In a nightmarish incident, guests at an amusement park in Ohio, United States, were forced to walk down a 200-plus-foot roller coaster by stairs after it suffered a mechanical issue midair. The shocking incident occurred on Monday at Cedar Point in Sandusky on the Magnum XL-200 roller coaster. According to a report in Fox News, the ride came to a sudden halt while in the air and could not be restarted immediately. As a result, the dozens of people in the cart had to walk down the 205-foot-high coaster by stairs.
The amusement park’s Director of Communications, Tony Clark, told the outlet it was a “standard ride stoppage,” the Magnum XL-200 was evacuated as a precautionary measure. He further emphasized that it was not an emergency and the riders were safe. The Magnum XL-200 is a highly tall roller coaster that debuted in 1989. It stands at 205 feet and is the “Guinness Book of World Records holder for its leading edge height.” The ride can also reach a top speed of 72 mph and lasts for about two minutes.
While this is a rare incident, the Cedar Point amusement park has previously been in the headlines for some of its other rides. In 2021, a woman from Michigan was injured after being hit in the head by a metal bracket that fell off the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster. The park subsequently shut down the ride, but it will open up next year as a re-engineered version with a different name and more thrills.
Rollercoasters are notorious for their grueling, stomach-churning rides designed to make you feel like you’re on the verge of crashing into your seatmates. However, there is always a risk of going wrong that can leave you stranded in the air and unable to go back down.
It’s no surprise that most people would be terrified to find themselves in such an unfortunate situation, especially if it was the case for them during their most recent ride. It’s certainly a scary thought to have that your thrilling rollercoaster experience suddenly come to a halt in midair.
While this is a rare occurrence, a few days ago, it did happen to eight people in Britain when the towering oscillating Fireball at an amusement park unexpectedly stopped at around 72 feet high. It was a terrifying experience for those stranded, and it will likely stay with them for a long time.
