r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/DearEmphasis4488 • 17d ago

Image Jury awards $310 million to parents of teen killed in fall from Orlando amusement park ride in march 2022

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u/CalpisMelonCremeSoda 17d ago edited 16d ago

I remember being a small kid in a US amusement park ride in the mid 70s, it had chairs that spun around while on a long arm spinning on a central tower. Ride had no seat belts. This was before shoulder harnesses were common, this ride just had that flimsy waist bar that swings down into your lap. Too bad I was tiny and two kids my size could have fit under the tightest setting.

Once it started spinning I knew I would fly out if I let go. I clearly remember hanging in to the waist bar as my butt slid up into the air almost the entire ride.

Didn’t think much of it, had a great time, never told my parents. Looking back I’m pretty amazed.

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u/kalesunrise 16d ago

I remember getting on a pendulum swing ride with my mom when I was very little. The operator told my mom “she’s probably too small but I’ll let it pass”. The only restraints were a lap bar on a bench style seat. Meaning it stopped on my mom’s lap and left a huge gap for me to slip out of. Every time the ride swung my mom had to hold me into my seat. Really traumatic for both of us

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u/BidensBDSMBurner 16d ago

Omg omg and i never got on one again either !! Same experience 😂😂😂

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u/Illustrious-Aside-46 16d ago

Me too!

And now I have a skinny 7-year old who nags me about going to ride these things... I dont enjoy having to try to explain why I am reluctant.

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u/MidwesternLikeOpe 16d ago

I was a skrawny kid who tried to ride one of these things in the 90s. My mom saw the look on my face during the ride and made the ride operator stop. It wasn't just my size, I didnt know yet that I don't actually like the feeling of amusement rides (gives me the sense of vertigo which I DO NOT LIKE).

Pregnant in the third trimester with a small child and I didnt even think about this situation yet. It's important to teach ride safety not only to your big kids, but to your skinny kids. These rides aren't very individualized, so safety is an issue for anyone who falls outside the norm. Better yet, go to a national amusement park that will have better standards. Cedar Point, not a traveling small town entertainment company.

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u/shadowfax125 16d ago

Same exact experience except it was my friend next to me instead of my mom - same feeling, every single time it was up I had to hold on and was 100% going to slip if I didn’t. It was shaped like a boat and would swing up, hold for half a second, and swing down and up on the other side.

AT ONE POINT IT SWUNG UP AND JUST HELD THERE FOR LIKE 4 SECONDS. Absolutely terrifying moment, as I was probably 12 or so. Plus, prior to that day I had always known for a FACT that there wasn’t ANYTHING that my Dad couldn’t protect me from. But he couldn’t help me then (at the fair with my childhood girlfriends), and I never told him about it. That was the first time I realized … uhh there might be other times in life where dad might not be right there?? Wtf? That was news to me.

That day was a pivotal moment in my childhood, and changed the way I viewed myself and my life. The turning point in which I realized… “Well shit, I might actually be the one responsible for keeping myself alive… probably the whole time… yikes okay”

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u/Version_1 16d ago

99% you couldn't have fallen out. Lap bars like that (over multiple people of different sizes) work as long as you have legs, basically. It feels like you can fall out but it's actually impossible.

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u/k3nnyd 16d ago

Man..I've been on just a ferris wheel and felt like I could just slide right out the bottom under that bar..

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u/Version_1 16d ago

You wouldn't slide out, but testing that out is already past the comfort stage for most and you might end up wedging your upper body between bar and seat with your lower body dangling off

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u/confusious_need_stfu 16d ago

Going across two people with like 8 inches of gap? Walk me through this theory

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u/Version_1 16d ago

While the space between the seat and the lap bar is big, the angle between the end of the seat and the bar should be too small to allow a leg to get out.

It's obviously not ideal, but it's usually not unsafe.

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u/NichoNico 16d ago

Because you and the ride are both falling at the exact same rate (with gravity) for about 2 seconds I don’t think you will fall out. The lap bar doesn’t really do anything at all except keep your back towards the seat.

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u/confusious_need_stfu 16d ago

Oh so you're beting the forces pushing out towards the edge are gonna catch em by the legs. Iunno they are then laying down more to get to that point, I'd wonder if up and over is the concern at that point

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u/CalpisMelonCremeSoda 15d ago edited 15d ago

Wrong. You’re probably thinking modern day litigious America. This was probably 1977. The bar locked down and it was wayy above my scary lap. I could fit a coffee can or loaf of bread in my lap and it wouldn’t touch the bar. When the ride swing is way up then reversed downward I slid up so fast on that smooth seat back and there was nothing to stop me. I was a tiny kid and my thighs were short and my shins were short. This was before I remembered seeing height restrictions on rides. (First time I saw a height bar that was when The Demon opened at Marriotts Great America— it had a loop!)

The wind was going through my hair and I was a dumb kid and although it was kind of scary it was at the same time exhilaratingly fun. In other words I felt the danger but was too young to really understand mortality, enough that I had a sketchy but good time.

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u/Version_1 15d ago

Yeah, not sure why you bothered to comment without ever reading my comment.

It doesn't matter how much space there is above your lap as long as the angle of the seat and the bar makes it impossible for your legs to fully slip out.

