Theme Park Rides That Had To Be Shut Down

nothing gets the old adrenaline pumping quite like a death-defying theme park ride the promise of high-speed flips loops and drops attracts millions of people to test their courage on these rides every year but despite the warning signs and super snug lap bars not all of them are as safe as they appear like this russian ride that broke and had its passengers suspended by a thread or this crazy catapult that nearly crushed its riders want to find out more then strap in tight and secure any loose items about your person as we take a look at some theme park rides that had to be shut down savage son of beast among the roller coaster enthusiasts of the world this colossal wooden ride called son of beast holds a legendary status part of kings island amusement park in ohio it was built as a sequel to their previous wooden coaster the beast but like any good sun this new beast exceeded its predecessor in every way it was the world's fastest and tallest wooden roller coaster whipping riders around at a staggering 78 miles per hour from peaks as high as 218 feet and to add the cherry on top it was also the only wooden coaster with a loop when it opened back in the year 2000 but being made out of wood didn't make for the smoothest journey structural issues gave son of beast a reputation for being a jerky and rough ride although that made some sadists love it all the more but it got a little too rough back in 2006 as a train of riders looped around the rose bowl section their train suddenly bucked as if it had hit a huge pothole at those high speeds the damage was serious and 27 riders were sent to the hospital with severe neck and chest injuries inspectors later revealed a wooden support beam underneath that section had cracked and splintered and the ride was shut down it was repaired and reopened in 2009 but then another rider suffered an injury on board though this time it was head trauma caused by the coaster's violent shaking even though a thorough investigation found no irregularities its bumpy past and rough reputation was enough to see it shut down indefinitely that year the wonderful wooden structure was later demolished in 2012 proving that what goes up must eventually come crashing down [Applause] the dangerous dragon challenge when universal studios in orlando florida opened a dragon themed ride in 1999 roller coaster fanatics were left awestruck originally called dueling dragons the ride consisted of a pair of inverted intertwined roller coasters that chased each other around like two dragons fighting in the air at one point the two trains even inverted riders and looped them round just 18 inches apart after that i bet all those riders were left feeling like they'd really conquered a dragon it was later renamed the dragon challenge and added to the park's wizarding world of harry potter section but shortly after the move the dragon riders started misbehaving in 2011 a 52 year old man was on the ride when during that iconic loop something flung out from the other car and struck him across the face the damage was so bad that his entire eye had to be removed ouch concerned that riders weren't taking the many no loose object signs seriously operators began setting the two trains off at different times to avoid any similar incidents but this would turn out to be a killing blow for the dragons without the dueling feature the ride's popularity dwindled and by 2017 it was shut down to make way for something more magical and less dangerous now if you're looking for a wild ride without the risk of losing an eye then go ahead and hit those like and subscribe buttons i can't send you through a loop-de-loop but i'll turn your world upside down with videos about things you never knew before all done great now where were we grueling green lantern the 2011 green lantern film was universally panned when it hit the silver screen so you might not be surprised to learn that the green lantern first flight roller coaster was just as disappointing when it opened in six flags magic mountain back in 2011 it was hyped up as the world's first completely vertical pattern zigzagged roller coaster with 360 degree spinning seats but this design made it look more like a giant pinball machine than a ride nevertheless six flags as fans lined up to try it out and boy did most of them regret it riders were jerked and jostled around the short 825 foot track at top speeds of just 37 miles per hour it wrenched them around corners and spun them awkwardly into sudden angles so instead of feeling like they were flying superheroes it shook them around like fish in a big green bag riders quickly took to the internet to complain about how painful the experience was while others berated it for being short and boring fortunately six flags fans didn't have to suffer for much longer in 2017 the ride closed unexpectedly for unknown reasons some speculated it was because of bad reviews and injuries while others believed it was down to its waning popularity whatever the reason it stood vacant for two years before the park announced it was shutting the ride down for good in 2019 that means this hugely hyped ride operated for an embarrassingly short six years just like the film this roller coaster turned out to be one huge flop oh no oppa is it just me or does anyone else find the garishly painted carts on some family-friendly roller coasters like this or this really creepy well unfortunately the unsettling design of the oppa roller coaster carts at mount olympus park in wisconsin wasn't the worst thing about them