May 30th- Weather conditions

So I was at the park yesterday (May 30th obviously) when we had that thunderstorm blow through. We were in the Dragster station when it hit, so we decided to just stay there, we were under cover, and if it stopped, we were in prime position to get on the ride as soon as it opened.

After about 15 minutes, the storm kicked up a little and the ride op announced "Dragster crew, we will be taking cover". At this point we all exited the station and stood around in the room that has the computer controls for the motors for Dragster for another 15 minutes before they let us out.

I was just wondering, was there any sort of really severe weather that made us go down there? Any reports of tornados? We were in the middle of that pack of people the whole time, so couldn't really see off the platform, when we were heading to the shelter you're surrounded by trees pretty much, and there were only 2 windows in the building (on each end) and we were stuck right in the middle.

A big hail storm cell rolled through there, perhaps that's what they were worried about. I am surprised they put you in that building, though I suppose with all of the cabinets locked it would've been mostly harmless. Nothing to steal there, unlike, say, the gift shop in front of the station. :)

Not the first time guests have been routed to shelter; it's procedure. I would assume the hail and lightening were enough to suggest immediate shelter for guests and employees.

I would think they did that because erie county was under a T-storm warning when it went through.

This happened a few times on MF in 2004. What was strange about it, is we would flood both the load and unload platform with guests to give them as much cover as possible, and then the employees (minus one who watches the crowd) would go down to the electrical room to take cover...

I remember one night we had to stay there for like 2 hours... by the time we left it was time for the park to close, and everyone had left because of the storm. But despite the park being empty, the Summer Spectacular was still going... It was eerie walking down the midway watching the show going and only seeing a handfull of people watching it.

Jeff said:
A big hail storm cell rolled through there, perhaps that's what they were worried about. I am surprised they put you in that building, though I suppose with all of the cabinets locked it would've been mostly harmless. Nothing to steal there, unlike, say, the gift shop in front of the station. :)

Hehe, that was already full. It was kind of interesting, but being sopping wet and having those fans blowing cold air on you took the fun out of it quick, plus with ~100 people in that tiny building, it was fairly crowded.

My class and I were shoved up inside 'Attitudes"

I was running for TTD'sline when I saw two of my friends in the the gold train. i stopped to wish them luck, when they were forced o get out of the train for safety's sake. that was enough to pi** me off.

that was enough to pi** me off.

I can understand why you'd be mad, seeing as how the park removed your friends from a ride for something silly like a potential lightning strike that could kill them. I'd be upset too!
*** Edited 5/31/2006 7:36:23 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

I think there are to many people who overlook the danger of lightning. If you're stupid enough, it will hit you. Riding a roller coaster during a storm is what I define stupid.

A kid got struck in the main parking lot last year.

If the Signal goes out on Park Ops Radio for tornado warning (I forget what the call number is on the radio’s exactly, but I think it was some odd number in the 90’s which you know if it was called you were in deep poo :)), SOP is to lead all guest off of the midways and out of lines into the nearest shelter.

Pretty Much any building is fair game probably so they can pack the most people in and get them to the nearest shelter in the smallest amount of time. I’ve always wondered though in the odd chance that there are 50000 people in the park and a tornado hits if there is enough “shelter” for everyone. While there is a surprising amount of structures people don’t often think about like warehouses, offices, mechanical rooms, etc; but it might get pretty tight if the park was packed.

I think there are to many people who overlook the danger of lightning. If you're stupid enough, it will hit you.

Lightning will hit whatever it pleases; it doesn't care how smart/stupid somebody is.

A kid got struck in the main parking lot last year.

I saw that bolt; I was sitting at entrance when it hit. From my vantage point, it was behind the Demon Drop area. We had just launched a train and it was on the front spike when that bolt went off. We had to quickstop the ride and bring them back.

Signal 30s = Seek Shelter.

i was there and some friends and i juss went in the arcade and waited out the storm so i dont kno how bad it really was. All i kno is that after it passed, no lines for most rides.

I'm not really that surprised they had you go there. Last year me and a few others were in line for White Water Landing when it went down due to weather. We decided to just wait with the crew in the station because it was pouring so bad. They then received a call from park operations to take cover, and we went along with them... into the maintenance shed. :) It was the same day that the guy was struck by lightning in the parking lot, and several trees were hit, not to mention the rides... :)

*** Edited 6/2/2006 2:21:00 AM UTC by DBCP***

I was there also, and my group was stupid enough to want to wait it out. I left them and went into a gift shop. We were right in front of dragster, and I knew it was bad when the people who had been waiting for forever were coming out of the station. So I left.

Oh yeah, I plan to write my first ever trip report soon!