Lost Articles on Rides - Epic Stories

[johnjniehaus]

Ok so I'm starting this thread for all of the epic lost items on rides stories. Share the most ridiculous ones you have experienced! Here's mine - 

I rode Vortex and on the first drop the guy in the row right infront of me had a ball cap on and it blew off on the first drop. Whizzes right past my head. Then once we go around that huge turn and enter the first loop, his phone fall off at the top of the loop but apparently the speed of the phone falling and the speed of the coaster train were so in sync that his phone landed in the floor of my row on the train so my dad put his foot on it and held it against the floor until the end of the ride. When we got off the guy was so happy we had his phone and I mean what's the odds of it landing in the row behind you as it fell at the top of the first loop. Idk if he ever got the ball cap back but at least his phone survived! 

[johnjniehaus]

Ok got one other one I just thought of - 

Rode The Beast with a friend who didn't take off his ball cap and it blew off on the first drop into the tunnel and the camera snapped the photo with the hat floating over his head as it had come off and was in the process of blowing away. If we had the money we totally would have bought that photo! 

Speaking of odd photos my sister's seatbelt came off on Magnum XL200 at CP this summer and she grabbed the end and was holding it when the camera snapped the picture so her one hand is on the lap bar and the end of the seatbelt is shoulder high in the photo grasped tightly in the other hand. That was epic! 

[MDMC01]

I once almost lost my hat on Adventure Express. I had a Mighty Ducks hat and I thought it could handle it, but it flew off at some point during the ride. Someone towards the back ended up catching it and gave it back to me in the station.

[PKIDelirium]

Back in 2002, my Nokia somehow got out of my pocket somewhere on Beast and exited the train without me noticing, I only discovered I was missing my phone sometime after the ride. Filed a report on it, and it had been found somewhere, in the dirt, missing the battery pack. Spent the night somewhere in the woods, having hit something apparently to knock the battery off the back. Of course, being a Nokia, cleaned it up after recovering it from the park, new battery, perfectly fine.

In 2010, the ONE time I forget my belt clip for it, I made it into Diamondback's exit shop and realized my Samsung Alias had, without me noticing, vanished somewhere, again from my pocket. Ran back to the station to see if it had fallen into the seat when I got out, but the train had already been sent. Filed a report, but that one was never found. Interestingly, calling it for several days, it rang instead of direct to voicemail, so it seemed that it was still on. I was in a right side outboard seat, so my best guess there is the helix ejected it from my pocket and shot it off into the WWC woods, didn't get destroyed, but was out beyond where they look for items.

[Coasterteam]

6 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

I once almost lost my hat on Adventure Express. I had a Mighty Ducks hat and I thought it could handle it, but it flew off at some point during the ride. Someone towards the back ended up catching it and gave it back to me in the station.

Similarly, back in 2020 when coasters were halved in capacity, I was riding Mystic in the third row (because second row was closed) and the dude in the front had a hat on. Unsurprisingly, his hat flew back right as we hit the first set of double air-time hills. I see the hat just fly back and I laugh. 

Surprisingly, we hit the brake run and once we stop the dude in the BACK ROW screams at the top of his lungs, "HEY BRO I CAUGHT YOUR HAT". Funny stuff.

Oh and on a trip with some friends a few years ago, I lost my wallet later in the afternoon. Not sure exactly when I lost it or where, but when I was hungry and went to get a snack I realized I didn't have it. Filed a report and got a call a week later saying they found it. Luckily, I was already driving down there that weekend to visit family, so I was close-by when I drove back home. Wallet still had cash in it, so that was good news.

Gotta love Kings Island staff for always being strong in their lost & found department, mad respect to them.

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, back in 2002 with my Nokia the park was closed the next day, but they just said come on down and take the employee entrance, we'll bring it out.

[silver2005]

I've had coins fall on me on both SOB and Vortex on loops.

I've also caught a scarf on Diamondback's first drop before.

[Rivertown Rider]

I got hit by someone's lighter on Millennium Force this summer.  Luckily it didn't hurt me or anything.

[Snowball]

I’ve found so many phones under rides, most blew to pieces upon hitting the ground. One that sticks out is one that still worked! No telling how long it had been there, looked like months at least, it was basically buried in the dirt. We took it to lost and found and it charged right up, last I heard they had successfully contacted the owner of the phone. I can’t imagine getting that call about a phone that I lost months ago.

[kingsislandfan1972]

Once riding Diamondback with my nephew his flip flies off his foot and you can see it in the ride photo and what is even FUNNIER is at that exact same time a you can see a lady behind us catch the flip flop also on the ride photo!

 

Sadly I didn't buy the pictures.

[Orion-XL200]

I got hit by a flip flop coming off of someone's foot on Diamondback back when I worked the ride. I had a little bit of a mark...that was fun.

[DonHelbig]

Back in the 1980's when I was riding The Racer almost daily, a guest on the train I was riding had their glass eye pop out. I also saw a guest on The Racer lose their toupee on the turnaround drop. My daughter caught someone's credit card on the second drop on Diamondback when it opened in 2009. 

[silver2005]

I've caught a hat on Diamondback and a scarf on Beast.   I've also been hit by coins on Vortex when they dropped from the top of the loops and landed as we bottomed out. 

EDIT: Oops, I didn't know I posted the same thing a few posts above. 