the colorful indoor coaster was only 43 feet high and with a top speed of just 29 miles per hour riders didn't go wild as much as they went mild though that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous back in 2014 anthony thiessen was accompanying his grandkids on the ride when his safety bar suddenly failed as the ride hit a corner anthony was flung out like a rag doll and fell 17 feet onto the hard concrete below that's like falling out of a one and a half story window anthony was placed into a medically induced coma for a month due to the severity of his injuries but he miraculously survived the roller coaster on the other hand didn't safety inspectors began testing the ride using sandbags to represent the rider's weights but they all watched in disbelief as the lap bar suddenly popped open at the point of the track where anthony had been thrown there was no doubt that mount olympus had failed to properly maintain the coaster forcing them to permanently close the ride that same year well i for one am not sad to see the back of those creepy looking mouse mobiles get in your mouse and get out of here the human catapult slingshot and catapult rides have become increasingly popular with adrenaline junkies in recent years and it's not hard to see why riders are securely strapped into a single steel capsule which is attached to industrial strength spring cables pinned to the top of two huge towers the cables are then gradually tightened as the capsule remains strapped to the launch pad then with the push of a button the capsule is released [Music] like a stone from a slingshot riders can be catapulted up to 450 feet in the air at breathtaking speeds of around 100 miles per hour that's one way to get rid of your girlfriend but as fun as they look to people filming them from the ground the g-force these rides produce can reach up to 5 g's which is enough to make some riders hilariously faint but that's not the worst thing that can happen on these rides back in 2015 drew larson was shooting a video of his 13 year old son about to ride wisconsin's mount olympus catapult with a family friend the ride was designed to hurl passengers 200 feet up into the air at 60 miles per hour but just moments before the ride attendants hit the launch button something terrible happened without warning the cable on one side of the ride snapped smashing all that tension just inches away from the boy now these rides operate by applying around 40 tons of pressure through those cables so if that kid had just been a few more inches to his right they would have needed a spatula to get him off the ground what an unbelievably lucky escape while state documents showed that the ride had passed inspections a month before mount olympus had previously failed to show the proper maintenance documentation for the catapult back in 2013 and when you take a look at the frayed cables on the side there it looks like that paperwork might still have been missing the ride was thankfully shut down and removed from the park just two days later which probably saved future patrons from becoming pancakes cosmonaut chaos the resplendent russian city of saint petersburg is marveled for its architecture and history but it's got something else guaranteed to entertain its visitors located in the central petrogradsky district the devo ostrov amusement park is a thrill-seeker's dream come true and at the center of it all spins this utter beast known simply as the rocket this high ride loads up 10 wannabe cosmonauts onto a ground level gondola which is attached to that giant arm by two cables at its front and back the arm then gradually winds them up before spinning them around 200 feet in the air but as they're in flight the gondola rapidly spins on its own axis turning passengers upside down and giving them a real taste of space travel just watching that is making my head turn as much as my stomach although not as much as this clip from 2010 does on that fateful day 10 people had their lives hanging by a thread literally after one of the rocket's cables snapped mid-ride it took rescue crews more than an hour to get all the riders down but thankfully no one reported any injuries an initial investigation revealed that the hot weather that day may have weakened the metal within the cables causing them to break but surely being an outdoor space these rides should have been designed to handle high temperatures in the first place well despite that disturbing revelation the ride was only shut down briefly for repairs before reopening later that year so remember kids in russia amusement park rides you not smiling now when the world record-breaking inverted roller coaster the smiler was opened in alton towers in england it really did have fans smiling in anticipation with 14 inversions it promised to flip riders upside down more than any other roller coaster on the planet but all those smiles soon turned to screams after the shocking events of 2015. as a car full of riders looped around the track they suddenly noticed an empty test car that was stuck in front of them they screened desperately for help but it was already too late they collided with such force that the metal of their car buckled pinning the front row passengers into their seats rescue teams rushed to the site and spent hours trying to remove them from the wreckage all 16 riders suffered some degree of injury but two girls in the front row were so badly pinned that they each horrifically lost a leg the ride was closed and an in-depth investigation was set in motion it was revealed that a fault had been