- [Narrator] Whether it's a
roller coaster or a water slide, nothing gets your heart pounding like a high octane theme park ride. But for all the seatbelts,
lap bars and warning signs, they're not always as safe as they seem. From poor maintenance and sheer negligence to utterly insane designs, there have been many rides that were just accidents
waiting to happen. So it's time to buckle
up and brace yourself as we take a look at even
more theme park rides that had to be shut down. (upbeat music) The Sand Blaster,
Daytona beaches boardwalk is a famous Floridian amusement park. Although one of its rides
made national headlines for all the wrong reasons
several years ago. The Sandblaster, which
was a fairly standard 53 foot steel rollercoaster
built back in the 1970s, had been operating on
the boardwalk since 2013, but in June 2018, disaster struck when the coaster's front
car suddenly derailed, throwing two riders 34 feet to the ground. That's like being shoved out of a three-story building, ouch. Miraculously, no one died. The incident immediately
shut the ride down and Floridian officials
began to investigate, but what they found
shocked them to the core. A little over a year before, inspectors assessing the ride had ordered it to stop
immediately after finding not one, not two, but more than a dozen violations. These included damaged
seats, excessive corrosion, and even a large crack in the track. These weren't things just
a lick of paint could fix. So the ride was shut down
for some serious maintenance and reopened five months later, but then in May, less than
a month before the accident, the ride failed its inspection again due to more excessive corrosion. After even more maintenance, another inspector gave it
the green light to reopen, but just a few hours later, this terrible tragedy struck. Whoa, had that inspector
been wearing a blindfold? Ultimately, the investigation revealed that the cars had been hitting the corners way too fast at a whopping
22 miles per hour, causing the derailment. To make matters worse,
engineers also found evidence on the track that the sandblaster had derailed several times in the past without ever being reported to the state, the dark history and clear negligence the sandblaster boasted sealed its fate and the ride was torn down in 2019. Shocking theme park incidents like these can make for pretty disturbing headlines when they occur and much
like the news in general, put a damper on people's days. But luckily there's a way
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more theme park rides that had to be shut down. (whooshing) The Vortex, Thorpe Park
likes to market itself as the UKs most thrilling theme park. And that's technically true, if by thrilling, they mean terrifying thanks to an accident that
occurred there back in 2018. Their ride, The Vortex, is
designed to whirl riders around on a large mechanical arm
that pivots on an axle. So while they're being whipped round, riders are also swung side to side, up to 65 feet in the air. Looks like the ultimate
way to make someone dizzy. But back in 2018, it was the people watching the riders that felt sick. As the arms swung its
screaming riders round, something huge suddenly
ripped off the ride. It plummeted towards the
riders on the downswing and thankfully missed them by mere inches. Operators shut down the ride immediately, fearing that it could have been a piece of critical machinery and to the ride might break
apart above them any second, but on a closer inspection, they realized that it
was just a piece of foam that had flown off one of the ride seats that was out of order. Relieved, they performed a
few routines safety checks before reopening The Vortex
just 15 minutes later, what a dizzyingly close call. The Vertical Accelerator, in 2019, to steely nerved gents got into the seats of the vertical accelerator, a slingshot ride at Florida's
Cobra Adventure Park. They were being recorded by their friends, who were teasing them about their upcoming
160 foot skyward trip. - [Woman] You're gonna
be screaming like sissies in about 10 seconds. Yeah you are. - [Narrator] Now did
anyone else notice how worn and stretched those
cables on the left look compared to the right? Well, keep watching them because just as the
operator was about to pull the release lever, something
truly shocking happened. That was one seriously close call. If that ride operator had noticed the shredding cord even a second later, those gents might've been
flung to their deaths. Luckily, no one was hurt and the ride was closed immediately. You'd think Cobra Adventure Park would have launched a full investigation into this near miss. However, they only released a statement claiming all their
attractions, and I quote, always maintained the
highest safety standards. I'm sorry, were they even watching the same video we just saw? Well, a quick glance on
Google maps shows that today, the Vertical Accelerator
is still standing. Do you think this
dangerous failure to launch was an acceptable accident or should it have been shut down for good? Let me know in the comments. The Leap-The-Gap, the very concept of a track jumping rollercoaster is something that true
adrenaline junkies dream about. But I'm sorry to say, that such an insane
sounding ride doesn't exist and probably never will thanks to a little known
thing called physics. Because roller coaster
drains don't have engines, they rely on a delicate
and ever changing balance of inertia, gravity and
energy to keep them rolling. So without the track, they're completely unpredictable
and uncontrollable. However, this limitation
hasn't stopped people from bringing a trackless
loop the loop to life with some top tier visual effects. I mean, this clip looks so realistic it actually went viral,
