Arkham Asylum stoppage/evacuation - January 2017

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

You do realise that it would be very rare for a day to go by where a ride didn't have a mechanical stoppage requiring evac, right?

it's just sometimes they're more complex, more visible, and take longer to fix.

[bladex]

i got stuck in SE how come i didn't get a media coverage?!

[Jamberoo Fan]

If you thought today's media hype was bad enough...from the Daily Mail:

Quote

Movie World slammed for 'insensitive' tweet about one of their rides - sent as 20 people were trapped on a rollercoaster at the Gold Coast theme park

•  Movie World has been slammed after posting advertisement for roller coaster
•  A tweet was sent out at the same time as patrons were stuck on another ride
•  20 people were stuck on the ride when the tweet was posted by the company

Movie World is being slammed for sending out a tweet advertising one of its roller coasters while dozens of thrill seekers were being rescued after becoming trapped on another ride.

The Gold Coast based theme park's tweet was posted mid-way through an emergency rescue after 20 people became stuck on the Arkham Asylum roller coaster on Wednesday afternoon.

The tweet, which read: 'Tag someone that you think should add these to their New Year's Resolutions!', and featured a photograph of the Spiderman roller coaster, was quickly noticed by social media users who immediately voiced their disapproval.

'Yea, na .. it is a question of timing really,' wrote Linda Drummond.

'Really... your (sic) posting this today.'said Nadine Cowell.

Others were happy to admit the tweet could have been scheduled - but still criticised it being published.

'And this is why autotweets are a bad idea,' Hayle Drayton said. 

Others took time to compare the theme park to Dreamworld where four people died on a ride in October, 2015.

'3rd time in 18 months one of your coasters have been stuck. After Dreamworld you would think your maintenance would be spot on,' Sivet72 said.

The thrill seekers were stuck on the ride for up to two hours on Wednesday before being rescued.

The incident was caused by a mechanical issue with the ride's chain, a Movie World spokesman confirmed in a press release.

'All guests have now been evacuated from the ride and there were no injuries to any guests,' the spokesman said.

'Due to the time required to reset the mechanical issue, the Queensland Fire Brigade assisted with the evacuation and we thank them for their assistance.

An investigation will now be held, the spokesman confirmed.  

Passengers wear a virtual reality mask throughout the ride, where they experience 'five stomach-churning inversions'.

Late last year, after four people died on a ride at nearby Dreamworld, all Gold Coast theme parks underwent exhaustive safety audits.

In November, the government said every ride at Movie World had been cleared and it said the park had 'robust' systems in place for all of its attractions.

Looking at MW's Twitter feed, the tweet has been removed.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Jamberoo Fan

[red dragin]

We have a spiderman coaster? 

[Spotty]

You can see the platform briefly in the video that they use for the evacuations. Under general operations they will do anything they can to prevent the ride from stopping on the lift (provided it's safe of course) as it requires emergency services to assist with the evacuation. Same with Green Lantern. Out of the major rides only Scooby, West and Superman can be fully evacuated by general operations cast without the assistance of maintenance, supervisors or emergency services.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

best comment I have seen about today 

[MickeyD]

Having spent many years working at MW as an Attractions Supervisor, I can tell you that an 'Emergency Stop' and subsequent evacuation of the Park rides was and still is a very common event that could happen as often as weekly.

What the News need to get through their thick skulls is that E-Stops are safety features of all Theme Park rides and put in place simply when 'normal operation' is in question due to an abnormal circumstance.

From an Attractions Supervisor perspective, AA (LW as was then known) was by far the simplest ride to oversee and by far the least problematic. In the event of an Estop it was an extremely simple matter to resolve 9 times out of ten. In the more complicated and time consuming scenarios would suggest a limit or proximity switch has failed (likely due to extreme heat in this situation) and the very worse case scenario would be a chain breakage ( has never happened). Worse because it would take likely months to have a new one shipped in from Europe.

Edited January 11, 2017 by MickeyD

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

the ride is now closed for maintenance 

I have read from numerous of websites saying that WHS is doing a investigation on the ride

[bladex]

7 news tonight even had a live cross to event...FFS!

[Reanimated35]

1 minute ago, bladex said:

7 news tonight even had a live cross to event...FFS!

A live cross..... to an already evac'd ride..... with literally nothing to see..... and these "journalists" are getting paid for this?

[red dragin]

I'm waiting for the live rolling coverage of a car with a flat tyre on a suburban back street 

[Santa07]

5 minutes ago, reanimated35 said:

A live cross..... to an already evac'd ride..... with literally nothing to see..... and these "journalists" are getting paid for this?

Easy money I guess... the live cross was literally "you can see behind me the ride hasn't moved, the end"

[AllegroCrab]

Imagine being an up and coming journalist, being told to go camp outside the parks and wait for something to happen so you can run a bullshit story like this.

Signs your career is going nowhere in a broken industry.

[elemist]

Playing devils advocate for a minute.. anything that involves members of the general public being "rescued" from hanging upside down on a ride by emergency services is indeed news. Hanging upside down for lengthy periods of time can be quite uncomfortable if your not used to it. I expect we'll see references to the DreamWorld tragedy for another year or two before it drops off peoples radar completely.

