- Tottenham Hotspur linked with Romelu Lukaku for your Sunday amusement We Ain’t Got No History
- ‘We were supposed to meet on Monday!’ – NFL icon Tom Brady reveals his plans with Harry Kane were spoiled by striker’s Bayern Munich transfer Goal.com
- How will Tottenham spend their Harry Kane transfer funds? | Premier League | NBC Sports NBC Sports
- ‘At what price?’: German press sceptical over Harry Kane’s £100m transfer The Guardian
- Henry Winter reacts to Harry Kane’s huge transfer from Tottenham to Bayern Munich! 🔥 🇩🇪 talkSPORT
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Tag Archives: amusement
Malfunctioning New York amusement park ride sends guests spinning backward as workers scramble to shut it off – Fox News
- Malfunctioning New York amusement park ride sends guests spinning backward as workers scramble to shut it off Fox News
- Concern grows after multiple U.S. amusement park ride safety issues CBS Evening News
- Scare At Rye Playland: Ride Spins Backwards | Rye Daily Voice | Your Local News for Rye, New York Daily Voice
- Malfunction at Rye Playland causes ride to spin out of control for 10 minutes as shocked onlookers helplessly watch New York Post
- New York amusement park ride malfunctions, leaves riders spinning in reverse for 10 minutes KABC-TV
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A man who tried to warn a North Carolina amusement park about a huge crack in the ride’s support beam said staff were ‘nonchalant’ and had ‘no urgency’ to fix it – Yahoo News
- A man who tried to warn a North Carolina amusement park about a huge crack in the ride’s support beam said staff were ‘nonchalant’ and had ‘no urgency’ to fix it Yahoo News
- Huge crack in roller coaster at North Carolina amusement park WTHR
- Company that built cracked roller coaster at Carowinds inspecting damage WCNC
- Large break on Fury 325 marks latest incident at Carowinds with history of ‘consistent problems’ WGHP FOX8 Greensboro
- Man Who Reported Crack In Roller Coaster Says He Received Concerning Response From Staff Yahoo News
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4-year-old accidentally strangles herself at amusement park while staff stared at phones: report – New York Post
- 4-year-old accidentally strangles herself at amusement park while staff stared at phones: report New York Post
- Girl, 4, accidentally hangs herself while jumping on bouncy castle ‘as clueless amusement park staff l… The US Sun
- Girl, four, accidentally hangs herself on bouncy castle while staff were distracted by their phones Daily Mail
- Girl, 4, accidentally hangs herself on bouncy castle as ‘staff distracted by phones’ The Mirror
- Girl, four, accidentally hangs herself on bouncy castle after amusement park workers were distracted by… LBC
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From amusement to exasperation, Dems’ journey through Republican gridlock
“You got anything to read?” he asked a reporter, maybe joking, but maybe not. “I’m just trying to find every paper that I can.”
At this point, there was not much else Democrats could do.
Democrats began the 118th Congress as spectators, watching the Republican majority descend into turmoil, plagued by disunity as a faction of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus repeatedly blocked Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from becoming speaker. But any initial schadenfreude at this point has dissolved into exasperation — and for a number of members, also concern, as the failure to elect a speaker means the entire legislative branch is stuck in limbo, with none of the House members officially sworn in.
“What number is this?” Ruppersberger said of the eighth roll call vote, as he, like many in the Capitol, started to lose track. “Whatever number it is, after awhile, it is like Groundhog Day — it makes no sense now. Let’s be big boys and girls, come together, use your four-, five-seat majority, and do what’s right for the American people.”
Each day, the same scene has played out on the House floor like a playlist stuck on repeat: The nominations for mostly the same people are made — in fact the House on Thursday broke a century-old record after completing the 10th round of House speaker nominations. McCarthy fails on every one of them. When it’s Jeffries’s turn to vote, and he votes for himself, Democrats who had been scrolling endlessly through their cellphones or had heads buried in newspapers suddenly erupt in standing ovations. They sit back down, continue quietly murmuring.
Sitting on a bench on the House grounds — taking a break after casting his vote for speaker for Jeffries for the seventh time — Virginia Democrat Gerald E. Connolly described Democrats’ feelings about the unending Republican joust as a “a certain duality, maybe”: “Bemusement at the fact that they’re as bad as we said they were — but not a lot of satisfaction in that, because there is this sense of the gravity of the moment.”
