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Ride/Park Accidents

I have no doubt people will inevitably question the safety of waist restraints vs over-the-shoulder ones because of this. Despite them being just as safe and secure

We'll have to wait for the report but I suspect the harness had very little to do with it given he came back into the station in his seat.

The guest may have passed out from the intensity or maybe was hit in the face by an object whilst travelling at high speeds for what we know right now. I had many rides on it across two days and the coaster is buttery smooth. The harnesses were fab too.

This could just be an unfortunate one due to a rider finding it too intense or has an underlying heart condition.
 
I was in the queue right by the offload area when the train came back into the station. The person who had passed away was slumped forward against their restraint, their face resting on the bar in front. Their friend beside them was holding onto the back of their shirt, screaming and shouting. It was distressing to witness

Universal’s response was very poor. None of the ride staff stepped in and just left them there. I appreciate the litigious culture over here and they wouldn’t want to do something wrong if not medically trained but they could have at least entered the off load to support the distressed friend but they just stood on the side waiting for medical to come. A guest eventually entered to help. It took around five minutes before they even began evacuating the queue line
Unfortuantly I doubt the front line ride staff have had training on "what to do if someone returns dead on the coaster" so their response is likely to wait for medical and first responders to arrive. They may well be shocked and no idea what the best course of action is.
 
I suspect it will be an underlying condition.

And the signs are everywhere warning riders prior to entering the queue and boarding about the risks so they will be covered I reckon.

Still terribly sad though and of course some people may not be aware they have a condition to begin with.
 
I find it very hard to believe that a brand new Mack could "bludgeon" someone to death. The Ultimate never killed anyone, even when it had OTSRs.

There has to be something else going on here?
 
Could that potentially have been an external object (or objects) from off-ride hitting the rider rather than anything wrong with the ride? I know it sounds like a reach, but injuries from objects hitting people on-ride have happened before, indeed including at Universal Orlando in the past.

This is of course awful news, and my condolences go out to all involved. However, I’ll admit I’d be flabbergasted if it was something wrong with the ride in this case.
 
I find it very hard to believe that a brand new Mack could "bludgeon" someone to death. The Ultimate never killed anyone, even when it had OTSRs.

There has to be something else going on here?

I suspect they may have passed out during the ride, causing their body to go limp and hit his head on the front grab bar multiple times whilst going round the ride. That’s likely why their friend came into the station grabbing his torn top, trying to hold his body up right
 
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Could that potentially have been an external object (or objects) from off-ride hitting the rider rather than anything wrong with the ride? I know it sounds like a reach, but injuries from objects hitting people on-ride have happened before, indeed including at Universal Orlando in the past.

This is of course awful news, and my condolences go out to all involved. However, I’ll admit I’d be flabbergasted if it was something wrong with the ride in this case.
Someone maybe dropped a GoPro or something, or an item thrown from an off-ride area? Or even a large bird-strike? It's surprising that no eye-witnesses have spoken up (in public) with an explanation.
The ride has metal detectors, and I think Go pros aren't allowed (or they have to be properly attached with harneses)

if it was a forgen object, it could be a bird strike, or someone dropping/throwing something from the off ride area (there is a video of someone trying to do stupid stuff such as throwing a fish from off ride onto magnum xl200) you are close to the ride, however I wouldn't say you were close enough for something to fall onto the ride (there are places you may be able to throw something such as the exit on one side takes you within meters of the second launch

it could also be something from the ride, although I heavily doubt that as most parts (such as speakers) are normally tied up with metal cable in case it broke loose


From: https://youtube.com/shorts/JGZTHKUetuQ?si=KbyuxtkIz3OdE-P5
 
The ride has metal detectors, and I think Go pros aren't allowed (or they have to be properly attached with harneses)

if it was a forgen object, it could be a bird strike, or someone dropping something from the off ride area (there is a video of someone trying to do stupid stuff such as throwing a fish from off ride onto at a rollercoaster moving at like 50mph)
Just been trying to find info on Reddit and I read some guesses that it might have been that the person passed out and then due to that was being swung around in a limp state banging his head off things. Not sure if this is possible as I've not had much experience with those particular ride cars. An interesting theory.
 
Unfortuantly I doubt the front line ride staff have had training on "what to do if someone returns dead on the coaster" so their response is likely to wait for medical and first responders to arrive. They may well be shocked and no idea what the best course of action is.

Agreed but my comment was about them helping the lady who was sat next to him, who was close to having a panic attack. The staff just stood there and watched her crying, shouting and flapping her arms around. They didn’t move or say a thing to her


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
They are very strict with items, you have lockers and metal detectors before you ride so you wouldn’t be allowed a go-Pro.

