Mother Nature and Theme Parks

[Kebab]

So, I was watching this...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aO94tCdp6k[/youtube]

I found it a pretty horrific watch, seeing a family park turn into something out of a Disaster movie, at one point you can actually see a post collapsing sideways! Which brings me to this (after previous experience with 2 earthquakes, one epicentre was at the bottom of my street!), what would this experience feel like if you're riding a Rollercoaster/Flat ride, I'd presume it'd cause some Rollercoasters to stall, but would you even notice the earthquake whilst riding a Rollercoaster? It's a scary thought, coming from England the only danger we get whilst riding is Hail, but all around the world there's Earthquakes, flooding and tropical storms etc.

Have you experienced Mother Natures wrath whilst at a Theme Park? Or is there any videos on the topic worth sharing?

 

[nadroJ]

I've been on a drop tower in a lightning storm, if that counts?

 

[Lottie.]

I've experienced a ferocious thunderstorm in Florida once whilst me and my family were at Busch Gardens Tampa - remember a couple of the big rides (Montu and Kumba) closed as soon as the storm was approaching. Was quite exhilarating

 

[cookie]

Was at Universal Studios Singapore when a pretty nasty thunderstorm showed up around 4.PM. Thankfully all the indoor rides stayed open, so I could get some sweet rides on Revenge of the Mummy while waiting for the skies to clear up in the evening.

 

[Lofty]

I've never actually experienced anything major, most of the time the rides have been shut when the storm is in a 6 mile radius. I suppose the only scary one was when Me and Maddie were in Aquatica, then next minute, from nowhere this massive bolt of lightning hit inside the park, a staff member shouted, "**** THIS" and ran into shelter. That's about it ha.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Went on Kraken it was raining really hard and you could see lightning from the top of the lift hill, after I got off there was a huge storm. Then at Aquatica there were huge storms all day and I was stuck in the restaurant for ages watching lightning hit the floor outside at least it was an all you can eat buffet though.

 

[Martyn B]

It was dry, hot and sunny when we entered the queue for Dudley Do-rights Ripsaw Falls, but by the time the boat first went outside it was pissing it down like you wouldn't believe. Add that to just how wet you get on that ride, and yup, we were completely soaked through!

The rain was coming down so hard it was painful, and waiting in the queue of boats to get off was disgusting!

 

[ECG]

Been in a couple of tornadoes, but never at a theme park.
Hurricane Sandy was no fun either, but was at home for that one.

 

[kimahri]

Saw Stealth and Huracan Condor get hit with lightning. Well 'ard me like.

 

[Chris Coasters]

It started downpouring when I was at Six Flags New England with my friends. We were in line for Batman: The Dark Knight and it started pouring out of nowhere. The whole station was flooded and then the thunder and lightning came and we were surrounded by metal standing in puddles of water. I thought my friend Andrew's mom was gonna come down with a case of the vapors.

 

[furie]

Been in a couple of tornadoes, but never at a theme park.
Hurricane Sandy was no fun either, but was at home for that one.

That storm at Kings Dominion was pretty epic, with rivers of rainwater flowing around us.

Obviously small scale stuff for the States generally, but over here, that would have closed the park for a month! :lol:

 

[ECG]

Yeah, that kind of thing isn't much over here. :wink:

Six Flags Over Georgia:

Knoebels:

Hersheypark:

Six Flags New Orleans:

 

[Jason Voorhees]

When I went to my first amusement park, Epcot, It was pouring down pretty damn bad that morning. In the afternoon it cleared up though. I've experienced Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Ike, and Hurricane Isaac at home.

 

[elephant58]

Blackpool October 2009. First ride of the day was those horrible Flying Machine - in the hail. Wasn't nice.

Also, for some reason, whenever I go to any theme park, it's rainy and by early afternoon I realise it's sunny.

 

[gavin]

It's not really anything major, but my ride on Vertigo at Tivoli Gardens stands out. Everyone else had already ridden, and then when 10Watt on I got on, it absolutely pissed down from the moment the restraints were locked until we got off, at which point it stopped again. It was just weird.

It wouldn't have been too bad, but that thing really shifts, so not only were we soaked to the skin, it was really, really painful to ride and we couldn't even look forwards or open our eyes much. Still, we were laughing hysterically the whole time, so it couldn't have been that bad.

I've ridden T-Express when it was snowing as well, which was weird.

 

[ECG]

I can't thank you enough for trading places with me Gavin. On the one hand I felt so bad when that happened, but on the other I was so glad that you did because it allowed me to film the POV.

 

[BraveNewWhirls]

Nothing worse than torrential rain but it only got to the point that they warned about ride closures.

I think considering how easily I burn the summer sun in Salou should count as a natural hazard! :lol:

 

[owentaylor121]

When I was at Drayton Manor, the park had been closed for about 15mins, but they kept G-Force open, so I was getting as many laps as I could and then on my 6th ride, a thunder and lightning storm just came out of nowhere, as I was going round the lift hill, shockwave got hit by lightning, at that point the whole train of people were either crying or screaming.

 

[caffeine_demon]

a couple I can remember

Bizarro (sfne) on last years live, front seat in the rain - Wow and Ow at the same time (surprised they kept it running - rain was prettty heavy)

Trapper slider (alpine slide) at fort fun in germany - Went on it wondering why they closed the monorail as it was "storm season", even though it was nice and sunny. Got on the lift hill and the rain started - drenched in seconds, but had a great ride!

 

[Thekingin64]

Worst I've had is it was raining pretty heavily almost all the time last time I was at FL and parts of the park flooded. Kumali front row in hail is not fun at all.

Plus, I have also done Ultimate in the rain as well.. That wasn't fun either.