but if it was real, the slightest breeze would
knock that train off course and send it crashing to the ground. With all that being said, no one would ever be dumb enough to try and make a train
jumping track, right? Well, back in 1902, the Coney Island Canon Coaster was originally going to include a track that genuinely jumped a gap. Trains would have been hauled
up to the crest of a hill, rolled through a large
cannon shaped tunnel and then propelled over a
gap in the track at the end, this death defying stunt
was meant to make riders feel like they'd just
been shot out of a cannon. While the track was built to spec, several tests done with sandbags resulted in a catastrophic
number of crashes. And the idea was thankfully abandoned. The track was filled in, but at just 40 feet
high with no real speed, the resulting Cannon
Coaster was pretty boring, even by 1902 standards. This led to its closure a mere five years after it was built. Wow, what a misfire. The Tsunami, with a name like The Tsunami, you'd be forgiven for
thinking this next ride was some sort of insane wave pool, but surprisingly, it was an
inverted steel rollercoaster based in M&D's theme park in Scotland. The ride had traveled around the country as part of M&D's carnival before arriving at the park back in 2004. Even though the 66 foot
high coaster was well loved, it didn't have the best track record. In 2011, it broke down, leaving riders stranded 60 feet in the
air for eight long hours. They were eventually
rescued by being abseiled out of their seats. As heart attack inducing as it looks, that event paled in
comparison to the disaster that occurred in June
2016, that afternoon, The Tsunami's yellow drain
was running along the tracks when suddenly, the entire thing derailed, it struck a support beam at
a shocking 40 miles per hour and plunged down 30 feet below, landing in a devastating
heap in front of the ride. Two adults and eight children
were injured in the crash, but despite the drastic
scenes, no lives were lost. A health and safety investigation was launched into the
devastating accident, but investigators weren't
prepared for what they found. Repairs had been carried down on the axles of the passenger cars several days before. However, the welding
metal that had been used was totally incompatible. This meant that once the train
had entered a critical turn, the axles failed,
derailing the entire thing. And to make matters
worse, a ride inspector had approved the works just
16 days before the incident. In the end, the inspector
was banned from working. The Tsunami was removed from the park and M&D were fined just under $100,000 for health and safety breaches. It may not have had anything
in common with a real tsunami, but this ride sure ended
being one serious disaster. Is all this making you re-evaluate going to a theme park ever again? Well, I know a place where
you can be entertained without risking your life, right here. Just hit those like and
subscribe buttons down below. And you'll be the first
to know when I've dropped an exciting new video, all done, great. Now, what horror coaster do we have next? Hypersonic XLC. The Hypersonic XLC at King's
Dominion Amusement Park in Virginia had a bad reputation for having a two hour long
wait for a 10 second long ride, but that's hardly fair. Technically the ride was 20 seconds long. Using a prototype air compression system, riders were launched from zero to 80 miles per hour in just 1.5 seconds, accelerating up a 165 foot hill before plummeting vertically
down the other side. And as this lady's about to demonstrate, it was just as fast as it sounds. (screaming) Hope she liked her new hairdo. Opened in 2001, this
unique prototype attraction became a seriously popular coaster. However, rumors began to surface that passengers who put
their hands up at the start would frequently suffer
from dislocated shoulders, just from the sheer force of the launch. Apparently, this resulted
in several lawsuits that were so damaging to King's Dominion, the ride was forced to
shut down for good in 2007, that's just six short
years after it was opened. But here's the thing, I
can't find any records of the lawsuits or even
the injuries at all. It turns out the real
reason the ride was shutdown wasn't because it was dangerous, but because it was unreliable. Because it was a prototype, the ride had to undergo months of downtime every season for maintenance, being a huge drain on the
park's finances and resources, it was eventually put up for sale, but no other parks were willing to take on such a risk of a ride. And so it was dismantled
and sadly forgotten. I don't know about you, but I preferred the dislocated
shoulder explanation. The Emerald Plunge, the opening day of any amusement park usually has riders
screaming and excitement, but the opening day of the Wave Water Park in Dublin, California left
one rider's screaming in pain. Back in 2017, a 10-year-old
boy decided to try out the brand new Emerald Plunge slide, which dropped riders
almost vertically down 48 feet onto a shallow pool below. He was well within the
height and weight limits, but when he reached the bottom, he skidded over the water
and was sent careening over the side onto the bare concrete. Ouch, I'd have been crying for my mommy, but this little legend
got up and walked it off. Even though he wasn't seriously injured, the ride was closed just 90 minutes after it had been opened
for the first time. Investigators were
brought in to figure out what had gone wrong and
sent a 78 pound sand bag, which weighed the same
amount as what the boy down the slide. But when it hit the pool,
