Strider - Howdy. Boe - Howdy. - If you ask theme park
attendants across the world, they'll probably tell you that
safety is their top priority. And while millions of
people ride roller coasters and other attractions every
year without any incidents, just a single bad ride or a bad incident can destroy a theme
park's reputation forever. So today we'll be looking
at some of the fastest and most dangerous roller
coasters in the world as well the tallest and
definitely most dangerous waterslide in t
he world. Let's take a thoughtful
and respectful look back over a century of theme park rides and check out the 10 Most
Dangerous Theme Park Rides in the world. And to reiterate, my deepest
respects go to any people or family members who might have been hurt or affected by these rides. This video means no
disrespect to you at all. If anything, I hope my silly
video can encourage people to not make dangerous mistakes
like these in the future. And now onto the countdown. So what do you wanna ride
first, Boo? - Ice cream. - Fine, fine, ice cream first. You want a chocolate chip again? The Derby Racer, let's
step back 111 years to 1911 when safety standards weren't
really a thing that existed. Even the most basic safety precautions seemed like an afterthought. Derby Racer was an ancient
wooden roller coaster, with the same name of the one that operated at Revere
Beach, Massachusetts. The original coaster was built in 1911 and later demolished in 1936. So they built another Derby Racer in 1
937, then demolish that one in 1948. The concept behind the
design of this coaster was a pretty fun one. Twin track roller
coasters raced each other in a figure eight circuit
to try and finish it first at the bottom of the track. Imagine being on one of
these with your friends, falling back and tracking ahead, jumping up and down dips and curves and seeing if you can win the race. That sounds pretty cool. Sadly, though, with an
abysmal safety record, excitement and friendly
competition often tur
n to tragedy. The 1911 Derby Racer turned
out to be very dangerous, with steep turns and loops
often violently jolting the riders around to the point
of serious injury or worse. In 1911, not long after
the coaster opened, the treasurer of the
roller coaster company took a ride on the coaster. When he stood up to lecture passengers on the safety of this coaster, well, what do you think happened? He was tragically but
ironically very fatally injured. Due to this being the
second fatality of the ye
ar, this required a short closure
of the roller coaster. I remind you this is 1911, we
were lucky to get anything. During its three week
closure, they installed brakes and safety restraints because apparently they didn't have that before. You mean it didn't have
brakes or safety restraint? Surely that's just common sense: that shouldn't be like
a required safety thing. I guess in 1911, two deaths was like water cooler conversation. Oh, hey, you hear Bill died
on roller coaster last week? Oh, yea
h, I miss him. Two people died on this,
should we maybe do something about this, maybe install some brakes. I guess in 1911, maybe at five deaths you might have got a slap on the wrist. But even after the safety precautions, the Derby Racer continued
to be a horrifying danger. In 1917, the restraints didn't
turn out to be much good when a guy lost his hat on the ride and fell out while trying to recover it. Also, we didn't even know
basic first aid back then, what chance did he have? In 1923 ano
ther group was
severely injured on the coaster and in 1929 another person
fell out of the coaster. And it wasn't until this
and a case of negligence against the amusement park
that they finally put in some more safety precautions. But even then, that case was dismissed despite someone dying, welcome to 1929. In 1936, the Derby Racer
coaster was finally demolished and thank Jeebus for that. But no, no, not because
of its poor safety record, no, no, because it had to be replaced by a new Derby Rac
er for 1937. It's very hard to track
down records back then but this one was also demolished in 1948. Hopefully it was at
least a little bit safer. Number nine, Nurburing's Ring Racer. Formula One races are among
the fastest cars in the world. So why not turn that car
into a roller coaster? Surely nothing could go
wrong with that, right? Well, let's travel to the Grand Prix track at Nuremberg, Germany. This roller coaster was fabled to be the fastest coaster in the world. This formula one themed
roller coaster was designed to accelerate
from a launch pad at zero to 217 kilometers per hour in two and a half seconds. To put it in perspective,
that's acceleration twice as fast as a form One race car. - [Announcer] Then compete
with a Formula One drivers in the fastest amusement
ride in the world. - The coaster was placed
parallel to the Grand Prix track and set to launch the second
the Grand Prix race started. The idea was for the roller coaster to race the racers themselves. And that's a
pretty cool idea. The ride was intended
to attract more people, so the F1 Grand Prix track