His Virginia Democratic colleague Jennifer Wexton, who’s been deep in New York Times crosswords all week, put it this way: “It’s gone from amusement to irritation pretty quickly,” she said.
The amusement was palpable among Democrats on Day 1 of the 118th Congress. Ted Lieu of California popped some popcorn. “About to go to the House floor,” he wrote on Twitter, as Republican infighting began in earnest. Fellow Californian Jared Huffman did an impersonation of viral internet character Leeroy Jenkins as he voted for Jeffries once again. By Wednesday Republican Kat Cammack (Fla.) was so irked by the Democratic mirth that she went to the House floor and accused them of drinking through the votes.
“They want us divided. They want us to fight each other,” Cammack said on the floor. “That much has been made clear by the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that is coming up over there.”
Democrats wanted her words taken down — a procedure to reprimand a lawmaker for breaking decorum — as they protested her accusation. But, since there’s no speaker, there aren’t really any rules, either. The clerk simply urged members to maintain decorum.
“If only!” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted in response to Cammack. “If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now.”
By Thursday, boredom was setting in.
“People are frustrated we’re just doing the same thing over and over and over again and making absolutely no progress,” said Democratic lawmaker Julia Brownley of California.
Democrats are somewhat of a captive audience at this point. Their complete unity in support of Jeffries — without a single defector — has left the speaker drama entirely out of their court, leaving Republicans to solve the mess themselves. But Democrats also can’t be sworn in or begin doing much of anything until Republicans figure it out.
Also, there is nowhere to escape.
“People are just trying to bide their time, walk back to their office, come back again, go to the cloakroom. Nobody can go that far away,” Brownley said.
For Joaquin Castro, a Democratic lawmaker from Texas, the mood seemed to be devolving into sadness. Is this what Congress has come to now? Is becoming spectators to the days-long standoff a preview of what Democrats’ life in the minority will be for the next two years? “They can’t even choose who’s going to lead them, much less agree on other important issues,” he said.
“Mr. Castro?” a House staffer called out to him, a bit loudly.
“Oh!” As if by instinct, he darted toward the House floor to vote for Jeffries for the eighth time.
False alarm. It wasn’t his turn yet, the staffer said — she just wanted him to be ready.
“Tell me when they call the C’s,” Castro said. In the meantime, he’d wait in the hall.
Disney Reports Earnings Surge, Reduces Long-Term Forecast for Disney+ Subscribers
Walt Disney Co.
DIS 3.98%
reported a better-than-expected 26% jump in revenue Wednesday, driven by record results at its theme parks division and the addition of more new subscribers than projected to its flagship streaming video platform Disney+.
Disney’s results highlight the complex dynamics of the competitive streaming landscape. The company lowered its forecast for future Disney+ growth, raised the prices on its streaming offerings, outlined plans for a new ad-supported tier of Disney+ and said nearly all of the streaming service’s growth is coming from overseas.
The company’s earnings this quarter reflect the difficulties it and rivals, such as
Netflix Inc.,
face in attracting new customers domestically, where streaming options abound and many households use one or more services. Plus, in an increasingly difficult economic environment, some households are rethinking spending on in-home entertainment, industry analysts have said.
Chief Executive
Bob Chapek
said he didn’t think the price changes would result in any meaningful loss of streaming customers. “We believe that we’ve got plenty of price value room left to go,” Mr. Chapek said.
On the company’s call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer
Christine McCarthy
ratcheted down its forecast for Disney+, saying it now expects a total range of 215 million to 245 million subscribers by September 2024, in part because it lost the right to air popular Indian cricket competitions.
A few months ago, Mr. Chapek said the company’s previous target of 230 million to 260 million, set by the company in December 2020, was “very achievable.”
In the three-month period ended July 2, Disney+ gained 14.4 million new subscribers, bringing its global total to 152.1 million subscribers. Analysts were expecting 10 million additions, according to
FactSet.
Wednesday’s report brings Disney’s total subscriber base to 221.1 million customers across all of its streaming offerings, including ESPN+ and Hulu, surpassing Netflix, its chief streaming rival, in total customers. Netflix last month reported it had 220.67 million subscribers.
Disney shares rose about 7% in after-hours trading to $120.11.
