When having fun goes life-changingly wrong

[Zawadi]

Just this week 4 people were seriously injured on the Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers, UK when their train ploughed into an empty test train that had failed to make it around.

[MNNHFLTX]

I saw that on the news. Considering the scope of the accident I was actually surprised that more people weren't seriously injured. From what I understand the four that were hurt the most were in the front row of the vehicle that crashed into the test vehicle. :(

[NJGIRL]

That's a shame.....Life can change in a blink of an eye.

[John]

Just yesterday:

http://www.examiner.com/article/disneyland-paris-closes-big-thunder-mountain-after-five-guests-are-injured

Yesterday, five guests riding Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris (http://www.examiner.com/topic/disneyland-paris) were injured when a piece of the ride’s scenery fell on them. The attraction, which was closed immediately following the incident, remains closed today.
According to Le Parisien (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http://www.leparisien.fr/seine-et-marne-77/grievement-blesse-dans-une-attraction-a-disneyland-26-04-2011-1422878.php&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhhf4vnCbd6YgdfSEv_UDgnykJxEkA) a piece of faux rock fell just outside the final tunnel of the runaway train coaster. The tunnel section of the attraction is designed to imitate an earthquake, with rocks falling toward the mine-car ride vehicles.

25 people were riding Big Thunder Mountain, a runaway train coaster, when the rock, made of fiberglass and wood, fell. Four people received minor injuries that treated in the park. One person, a 38-year old man, was taken to a local Paris hospital for a serious head injury.

[BrerGnat]

John, that happened in 2011. See the article date. I was about to say, didn't that happen already at DLP? They have since removed the fake rocks from that portion of the ride.

[#1donaldfan]

Plus they removed that rock from MK in Florida too.....right ??? :confused:

[NJGIRL]

Plus they removed that rock from MK in Florida too.....right ??? :confused:

I think the falling rock is still there...isn't it?

[dnickels]

I think the falling rock is still there...isn't it?

I'm pretty sure the rock is still there, but it hasn't simulated 'falling' in years that I've seen. No idea if it that effect was turned off because of the Disneyland Paris thing or if it's just another broken effect that hasn't been fixed.

[Zawadi]

Yesterday it was announced that a 17 year old girl, who was in the front row, has had to have a leg amputated above the knee.

Best wishes to all the victims of this tragedy

[Cinderelley]

That is so sad.