and the ride's testing process on lower power was successful. Unfortunately, when tested on full power, well, the ride exploit,
which is never a good thing. This caused big chunks of iron
debris to fly off the ride. In 2009, six workers sustained injuries due to the explosion and this delayed the opening of the ride until 2013. Because why would a ride
exploding stop it from opening? Why did it take till
2013 to open? Well, in 2011, it exploded again. Nuts and bolts was sent flying
but fortunately this time, no one was hurt. But after repeated tests and upgrading, the ride was finally opened in 2013. Unfortunately, the ride
was only open for four days before closing permanently. The company in charge of
Nurburing's Ring announced it was uneconomical to operate the ride. But if that was the case, why didn't they figure that out earlier? You know, maybe before
the second explosion. My personal gue
ss is
the ride exploded again. Or who knows? Maybe it was something to do
with the ride shady history behind the scenes. Originally the Nurburing's
Ring used forgeries in order to illegally
obtain government subsidies for the building of the complex. When the courts discovered this, banks withdrew from the
project, ministers went to jail and general all hell broke loose. The ride also received
next to negative reviews in the four days it was open. Apparently it was too straight and boring. Well
better to be boring than exploding. So it's probably a combination
of all these things. But as of 2022, the ride actually hasn't
been demolished yet. So who knows if you wanted to, maybe someday you can ride at speeds as though you just jumped
free fall out of an airplane. I personally can't understand
people who want to do that but hey, I review SpongeBob
for a living, what do I know? - Hey Josh (whispering). - No way, I can't ride
that, it's too scary. What if I watch you ride it? - Yay! - The
Luna Park Ghost Train Fire. This ride is believed to
have been first constructed nearly 100 years ago in
1931 in Sydney, Australia. The Ghost Train is infamous in Australian theme park history. On June 1979, a fire engulf the train, it completely destroyed the ride. This fire killed seven people. It was a horrible tragedy. The blaze broke out at 10:15 p.m. It was believed at the
time about 35 people were on the ride. The alarm was raised when thick smoke began to escape the tunnel doors. Staff
did their best to control the blaze, but because of low staff and the hose not completely reaching all the way through the ride, the train was completely destroyed. As for what caused the fire well, that's where things get very strange. At first, the park assumed it was because of an electrical fault. However, a full inquest later, it showed that the cause was unknown and for 28 years, we
didn't know, that was it. But in 2007, it was discovered
it might have been caused by the Sydney mafia. A ni
ece of a Sydney mafia
boss was being interviewed and she revealed that
her uncle, Abe Saffron, started the fire himself. Apparently it was part of
his plan to gain control of the Luna Park lease. As Luna Park is prime real estate in the middle of Sydney
Harbor and worth a fortune. It seems like he wanted
to build apartments on Luna Park's ashes. Honestly, it sounds like
something out of a crime drama but that seems to be
the most likely cause. Even today, Luna Park is seen
as a massive noise haz
ard to all the houses around, so it really detracts some property value. - [Reporter] Last year,
Luna Park was on its knees facing a court battle fueled by locals who didn't like the noise
and the government who wanted the park to go through a
development approvals process every time a new ride came in. - We're very conscious
of noise in the area, we are good neighbors like that. - But regardless, the fire escalating is seen as partially Luna Park's fault. The ride itself didn't have
enough fire
fighting measures. During construction, it was even advised that the ride should
have a sprinkler system but it was never installed. For a while, Luna Park was
completely closed but in 1982, the park reopened under new management. In 1995, a memorial garden
was installed at Luna Park. This was to remember both the ghost train and the people who lost
their lives that day. A separate Memorial Park was also made by the council in 2007. Here a sculpture stands
to remember those lost and my respects
go to
all the Luna Park staff who've kept the place running
and respected those memories. - [Announcer] Get more
airtime at Sydney's Luna Park, where the fun just got serious. - And before we continue,
I'd like to invite an old friend of mine. He runs his own plus channel but he's also a big fan of theme parks. Hey, Luigifan, you wanna help out? - [Matt] Hey, Josh,
great to finally be here. I've learned a lot about being parks, I'd be glad to help out. - Well, it's great to
finally have an excus
e to have you here, Matt. Let's continue. (Boo screaming) Yeah, I see a Boo, be careful. The Verruckt in Schlitterbahn Waterpark. - [Matt] Did you know
