A Florida theme park has one of its rides back up and running again after a “glitch” caused the roller coaster to malfunction and strand 12 passengers for three hours more than 150 feet from the ground.
Firefighters were called in to Universal Studios to help rescue the thrill seekers after the ride’s emergency brakes malfunctioned and stuck the cars on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster in a vertical position. Tom Schroder, a spokesman for the park, said a “tech glitch” was to blame.
“I’m not going to detail it, but it has been resolved,” Schroder said. “The safety of our guests and the experience they have on our attractions is very important to us. For us, there is no such thing as a routine glitch. We put every resource we have against resolving them.”
Firefighters had to move the train of cars into a horizontal position at the top of the coaster before attempting to rescue the passengers; one person was taken to the hospital after complaining of neck pain. Schroder said the reason the rescue took three hours was because they wanted to make sure every passenger was removed in the safest way possible.
“The safety system did exactly what it’s supposed to do,” he said. “The reason the rescue took so long is because park officials wanted to take their time and do it safely. We spent a lot of that time talking to them (the passengers) and trying to make them as comfortable as we could.”
The same ride was closed for two days in August after it came to a sudden stop, causing injury to at least one passenger.