[jbeast]

Seems forever ago, but my wife and I decided to ride White Water Canyon. And me wearing shorts with no zippers at the time, did not realize my wallet was gone until we decided to grab a bite of some Coney Fries. Luckily, we just got off the ride, so went back up in the hopes someone found it. I asked the ride op if anyone had seen it, and nope. Then I looked at the boat right in front of us and my very soaked wallet was wedged in the seat still. Got really lucky on that one! Ever since then, it is zippered pockets everytime while at the park. 

[Shaggy]

One of the WORST parts of being a ride op was having to check seats for wallets, cell phones and (in the day - late '90's) pagers. People lost them constantly.  When they did, you'd have to run your hand all around the edges, under the seats, between the seat and sidewall of train etc.  I was never able to hide my disdain for doing that.  The trains were notoriously gross.  However, one such situation gave me one of my best "Working at KI" stories. 

I had to "swipe" the seat on Beast looking for a lost pager... I reached under the seat, felt something, pulled it out... and in my hand there was a...

T u r d 

The people waiting to board the train, and myself, let out a collective gasp and "EWWWWWWWWWWW." I immediately threw it in the trash and demanded a "6", and went promptly to the restroom to scour my hands.  Ecology was called in the meantime... 

Well, after their inspection - it turned out it wasn't p o o. 

It was a foam carrot from a prize stuffed animal that had gotten soggy/wet and turned brown from all the grease and dirt. 

After that, I refused to do the seat swipes anymore.  True story.

 

P.S. - We didn't find their pager.

[3dgyrat]

two somewhat funny stories (to me)

 

1. Back in 2018 like a month before Firehwk closed, I was with my dad and brothers riding it for the first (and only) time. I had a spare phone my dad had gotten me for $1 from a friend because my phone was at its end, so they had me using the spare until they could get me a new one. long story short, its in my back pocket and im thinking itll be okay because i was wearing skinny jeans and the ride goes face down, so i didnt think my phone would fly. On the big first drop it managed to slip out of my pocket and hit the ground right at the lowest point. I realized after it was missing but they told me to come back another day to get it. im freaking out thinking its shattered since it had no case and was an old samsung phone anyways. i come back a week later and go to lost and found, and somehow the phone is still on mirculously. they show me the phone and have me put my password in and it works. we were all cheering and they said i mustve been lucky cause it wasnt shattered, no cracks, no dents, nothing. it was perfectly fine. 

 

2. this happened on Mystic Timbers last summer. i swear by wearing a fannypack and my friends always gave me flack for it saying i looked goofy. anyways me and my friends were riding mystic timber and the one i was sitting next to had his hands up and was cheering as we went along the ride. right as we get to the dip before the tunnel he goes "this is awesome!" and as soon as he says it, his glasses fly off. we both were completely silent in the tunnel and he said "this was terrible" once we got back to the station, we were told it was unlikely theyd be able to find them with how grassy the area is and i dont think they were ever recovered, so my friend had to call his mom and tell her he  lost his $500 GLASSES (which he failed to tell us the price of until that moment). ever since then my friends carry fannypacks and now when we ride any rides i remind my friend to put the glasses his fannypack lol. 

[VortexBFForever]

Orion stole my Toothless hat for a day in 2020  It was fine until the last hill, then it flew off right before we hit the brakes. Fortunately, it landed on the top of the catwalk, making it easier for my crew friends to retrieve at the end of the night.

Also in 2020, my travel-size sunscreen bottle went missing on Flume (I kept it in my fanny pack but it would fall out very easily) and I didn't remember my boat number, so I ended up marathoning Flume until the bottle turned up. I got six rides from that ordeal  

I've found, and sometimes witnessed, phones that fly off Banshee or Orion throughout my time in maintenance. If they land on the service road, I try to turn them in at the respective station so they don't get driven over and further damaged. One such time at Orion, I saw a phone fly out of a train going over the speed hill and managed to turn it in as that same train was returning to the station!

I've watched plenty of hats fly off WindSeeker especially when I operated it.

I watched a white ball cap fly off the head of the guy in front of me mid-ride on Bat last year.

A flying cell phone hit me in the arm (would have been my face if my arm wasn't raised) before I heard it hit the nearby structure while speeding over Magnum's bunny hills.

When I first got my glasses in 2021, I nearly lost them on a particularly spinny ride on Tsunami at Scene75 Dayton. They flew off my face but landed on the floor of my row! I thought they were for sure in the ride area.

One evening after park closing in 2018, my crew and I looked for lost articles under Vortex's turnaround (after the first drop, before the loops). Some of the hats we found had moss/lichen growing on them because they were in that thicket for so long! I also found a phone broken in half on that same expedition.

There are perhaps even more stories that escape me at the moment, but these are definitely among my most notable.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

At Coasterstock last year, I was in line for Diamondback towards the end of the day and I was wearing my jacket along my waist that I ended up not wearing at all that day, but my Mom had me bring it, but anyway I had my case with my perscription sunglasses in them in one of the pockets. I then made the poor choice of taking the jacket off my waist and holding it so I could put it in the bin on the platform while I was on the stairs and that caused the glasses case to slip out and go falling down and landing on the concrete sidewalk next to the station (I had Fast Lane). I then told an operator and they said they would follow procedure by getting it after cycling off for the night. Then I filed a lost and found report and they got them. I then went and picked them up a few days later at lost and found and there was no scratch on the glasses whatsoever. It was a miracle seeing how far they fell and how hard they landed on the sidewalk there.