the German word Verruckt means crazy or insane? - It does? Well this monstrosity certainly
lived up to that name. The slide measured at
168 feet which 51 meters. It was in fact the tallest
waterslide in the world, surpassing even Kilimanjaro
in Aguas Park in Brazil. - [Matt] Schlitterbahn
announced plans for the creation of the Verruckt waterslid
e
to open in summer 2013. Their intent was to create
a slide with 2 drops. The initial being a 17 storey plunge, leading to a 5 storey
climb then a second plunge. - The builder, Henry, had
failed to pitch his idea to other vendors, so he
said, to hell with it, I'll build it myself.. - Every bit of advice we've been given from the brightest brains
and the smartest engineers just have not been correct. - However, this is
where the problems begin because during construction,
Henry pressed the desig
ners to complete his ride at
a faster pace than usual. For calculations that
usually took 3 to 5 months, he pushed the team to
get it done in 5 weeks. What could possibly go wrong? Many corners were cut and the
team was worked to the bone. When the ride finally opened in July 2014, an employee had observed guests
going airborne from day one. This did not bond well and
was very concerning to him. - [Matt] Two months after
the slide officially opened, Verruckt was voted the worlds
best new waterpa
rk ride. However, there had already
been at least 13 riders who suffered non-fatal injuries
while riding the slide. Yet, for some reason, 13 incidents later, it still continued to operate. - In 2016, the park even
attempted to cover up an incident where a man was thrown from the raft and suffered facial injuries. Apparently management had told lifeguards a coverup story for
their incident reports. Now surely that is worth
closing the ride for. But nope, the ride stayed open
and the problems cont
inued. And worst of all, by
2016, a 10 year old boy tragically lost his life
while riding the slide . The boy had been placed
at the front of the raft instead of between the two
women accompanying him. This uneven distribution
caused the raft to go airborne and this sadly ended in tragedy. 3 months after this, following
a criminal investigation, it officially announced
that the Verruckt slide would be demolished. So this ride lasted 2 years
before being destroyed due to outright obvious
dangers
from the start. - [Matt] As absolutely tragic as this is, there was some silver lining to the slide's issues gaining publicity. Following this incident,
the boys father managed to get legislation passed. These law changes were on
ride inspection standards. - Well hopefully, these
law changes will assure that future rides will be
much safer for any guests. - Aw, come on. - Well, only if it's a
gentler roller coaster and you have to ride next to me. - Yeah! - Okay, okay, let's go. - Yeah! - The Ca
tapult at Mt.
Olympus Water & Theme Park. - [Matt] Mt. Olympus has
a reputation of sorts. It's known by many as "an
accident waiting to happen." And if you visit this Wisconsin park, you go at your own risk. - The park is named after
the great mountain in Greece where Greek gods are said to live. It features an interesting combination of both indoor and outdoor
waterpark and theme park rides. But today, we're looking at Mt
Olympus's notorious Catapult. The Catapult is a large
slingshot style rid
e. A bullet shaped capsule houses 2 people and is suspended between 2
tall poles by bungey cables. Then they're released in
the air like a slingshot. (riders shouting) - [Matt] The catapult was
loved by many thrill seekers who were looking for an adrenaline rush. That was until July 2015
when a boy and his friend narrowly escaped serious injury or worse. They were being strapped into the catapult then suddenly, the
bungey cord just snapped and just missed hitting its occupants. - [Reporter] As s
oon as
they were just getting ready to pull the lever and that
line come crashing down and right into the pavement. - [Matt] Luckily, this incident happened before the ride launched. Otherwise this could've
been much more tragic. - When this happened, the catapult was immediately
closed for inspections. They found that the ride had passed it's most recent inspection. However, they never actually
inspected the wire or hoist that held the bullet capsule which is like catastrophically stupid becaus
e that wire is literally holding 2 people's lives in the balance. To inspectors even found that
the operators of the catapult didn't even know basic CPR or first aid. And that's really basic stuff,
it's like a weekend course. I mean, I've known First
Aid since I was 16. It can literally save a
life, so why wouldn't you. - [Matt] Yeah in many theme
parks, it's mandatory that staff know CPR and first aid. - Due to such a close incident and the massive safety
risk of the Catapult, the ride was perm
anently closed
and removed from the park. The park was also cited to have had many other safety incidents including a lap bar malfunction
on the indoor rollercoaster in the theme park as
