BoddaH1994 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I was at the park today and we had one of those hour long voilent storms that seem to be so common these days. After it passed and normal ride operation resumed, I went to The Beast only to find it shut down. The worker there told me that the first lift hill had been struck by lightning. He said that it damaged the towing motor and the PA system and that he doubted the ride would be open the rest of the day. I know rides being struck by lighting isn't anything new, but I just think it's funny how it struck a hill made of wood as opposed to The Vortex's hill, which is taller, made of straight steel, and not 100 yards away. Anyway, they managed to get the ride in operation by the end of the day, so hats off to the mechanical staff. --Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanner Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Anyway, they managed to get the ride in operation by the end of the day, so hats off to the mechanical staff. --Ryan Yeah Ralph does a great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow2k3 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Yeah I heard about that. Pretty freaky stuff. You would of figured that Delerium, the Tower, or DZ would of been struck. But it was The Beast. Now fortified with lightning! ~Shadow~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted July 9, 2003 Author Share Posted July 9, 2003 Actually, I heard that the tower did get struck. Some lady said that she saw a big flash when lighning struck it. I just didn't say anything about it because it probably get struck all the time, and I can't guarentee the integrity of the story. -Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdime Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 The Beast did indeed open back up late in the day. I rode it around 9:00. I was told that the storm created some havoc for the park's communcation center. Anyone know any more about this? The big Beast problem (and it DID reopen, so it wasn't too serious) was that the ride's fire alarm kept going off. (I was told this by a Beast/Eagles crew member) It was weird tonight. When I arrived, after the storm....all of the coasters were down, yet most of the flats continued to operate. The rain eventually let up, and the evening wasn't too bad. I can't believe the parks luck with weather the past few days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losing Streak Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Yeah. It's rained 5 days in a row. I worked the first 4, luckily I missed the fifth. All the coasters have lightning rods, at least I thought they did, which would mean that their being steel or wood would have absolutely no bearing on what was struck, just the normal things that cause lightning to strike this rod instead of that one. Those are things I have absolutely no idea about. But SOB has a bunch of lightning rods on it. At least, I think they're lightning rods. Very interesting. Ah well. Bring back the wild animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenageninja Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I was at work and our lights went out for 3.5 hours, and I'm by KI so I guess that's important. Anyways, I'm suprised Beast was struck, but I guess that is where the negative Ions are, which is what lightning strikes at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastfreak Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 (edited) The big Beast problem (and it DID reopen, so it wasn't too serious) was that the ride's fire alarm kept going off. They were still going off after 10pm when I was walking through Rivertown. The alarm sounded like the "beeping" before they announce a weather update through out the park, but it never stopped, it just kept going. I was at the front of the park when that bolt hit. My friend said he saw it and was in the park somewhere, I didn't believe him. I guess it really was. Edited January 1, 1970 by beastfreak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StXBomber Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I heard it get struck! I was in the coney arcade playing DDR waiting for the storm to pass, when I heard a huge bang, seemingly right next to the arcade. Tons of people screamed and ran in, so I knew it was very, VERY close, but I didn't expect it to be The Beast that was struck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonLord Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 The Beast did get struck but our fire/saftey crew checked it out shortly afterwards and found that everything was okay... i.e. the ride wasn't burning down. The Tower did get hit, some people thought it was Delirium from the angle they saw it from, but it was the Tower. As of our Com. Center, I don't know of any problems. Our radios were working just fine and everything seemed to do well. They did close one channel though, and that could be from the Tower being struck. Someone said they were suprised the small rides were still open... we keep the small ones open unless we get some pretty heavy rains. They did shut pretty much everything down when we got hit really hard, but reopened the flats shortly after. The coaster always shut down when there is lightning in the area and will not reopen untill we deem it safe to do so. After a storm like that though, they have to do a ton of checks on the rides and they can take some time to do, I belive 20+ minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Come to think about it, I don't think I have ever seen a lightning rod on The Beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonLord Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 There are rods at the top of each hill. You can miss them easily b/c they aren't very big and I belive are ontop of the "Do not stand" sign or on each side of the hill... just give it a look. All the big rides have rods and so do all the buildings (well, at least on IS). I'm surpised no one has mentioned the smoke in Coney Skeeball! I guess one of the games went hay wire and started to smoke. No fire or anything, we just unplugged the game and fire/saftey checked everything out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.