Story here : Home
Following this closely as the company has plans for a South Florida park in the next few years.
What kinds of replies are you looking for? If he had not been the son of a state elected legislator, do you think anyone would know about this? Did the child die of natural causes, or for reasons related to the amusement park activity?
As the article states fairly clearly, the kid died on the ride. The fact that he is the son of a state legislator is not really significant, except that it was “elected officials day” and he and his family got in free.
The story went national before the boy was identified. It’s just one of those “every parent’s nightmare” stories, and it happened in a unique place. I don’t think anyone has any idea yet about the cause of death.
The fact that the father is a state legislator probably means that the park is going to get an extra level of scrutiny in the investigation, of course.
Just looking for updates, rumors, ongoing discussion…has any doper been on this ride?
Sure, it’s difficult to say whether the news would have reached me if his dad wasn’t a KS State Rep, but, this is MPSIMS, right? Verruckt is the tallest waterslide in the world, and already had quite a few safety concerns that delayed its opening. There’s talk that there were issues with the velcro harness, and some eyewitness reports say the protective netting either decapitated the boy, or possibly sliced him in half at the waist. Needless to say, a horrible tragedy, but worthy of discussion, no?
So why is a 10 year old boy riding this? “people into extreme adventure” would seem to require an 18 year old minimum age requirement.
According to CNN, someone reported that she had ridden it several times, and the harness wasn’t correctly closed any of the times [why did she continue to ride it?]. It was also reported that there wasn’t any minimum age or height. The boy apparently went down the first hill, then flew off at the top of the second hill.
Because it’s not actually supposed to be dangerous. That’s just marketing nonsense.
It’s certainly possible to design a water slide that goes fast and feels scary without being dangerous. Presumably, that’s what they meant to do here.
The local news just ran a story on this. There is a minimum height - 54" - and each raft must have a total gross weight of 400 pounds. There was a minimum age requirement - 14 - when it opened.
One reason the opening was delayed was that rafts tended to become airborne over the second hill.
Some comments about the Velcro straps in the Kansas City Reddit forum:
Make that “at least 400 pounds”. And preferably less than 550.
One story I read said that the minimum was two riders and three hundred pounds. But how much could that little 10 year old weigh? And if he was with only one other, smallish person, they probably didn’t even come close to the weight requirement. Add in faulty restraints and teenagers supervising the ride / desire to keep it running for revenue purposes, and you have a disaster on your hands. Geez, I can’t even. 
Kansas was chosen because they didn’t have a height restriction, so free-market style.
Scott Schwab, the legislating father, also sponsored Kansas’ HB2203 (Relating to exercise of religion. ) which states:
So it was up to the parent to decide what a child may or may not do. Even if they choose to be gay.
stpauler Do not politicize this child’s death, and do not drag in a debate about gay marriage and sexuality into this thread.
Any posts politicizing this tragedy will receive warnings.
I thought it was a firm rule that theme park rides should never have negative Gs.
For roller coasters and such, I’m not sure. But for a water slide, definitely.
This slide was just on the new Science Channel show “How to Build Everything”. They definitely talked about the tuning required of water flow, gradient, rider weights, etc. to prevent the raft from flying off the track when it goes over the 2nd hill.
Verruckt is one of the few Swiss-German words I know. Just sayin’.
“Verruckt” means “crazy” or “insane” if I recall my high school German correctly (that’s all I can think to add about this tragic story).
This sounds like an epic screwup. Even if the sled is properly weighted, that doesn’t mean it will stay properly weighted. If someone were to fall out as it launched, that would likely mean everyone would be in grave danger. Obviously the fallen passenger might get hurt, but the riders still in the sled probably wouldn’t have enough weight to keep the sled down as it went over the 2nd hill.