well as a near drowning in the indoor waterpark. But most sadly, a fatal accident happened in the Water Kingdom section. Tragically a 16 year old fell 35 feet from the Dragons Tail water slide. Despite these incidents, the park is still in operation today hopefully with some serious upgrades to the safety of the
Dragons Tail waterslide if not just demolishing it altogether. Hopefully their new rides have
much higher safety standards because the true beauty of
barreling down that waterslide or roller coaster is knowing
that you are completely safe. - [Dru] Thinking all kinds of things, what could have happened. - Here we go, here we go, roll. The Shotgun Amazon half slide. - [Matt] Hey, wasn't the shotgun slide from your country, Strider? - Yeah, it sure was. Good ole Amazon aquatic
adventure land was a
water park in my home country Australia. While originally it was a
massive tourist destination, a dangerous ride caused
its attendance to decline until it closed. And in some ways, it's a
shame because this park did give a lot of people a lot of fun and it had all sorts of cool
rides like this flying fox and this super awesome
four storey jumping deck. However, one of the rides
should never have opened because it was not only
scary, but very dangerous. The Shotgun, it was quite a
unique design
for a waterslide. Think of a sawn off shotgun except humans are used as live bullets. You can probably see
where I'm going with this: the ride would send people
hurtling down a steep decline at breakneck pace before the
slides suddenly ended midair leaving you to free fall
plummet into the pool below. I know it sounds awesome, right? Unfortunately, the ride wasn't safe and this led to a completely
unnecessary tragedy. On October 1999, a child was
left unattended on the slide and tragically they
were
later found drowned. After this incident, there was
an inquest in the park safety and wouldn't you know it? Two years later, the park had to close. However, it's only fair that I
mentioned the other notorious massive problem with this slide. I could be wrong the
reports have been given, it gives a massive
wedgie, I mean really bad. All genders did not appreciate this slide. I in fact did recently
interview a female victim of this dangerous slide
and they had this to say. - [Victim] Right of
f the back
and front, it freaking hurt. - [Boo] You're okay? - Yeah, I'm okay, thanks Boo. Number four, The Disney World Monorail. - [Matt] Oh yeah, here we
go, my favorite theme park. Let's chat about a familiar place to me and many other people, Disney World. But with all of their more
dangerous looking rides, I didn't expect their
most tragic ride accident to be with their monorail. The monorail system has been
used for over 50 years now to shuttle thousands of visitors around the sprawling r
esort each day. But back in 2009 at 2:00
a.m. on the Disney monorail, a really important track
switch was never activated. - This caused the train to
reverse down the wrong line and two Disney monorails collided. In this horrible event,
a driver was killed but fortunately the other driver and the passengers were uninjured. Though the other driver did go to hospital because obviously, he was very shaken up. The reverse crash did 24 million dollars worth property damage too. When Disney was interv
iewed, they said it was the first
fatal crash in the 38 years the monorail had been
operating, which is a long time but obviously any casualty
rate higher than zero is an outright tragedy. - [Matt] Strangely, in this case, not even Disney could figure
out what caused the crash. Obviously the monorail was
shut down after the incident. The US Safety Commission
said they cited Disney for four safety violations
and fined 35 grand but that's broken chump change to Disney. But hey, it led to new safet
y
precautions being added. - Got any examples of safety precautions? - [Matt] Well there was a fun
rule before this accident. Four passengers could sit
up front with the driver in the Disney co-pilot
program and honestly, a lot of kids leapt at the idea of getting to sit with the
train driver at Disney World. I know I did when I was
a kid but understandably, after this incident, passengers are always kept
safely in the carriage. - Hey, Boo, how about a carnival game? - Yeah. - All right. The Thu
nder River Rapids ride. This was in Dreamworld,
Australia my home country. This ride was actually
around for about 30 years. In fact, I still remember
riding it in 2001 on a school excursion with my classmates. Originally it was located
in the town of Gold Rush section of Dreamworld. However, this incident
combined with a pandemic has turned Dreamworld into a
mostly abandoned ghost town. - [Matt] The entire park? Geez, that must have been serious. What happened on the ride? - Well, there was a t
ragic
incident on this ride in 2016. One day a water pump on the ride failed and this caused the raft to flip. And in a horrible accident,
four people were killed. - [Matt] That's horrible. - Yeah it was a tragedy known
throughout all of my country. Our Prime Minister at the
time, Malcolm Turnbull, even went on air to express his
condolences to the families. - All of our colleagues'