That asides - whether this needed breaking news and live crosses etc.. slow news day maybe?

Lastly - i wish these parks would give their CEO/General Managers some basic media training. I'm sure it was just nerves, and it's easy for me to criticize from behind a keyboard, but he didn't exactly exude confidence. Head down reading straight off a piece of paper a few sentences that he could surely have memorized. Once he got going and answering questions he was a little better, though still a little awkward.

[MickeyD]

An old saying goes in the media:

'If it bleeds it leads'

 

[Reanimated35]

6 minutes ago, elemist said:

Playing devils advocate for a minute.. anything that involves members of the general public being "rescued" from hanging upside down on a ride by emergency services is indeed news. Hanging upside down for lengthy periods of time can be quite uncomfortable if your not used to it. I expect we'll see references to the DreamWorld tragedy for another year or two before it drops off peoples radar completely.

That asides - whether this needed breaking news and live crosses etc.. slow news day maybe?

Lastly - i wish these parks would give their CEO/General Managers some basic media training. I'm sure it was just nerves, and it's easy for me to criticize from behind a keyboard, but he didn't exactly exude confidence. Head down reading straight off a piece of paper a few sentences that he could surely have memorized. Once he got going and answering questions he was a little better, though still a little awkward.

So did you read the news or look at the photos or just believe the incorrect headline that said they were stuck upside down? I'd be quite surprised to actually find a coaster capable of stopping in a completely upside down position. 

 

Not everyone is great at public speaking regardless of how much media training they receive. Keep in mind these press conferences aren't done by the media team, and they're done in close quarters with 10-20 people crowding around you shouting questions over top of each other which you have to come up with an answer to on the spot. 

[Levithian]

9 minutes ago, elemist said:

Playing devils advocate for a minute.. anything that involves members of the general public being "rescued" from hanging upside down on a ride by emergency services is indeed news.

Footage shows they werent upside down, they were going up the lift hill at the start. 

[themagician]

@elemist this is where it stopped 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, MickeyD said:

a limit or proximity switch has failed (likely due to extreme heat in this situation) and the very worse case scenario would be a chain breakage ( has never happened). 

Thanks for the ex-staff insights Mickey - appreciated. You don't wanna be saying limit or proxy switches though - that'll give the media another angle to tie-in to TRRR - many articles at the time referenced the possibility of faulty (or missing) limit or proxy switches, and it'll be a media circus once again.

On that note, the media quoted Greg as saying 'fault with the chain' but it sounds like he says 'fault with the train'...

 

10 minutes ago, elemist said:

Playing devils advocate for a minute.. anything that involves members of the general public being "rescued" from hanging upside down on a ride by emergency services is indeed news. Hanging upside down for lengthy periods of time can be quite uncomfortable if your not used to it. I expect we'll see references to the DreamWorld tragedy for another year or two before it drops off peoples radar completely.

That asides - whether this needed breaking news and live crosses etc.. slow news day maybe?

Lastly - i wish these parks would give their CEO/General Managers some basic media training. I'm sure it was just nerves, and it's easy for me to criticize from behind a keyboard, but he didn't exactly exude confidence. Head down reading straight off a piece of paper a few sentences that he could surely have memorized. Once he got going and answering questions he was a little better, though still a little awkward.

As reanimated just beat me to it - they weren't upside down - it would be similar to being in an airplane seat for 90 minutes - although Arkham has more leg room.

It is important when you've had a prepared statement drafted that you read it word for word. It's not a public speaking contest from a person on the debate team, it is a representative of a corporation making a statement to the media - it's important you get it right, as the statement prepared is carefully worded to ensure it delivers the right message. As Tony Abbott once said (and i'm paraphrasing here) 'you can't hold me to off the cuff unscripted statements, only prepared, scripted statements'

Once the scripted statement was read I think he did a fine job throughout the interview, and I won't criticise him for ensuring he read the statement precisely.

Also - these guys usually grab the statement off the printer and head straight to the cameras once the statement is approved. Are you suggesting he should have spent 15 minutes inside rehearsing it to memorise it first?

3 minutes ago, reanimated35 said:

So did you read the news or look at the photos or just believe the incorrect headline that said they were stuck upside down? I'd be quite surprised to actually find a coaster capable of stopping in a completely upside down position. 

 

Not everyone is great at public speaking regardless of how much media training they receive. Keep in mind these press conferences aren't done by the media team, and they're done in close quarters with 10-20 people crowding around you shouting questions over top of each other which you have to come up with an answer to on the spot. 

Actually, i've seen a coaster stuck upside down - Demon at Wonderland could (and has) stopped in the middle of the boomerang, resulting in several riders being stopped inverted. I imagine other boomerangs have too - this is why Demon had evac stairs in the boomerang. It is theoretically possible if a coaster was to throw a wheel or break an axle that the car could have enough momentum to make it up, but not through a loop or corkscrew on almost any inversion on almost any coaster. Rare - certainly, but capable - certainly.

