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Have you ever been injured on a ride/rollercoaster?

Efteldingus

Efteldingus

Mega Poster
Storytime!


About a month ago I was at Universal Studios Japan. What a place. It was my first time at a big boy park like Universal, Disney, etc, so it was quite a lot to take in. I was expecting it to be a difficult day to enjoy because of the insane crowds this place pulls in March, however I was completely wrong. We had a brilliant time!

We waited roughly 2 hours for Flying Dinosaur... Oof. But holy crap what a monster of a ride. Even though we unfortunately only got one ride in on it, it went straight to my no.1 spot.

We got very lucky and were assigned to the back row, I was in the leftmost seat. Whooohoooo! We had our ride, and while we were rolling back into the station my friend next to me noticed I had two small-ish streams of blood running down the side of my head. I didn't feel anything, no pain, no headbanging that could've caused it, and I also couldn't find the blood with my fingers so I just kinda ignored it. My glasses were in a locker, so I couldn't really see a thing either. We get off the train, I'm still pretty confused since both my friends are telling me about the blood however by now I've managed to actually find and touch it on the side of my head. Since I'm not in any pain whatsoever I just want to find a sink and a mirror so I can clean it off, and get on with the day.
Then we get stopped by the ride operator, who demands I sit down inside the station next to the exit stairs. Ride goes down, medics and maintenance teams are called. In hindsight I completely get this, however in the moment I was super confused why all this commotion was caused because of me. 😅

A very kind first aid responder came up to me to check me over. Small problem, he didn't speak any english and the translation device he talked into gave me complete gibberish. The first question the dumb thing gave me was 'Did you win something?'. So yeah that was great. It took about 15 minutes(!!!) of saying I wasn't seriously hurt or needed a medic before he helped me towards a bathroom where I could for the first time actually see the traces of blood on my head. It was barely noticeable 🫠 My suspicion is that it was an old cut or a small vein right under my skin that burst due to the high G's. This coaster is so crazy intense, you pull around 4,5 G at multiple moments in the layout. And you definitely feel it too, I've never in my life had such a heavy head as when we rolled into the brakerun.

So yeah, long story short: I completely get why the ride needs to be checked over when a guest comes off with a head injury. However (and I know this is a Japan/language barrier thing) after 15 minutes of repeating I was fine and just wanted to get on with my day I was pretty pissed off. Not at the park or the first aider, but just at the situation in general. It all just took way too damn long. On the other hand, it's a weird story to tell my grandkids one day😅


But yeah, I was wondering if this sort of thing has happened to anyone else on the forum. I feel like this should be quite a rare occurrence, but maybe this is more common than you might think? I'd love to hear!
 
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When I was very young (7-8 years old) I was at a funfair in London during some fairly standard rain. I decided to go down the inflatable slide head first, not realising the slide had been lubricated by the rain making it much faster. Long story short, my head met the metal fence at the end of the landing pad! After a few tears everything wore off though, and while that was the end of the day, I was over it not too long after.
 
I won't say injured, but hurt badly on a travelling coaster that was in Bridlington many years ago, I think it was called Gallaxy or something similar, and I was young at the time.

It had rocket shaped cars with riders sitting single file and hard plastic up the sides of the cars leading to a canopy style roof. It dropped probably no more than 15ft into the back of the lorry it was built into and had a rather dull layout, but at some point I whacked my head really hard into the plastic at the side, it certainly put me off any re-rides!
 
Efteldingus said:
Storytime!
About a month ago I was at Universal Studios Japan. What a place. It was my first time at a big boy park like Universal, Disney, etc, so it was quite a lot to take in. I was expecting it to be a difficult day to enjoy because of the insane crowds this place pulls in March, however I was completely wrong. We had a brilliant time!

We waited roughly 2 hours for Flying Dinosaur... Oof. But holy crap what a monster of a ride. Even though we unfortunately only got one ride in on it, it went straight to my no.1 spot.

We got very lucky and were assigned to the back row, I was in the leftmost seat. Whooohoooo! We had our ride, and while we were rolling back into the station my friend next to me noticed I had two small-ish streams of blood running down the side of my head. I didn't feel anything, no pain, no headbanging that could've caused it, and I also couldn't find the blood with my fingers so I just kinda ignored it. My glasses were in a locker, so I couldn't really see a thing either. We get off the train, I'm still pretty confused since both my friends are telling me about the blood however by now I've managed to actually find and touch it on the side of my head. Since I'm not in any pain whatsoever I just want to find a sink and a mirror so I can clean it off, and get on with the day.
Then we get stopped by the ride operator, who demands I sit down inside the station next to the exit stairs. Ride goes down, medics and maintenance teams are called. In hindsight I completely get this, however in the moment I was super confused why all this commotion was caused because of me. 😅

A very kind first aid responder came up to me to check me over. Small problem, he didn't speak any english and the translation device he talked into gave me complete gibberish. The first question the dumb thing gave me was 'Did you win something?'. So yeah that was great. It took about 15 minutes(!!!) of saying I wasn't seriously hurt or needed a medic before he helped me towards a bathroom where I could for the first time actually see the traces of blood on my head. It was barely noticeable 🫠 My suspicion is that it was an old cut or a small vein right under my skin that burst due to the high G's. This coaster is so crazy intense, you pull around 4,5 G at multiple moments in the layout. And you definitely feel it too, I've never in my life had such a heavy head as when we rolled into the brakerun.