thoughts and prayers and all Australian thoughts and prayers are with the families
at this very sad time. - Unders
tandably, Dreamworld was fined $3.6 million for the
incidents, and this was deemed the worst Australian theme
park accidents since the 1979 Ghost Train incident at Luna Park. Both are remembered for
being absolutely terrible and once a professional
stepped into investigate, we learned just how dangerous this ride had been the whole time. The ride operator admitted to
breaching safety standards. Upon investigating they said
it was only a matter of time before this happened. Why? Well, the ride's
safety
risk had not been assessed in over 30 years. That is just appalling. The silver lining to this incident is that this caused a massive overhaul of theme parks safety in my country. These new theme parks
safety regulations, well, maybe they've saved a few lives. The accident also prompted my country to introduce industrial
manslaughter as an offense. Needless to say, this shaped
up the safety standards of my country rides something fierce. - [Matt] I can imagine being
charged for accidental
murder over theme park ride fails,
that's gonna leave operators a little more careful. And I hope a horrible accident like that never happens in a theme park again. - I hope so too. After the incidents,
Dreamworld shut the park down for six weeks, and as you might guess, they completely demolished
the ride in that time. And every year since the accident, the company has reported
massive operating losses. In 2021 I revisited the theme
park with my girlfriend Nin and the theme park was
practicall
y deserted. As you might have seen
from my community posts, I mostly go there now to
hang out with the kangaroos. This one incident has
caused the theme park to become a shell of its former self. It has seen at least $260
million in losses so far. On top of this, the park's also fighting class action lawsuits against shareholders who were told the park was
much safer than it was. And with not checking the
ride's safety and over 30 years, I can't say I blame the shareholders. I don't know how muc
h longer
the theme park will be open so I'm personally trying
to spend as much time with the kangaroos there as they can. I love kangaroos. Hopefully I'll get to hang out with them a few more times before it
closes after which well, at least I can always
find Skippy in the forest. - [Matt] Don't worry, I
won't bother you buddy. Number, blah.
(Boo screaming) Sorry. The Son of the Beast in
Kings Island Mason, Ohio. Hey Matt, isn't this
one located in the USA? - [Matt] It sure is. Son of Beast is t
he ride
sequel to The Beast. These beasts were both located
at Kings Island in Ohio, USA. While its dad currently holds many records being the fastest and
tallest wooden rollercoaster, the Son of Beast holds it's own records but not the kind of
records anyone should want. - Opening to the public in the year 2000, the ride stood at 218 feet tall. It was a fateful day
because the Son of the Beast became the first wooden hyper coaster. It was the first in the modern era to feature a vertical loop a
nd
it also reached a max speed of 78 miles per hour, which
is 128 kilometers per hour. It also features a double helix following the drop from
its top height of 218 feet. - [Matt] A complete circuit of the rides are two minutes and 20 seconds. It may not sound like much
but on a roller coaster, that's an eternity. Second only to its dad, Son
of Beast held the record for the second longest
roller coaster in the world. This ride was of course an eye
catcher to the thrill seeker, but as I mentioned
, it also
became infamous for accidents. - Yep, in 2006, a crack in a wooden beam resulted in a slight dip, which
jolted many riders severely. Once back at the station, many
riders complained of injury to the head or neck. They were sent to hospital for treatment. Following this, the ride
was shut down for repairs and didn't reopen for a year. - [Matt] Unfortunately, in 2009, there was another controversial
incident that occurred. Allegedly a woman rode the coaster and sustained a head injury wh
ich caused a blood vessel to burst, back when the injury occurred
however, there was no record of the woman reporting to
the first aid professional, not till a month later anyway. Nevertheless, the ride was
shut down as a precaution. - Well, at least the crew
was safe rather than sorry, and that's always good to see. During the investigation, it
was voiced that at this point it would be inappropriate to speculate on the exact date when
the ride may reopen. We're going to do a
thorough maintenanc
e review. - On track a rock, I hate rocks. - Although there were no
irregularities found in the ride, the ride never reopened. And once again, hats off to the crew here for doing a thorough
maintenance and safety review. Sadly, some slides before this were not nearly this thorough. - [Matt] Wooden roller coasters have a long colorful history
and many people were sad to see the Junior beast go. As long as they're kept safe
and well-run, it's a shame to see traditional roller