I've done media interviews in my capacity as incident controller for major incidents occurring in Brisbane. I've been lucky that the crews i've worked with have understood that my role isn't media liaison, and they've always been polite, understanding, and happy to 'do over' a question where my answer wasn't quite right - even then, knowing I had full control of what was allowed to go to air - it was still quite nervewracking. I can imagine how much more difficult it would be to have a 'mob' of press, who you could regard as 'hostile' (as opposed to cooperative) based on the video i've seen doing one long stretch recorded and aired unedited and in full. I think Greg did a stellar job in the circumstances, on what - really - was a total fucking non event that the media shouldn't have bothered even going on site for.

[New display name]

29 minutes ago, AlexB said:

Actually, i've seen a coaster stuck upside down - Demon at Wonderland could (and has) stopped in the middle of the boomerang, resulting in several riders being stopped inverted. I imagine other boomerangs have too - this is why Demon had evac stairs in the boomerang. It is theoretically possible if a coaster was to throw a wheel or break an axle that the car could have enough momentum to make it up, but not through a loop or corkscrew on almost any inversion on almost any coaster. Rare - certainly, but capable - certainly.

 

 

LOL I remember your demon stuck upside down at Expo fun park.  I also remember your demon always on the news because it was always stopping on the second hill and the riders has to be removed during Expo88. 

I got stuck on it once at the end of the ride. I don’t know if the operation of it was changed when it moved. When I rode it at the end of the ride the operate would manually release the brakes with a switch to lower the train back into the station. As the operator rotated the switch to release the brakes the switch broke and came off which left us stuck with half of the train out of the station. It was fixed in 5min but that’s my clam to fame.

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by YLFATEEKS

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

Next headline- 20 guests left scared and stranded as Spider-Man rollercoaster harnesses are checked twice, movie world has issued a statement. "We just checked twice."

[elemist]

Thanks for the correction - i was heading out the door so only took a quick glance at the articles. Dunno where i got the upside down impression from  My apologies for the incorrectness.

With regards to the media statement. I understand he's not part of a media team, but he is the General Manager of a major theme park attraction. Thus part of his job is as a spokesperson whether he likes it or not. For what it's worth, i don't think he did a bad job per say - just that there was room for improvement. Towards the end when he was answering questions he was much more relaxed.

It's not just about this small event today, but about being ready for any event at any time. Be it a bad circumstance like the deaths at DreamWorld, other critical incidents or even good news / general promotion. It's something that seems small at the time, but these interviews and statements have real world impact - not just in the news - but in the stock markets etc.

This isn't some small time 5 person businesses thrown into the limelight on short notice, but a major theme park. If he as the general manager isn't a great public speaker, then employ someone to do it on there behalf. 

A pretty good example of high ranking officials doing great media interviews can been see in some of the recent plane crashes. You could make the same comments about them not being part of a media team etc, they're also thrown on the spot and have to make statements at short notice. Mark from Adventure World also interviewed very well in the few interviews i've seen with him. Obviously a bit different being positive events and planned, but he was relaxed and confident - he just came off as a great person and thus i have a good impression of the park itself.

With regards to the written statements - understand they've been vetted and approved by multiple people, but the statement he read was pretty straight forward and yes i would have preferred he spend 10 minutes reading through it a couple of times before fronting the media. He can still glance at it, but head down reading just isn't a great sight.

Really - today was an example where a strong public speaker could have turned around the news to an extent. He should have been touting some of the comments that were made here - about how this was a safety stop, and a great example of the safety systems working as designed. He could have commended the staff and emergency services about how well they had worked together to resolve the situation safely. He could have also educated the media a bit in the facts that these are events that occur as part of standard operations, the ride didn't break - instead its detected an anomaly and erred on the side of caution. 

[Levithian]

I dont think you can actively comment about the reason or cause unless it has actually been established. In the trial by media, it would be seen as essentially lying and you would be crucified if you get it wrong. Not only would you look stupid, but it would look like you are trying to cover something up or brush aside the incident like it was nothing. That would generate a whole bunch of fear and anger in people, especially the ones that were evacuated.

 He seemed to give out some info about a possible cause in his (and the parks) statement, but also made it clear that it takes time to investigate and no definitive cause is known at present. 

Thats pretty informative, it sounds like the truth given the train was still stuck up the lift hill yesterday afternoon. 

Not sure if you watched reports before you posted? Im not sure what more could be said in regards to operational issues/causes.

[Rollercoaster_Lover]

12 hours ago, bladex said:

i got stuck in SE how come i didn't get a media coverage?!

Probably Because You Were Just Stuck Inside The Building Not a high Up And They Could Easily Be Able To Evacuate You

 

[Prequel]

I'm just waiting for the Justice League ride to get stuck, for a good headline.

2 hours ago, Rollercoaster_Lover❤️ said:

Probably Because You Were Just Stuck Inside The Building Not a high Up And They Could Easily Be Able To Evacuate You

 

The people on Arkham were stuck on a chain lift.