detected on the ride earlier that day so in line with procedure the operator sent out an empty test car however the test car got stuck on a loop because of some high winds and didn't clear the track without realizing what had happened the operators overrode the safety warnings and released the next car full of passengers sending it careening into the test car and at those speeds it was like watching a 90 miles per hour car crash this operational oversight was so serious that alton towers parent company merlin group shut down three other rides it owned that operated similarly eventually inadequate training and human error were blamed for the accident and merlin group was forced to cough up millions of pounds in compensation but just nine months later the smiler was unbelievably back in action it just didn't seem like a long enough time to have fixed all those issues and merlin group was accused of putting profits before people nevertheless the ride has operated without any further incidents since although i reckon they should have changed its name instead of the smiler how about the crasher maybe the smasher or perhaps just the death trap got any better names let me know down in the comments below class action park back in the 70s and 80s health and safety was a lot more of a suggestion than it was a rule as proven by the existence of action park often hilariously called class action park for the number of injury lawsuits filed against it it was widely considered to be the most dangerous amusement park in the world it opened in new jersey back in 1978 and the rides they boasted were all utterly insane walking into the park you first saw the mind-blowing cannonball loop it was an enclosed tube slide which riders slid down in pitch black that flung them through a loop-de-loop before plunging them into the water but the slide wasn't properly padded and so being whipped through this hard plastic shell at breakneck speed left many of its testers missing teeth next to that was the colorado river ride a truly demented version of a classic lazy river ride riders were given rubber rafts and mercilessly hurled against the ride's sides bashing their knees feet and hands as they were flushed down and then there was serf kill i mean surf hill a large slide split into several lanes that thanks to some seriously shonky engineering saw riders catapulted into the air at the slightest bump ouch my shins are bruised just watching this as you can probably tell the rides were so dangerous that no self-respecting insurance company would insure the park so action park ceo eugene mulvihill set up his own insurance company and illegally insured it himself and that kids is what we call fraud even so the death-defying cannonball loop was open for a whole month before it was shut down after riders complained of broken noses and back injuries but that was just the tip of the injury iceberg action park dubiously reported just 14 broken bones and 26 head injuries in its 18-year tenure although the real total is believed to be much much higher but that's not the worst part because the park also claimed the lives of not one not two but six people before it was shut down in 1996 hoo boy sounds like this place wasn't a water park as much as it was a watery grave the perilous plunge knott's berry farm likes to market itself as california's number one theme park and i'm sure that would be true if it weren't for the sheer number of serious accidents they've had since 1983 at least 16 people have been injured some fatally on the park's 40 roller coasters and family rides although one accident on the well-loved perilous plunge water ride really put the serious in mysterious when it opened in 2000 the ride boasted a record-breaking 115 foot super steep plunge from the top guaranteed to get riders hearts pumping and shirts soaking despite the height riders were only secured by a lap bar and a seat belt which proved to be a problem for some of their larger guests in 2001 a 300 pound rider somehow slipped out of these restraints and fell more than 100 feet into the shallow pool below sadly she didn't survive but when the boat returned to the station her lap bar and seat belt were somehow still locked no one was able to figure out how the restraints could have failed until the coroner noted that the 50-inch seat belt was eight inches shorter than her abdomen to fit in she placed the seat belt over her legs and consequently slipped out of the boat as he began to plunge she clearly shouldn't have been allowed to ride and her family sued the park for damages but after a short closure the ride reopened with new four-point restraints so that no guest no matter their shaper size could accidentally slip out ever again das is the word verut means crazy or insane in german which made it the perfect name for the world's tallest water slide built in kansas city's schlitterbahn park the veruct had a shoot slide that was a gargantuan 168 feet tall from the top it launched riders down a 17-story death drop before hurling them over a five-story slope at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour [Music] [Music] okay that looks insanely exhilarating but as you can imagine engineering something this tall and slippery came with some serious bumps so serious that during test runs if the rafts were loaded with more than one thousand pounds they flew off the slide entirely but instead of improving the ride designers simply placed netting over most of it to keep riders from going airborne i mean i'm no expert but even to me that doesn't sound safe at all but