Teenager Struck, Killed by Six Flags Batman Coaster

[Queentitania19]

As far as I know, and I'm open to correction, there has only been 10 deaths in the history of Disneyland. One of those being the one at the Disneyland Resort which was suicide and I'm not sure if it counts. Only 2 of them were actually Disney's responsibility. That's almost 53 years and they can still count them on both hands. That is pretty damn impressive. I can't vouch for Disneyworld though. I know they have a pretty high mortality rate in the water parks.

I think Six Flags has that many in the last 10 years.

[lazyboy97O]

As far as I know, and I'm open to correction, there has only been 10 deaths in the history of Disneyland. One of those being the one at the Disneyland Resort which was suicide and I'm not sure if it counts. Only 2 of them were actually Disney's responsibility. That's almost 58 years and they can still count them on both hands. That is pretty damn impressive. I can't vouch for Disneyworld though. I know they have a pretty high mortality rate in the water parks.

I think Six Flags has that many in the last 10 years.

Your comparison simply is not fair. Disney operates six theme parks, and two water parks in the United States. Six Flags operates 21 parks. This accident, as with most amusement park accidents, was not the fault of Six Flags. I believe the last death at Six Flags Over Georgia was the last time this happened six years ago. Even the incident at Kentucky Kingdom last year is not the norm for the chain. EPCOT Center had two deaths in about one year after conditions were exasperated by Mission: SPACE. Six Flags owns more parks than anybody else, simple probability says fatal incidents are more likely to occur at a Six Flags park.

[PleaseRemainSeated]

As far as I know, and I'm open to correction, there has only been 10 deaths in the history of Disneyland. ....

....I think Six Flags has that many in the last 10 years.

Well, to be fair, Six Flags has
a - more than five parks in the chain

b - much more dangerous rides. Disney parks have mostly theme rides, not thrill rides - Six Flags is the other way 'round. So there's just more potential for injury. Having said that, Disney's safety record probably would be better even if they were the same type of park, if we're being honest.

But, yeah. I felt bad for the first few seconds when someone told me about this, but as soon as I found out how the accident actually happened, I just felt frustrated. This young man died through his own sheer recklessness - but his family will almost certainly sue and will probably receive money from the park for not preventing him from getting himself killed. Maybe they should have been able to stop it... but I will never understand the series of choices a person must make to find himself in the path of an oncoming coaster train. I do wonder how you wouldn't hear it coming, though. Batman roars.

The last article I read suggested that the boy and his friend had left the park for lunch and decided to climb the fences as a shortcut to get back in.

[lazyboy97O]

Maybe they should have been able to stop it...

Even if they were seen by park employees, after the coaster drops from the lift, there is nothing they can do. The next place the train is going to stop is the holding area behind the station.

The last article I read suggested that the boy and his friend had left the park for lunch and decided to climb the fences as a shortcut to get back in.

Unless they went back to their vehicle, I do not believe this story one tiny little bit. I am pretty sure that the gas station in the parking lot has been closed. That leaves the closest place being a Wendy's down the street, on the opposite side of the park.

The local NBC news is starting now. His name has been released, but I do not believe that to be pertinent. I will report back if any new details are made available.

Edit: I absolutely hate the local media. They tried to paint a picture that anybody who goes to the park is scum for not respecting this kid's memory and that the park is somehow unsafe. Batman: The Ride is stilled closed as Cobb County Police are still investigating, but plans are to reopen the coaster tomorrow, Monday. The news made it sound like they may have driven to get food, but nothing was really stated specifically. The most said was that they did skip the main entrance.

[MagicWDI]

As far as I know, and I'm open to correction, there has only been 10 deaths in the history of Disneyland. One of those being the one at the Disneyland Resort which was suicide and I'm not sure if it counts. Only 2 of them were actually Disney's responsibility. That's almost 58 years and they can still count them on both hands. That is pretty damn impressive. I can't vouch for Disneyworld though. I know they have a pretty high mortality rate in the water parks.

I think Six Flags has that many in the last 10 years.

There have been many deaths withing Disneyland Park since its opening, ten of those deaths are attraction related, but not necessarily the result of the attraction's operation.

One of those attraction related deaths happened within the Rivers of America, where two guests stayed on TSI past its closing and tried to swim back after their rule breaking fun. One of the guests, an 18 years old, tried to swim his younger brother, who couldn't swim, across the "Rivers" back to the main park. The older guest couldn't make the trek and drowned in the 6 to 8 foot deep water. The body was found the next morning. This is just one of several counts at Disneyland where the guest is to blame.

This Six Flags related death sounds similar where the guests are solely to blame for their injury/death, and in this case the injury of another, after violating park safety rules.

[Princess Buttercup]

I cannot even fathom why a person would go into a dangerous situation just to retrieve a hat or why a person's friend or family member would not try to talk him or her out of it. It's sad that people are this idiotic that they would lose their lives because of it. And it's sad that innocent riders are also hurt as a result of the people's stupidity.

If these teens in the recent incident were with a church group, too bad there weren't chaperones. The boy would be alive had he been supervised by a responsible adult.

[sir clinksalot]

And I have to say, some of the most rude outlandish behavior I've seen at Six Flags have been on Church Days.

