Amusement Park Rides

Some experts on amusement park rides called this weekend for adopting recommendations to train park workers to shut down rides immediately after an accident and stay with any injured person. In addition, the experts at a national conference in San Diego called lap bars a mostly psychological safety device that do little to physically restrain riders.

Southern California theme parks last year had few new attractions but lots of discounts, bargains and two-for-one deals for recession-weary vacationers. But this summer get ready for a 3-D King Kong, 200-foot-tall animated waterspouts and a 45-foot tall Lego water slide. Buoyed by an improving economy, most major Southern California theme parks have made multimillion-dollar investments in new attractions opening this summer to help attendance numbers rebound from last year's slump.

Recent deaths on amusement-park rides in California and Texas are prompting calls for tougher and more uniform regulation of the multibillion-dollar industry. Legislators in both states are pushing for more rigorous state oversight of rides that shoot park-goers down water-filled flumes, whirl them in the air or send them jouncing through simulations of off-road adventures. And a current and former U.S.

A few weeks before the opening of Santa Catalina Island's zipline attraction, its designer popped a question that caught a handful of local officials and visiting journalists off guard: "Want to zip?" Bradd Morse, the president of Canopy Tours Inc., was mindful that being among the first to hurtle over rocky, cactus-filled canyons at speeds of up to 40 mph while dangling from a cable as high as 300 feet off the ground might make some people nervous. But getting these individuals -- public safety officials, mostly -- to take a ride on the Catalina Zipline Eco-Tour is all part of the plan to transform this struggling harbor community of about 3,000 people into a more prominent Southern California destination.

Investigators are looking into whether weight played a role in the fatal fall of a woman from a steep water ride at Knott's Berry Farm. Lori Mason-Larez, 40, of Duarte fell Friday from the Perilous Plunge ride as it dropped 121 feet at up to 50 mph. Somehow, the mother of five slipped from a double-restraint system--a seat belt and lap bar that appeared to have been secured--and fell to the water below.

A few weeks before the opening of Santa Catalina Island's zipline attraction, its designer popped a question that caught a handful of local officials and visiting journalists off guard: "Want to zip?" Bradd Morse, the president of Canopy Tours Inc., was mindful that being among the first to hurtle over rocky, cactus-filled canyons at speeds of up to 40 mph while dangling from a cable as high as 300 feet off the ground might make some people nervous. But getting these individuals -- public safety officials, mostly -- to take a ride on the Catalina Zipline Eco-Tour is all part of the plan to transform this struggling harbor community of about 3,000 people into a more prominent Southern California destination.

A state safety panel met Thursday in Los Angeles to iron out regulations for amusement park rides. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board said it will consider comments made at the meeting and in writing by theme park officials, their lawyers and consumer advocates. Legislation passed in 1999 requires theme parks to report ride injuries and sets up a state inspection and investigation system.

A woman died at a New Orleans amusement park when she was struck by one of the rides, officials said. Rosa Donaldson, 52, was killed in an accident on a teacup-style "circular family ride" called the Joker's Jukebox, said Ann Wills, spokeswoman for Six Flags New Orleans amusement park. Local news reports said Donaldson apparently was standing near one of the cars trying to strap in her 4-year-old grandson when the ride started up.

Of all the businesses west of the Los Angeles River, none is more incongruous than Bradley & Kaye Amusements. Where body shops and junkyards are the norm, this small building on West 15th Street seems out of place with its wood siding and its equestrian logo painted beside the front door. Open that door, and for a moment you might half expect to smell popcorn or hear a pipe organ, instead of fiberglass, sanders and drills.

Michael Jackson was never a fixture on the county fair circuit, but his Neverland rides now are on a never-ending tour. The attractions he set up in his estate's private amusement park have been auctioned off and are being trucked from carnival to carnival, pitched as a chance to take a spin on a piece of history. At the far end of the midway at the Tulare County Fair in the Central Valley this month, signs announced: "Michael ride here! This is one of Michael Jackson's rides from Neverland Ranch!"

After nearly 19 months away from the spotlight, a new King Kong -- more grizzled and, definitely, ferocious -- is preparing to return to Universal Studios Hollywood. Since the old animatronic Kong was destroyed in a fire on the theme park's back lot, Hollywood's top visual effects wizards have been tinkering away in a giant hangar in Playa Vista to create a new, more realistic ape to terrify visitors who take the park's signature back lot studio tour. Inside the humongous drab-green building, Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson has led a team of film and theme park ride experts in creating a 3-D version of the hairy ape to replace the Kong that died in the June 2008 fire.

It looks like Abraham Lincoln. It moves like Abraham Lincoln. And it quotes Abraham Lincoln. But historians say it still doesn't sound like Abraham Lincoln. After a four-year absence, Walt Disney Co. pulls the curtain back today on a new high-tech version of Lincoln for its "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" show at the Opera House on Main Street in Disneyland. The animatronic Lincoln, incorporating cutting-edge technology that gives the mechanical man nuanced, lifelike facial expressions and lip movements, first premiered debuted at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

Michael Jackson was never a fixture on the county fair circuit, but his Neverland rides now are on a never-ending tour. The attractions he set up in his estate's private amusement park have been auctioned off and are being trucked from carnival to carnival, pitched as a chance to take a spin on a piece of history. At the far end of the midway at the Tulare County Fair in the Central Valley this month, signs announced: "Michael ride here! This is one of Michael Jackson's rides from Neverland Ranch!"

Two monorail trains crashed early Sunday morning in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator, emergency officials said. Disney said it was the first fatal crash in the monorail's 38-year history in the park. The transit system, which shuttles thousands of visitors around the sprawling resort each day, was shut down while authorities investigated. The monorail operator died at the scene of the crash, which happened about 2 a.m.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. is dreaming big. The studio behind the hit films "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda," seeking to expand beyond its core animation movie business, is making an aggressive push into television, touring musicals, theme park attractions and even a Cirque du Soleil-style revue inspired by "Kung Fu Panda."

Pounding hammers and whining saws at Magic Mountain in Valencia signal a new roller coaster dubbed Terminator Salvation and other changes in the works for the summer tourist season. But the noise and excitement about the park's plans can't completely muffle the bad news coming from New York-based parent company Six Flags Inc., which announced Thursday that its stock value had fallen so low that it was being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was halted, with shares at 27 cents.

A roller coaster attendant at Six Flags Magic Mountain fell while trying to cross the tracks Thursday and was killed by a train of cars loaded with merrymakers, park executives said. Cherie La Motte, 25, of Valencia, a part-time employee for about two years, died shortly after being struck by the cars of the Revolution roller coaster about 3 p.m., park spokesman Palmer Moody said. No one else was injured in the tragedy that struck just as the summer amusement park season got underway.

In the wake of two recent accidents at California theme parks, including one in which a board flew from a Knott's Berry Farm ride Monday and struck five people in the head, a state Senate committee voted to require statewide inspections of all amusement park rides. Though the committee members did not discuss Sunday's tragedy--a 12-year-old boy fell to his death at a Bay Area amusement park--Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) said the incident added momentum to support for the bill.

As Walt Disney Co. set out to renovate It's a Small World at Disneyland, the company's Imagineers had one thing in mind: Don't mess it up. Despite being one of the oldest attractions in the park, the ride is among the most popular -- drawing about 6.7 million riders a year.

Every childhood visit to Disneyland provoked the same argument between Patricia L. Caplette and her brother over which ride to hit first. He wanted to head straight for the Haunted Mansion; she insisted on Pirates of the Caribbean. So they bargained: If she could start the day with her favorite scurvy crew, he could end it getting spooked.