Are you sure? It looks awfully high...

June 22, 2003 10:19 PM

Theme Park Accidents "Four-year-old Brandon Zucker was injured, and ultimately left with brain damage, when he flew out of the ride vehicle and was pinned beneath it. A state investigation blamed Disneyland personnel for loading the Zuckers into the vehicle incorrectly, and cites additional ride design flaws. As a result, Roger Rabbit became the first attraction ordered closed for repairs under California's new theme park regulation law."
posted by schlaager (14 comments total)

thanks. i was just starting to get over my chronic paranoia, i appreciate it.
posted by oog at 11:06 PM on June 22, 2003

I always wholeheartedly trust my life to the dropout stoners who run these things.
posted by HTuttle at 11:17 PM on June 22, 2003

Now, now: "He's not just some guy, Marge. He's a carny and part of a noble tradition. Carnies built this country -- the carnival part of it anyway -- and though they may be rat-like in appearance, they are truly kings among men."

-- Homer on carnies, "Bart Carny" episode of "The Simpsons"
posted by GaelFC at 11:21 PM on June 22, 2003

Ye olde Used Ride Lot...
posted by mischief at 12:05 AM on June 23, 2003

I used to love roller coaster rides, but the last time I went on one resulted in severe headaches and neck pain, and I have vowed to never again take the risk of brain injury. The number one cause of amusement park injury is dehydration, but the number one cause of amusement park fatality is acute subdural hematoma. Check out this .gov listing of amusement park-related brain injuries and deaths for more information.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:24 AM on June 23, 2003

Crumbs, when I was talked into riding this thing last year, the only thing stopping me from having some sort of stroke as the ride was about to start was the idea that dedicated mechanical engineers had spent thousands of hours testing the thing, and 'it must be safe because the park couldn't afford the compo payout if there were a crash'.

This reassuring notion was shattered when a 17 year old attendant slouched by and casually slammed the harness into place.

In an wavering voice I asked him if he's ridden the thing.

"Pffft, not anymore" was his reply.

I think it no accident that the only bar in the park is situated about 10 metres from the bottom of this ride.
posted by backOfYourMind at 1:50 AM on June 23, 2003

I wonder about waterslides. I was 17 when I saw a kid come speeding down one, catch some serious air.... and then have his leg catch one of the flagpoles that periodically lined the sides. He flipped out, around, and very fortunately, back into the slide, but not altogether comfortably, to say the least.

I've been down some of those super steep speed slides a few times since then, but I can't shake that image, and a few years ago, I just decided to stop *making* myself go on any slide I thought exposed me to serious heights.

Of course, I still want to try rock climbing, still take risks hiking in the wilderness, do not eat the best diet to avoid colon trouble, and there's everyone's statistically threatening activity of choice, driving....
posted by namespan at 4:25 AM on June 23, 2003

Buncha cowards...
posted by PenDevil at 4:52 AM on June 23, 2003

We went to the amusement park
it was a bright and shiny day
we went on all the rides
and then we died.
posted by Katemonkey at 5:56 AM on June 23, 2003

Everyone just stay in your houses where it's safe. Let those of us who venture out in a effort to seek amusement have our fun.
posted by eas98 at 7:05 AM on June 23, 2003

Katemonkey's link results in:

The site you just came from is stealing our bandwidth.
It's against this host's policies for external websites to directly link to non-HTML files.
We're sure you'll like our site.

posted by Tubes at 7:23 AM on June 23, 2003

Lying with statistics: the Consumer Product Safety Commision's report on amusement safety
An open letter to [pro-ride regulation] Representative Ed Markey
posted by punishinglemur at 7:25 AM on June 23, 2003

The site you just came from is stealing our bandwidth.

well, heck.

Here's a mirror then.
posted by Katemonkey at 8:01 AM on June 23, 2003

preview is for testing links. :-)
btw, when i instituted this policy at blort i saw a 6 GIG per week drop in bandwidth. 6 GIGS. mostly message board chumps using blort images in thier sigs on pages that load thousands of times a day. fuggum! also btw, i specifically allow linking from metafilter...
posted by quonsar at 9:20 AM on July 4, 2003