coasters like this di
sappear. - And before we get to number one, just one quick honorable
mention, the Orlando free fall. The free fall Drop Tower in Orlando is a 430 foot tower that obviously drops the guests safely to the ground. For the first three months,
it appeared to operate safely. But recently in 2022, a teenager tragically fell out of the ride from a fatally high distance. At first, investigations thought
it was because his seatbelt wasn't fastened, but
it was later discovered that his safety harness was
a
ttached the entire time. As of me making this video, the investigations are
still ongoing on this one. But more importantly, my deepest respects go to the family that
lost their boy, Tyre. When you go to a theme park, you should never have to
feel unsafe on the rides. That's the whole point of
it being a thrill ride, you feel completely
safe while being scared. With that acknowledged,
let's move on to number one. - [Luigifan] And don't ever come back. - Well how was I to know the carnival boss h
ad a bullseye on his shirt! Number one, Action Park in New Jersey. - [Matt] Oh Geez, we're
talking about this park? - Oh, you bet we are. Action Park aka Action Lawsuit
Park aka Accident Park. - They call the traction
park, class action park. - [Reporter] Class action
park, the lawyers called it. - Almost unanimously,
Action Park was known as the most dangerous theme
park ever and it's no surprise, ever since its opening in 1978, this park has had constant lawsuits, accidents and safety violatio
ns. Let's start with their
rides at motor world such as the Super Go Karts. Here guests were supposed to drive around at around 32 kilometers an hour. However, wouldn't you know it? Employees would often
break the set speed limit allowing customers to play bumper cars at speeds of 80 freaking
kilometers an hour. As you could probably guess, this resulted in many many
customers going to hospital with head injuries. And just to make it even
worse, many guests passed out from gasoline fumes as they
drove, Jeebus. - [Matt] Another one was lola cars. These were miniature race
cars on a longer track and wouldn't you know it? They could also have
their speed limit broken, resulting in yet more injuries for guests and apparently at night, when these cars weren't injuring guests,
employees were breaking to the nearby brewery, steal the beer, and take these lola cars out for a spin on the nearby highway. - Battle Action Tanks was
the next public menace where guests could ride around
in a caged a
rea with tanks. They had tennis ball cannons
and could shoot other tanks. Guests who didn't wanna participate could also operate cannons
from the outside of the cage. Maintenance and staff
never wanted to work here because when they were fixing up tanks, guests would fire at from the outside. Then there were the water rides such as the super speedboats. These speedboats were of course
in a snake-infested pond. And surprising no one, guests would often use these
speedboats to play bumper boat in
a snake-infested pond. I mean, what'd guests think
would happen if they did that? Were they all drunk? (bell chiming) No, I guess they weren't. Still that's a really stupid thing to do. - [Matt] And yet there was still more accident prone death traps because then there was the bumper boats which apparently leaked gasoline! One rider apparently got
too much of it on his skin and required medical aid. - Also, the boats were too
small for tall people like me, so we had to stick our
legs out on the
side which of course, resulted in
some terrible bone fractures. Moving onto yet more dangerous rides, there was waterworld which
sadly, was responsible for the most deaths in
the entire park history. To start with in Waterworld, there was the cannonball loop slide notorious for bloody noses,
lacerations and back injuries. What a winning combination
that is possibly due to having a complete vertical loop
on a waterslide tube. - [Reporter] The first
couple people that came in and came out and thei
r
mouths were all bloody and that was before they
had put sufficient padding in the top there was a little bit, so they sent a couple other people down and when those people came down they came down with lacerations. - [Strider] What construction worker build something like
that and says well yeah, this seems perfectly so. In fact, when the ride was closed, fallen out teeth were found
in the rides interior walls. A former Navy physician said
riders were experiencing up to nine Gs of force
going
through the ride. One rider even got stuck
at the top of the loop due to insufficient water pressure. And I don't even wanna picture that one, they got out safe, that's enough. And the stupid slide only
stayed open for one month anyway before being closed down, thank jeebus. - [Matt] There was also
the tidal wave pool, also known as the Grave Pool. The one meter high waves here went on for about 20 minutes at a
time with 10 minute breaks. Patrons who couldn't swim
could sometimes be subject to r
ising water levels and even