schlitterbahn had made some serious financial donations to the state of kansas and so by law it was allowed to make its own safety inspections could that sound any more suspicious well after roughly concluding that each raft had to weigh between 400 and 550 pounds to be safe the ride was opened in 2014 but these shady safety practices sealed the fate of this fatal slide in 2016 a ten-year-old boy perished on verruckt when he was ejected up into the netting two women in the same raft were also gravely injured and the police began a thorough investigation the combined weight of the three passengers reached a supposedly safe 545 pounds but the 73-pound boy had been allowed to ride in the front experts believe this uneven weight distribution contributed to the raft going airborne over the second hump something that rigorous testing should have spotted the blatant safety violations of the ride saw it shut down and dismantled in 2016 and a swift change in law made it to the park couldn't conduct safety self-inspections ever again the human trebuchet a trebuchet is a kind of medieval catapult that was designed to hurl huge objects with a sling through the force of a counterweight these were great for sieges as their projectiles landed on or over city walls in unpredictable patterns so knowing all that no one would be dumb enough to consider strapping a human into one of these right wrong back in the 1990s the dangerous sports club in england built an enormous trebuchet on a somerset estate with the sole purpose of launching people onto a distantly placed net for just 40 pounds which would be roughly 140 today almost anyone could sign up to be haphazardly hurled 100 feet over the english countryside and this was about as safe as it sounded one woman who tested it out called stella young did manage to hit the net but then promptly bounced out of it breaking her neck and her pelvis but instead of shutting this death trap down they simply added a bigger net and tucked people into a ball so they didn't flail and bounce out as they landed now like i said before trebuchets are not precision instruments and this will become all too clear in 2002. a poor student called kustadin yankov who tried out this terrible trebuchet was flung so far off target that he missed the net completely and sadly he didn't survive it was an accident just waiting to happen and one which finally shut this idiotic ride down for good fatal fujin raijin ii expo land had been a popular theme park in japan since it opened in 1972 and the amazing fujin raijin ii was one of the most famous attractions built in 1992 this steel coaster strapped its riders in standing up all before whipping them over more than a half a mile of track at around 70 miles per hour it was a huge success and operated without a single issue for 15 years but in 2007 as the train was about to enter a circular section of the ride the wheel axle of the second car suddenly broke causing it to tip sideways it traveled almost a thousand feet before the broken section hit a guardrail slamming the train to a halt the event cost the life of a young woman and 19 others were injured after a thorough investigation it was revealed that the car's axles hadn't been replaced in a shocking 15 years but the axles weren't even part of the daily or monthly routine inspections but this unbelievable oversight ended up costing more than just one human life the entire park closed while the investigation took place and the ride was pulled down though when it eventually reopened in 2015 nobody came back expoland had lost the people's trust and just two short years later the park shut its gates forever flying fascist machine a ride's design usually falls into one of three categories there's the good there's the bad and then there's the down right wrong and anyone who knows their history can see that this one fits into that very last category this unfortunately designed ride called the adler flug which roughly translates to eagle's flight was installed in tatsumania theme park in luffington germany you heard that right germany this just gets worse and worse by the minute no god it was naively designed in 2019 with each of the two hens's spinning arms designed to look like eagles as they lifted up and rotated riders would be able to loop about the skies as freeze a bird but from a distance these eight spinning arms look like two spinning hate symbols which are notorious in germany for all the wrong reasons so notorious that displaying these anti-constitutional symbols is illegal across the country the mistake was innocent enough and the park's owner rudiger brown apologized profusely for any offense caused but instead of shutting the ride down completely he got to work removing two of the arms from each head now when they spin they look like two perfectly innocent pinwheels instead of a rotating hate crime did you survive any of these reckless rides when they were still in operation and are there any others you know of that i didn't mention let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching you

Channel: BE AMAZED

Views: 3,374,108

Rating: 4.8825216 out of 5

Keywords: beamazed, be amazed, top 10, dangerous theme park rides, dangerous rollercoasters, theme parks that had to close, rollercoasters that shut down, world's craziest theme parks, theme park rides that had to close, theme park rides that had to be shut down, rollercoasters that had to close, world's biggest water slide, crazy water slide

Id: pMDMiSPuuDg

Length: 26min 26sec (1586 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021