List of incidents at Herschend parks

Last updated

This is a summary of notable incidents that have taken place at amusement parks, water parks or other attractions owned and/or operated by Herschend. This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every such event, but only those that have a significant impact on the parks or park operations, or are otherwise significantly newsworthy.

Contents

The term incidents refers to major accidents, injuries, or deaths that occur at a Herschend-owned or -operated facility. While these incidents were required to be reported to regulatory authorities due to where they occurred, they usually fall into one of the following categories:

Adventureland (Iowa)

Dragon

Raging River

Sky Seats

Tornado

The Underground

Castle Park

Log Ride

Dollywood

Dollywood Express

FireChaser Express

Lightning Rod

Mountain Blown Glass Shop

Parking lot

Thunder Express

Timber Tower

Waltzing Swinger

Wilderness Pass

Dutch Wonderland

Sky ride

Idlewild

Rollo Coaster

Kennywood

Aero 360

Cuddle Up

Jack Rabbit

Journey with Thomas

King Kahuna

Pirate

Popover

Raging Rapids

Steel Phantom

Swing Around

Thunderbolt

The Whip

Kentucky Kingdom

Chang

Hurricane Bay

Mile High Falls

Starchaser

Superman: Tower of Power

On July 13, 2007, the victim's family filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages, claiming that the park did not properly maintain the ride. [51] On November 29, 2007, a judge in the Jefferson Circuit Court said that Six Flags could dismantle the ride beginning February 1, 2008. As of December 1, 2007, the ride's cable was still in storage awaiting lab tests. [52] On May 30, 2008, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture released their report on the accident, concluding that the accident was caused by a deteriorated cable, as well as poor operator training. Had the operator acted in a timely manner to emergency stop the ride, the report states, the victim would have only suffered minor injuries. The report also stated that the park was fined $1,000 for not properly maintaining the ride. [53] Park officials admitted in deposition that only visual inspections of the ride's cables were performed, not hands-on inspections, that cables were not lubricated monthly, and that the ride's cables were not regularly replaced. [54] However, it was not possible to determine any one factor which specifically caused the cable to snap. On November 21, 2008, a settlement to "provide lifetime care" was reached between Kentucky Kingdom and the victim's family. [55]

T3

Vampire

Lake Compounce

Boulder Dash

Gillette Railway

Lake Plunge

Miniature Golf Course

The Tornado

Wildcat

Zoomerang

Silver Dollar City

Fire in the Hole (1972)

Frisco Silver Dollar Line Steam Train

Lost River Of The Ozarks

Other incidents involving guests

Outlaw Run

Thunderation

Wild Adventures

Paradise River

Former properties

Ride the Ducks

The duck boats operated by Ride the Ducks have been involved in a number of incidents. In July 2010 one of the amphibious vehicles stalled on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was struck by a barge, sinking the duck boat and killing two of the passengers, who were Hungarian tourists. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the tugboat operator's inattention to his duties. [81]

On May 8, 2015, a Ride the Ducks boat struck and killed a 68-year-old Beaumont, Texas, woman crossing the street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Chinatown section. Witnesses at the scene say that the woman crossed against a red light while viewing content on a tablet and was struck while in the boat's front blind spot. The incident is still being investigated. [82]

Ride the Ducks was sold to Ripley Entertainment in December 2017. [83] The sale occurred before the Table Rock Lake duck boat accident in July 2018 near Branson, Missouri, where a Ride the Ducks boat sank on Table Rock Lake during a thunderstorm, killing 17 passengers. [84] All locations of the attraction, outside of some locations in Guam, were permanently closed afterward. [85]

See also

References

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