make a flip and just stopped in it’s usual position where it seems to like to break down - 3rd go we got a full cycle 

[Pickles]

@Han30 honestly same with Det, I just can't in case it gets stuck. 

 

I'm proud to say coaster wise, basically been on no breakdowns, RNR at Paris was alright as the music kept playing. 

Water rides however, just don't go on one with me. Most my breakdowns have been water rides, lift hills, boats piling up and all that. 

 

Best flat was Rocky, 40+ rides in one day, get on one and it jerks forward and stops. We waited for the engineers and kept the ride host company. No point in trying to get on anything else, capacity day and 30+ heat so nah. 

[Han30]

Just remembered getting stuck in the tunnel just before entering the station in Wickerman - my niece was panicking a little bit but luckily it wasn’t too long.  From what I can assume it was a guest action as the train in front was sent fully loaded and there was security at the exit to the ride.

[Cal]

My only evac was on Loggers. Boat stopped at the bottom of lift 1 behind a few other boats, we were the last boat to leave the station. They got the ride running again after a while, and then got stuck on the top of lift 1. Again after a while they got the ride running and we got stuck halfway up lift 2. They then gave up on the thing and got evaced, got a few priority passes. 

 

Got stuck on the bottom of the lift on Congo river rapids which was entertaining but apart from that nothing really interesting or any evacs. 

[HermanTheGerman]

It feels like I’ve had loads 🙃

 

Shut down on Fury on one of the mid courses for ages, ride eventually reset and continued (slowly)

 

Shutdown on Vampire just after dispatch and got evac’d. 
 

Had the classic L1 on Rameses when it stops mid cycle a few times. 

 

Got stuck on and then evac’d on The Smilers break run in torrential rain once. Took ages. Was there for at least an hour. Awful. Got given priority passes but by the time we were off the park had closed so that was useless. 
 

Had a few on stealth. None very interesting + all short. 
 

Had a “rollback” on Fish once. That one was cool. 

[RobertA]

Stealth seemingly didn't even try to launch when I was in the front row. Sat there for ~10-15 minutes before being unlocked and given fast track for any ride as compensation. Never reopened that day.

 

Was stuck on the turntable on Stormforce 10 two weeks ago. I stayed there for around 10-15 minutes before a ride op came up, told me things will continue in a bit, then shortly after I was sent off for the rest of the ride.