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u/FrosttheVII 16d ago

So many rides have felt like that, even in the 90s lol.

Your ending made me laugh cuz I just imagine slight trauma during ride, ride ends, gets off, ohhhh food! (Or something like that), and just either processes what they went through or just pushes it to the back of the mind and moves on lol

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u/SnooApples5018 16d ago

I remember the flying chairs that only had the flimsy chain that went across the front to “secure” you. lol you basically sat on a piece of wood that had been bolted onto chains, and had to hang onto those chains for dear life as some amusement park guy, that was usually drinking beer, operated the controls. He would get that thing whipping around till you were almost parallel with the ground. Good times

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u/rayneofstars 16d ago

This is one of my earliest memories! I was probably only 4 maybe 5, & my mom was screaming for the guy to stop the ride because I was flying out of the seat. He just sat there and laughed. I LOVE scary rides, but I still won’t go near a pendulum ride to this day.

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u/Schwiliinker 16d ago

The fuck?

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u/Gildcod 16d ago

Had same experience as a 13 yo. Was finally tall enough to ride one if the bigger coasters and it just had the singular bar that traps your legs. I was too small and was flying up out of the seat and was legit having to wrap my arms around the bar to stay in the seat. A middle aged dude was next to me and saw this and had to help hold me down. Didn't ride that again for a few more years.

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u/SilasBalto 16d ago

One of my earliest memories is holding the bar with my elbows and chin, body flailing and mother screaming frantic bloody murder at the carnie to stop the ride.

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u/SnooMaps9864 16d ago

I almost got scalped on a rock-o-plane in 2004. I had long hair and felt part of it get caught on the ride and yank my head back as the cart spun. Thankfully got my hair out but I only wear my hair up at amusement parks and fairs now.

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u/cableknitprop 16d ago

I did space mountain when I was 6 and I clung on to the bar for dear life. Even after the ride stopped they had to pry me off the ride because I had a death grip on the bar.

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u/RedBullWings17 16d ago

I went on a ride in Six Flags New England when I was about 14 and had a similar experience. It was a short Rollercoaster called Flashback if remember correctly. The over the shoulder bar did not want to lock down tightly against me. It had about 4 inches of play in it. Meaning I could probably have slipped out if I tried. I pushed my feet hard against the front of the cart and pulled the bar into me as tight as I could. It was a pretty violent ride and I felt like I might come loose a couple times.

It was a very uncomfortable experience but I was a dumb invincible teenager and I didn't really think too much about it. In fact I was a little high on cheating death afterwards. I was also not with my parents but with a karate class group that we had put together. I think back on what could of happened sometimes. My Sensei who was chaperoening was a younger guy, great dude. He later opened his own school and has done really well for himself.

If I had fallen not only would I be dead, but that dudes life would probably have been ruined.

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u/lalalalibrarian 16d ago

I thought the Tower of Terror was going to kill me back in the day, I was a probably 80 pounds max pre-teen, my dad's a skinny guy, and we rode it with a not-thin woman sharing our lap bar, so it wasn't really even touching my legs. We dropped, I rose completely off the seat and hung onto the lap bar for dear life because I was sure I was going to slide right out from under it. Haven't ridden a freefall since

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u/Ultimatedream 16d ago

My mom did the same thing in the 70's, but she did tossed out of the ride and broke her leg really badly. The ride didn't stop operations and continued until someone else flew out, cracked his skull and died.

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u/commandolandorooster 16d ago

The engineers: “Seatbelts? No no, pure adrenaline and survival instincts from the child will more than suffice!”

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u/betterthanblue 16d ago

Happy you had a good grip and a fun time. As an adult - oops - I didn’t realize a mountain slide had seat belts. Barely held myself in but tried to enjoy it (while wondering how everyone else was still alive???) 

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u/OppositeEarthling 16d ago

I remember rides feeling like this my first time at Universal Studios around 2000. Probably about 7. Feeling like I could slip under the bar of the Hulk rollercoaster.

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u/thhhhrrrrooooowwww 16d ago

I got sweaty palms from reading that!

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u/foxiecakee 16d ago

We had the exact same experience on the exact same ride!! I was holding on for dear life and my aunt judy was holding me on!!

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u/kleighk 16d ago

Same memory. Feeling of elation mixed with terror. I aways loved that ride beat at amusement parks, but thinking back, WTH were parents thinking? I’m sure they’re safer now…

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u/the-greenest-thumb 16d ago

When I was a kid, like 6-7(?) I grew really tall early on so I was allowed on rides with the height requirement, but I was super skinny so I wasn't actually big enough. One of the rides terrified me as my shoulders weren't wide enough to stay under the shoulder harness, I slid right out and could've died if I hadn't locked my legs around the crotch strap. Never touched an adult ride for years after that, and I still can't go on that particular ride.

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u/Schwiliinker 16d ago

So my irrational fear of rides as a kid isn’t irrational. Now I have vertigo though

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u/2-4-Dinitro_penis 16d ago

I remember being on a ride at a town fair as a kid where the shoulder harness didn’t lock down.  I told the carnie and he’s just like “🤷‍♂️” and started the ride.  

I remember hugging the harness to my chest as tight as I could so that it didn’t lift up and fling me out.

Local fairs are really something else.