they watched in horror, as it too was sent flying over the sides. They concluded that a deep pool of water at the bottom of the flume caused a fast stop for fighter riders. This was a basic error that should have been
picked up on during testing. The Plunge's manufacturer, Whitewater, insisted it undertook extensive
testing on all of its rides, but the thorough investigation determined that was a huge lie. Not only that, but it also revealed they'd arbitrarily taken the
height and weight restrictions from common rollercoaster requirements, without any proof they kept
people safe on their slides. The boy's family filed a lawsuit and settled with the manufacturer, who begrudgingly took full responsibility. The slide eventually reopened in 2018, following some small water flow changes. And at this time, it
made manage to stay open for more than 90 minutes. Superman, Tower of Power. The thought of being thrown from a speeding rollercoaster is scary, but it's nothing compared
to what 13 year old Kaitlyn Lassiter went through
at SixFlags Kentucky Kingdom. Back in 2007, Kaitlyn was getting ready to ride the Park's
Superman Tower of Power. It was a drop tower ride, which lifted riders
almost 180 feet in the air before dropping them at a
speedy 54 miles per hour. Just watching it is enough
to make your stomach flip. But as Kaitlyn was being
hoisted up, the ride jolted, and she heard a sort of
strange whipping sound, suddenly, a cable that had
been lifting the ride up, fell on top of her. And part of it wrapped
around her dangling legs. Terrified, the people next to her screamed at the operators
to stop the ride, but it was no use. The car dropped and the cables severed both of poor Kaitlyn's feet. She was rushed into surgery and the doctors were able
to reattach her right foot, but her left wasn't as a lucky. And she was left with
life-changing injuries. The ride was shut down and after a thorough
investigation, it never reopened. It turned out, the faulty cable had gradually deteriorated over time. Something that park inspectors had suspiciously never
responded, to make it worse, the 18-year-old ride operators
heard the snapping noise and failed to hit the
emergency stop button in time. If they had, experts believed
Kaitlyn would have come away with just a few scrapes
instead of two missing feet. All of these factors fell
firmly on Six Flag's shoulders, and the Kaitlyn's family rightfully sued the park for negligence. They received an undisclosed settlement, which included around
half a million dollars in medical bills alone, left without a leg to stand
on, much like Kaitlyn, SixFlags demolished the ride before the start of the 2008 season. Ride of Steel, the tower
of power isn't the only Superman themed ride with
a super villainous past. The Ride of Steel was built back in 1999 in New York's Darien Lake Theme Park, which is now also a SixFlags location. This mega coaster climbs
up more than 200 feet and flies along the tracks
at over 70 miles per hour, giving riders a real taste of
what it's like to be Superman minus the bright red cape and underpants. However, back in 2011, chaos erupted shortly after
Sergeant James Hackemer, a courageous war veteran who'd lost both of his
legs defending his country boarded the ride. Sat at the very front, the
train whipped around the track and was approaching one
of the smaller hills. When suddenly, Sergeant Hackemer
was ejected from his seat. Sadly, he didn't survive and the ride was closed indefinitely. An investigation found
that in the Ride of Steel operators training manual, it stated that all riders must
have two functioning legs. This is because the T-bar ride restraints are designed to hold riders
in at the hip and shin. However, even as Hackemer's friends lifted them into the front seat, giving operators have
full view of his handicap, they did not think to
stop him from boarding. Rumors then began to
fly that a park employee had told Hackemer that he
could get on any of the rides, but this turned out to be false. He'd actually been offered a brochure of safety information about the rides, but had refused it, claiming
he already had a copy. Ultimately, the ride
was allowed to reopen, but the blame fell on
Darien Lake's shoulders and they ended up having to pay out an undisclosed seven figure settlement. Although this wasn't the
Ride of Steel's first time in the media spotlight. In 1999, a man weighing
more than 300 pounds slipped from the ride's restraints and was thrown 10 feet to the ground. During an investigation,
Darien Lake argued that the restraints worked
as they were meant to, but they'd failed to engage
properly because of his size. He was awarded $2.85
million in compensation and the ride was started up again after more secure restraints
were added to the trains. The Cyclone, the city of New York is home to Coney Island's Luna Park. One of the most famous
amusement parks in the world, and right at its center lies the legendary Cyclone rollercoaster. Opened in 1926, this iconic wooden coaster hauls riders up to the height
of an eight story building before letting them loose
around hills and bends at a breathtaking 60 miles per hour. For almost 100 years, the Cyclone has been a local institution, even though it doesn't have the greatest safety record on track. Riders are only secured
by a single lap bar, which is easy for some idiots to overpower or wriggle out from. Back in 1985, a man stood up on the ride for an extra hit of adrenaline, but accidentally hit a crossbeam and was sent tumbling to the ground below. Then in 1988, a construction worker took a turn on the
Cyclone and decided he too would try standing up as the
train went down a steep hill. As you might've guessed, he was also sent careening over the side. Unfortunately, neither
of these riders survived, but because these accidents were a result of their own actions, the Cyclone still operates to this day. But seeing the similarity