My personal opinion is that the person had a heart attack or passed out mid ride, and then would have become lifeless and flung around, causing them to bang their head on the bars in front, which was the cause of death.

When they came into the station they were completely lifeless, laying straight down on the bar in front of them, I assume they were already dead at that point. I’m guessing further tests may reveal more about the death.

It was certainly not a nice thing to witness in person.
 
Just been trying to find info on Reddit and I read some guesses that it might have been that the person passed out and then due to that was being swung around in a limp state banging his head off things. Not sure if this is possible as I've not had much experience with those particular ride cars. An interesting theory.
thing is I don't know where they would have bashed against, the metal is on the restraints is quite far forward and close to your legs, it is a very difficult position to bend into, you would practically fold your self in half and bend around the restraints

there isn't any metal else where the rest is foam (appart from maybe the grill arround the back of the seat??)

edit, this shows the restraints nicely:

From: https://x.com/bioreconstruct/status/1766579997232284019
 
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thing is I don't know where they would have bashed against, the metal is on the restraints is quite far forward and close to your legs, it is a very difficult position to bend into, you would practically fold your self in half and bend around the restraints

there isn't any metal else where the rest is foam (appart from maybe the grill??)
I've got to be honest, I was thinking the very same thing after looking at pictures. You'd have to have a stick thin very long body to be able to double over like that and hit the metal bits. Of course, I'm only basing this off looking at pictures so I could be totally mistaken.
 
I've got to be honest, I was thinking the very same thing after looking at pictures. You'd have to have a stick thin very long body to be able to double over like that and hit the metal bits. Of course, I'm only basing this off looking at pictures so I could be totally mistaken.
only thing is if the mesh / grill thing around the back of the seat I think is metal (I can't quite remember, so may be wrong) but there is padding around it,

I did just think the launches are very weird, the are lim however they don't activate instantly I was quite amazed at how they did it as far as I can tell rarther than activating them the seccond the train enters the launch track they wait for the whole train to be within the launch and the kick them on allowing for a rush of the full power of the lims (as if you activate them instantly only the first car is being pushed, then only the first and seccond) it makes it quite a punch launch, especially for a lim.

there are also kinda 3 launches, the first launch is split into 2 as I believe there is a transfer track mid way to put the trains into storage and that dosn't have lims on it (there is also the kick thing on the second half of the launch)
 
They are very strict with items, you have lockers and metal detectors before you ride so you wouldn’t be allowed a go-Pro.

My personal opinion is that the person had a heart attack or passed out mid ride, and then would have become lifeless and flung around, causing them to bang their head on the bars in front, which was the cause of death.

When they came into the station they were completely lifeless, laying straight down on the bar in front of them, I assume they were already dead at that point. I’m guessing further tests may reveal more about the death.

It was certainly not a nice thing to witness in person.

My immediate thoughts too.

The guy might not be a big rollercoaster nut like most of us are and may have been very anxious to such an extent hes passed out on the ride. Seen plenty sweating in queue lines before. Its not exactly unheard of to be a bit nervy. In fact I think I had a bit of a sweat on before I did Kingda Ka in 2009. It was very intimidating first time and then when I realised it wasn't too bad I rode again and again.

Ultimately intense rollercoaster experiences arent for everyone. I know a fair few people who wont ride anything too fast or with lots of inversions. They dont like the sensation but they enjoy other types of rides.

I myself wont ride an intense flat ride that spins fast as they make me feel very unwell.
 
only thing is if the mesh / grill thing around the back of the seat I think is metal (I can't quite remember, so may be wrong) but there is padding around it,

I did just think the launches are very weird, the are lim however they don't activate instantly I was quite amazed at how they did it as far as I can tell rarther than activating them the seccond the train enters the launch track they wait for the whole train to be within the launch and the kick them on allowing for a rush of the full power of the lims (as if you activate them instantly only the first car is being pushed, then only the first and seccond) it makes it quite a punch launch, especially for a lim.

there are also kinda 3 launches, the first launch is split into 2 as I believe there is a transfer track mid way to put the trains into storage and that dosn't have lims on it (there is also the kick thing on the second half of the launch)
From what I've heard from YT vids, the PLC waits for both trains to be on the launch / boost track, then accelerates the "losing" train to the target speed faster, to keep the "race" as close as possible.

I can fully believe that someone who has passed out with only a lap restraint would be thrown around like the proverbial rag doll. If they had flopped forward, and the train is passing through the pull out of a drop, where the car in front suddenly gets a lot closer.... that could lead to some nasty head injuries.

But I still feel like there must be another factor here.
 
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