So yeah, long story short: I completely get why the ride needs to be checked over when a guest comes off with a head injury. However (and I know this is a Japan/language barrier thing) after 15 minutes of repeating I was fine and just wanted to get on with my day I was pretty pissed off. Not at the park or the first aider, but just at the situation in general. It all just took way too damn long. On the other hand, it's a weird story to tell my grandkids one day😅


But yeah, I was wondering if this sort of thing has happened to anyone else on the forum. I feel like this should be quite a rare occurrence, but maybe this is more common than you might think? I'd love to hear!
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Surprised they didn't shut the ride down for months. 😆 Thanks for playing it down so it could be open for my visit there a couple of weeks back!

My favourite injury story:

A staff member on Tower Of Power at Siam Park accidentally dropped a safety information board on my bare foot.
 
I have had a couple of bruises over the years, mostly from the coasters at Blackpool. I got a partially nasty one on the revolution when my shins hit the body of the car on the first drop.

But yeah, I've never been truly injured.

The most pain I have had on a coaster was riding a chance toboggan in Knutsford fair. My head slammed into the top of the car, It was like walking into a beam, but even worse due to the speed
 
Thankfully, the worst I can think of that’s happened to anyone I know was my sister getting a very big purple bruise from Grand National… I also got a lovely yellow one from an unknown coaster at Pleasurewood Hills that didn’t go away for a few days!

My dad also hurt his hand on Red Force from gripping the restraint too hard… he moaned for a few days about how it hurt to cut steak or hit a golf club!

I’ve never had a proper injury on a coaster, thankfully…
 
I was at the (now defunct) Grove Land in Wales as a kid when they did a soft opening of the Thunderbolt coaster (the old 5-man bob coaster at Alton Towers).
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Went round the coaster but as I was getting out of the train, I caught my leg on the edge of the car, which was quite sharp and got quite a nasty cut on my leg. I had a quick trip to the park's first aid to get cleaned up, and by the time I came out, the coaster was already shut. Heard some kids walking back to their parents saying they didn't get on it because "someone got hurt on it".
Ride didn't reopen for a while after, and when I next visited the park all the edges of the cars had foam padding around them. So I like to think that I caused a whole coaster to shut down and have modifications done to it. 😂

Other than that, I ended up with a dead leg for ages after riding Wild Mouse at Blackpool. But that was all part of the fun.
 
Luckily have never had any major theme park related injuries. Worst I can think of off top of head is a possible bruised rib from a tagada at Hull Fair. Was expecting a violent ride but wasn't expecting to get thrown into a metal barrier during the ride. Was fine afterwards, other generally winding and area of impact ached for a day to 2 afterwards. No lasting injuries thankfully.

Also had a few child teeth knocked loose by Flamingoland's Corkscrew many years ago. Beyond a trip to the local out of hours dentist, again no lasting injuries. :)
 
Yes - Klondike (Pinfari ZL42) at Hayling Island in 2009. I stupidly rode it for the cred, even though I'd been on one before, after it had been raining. The bit after the loop hit me with colossal lateral force. On the way home (as a passenger), I realised I couldn't turn my neck, and spent several weeks not being able to sleep on one side. It really put me off coasters for a while, and my enthusiasm was never the same after that. I'm very reluctant to ride a ZL42 nowadays, even when I think the park has responsible owners.

My biggest bruise was on Avalanche at Blackpool, of all things. It must have been one of the lower bits that changes directions. My ankle somehow flew up into the support that goes between your feet. Not a huge deal, but it was one massive bruise.
 
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Not really a ride but I remember 15 years ago being on the passenger seat of a bumper car, us getting hit (without expecting it, even though I should've known since it's literally called BUMPER cars..) And hit my teeth against the front. That hurt for a good hour.
My first and last time I ever stepped in those things.

Else it would be on the Werewolf in Walibi Belgium. Had my hands up the whole ride, and there's one part towards the middle section where I hit my fingers (left hand) on a wooden plank above.
Something which I didn't think was possible but I imagine older coasters don't go through the same testing as modern ones.
Being tall probably didn't help for this (6"3'ish).
Ever since then I always lower my hands before an overhead obstacle (on all coasters) even when I think there's enough clearance ! Cause it hurt a lot !
 
Graeme said:
Yes - Klondike (Pinfari ZL42) at Hayling Island in 2009. I stupidly rode it for the cred, even though I'd been on one before, after it had been raining. The bit after the loop hit me with colossal lateral force. On the way home (as a passenger), I realised I couldn't turn my neck, and spent several weeks not being able to sleep on one side. It really put me off coasters for a while, and my enthusiasm was never the same after that. I'm very reluctant to ride a ZL42 nowadays, even when I think the park has responsible owners.
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Come to think of it, I had this exact thing happen to me twice with the Vekoma Boomerangs at Walibi Holland and Belgium. Going into the cobra roll on the way back I got such a hit on my neck that I had trouble turning my head for a good two weeks, multiple appointments at the physiotherapist were made in both cases.. I don't think I'll ever get on one of those things again, can't be arsed to do them for the cred.
 
Wipeout at Pleasurewood Hills made one of my ears bleed a little - weirdly it was probably near the end of the ride which at the time wasn’t overly rough! It may have got rougher since as this was some time ago. Still, I quite enjoyed it!
 
Jamesss said:
Surprised they didn't shut the ride down for months. 😆 Thanks for playing it down so it could be open for my visit there a couple of weeks back!

My favourite injury story:

A staff member on Tower Of Power at Siam Park accidentally dropped a safety information board on my bare foot.
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I hurt myself at Siam, on one of the 4 seater boats I was at the 'top' of the boat as we rode up a wall, and was not exactly holding on well. as the boat hit it's highest point on the wall, inertia meant I was forced backwards, smashing the back of my head on the slide surface before departing the boat, and completing the rest of the slide bareback.

Nobody cared... 😂 😂 😂
 
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