of their idiotic choices, you'd think Luna Park would
have refitted the trains with better restraints, right? Or at the very least, a mandatory IQ test. Well, instead of that, the park operators just painted a remain seated
sign at the coaster's peak. Now that is health and
safety at its finest. New Texas Giant, when the
Texas Giant debuted in 1990, it set the astonishing record of being the tallest wooden rollercoaster in the entire world. This beast was made with over
900,000 board feet of wood, making up its many heart racing hills, drops into vertical skirting turns. And at more than 140 feet high, with a top speed of 65 miles per hour, some of its drops were like
falling off a 13 story building. As fun as it was, the wooden
ride had a terrible reputation for being way too rough. This led to its renovation in 2009, and it was eventually reopened in 2011 as the aptly named, New Texas Giant. It was ongoing smoothly until
the events of July, 2013, a larger lady was riding The Giant when at the first steep descent, she tumbled out of her train carriage and fell a shocking 75 feet. Unfortunately, she didn't survive and the ride was shut down
pending an investigation. Safety experts questioned
the ride's choice of restraint system, which only secured riders with a lap bar, despite the high speeds and extreme turns. However, witnesses came forward claiming that before the
train had left the station, the lady had alerted an attendant to the fact that her
lap bar wasn't secured. Apparently, she'd only
heard the latch click once, indicating that the mechanism
hadn't locked properly, the attendant then performed a quick push, pull test on her lap bar and despite her size and concerns, assured her she'd be
okay, boy, ultimately, the tragic event was put down to the victim's size and
the attendant's error, not the failing of her restraints. As such, the ride was
closed for just two months. But when it reopened, it
had redesigned its lap bars and added in some seatbelts. Now larger patrons can ride without the fear of falling out, though, whether they want to is an entirely different question. Flight Commander. It's no secret that King's Island Ohio doesn't have the greatest safety record. Since 1976, at least seven people have lost their lives in the park. These incidents range
from medical emergencies to lightning strikes, but
one instance stands out thanks to the ride that was involved. The Flight Commander,
secured in little pods, riders were taken up
to a height of 60 feet and whirled around by mechanical arms. Each pod was connected to a
rotating section at the back and through the use of a joystick, riders could spin their own
pods a full 360 degrees. It was like controlling
your own little spaceship, but in 1991, and just
a year after it opened, this space ship fantasy
came crashing down to earth. A lady had boarded the ride alone, but somehow slipped out of her pod and frighteningly fell more
than 60 feet to the ground. She sadly didn't survive, but the event had investigators
scratching their heads. She'd been secured in with
both a shoulder harness and a lap bar, both of which were found to be fully functional. So how on earth had she slipped out? after more investigating,
it was then discovered that the woman had been
heavily intoxicated and that's when it all fell into place. It's believed that in her
inebriated state, she fell limp, which through a design flaw, allowed her to slide into the
unoccupied seat beside her and wriggle her way out of the restraints. Maybe she was going to be sick or perhaps she'd passed out entirely. Whatever the reason, it
didn't end well for her, the ride was closed down,
but it reopened in 1992 without any more incidents. Even so, the damage had
been done to its reputation and it was shut down for
good just three years later. Thunder River Rapids. Just about everything in
Australia is out to get you, the snakes, the spiders,
even the theme park rides. Don't believe me? Well, just to wait until
you hear what happened on Dreamworld's Thunder River Rapids. It was a pretty typical river rapid ride with large, circular rafts floating around a choppy water channel that were being lifted out of the water by a conveyor belt system. With a top speed of
just 28 miles per hour, this ride was hardly
a breakneck adventure, although, it became one back in 2016. That day, one of the ride's
essential water pumps failed, causing the water level to drop. As it did, a raft near the conveyor belts became stranded on the support rails and couldn't make it
to the unloading area, but less than a minute later, another raft came speeding up behind them, crashing into the first raft and jolting the entire thing upright. It tipped out four riders, who were either terrifyingly
trapped beneath the raft or against the moving conveyor belt. Horrendously, none of them survived, making this one of the
worst theme park accidents in Australian history. A sweeping safety audit determined that the ride's safety
and maintenance systems were rudimentary at
best and that a simple, inexpensive water level monitor would have prevented the entire disaster. This unbelievable oversight
the ride demolished in 2018 and Dreamworld's parent
company Ardent Leisure, was fined a phenomenal $2.8 million for health and safety breaches, crikey, here's a quick shout out
to YouTuber CupcakeS, for suggesting the Thunder River Rapids in the comments of part
one of this series. If you haven't seen it
yet, go check it out. And if you know of any other
rides that I haven't covered, tell me about them down
to the comments below. Who knows, you might get
a mention in part three. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
