Featured Image Credit: YouTube/NBC News
Topics: US News, Social Media, Viral, YouTube
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: US News, Social Media, Viral, YouTube
A dad has spoken out about the 'unthinkable' moment he was forced to make the decision to get up from a moving rollercoaster.
On Sunday (December 1), a family's trip to Castles N' Coasters in Phoenix, Arizona turned from a birthday celebratory treat into a nightmare.
The family had fan on the Magic Carpet ride before deciding to brave one of the bigger rides - Desert Storm.
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As per Fox 10 Phoenix, Castles N' Coasters' website describes Desert Storm: "Test your courage as you challenge the excitement of vertical drops, loops, and spins!"
It also states the minimum height requirement for the ride if 42 inches.
NBC reports the ride features a double loop-the-loop and riders are secured into their seats with a lap bar - however, the father of the family who visited the park on Sunday claims he didn't end up quite as secure on the ride as he should've been.
The dad of the family - who wished to remain anonymous - told NBC News that his lap bars came down and 'clicked twice'.
"So, click, click and you know, checked it, it was latched," he continued. The father also claims the ride's operator didn't physically check the bars, but he himself 'pushed up' on his to check.
The ride then began to make its ascent, clicking away as you'd expect a rollercoaster to do, but then the dad realized something which made his blood run cold.
"We get just about to the top and I hear a click different from the click of the chain taking us up," he continued. "And so I checked my lap bar one more time and it released."
The dad said he had 'mere seconds to act,' quickly weighing up whether he'd stay put and risk flying off, or get off.
And footage taken from the ground shows the shocking moment he made the choice to get up while the rollercoaster was still moving and climb out onto the catwalk next to it.
"I just started to climb down because I just wanted off of that," he said.
He alleges the operator didn't even realize there had been an issue until he reached the ground, with the dad questioning why they weren't paying more attention and arguing if they had been, they should've been able to hit some sort of emergency stop button to halt the coaster.
According to NBC News, Arizona does not regulate its amusement parks, however, Arizona Government Legislation states amusement parks have to have rides inspected 'at least once a year by a [private] insurer' and have a written permit alongside insurance for the ride.
The dad is calling for all amusement parks which 'basically have people's lives in their hand' to be better regulated, alleging he filed a report with the park but didn't receive a copy.
He resolved: "I think the worst part for me is having the kids there and knowing that it could have been one of them.
"[...] I think the scariest part was the negligence on their part and just the absolute carelessness that they had throughout the entire thing."
UNILAD has contacted Castles N' Coasters for comment.