the patrons that could swim might tire up quickly and risk drowning. - This thing had 12 lifeguards
on duty at all times and on busy weekends, they
might have to rescue 30 people. To put it in perspective,
your average pool might get one to two
rescues every few months. Tragically in the time it was opened, two drownings occurred here. It likely would have been more if not for the hard working lifeguards. Fortunately, they were
able to revive many guests. There were s
till many
other cases of injuries such as the Alpine slide, the Tarzan swing or the roaring rapids. But if I went through every single injury, this one segment would be as long as Defunctland's entire
video on this park. But I've linked their
video in the description if you'd like to learn
more about this park. Overall, there were so many
reasons Action Park's rides were dangerous it'll make your hat spin. - [Matt] One reason was Action Park was one of the first
water parks in America and many o
f its ride
designs were not yet tested. Certainly not tested by any other parks. Rides built would also often cut corners to maximize profits. Rides were rarely maintained
or updated for safety either. - Another issue and it seems
like a kind of obvious one was the employees were mostly teenagers. And nothing against teenagers
but if I'm putting someone in charge of large,
dangerous piece of equipment, it's generally gonna be an adult with a bit more experience. And unfortunately, these
staff we
re often indifferent to the park's own rules. This led to breeding a lawless, chaotic culture among guests. - [Reporter] Like you had 16
yeah old, 17 year old kids with no prior in management
experience whatsoever literally managing a third of the park. - And at kiosks, the
guests were also frequently offered alcohol, because
when you've got a bunch of massively dangerous rides, why not also make your guests
drunk while using them? I mean, what could possibly
go wrong with that? - [Matt] Another
possible factor was many of the guests couldn't swim. This was probably because
many were low income areas and many had never had the opportunity to learn how to swim. And encouraging a bunch of people who can't swim into a waterpark, well that's practically
begging for disaster. - In 1996 with personal
injury lawsuits piling up, Action Park finally closed
its doors after 18 years. And as much as it was a good memory for some teenagers of the
80s and 90s, I'm glad to know this park will never h
urt
another person again. And with that, we've reached
the end of our journey through dangerous theme park rides. And I was kicked out of
the park but regardless, thanks, man, I appreciate your time. - [Matt] No problem, Josh. I'm always around if you need a hand or just a friend to chat with you know. - Likewise, my friend. I've linked Luigifan's
channel in the description if you're curious and if
you have your own experience with these theme parks or there's a video you'd like to suggest, feel
free with your thoughts in the comments. And as always, thanks for watching and I'll see you next time. - Bye bye. (bright music)
Comments
As a rollercoaster enthusiast, I do feel terrible for the people affected by incidents. It truly is tragic but the odds are so incredibly low the chances of even minor injuries are low.
I love how Strider is respectful to all the victims who died or injured yet still keeps it entertaining. Good on You
Howdy, howdy! Thanks for including me in your video Strider! As the theme park junkie that I am, it’s only fitting I show up here, but it means the everything to me that worlds finally collide and I get to appear on your channel! Again, I say thank you!
Your willingness to cover whatever topic interests you is so appealing and charming. I always find myself coming back to you every now and then. Thanks for being a stronghold of wholesome and interesting content.
As someone who's a huge fan of amusement parks myself, and sometimes not afraid to take risks, I know I would never go on those types of rides. Also, the way Boo said "ice cream!" was downright adorable and funny. 🤣🥰
PhantomStrider, I'm glad that you are still experimenting with new topics. Keep it up.
Speaking of your honorable mention, Strider, I’ve got a story to share. Around 100+ school music department students (myself included) were down in Orlando the last week of March. Our hotel was located only blocks away from that amusement park. The hotel itself had floors high enough (we were rooming on the top floor, the 5th) to easily see the tallest rides; the ferris wheel, the slingshot, the free fall, and plenty more. On the day that poor kid died, we arrived at the hotel at 9pm or so. I don’t know what time the incident happened, but I can say one thing for sure: I heard an awful lot of screaming for as far away as I was…
I was one of the final people to ever ride the Son of Beast, it closed only a few minutes after I rode it and never reopened. Not surprising at all considering this thing was like riding in a paint mixer. I've ridden many roller coasters all across the U.S. and have never ridden anything as rough as the Son of Beast.
