Welcome to the eighth edition of my new blog series, the Trick Track. In this series I will be discussing little nuggets of industry-related items...anything from my thoughts on News stories, to new ride openings, quick ride reviews, industry innovations, construction progress, pretty much anything industry related that pops into my head.

Injury at Chessington

A couple weeks ago there was a terrible incident at Chessington, not on a ride, but in the queue. As the story goes, a four year-old girl waiting in the queue for the Tomb Blaster ride with her family fell 14 feet through a “hole” to the ground below. Last update I heard was that the girl had a fractured skull, and was in critical but stable condition and showing improvements, thoughts go out to her.

As for the “hole,” initial reports and those from the uneducated GP claimed it was a missing plank in a bridge, an inexcusable offence for a park. But this was not the case, thankfully, as it would be terrible for a park to have a hole in a bridge. Instead, it appears there was perhaps a “hole” in the fence along the queue…whether it was perhaps a wooden fence or something I don’t know, or a “hole” vs a missing section of fence.

Now, I will agree this is at least partially Chessington’s fault, as they should ensure that their queue is fully closed off, especially near a 14-foot hill (or whatever kind of drop-off it is). That being said, I can’t help but feel the parents also share a roll in responsibility here. The girl is 4, now I’m no parent, but I know 4 y/o’s can be a handful to watch, and need a very close eye kept on them. How then was this young girl able to get to the point she could fall through the hole to the ground below? I know it’s hard to watch kids constantly, but queues don’t exactly fly, there was plenty of time to see the trouble spot and be extra cautious when you got up there, perhaps even blocking it so she couldn’t get there. There have been thousands upon thousands, if not millions, of guests who have ridden this ride and gone through the same queue without injury, including plenty of kids as this is a family ride (minus the Tomb part?).

I certainly hope the girl recovers from her injuries, and I hope the park takes steps to fix the fencing issue and perhaps help the family out. I don’t know the exact circumstances of what happened, but I also hope the parents learned something from this as well because they were with her in the queue. Wishing Jessica Blake a full and speedy recovery, and I hope the accident doesn’t turn you and your family off from amusement parks, they’re the most fun places to visit.

Skyrush New Restraints

So, apparently there have been some complaints about Skyrush’s restraints, and they are now installing new restraints on the trains. This means temporary single-train operation while one train at a time is having them installed. I don’t know exactly what the changes are, but apparently it’s a softer padding? I hope this is fixed very soon, as I will be heading to Hersheypark July 12 – 14 (and Knoebels).

I’ve also heard some mixed reviews about the ride, some love it, some very underwhelmed. Apparently the initial reports were biased maybe, but there seem to be a number of people who just don’t enjoy the ride. I have noticed though that a number of people who didn’t much care for it were uncomfortable during the ride due to their restraints, so hopefully the new restraints eliminate that issue. I’ll give a more full/detailed report after my trip in a couple weeks.

Going Gourmet

Knott’s announced this week that it would be “going gourmet,” introducing a wider variety of food options as well as a whole array of healthier food options. One of the biggest complaints at most standard parks is the food…it’s expensive, of poor quality, and poor selection, at least this is the case at the vast majority of bigger parks. At the same time, like the Busch family of parks are renowned for their excellent food, quality, variety, etc.

What’s always baffled me is why don’t more parks do this? What most parks do is sign a contract to have X provide their food materials, cheap and frozen. Then they sell these items of poor quality for a high price because they need to make a profit, but are buying from someone else, who also needs to make money. The result is high price, low quality. But look at parks that make their own food, it’s generally around the same price, or perhaps slightly more expensive, but is generally far better and with a lot more variety. Would you rather pay $6 for a poorly cooked cheeseburger at Carowinds, or $8 for a freshly made, very tasty Cheesesteak at Dollywood? If you’re like me, you’d dish out the $8 more quickly than the $6, because while I’m still paying a bit extra, it’s a significantly better value in my opinion. Research shows that parks also tend to make more money off their own food, because they don’t have to pay a supplier/vendor. The only thing it requires is some staff with slightly more cooking skill, but honestly that could be taught for a relatively small cost.

So lets do the math…cheaper for the park + more profitable + better value for the customer + more variety of foods possible + ability to make healthier options = win-win-win-win-win+ So why don’t more parks do this? I guess the simple answer is they’re too lazy…or get more from the sponsorships? It’s not like you can’t have a Chick-fil-a and Panda Express in your park (Carowinds) if you also put your own food options in, maybe I’d eat there more often if you did, and you’d make more money off of me. Just some food for thought! (Pun fully intended)