Overall for the third quarter, the world’s largest entertainment company reported profits of $1.41 billion, or 77 cents a share, up from $918 million, or 50 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue increased to $21.5 billion, above the average analyst estimate of $20.99 billion on FactSet.
Sales at the parks, experiences and products division—which includes Disneyland, Walt Disney World and four resorts in Europe and Asia and has historically been Disney’s most profitable segment—reached $7.4 billion for the quarter, a record, and was up 70% from a year earlier. The division posted profits of $2.2 billion for the quarter, up from $356 million a year ago.
“Demand has not abated” at the parks, Ms. McCarthy said. Since reopening in 2021 after pandemic-related closures, Disney’s theme parks haven’t been running at full capacity, but a new online reservations system and ride-reservation apps have helped the company better respond to demand and generate more revenue per visitor.
Over the past year, CEO Bob Chapek and other top Disney executives have signaled an increased focus on international markets for growing its streaming business.
Photo:
Laurent Viteur/Getty Images
Ms. McCarthy said that if economic conditions worsen, Disney could tweak the reservation system to allow more visitors in on certain days, but as of now, demand is outstripping available spots.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment, which includes video streaming, lost $1.1 billion in the third quarter, widening from a loss of $293 million a year earlier. Since Disney+ launched in late 2019, the segment has lost more than $7 billion. On Wednesday, Ms. McCarthy said Disney’s estimate for overall spending on content for fiscal 2022 had fallen slightly, from $32 billion to $30 billion.
Disney gave a launch date of Dec. 8 and outlined pricing information for its previously announced ad-supported tier of Disney+ in the U.S., a new product designed to expand the reach of the company’s streaming business.
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The price of the ad-free stand-alone Disney+ service will rise from its current level of $7.99 a month in the U.S. to $10.99 a month, or $109.99 a year. The new, basic Disney+ service with ads will cost $7.99 a month.
The premium Disney streaming bundle, which includes ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu, as well as a version of sports-focused ESPN+ with ads, will remain at its current price of $19.99 a month in the U.S., while a bundle that includes all three services, but with ads on Hulu, will rise in price by $1 a month, to $14.99.
Mr. Chapek defended the price increases, saying that when it was launched, Disney+ was among the most competitively-priced streaming offerings and that the company has added more and higher-quality content to the service.
“I think it’s easy to say that we’re the best value in streaming,” Mr. Chapek said Wednesday.
Over the past year, Mr. Chapek and other top Disney executives have signaled an increased focus on international markets for growing its streaming business. Disney is spending heavily to produce hundreds of local-language television shows in countries such as India, and over the summer, Disney+ launched in 53 new countries and territories, mainly concentrated in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Pricing for a Disney+ subscription in many of these new markets runs below the $7.99 a month that American customers pay. Still, Disney+’s average monthly revenue per paid subscriber—a key metric in streaming businesses—stood at $6.27 in North America, compared with $6.29 internationally, excluding Asia’s more inexpensive Disney+ Hotstar service.
Disney+ Hotstar, the service used by Disney’s 58.4 million subscribers in India, produces just $1.20 a month per user. Some analysts and former Disney executives predict that losing cricket streaming rights will result in millions of canceled accounts over the next year.
The flagging growth of North American Disney+ subscriptions is likely the result of a glut of content being released by in movie theaters and on a proliferation of streaming services, as well as fatigue the Star Wars and Marvel superhero movie franchises, said Francisco Olivera, a Disney shareholder who manages a small family fund based in Puerto Rico that has about 15% of its holdings in Disney stock.
The addition of an ad-supported tier, higher prices and possible further integration of the Hulu service in the future, could help reduce subscriber churn and make it easier to achieve profitability, he said.
“It’s a healthier market right now with the parks recovering, so they’re really flexing their muscles on pricing,” Mr. Olivera said.
—Sarah Krouse contributed to this article.
Write to Robbie Whelan at Robbie.Whelan@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Disney+ launched in 53 new countries and territories over the summer. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it launched in 54. (Corrected on Aug. 10)
Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Florida FreeFall tragedy: Ride expert hopes deadly incident puts ‘pressure’ on amusement park industry
Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for March 31.
An amusement park ride safety expert is expressing hope that the industry will adopt better safety measures after a teenager died following a fall from the Orlando FreeFall ride last month.