The boy's name was Kaleb Schwab, and during the incident, the boy was decapitated. His brother was with him and he was traumatized seeing his 10 year old younger brother die and get decapitated by a waterside right in front of his eyes. Rest well, Kaleb.
Former theme park worker here and they used to hammer it into our head about the tragedy that happened on the Thunder River Rapids Ride, including the horrible way that those poor people died. Just to note, they did not die by drowning. Makes my skin crawl.
I remember hearing about that poor boy’s death after going on that Verute water slide. It was just so horrifying. My prayers go out to his family.
"My deepest respects go to any people who may have been injured or killed." Phantomstrider is a true Chad.
"Don't worry; don't be afraid ever, because life is just like a ride" -Scooby Doo
I recall an old page on ride accidents that pointed out that, by injuries and fatalities every year, the most dangerous amusement rides in existence are outdoor bouncy castles. The wind blows them away with kids inside. You're not supposed to operate them in even moderate wind, but this is routinely ignored. One of the worst ones in US history was a haunted-house fire at Great Adventure that was reminiscent of the Ghost Train incident described here. I'd say most roller-coaster deaths are probably of park employees who are hit by the coaster train when, for whatever reason, they enter a restricted area while the train is running (often to retrieve a loose item dropped by an insistent rider (DON'T be that person) or as a result of a miscommunication during grounds maintenance). That happens a lot. But every so often, you get a really inexcusable one resulting from neglected maintenance, like the Edmonton Mindbender or Quimera derailments, or the one on the Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain Railroad where the whole "locomotive" lead car derailed and crushed a rider. The Icon Park drop-tower death sounds like it was actually a design flaw in the ride system--the ride should never have been able to dispatch with the rider's restraint locked in that position. The ride ops could have caught it, but the ride itself was giving them a literal green light to go ahead. Given the number of people who ride every day, these accidents are so rare that riding a roller coaster is safer than a lot of things you do in your daily life. These days, you're in more danger from catching COVID in the queue. But nobody needs to ride an amusement ride. When a ride exists solely for purposes of fun, really the accident rate should be as close to zero as is humanly possible.
Perfect timing after the tragedy that just recently occurred to that poor boy on the lift ride- my heart breaks for his family. Definitely going to be more cautious with rides. Thank you for this informative video.
I enjoyed watching "Class Action Park" from 2020. That place has always fascinated me since I first heard about some years ago, mostly because of the lax laws with amusement parks in the state at the time. Plus, the original owner was more interested in profit than safety and often ignored the red flags. There's a book written by the son of the original owner, who actually worked there during the summers when he was in high school and mentioned some rather unsettling things that happened during his time there, not just the rides. I do recommend it!
As someone who lives near Orlando herself, I'm glad you mentioned both the monorail incident at Disney as well as the more recent Orlando Freefall incident. I only vaguely remember the Disney Monorail incident since I was still really young when it happened. However, what I do know is that after the incident, they got rid of both monorails purple and pink and used the nondamaged parts to created monorails peach and teal. They mostly likely did this to not recall monorails purple and pink with the incident, to which I give respect to that decision. As for the Orlando Freefall incident, I sadly don't know too much else about it besides what has been stated already. The only other thing I could add is that after the incident all the rides made by the same manufacturers closed down from reinspection. However, that was a few weeks ago when the incident freshly happened. I don't know if any have reopened since then. However, I still do give my sympathy and condolences to the family as the accident could've been avoided and the ride having more precautions. Again, I have mad respects for you covering both of those incidents with care, especially as the later one is still effecting the Central Florida area greatly as well as the theme park ride manufacturing industry as a whole.
Wait...you telling me people who lived next to a amusement park, complained about noises? That's like getting mad at a neighborhood farmer because his roosters or the smell. YOU LIVE NEXT TO A DAMN AMUSEMENT PARK, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GOING TO HEAR? EMU JESUS OR THE OCEAN WAVE?
I’m so glad that Strider is aware of trying to be the most respectful he can about this topic. He’s one of the nicest top list content creators I’ve ever watched.
Mad respect for covering that free fall incident in Orlando. I didn’t even know it happened until my mother in law told me about it and I watched the whole uncensored video. Tore my heart up real bad. Deepest respect to the family and again massive respect to you for covering this Strider