Not that it being Church day had anything to do with the incident, but just because it's "Church Day" doesn't mean all the kids there are good church-going kids (whatever that is).

[lazyboy97O]

If these teens in the recent incident were with a church group, too bad there weren't chaperones. The boy would be alive had he been supervised by a responsible adult.

The boy's father was the church's music director, and his mother was the church secretary. Both were at the park as part of the group visit...

[Goin2DL]

His poor parents. As a parent of a teenage boy, I know that they don't always think before they do something stupid. So many teens have that feeling of immortality, they just don't think about what could happen.

[Princess Buttercup]

The boy's father was the church's music director, and his mother was the church secretary. Both were at the park as part of the group visit...

That's awful. I bet they wish they'd stayed with him. But they probably didn't think he'd ever do something that foolish.

[Joshrzmeup]

My thoughts and prayers go out to his parents.

May this be a lesson to all other teens - a hat or anything else is NOT more valuable then your life.

Were there no security cameras near the fences to see that something was going on? And couldn't those kids read the posted signs that say to stay out??

[lazyboy97O]

Were there no security cameras near the fences to see that something was going on? And couldn't those kids read the posted signs that say to stay out??

Not that I have ever noticed, but there probably will be by the end of the month. Even then, as I have said, if the train had already left the lift hill nothing could be done, even if they were spotted on a camera. Even running outside and trying to yell at them to duck would have been futile; the coaster is too fast and makes too much noise.

[sir clinksalot]

I think the entire ride, after the lift hill is something like 45 seconds. So yeah, no way to run out there and warn anybody.

[PleaseRemainSeated]

Even if they were seen by park employees, after the coaster drops from the lift, there is nothing they can do. The next place the train is going to stop is the holding area behind the station.


Unless they went back to their vehicle, I do not believe this story one tiny little bit. I am pretty sure that the gas station in the parking lot has been closed. That leaves the closest place being a Wendy's down the street, on the opposite side of the park.

I was actually thinking of before they got past both fences and into the actual ride area. I do not blame park employees, though. I'm simply allowing for the possibility that they could have been seen/stopped before getting that close to the track.

And I wouldn't know about the location of restaurants - I've never been to that particular park. My family has always eaten lunch in our car at the local Six Flags, so that would be very believable for me.

I think the entire ride, after the lift hill is something like 45 seconds. So yeah, no way to run out there and warn anybody.

It feels longer than that... I'd have guessed a minute and change, but yeah, it's not a long run.

Looking at the ride layout (I'm assuming this is the correct one?) there's only so many places the ride comes close enough to the ground to hit someone. You think you'd figure it out, standing between a couple of giant pylons with the track vibrating over your head... except, you really might not see the train coming. At SFGAm, B:TR has shrubs planted in the ride area. You should still hear the darn thing, though. Or else just, you know, not stand between the pylons.

[goatdan]

As far as I know, and I'm open to correction, there has only been 10 deaths in the history of Disneyland. One of those being the one at the Disneyland Resort which was suicide and I'm not sure if it counts. Only 2 of them were actually Disney's responsibility. That's almost 58 years and they can still count them on both hands. That is pretty damn impressive. I can't vouch for Disneyworld though. I know they have a pretty high mortality rate in the water parks.

I think Six Flags has that many in the last 10 years.

Ten people have died at Disneyland Park since it opened, eight of which were the result of a ride. That doesn't include the multiple serious accidents they have had, as well as others we haven't heard about. Of these, two of the deaths (Big Thunder Railroad, Columbia docking) had nothing to do with anything but park negligence. None of these deaths were due to natural causes.

Two people have died at Six Flags Over Georgia since it opened in 1967, both due to climbing into the Batman ride area and getting hit by a ride.

So, playing averages, Disneyland has a death every 5.3 years. Six Flags Over Georgia has one every 20.5. Even if you were to say that Six Flags Over Georgia is only open 1/3rd of the time that Disneyland is, Disneyland has the *higher* death rate.

According to Wikipedia, Six Flags as a chain has had 23 deaths in it that are not things like, "A man in the wave pool had a heart attack and died". This was both guest and employee deaths. Considering that eight of those deaths were in a horrific fire accident all at the same time, I guess you could say that the Six Flags chain has had 15 accidents which have resulted in deaths in it. And they operate a TON of parks.

If we go just from 10 years ago, Disney's 6 US Parks had 6 accidents resulting in deaths (I did not include the Mission: Space deaths). Including this one, Six Flags 12 US Parks (not including water parks) had five, three of which were people in ride areas getting struck by trains, one of which is rumored to be a suicide.

Considering that as some others have mentioned, Disney runs less rides that are big, fast and dangerous like Six Flags, and considering that most of Disney's more dangerous rides are safely 'sealed' indoors so you can't just wander onto their tracks, I would say that Disney's track record is actually worse than Six Flags.

Disney just gets a free pass since they are Disney, and Disney doesn't do any wrong -- they just make people happy! Six Flags is where the scary stuff is, and besides, they are run by a guy who abandoned Disney, and I wouldn't doubt that ABC wouldn't mind watching them go under in part because of it.

Bottom line though -- you're safer at an amusement park than at your home. Or driving to an amusement park. Whether it is Disney or not.