Tyre Sampson, 14, died after falling off of the Orlando FreeFall on March 24.
The operating manual for the Orlando FreeFall ride states that the maximum passenger weight is just over 286 pounds. Sampson was 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 330 pounds, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
An incident report filled out by an employee at the Orlando FreeFall states that the harness was still in a locked position when the ride came to a stop.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: FATHER OF TEENAGER SAYS HE LEARNED ABOUT HIS SON DYING FROM SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO
Tourists enjoy the rides and amenities at ICON Park in Orlando on Thursday, March 24, 2022. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel / AP Newsroom)
“FreeFall was coming to [sic] down the tower. When the magnets engaged, the patron came out of the seat,” an employee wrote in the report. “Harness was still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped.”
Brian Avery, a University of Florida lecturer and ride safety expert, told Fox News Digital that he hopes this incident will bring better safety standards for amusement park rides.
“I hope there’s a positive impact on it,” Avery said. “I think the world is, you know, kind of taking a look and said, Wow, how does that happen? And they’re appalled. And hopefully this puts some additional pressure on the industry to improve safety and to close loopholes or gaps or adopt regulations at a federal level.”
According to a report by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, there were an estimated 1,294 number of ride-related incidents in 2019, of which 82 were described as serious.
On March 26, 2021, two teenagers had to be rescued from the Old Town SlingShot in Kissimmee, Florida, after a cable on the ride broke, according to Click On Orlando. At the time of the rescue, the ride was nearly 30 to 40 feet in the air, according to the report. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: RIDE SAFETY EXPERT HARNESS ‘WAS NOT ON CORRECTLY’
Tyre Sampson (FOX 35 Orlando) (Fox News)
Two individuals were taken to the hospital on June 13, 2021, after a boat ride at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey malfunctioned and tipped at an angle, causing two people to be taken to a hospital, according to the Asbury Park Press.
A 6-year-old girl died on Sept. 6, 2021, after she was never strapped into her seat at Colorado Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park’s Haunted Mine Drop ride, according to ABC. The ride dropped 110 feet, according to an investigation by the state.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: SEAT HARNESS STILL LOCKED AFTER HORRIFYING ACCIDENT AT ORLANDO PARK
He said that his hope is for the industry to make “significant” safety changes, and pointed to the issue of an individual’s weight.
“Weight is a big issue,” Avery said. “And it is becoming a bigger issue because the population is shifting. And a lot of these rides are built on the average person, if you will, in the 170-something pound-ish range, 5’7″ height. And so they’re appealing to a very specific audience and attracting a specific user group or being able to even accommodate a specific user group.”
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Tourists enjoy the rides and amenities at ICON Park in Orlando on Thursday, March 24, 2022. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel / AP Newsroom)
Avery said that the industry should consider making more options available.
“We need to improve the options for them to ride safely, or we need to provide better training and/or standards and whatnot to ensure that they don’t get on these rides, of course,” Avery said.
Florida FreeFall tragedy: State agency hires forensic engineer to investigate teen’s amusement park death
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A Florida department has hired a forensic engineer to investigate the incident at the Orlando FreeFall ride where a 14-year-old died after falling off of the ride on March 24.
Tyre Sampson, 14, died after falling from the Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park on March 24.
In a press conference on Friday, Nikki Fried, the Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services said that her department has hired a forensic engineer with Quest Engineering to assist with the investigation of the Orlando FreeFall incident.
The engineers assisting in this investigation were also involved in the investigation after the Sand Blaster rollercoaster at Daytona Beach derailed on June 14, 2018, which injured nine people, according to Fox 35 Orlando, according to Fried.
Following the investigation into the Orlando FreeFall incident, Fried said that changes to rules will be made if needed.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TRAGEDY: AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE AT CENTER OF TEEN’S DEADLY FALL WAS BUILT IN DECEMBER
Nikki Fried, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and a Democratic candidate for 2022 Florida gubernatorial race, arrives for a ceremony with U.S. President Joe Biden.
( Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“I’m also here today to reassure Tyre’s family, friends and all those impacted by this tragedy that we are fully committed to finding out what happened so we can better prevent such tragedies from happening in the future,” Fried said. “And that’s why we will not be jumping to any conclusions before the information is provided to us, and we know all the facts.”
Fried said that the ride is shut down “indefinitely,” and said that the ride’s future operating status will be determined at the conclusion of the investigation.
The Orlando Free Fall drop tower in ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, is pictured on March 28, 2022. Tyre Sampson, 14, was killed when he fell from the ride last week.
(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Image)
The Sand Blaster rollercoaster was shut down by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services following an investigation.
An initial inspection into the Orlando FreeFall was conducted in December 2021 before the ride opened to the public, and no issues were found with the ride. Amusement park rides are required to have safety inspections performed every six months following the initial safety inspection.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: RIDE SAFETY EXPERT HARNESS ‘WAS NOT ON CORRECTLY’
Tyre Sampson
(FOX 35 Orlando)
An accident report filled out by an employee after Sampson fell from the Orlando FreeFall states that the harness was still in a locked position when the ride stopped.
“FreeFall was coming to [sic] down the tower. When the magnets engaged, the patron came out of the seat,” an employee wrote in the report. “Harness was still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped.”
The ride manual for the Orlando FreeFall states that the maximum passenger weight is just over 286 pounds. Sampson was 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 330 pounds, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: SEAT HARNESS STILL LOCKED AFTER HORRIFYING ACCIDENT AT ORLANDO PARK
Amusement park visitors were in shock after seeing a teenage boy die after falling off of one of the park’s rides.
(Fox 35)
Fried said that the issue of maximum weight will be addressed during the investigation and said that the department will do everything it can to prevent another incident like this from happening.
“We are going to do everything in our power and including potentially increasing our power to make sure that something like this never happens again. This is my solemn promise to all that we are going to have a complete and thorough investigation that is going to be transparent,” Fried said.
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Tourists enjoy the rides and amenities at ICON Park in Orlando on Thursday, March 24, 2022.
(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
In a statement, the SlingShot Group, which operates the Orlando FreeFall, said that it will cooperate with the investigation and expressed its deepest sympathy to Sampson’s family and friends.
“We are heartbroken with the incident that took the life of one of our guests. We extend our condolences and deepest sympathy to his family and friends. We are working with the Sheriff’s Office and ride officials on a full investigation. The Orlando FreeFall will be closed until further notice,” the statement reads.
Haunted Mine Drop: 6-year-old girl’s death at Colorado amusement park due to seat belt issues and inadequate staff training, government agency says
Wongel Estifanos was on vacation with her family at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park on September 5, according to according to the Garfield County Coroner’s Office. She got on the Haunted Mine Drop, a tower-style ride that “uses gravity to create a freefall,” the report said. The ride carries six passengers at a time and “drops 110 feet into a shaft in the ground,” the report said.
There are two seat belts for each passenger, but “when Ms. Estifanos, a six-year old girl, sat down on the ride, operators did not notice she was sitting on top of both seat belts,” the report read.
The ride’s control system alerted operators to the seat belt issue and prevented them from dispatching the ride. However, the report says, because neither of operators had received adequate training, the two operators kept incorrectly fastening the seat belt mechanism and launched the ride.
“Because Ms. Estifanos was not restrained in the seat she became separated from her seat and fell to the bottom of the (Haunted Mine Drop) shaft, resulting in her death,” the report said.
“Having multiple operators making decisions and participating at different steps within the ride cycle was unusual and took the focus away from passenger safety,” the report said.
One of the operators was hired July 9, but didn’t receive training until August 5. The other was hired August 21 and received training the day after, the report said.
The Haunted Mine Drop will be closed until OPS repermits the ride and the park receives a new certificate of inspection. The park has been operating for 15 years and the Haunted Mine Drop opened in 2017, the report said. The ride is billed as the world’s first drop ride to go underground, according to the park website.
Steve Beckley, founder of the park, said in a written statement to CNN that the owners, management and park itself were “heart-broken” by the accident.
“There is no way we can imagine the pain of loss that the Estifanos family and their friends are experiencing,” Beckley’s statement read. “Safety is, and always has been, our top priority. Since opening our first ride just over 15 years ago, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park has delivered more than 10 million safe and enjoyable rides.”
Beckley says the park has been working closely with OPS and “independent safety experts” to review the accident.
“We received the state’s final report and will review it carefully for recommendations,” Beckley’s statement read.
Dan Caplis, attorney for Wongel’s family, told CNN affiliate KMGH-TV the girl’s parents received the report and are asking people to come forward who may have seen other similar incidents at the park.
“Wongel’s parents are determined to do everything in their power to make sure that no one ever dies this way again,” Caplis told KMGH. “As part of this mission they are asking witnesses to come forward, including folks who experienced problems with the Haunted Mine Drop before Wongel was killed on it.”
The OPS report did detail a 2019 email in which a patron said they were sitting on the seat belts when they were a passenger on the Haunted Mine Drop. After telling the operator they were not buckled in, the operator argued with the patron. After persistent arguing, the patron finally convinced the operator they were not sufficiently buckled in and the issue was fixed, the report said.
CNN’s Amanda Jackson, Carma Hassan and Rachel Webb contributed to this report.
6-year-old girl never strapped into seat before fatal amusement park ride: Report
The 6-year-old girl who died on a ride at a Colorado amusement park earlier this month was never strapped into her seat — and two operators failed to notice even after a monitor alerted them to a seatbelt safety issue — before the ride plunged 110 feet, according to a state investigation.
Wongel Estifanos was visiting Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, located atop Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs, with her family on Sept. 5 when she went on the Haunted Mine Drop ride, a free-fall drop down a pitch-black shaft.
After reviewing video surveillance and operating manuals, investigators with the Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety determined that when Wongel got on the ride, she sat in a previously unoccupied seat on top of two already-locked seatbelts, and that “multiple operator errors” and “inadequate training” contributed to the fatal accident, according to a report released Friday.
The girl was only holding the tail of one seatbelt across her lap, but when checking her seat, a ride operator “did not notice that the seatbelts were not positioned across her lap,” according to the report.
The ride’s control panel alerted the operator to an error with one of the seatbelts on Wongel’s seat, indicating that that seatbelt had not been properly unlocked after the previous ride cycle, according to the report. The operator returned “multiple times” to check the seatbelt and buckle it to no avail, but “did not believe the error because they were convinced the restraint had been cycled,” the report stated.
A second ride operator then unlocked the seatbelts using a manual switch, clearing the error on the ride’s control system, “without unloading passengers to determine what the issue was,” the report stated. This decision did not resolve the problem — that Wongel was not wearing the seatbelts — and demonstrated that the operator “did not have a complete understanding” of the control system’s safety indicators, according to the report.
The second operator also checked the girl’s seatbelts but “did not notice that neither of the seatbelts were positioned across her lap,” according to the report.
With no error on the control panel, the second operator was then able to dispatch the ride.
“Because Ms. Estifanos was not restrained in the seat she became separated from her seat and fell to the bottom of the [Haunted Mine Drop] shaft, resulting in her death,” the report stated.
Operators were not formally trained to unbuckle all seatbelts following each ride, though it was common practice and one that the first operator performed “inconsistently” on earlier rides, according to the report.
The operators are supposed to buckle the seatbelts for each of the ride’s six passengers and confirm the restraints are over their laps, per the manufacturer’s operating manual, as “passengers cannot be expected to know or correctly execute the safety procedures for this ride,” the report stated. Both operators failed to follow these procedures, according to the report.
The report also determined that the operators’ training “did not appear to emphasize the inherent risks of the ride,” and that the manufacturer’s operating manual “does not instruct operators on how to properly address errors.”
The Haunted Mine Drop is currently closed, and future plans for the ride are “undetermined,” the amusement park said.
“Safety is, and always has been, our top priority,” Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park founder Steve Beckley said in a statement following the release of the report. “Since opening our first ride just over 15 years ago, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park has delivered more than 10 million safe and enjoyable rides.”
“We have been working closely with the Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety and independent safety experts to review this incident,” he continued, noting that the amusement park will review the report “carefully for recommendations.”
“More than anything, we want the Estifanos family to know how deeply sorry we are for their loss and how committed we are to making sure it never happens again,” he added.
In a statement to Denver ABC affiliate KMGH, Dan Caplis, an attorney for the Estifanos family, said that Wongel’s parents had received the report and called on people who have “experienced problems” with the Haunted Mine Drop to come forward.
“Wongel’s parents are determined to do everything in their power to make sure that no one ever dies this way again,” said Caplis, who told the station he intends to file a lawsuit against the park on behalf of the family.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.