The fact that the train was making weird noises for several cycles before the operators finally decided to pull it into service (unfortunately one cycle too late) is really scary. Unusual noises COULD be nothing, but they could also cause a fatal accident. It was a mechanical failure, sure, but it was also a tremendous human error and this all could have been avoided if procedures were followed and ride operators acted more quickly when they first heard the noises.
8:50 As stated in the report there was no formal procedure on what to do at that time. Also, BTTR has had ambient noise throughout its history (chugging, scraping, etc.) so it’s conceivable to me that the Cast Members working the ride would have thought “Weird, maybe just part of the theming” and kept going, and by the time they reached a consensus that it was too weird and probably not theming, it was too late sadly.
On the other hand, this accident lead to some really good changes that dramatically increased safety procedures in not just Disneyland, but theme parks in general. Lessons were learned, and who knows how many lives have been saved because of it
I was a security cast member that day. I had arrived for my afternoon shift after the accident had occurred but it was still very much an active scene. It was bad enough that they actually closed all of Frontierland and kicked guests out in order to facilitate ambulances coming right up to the scene and stage. Which is extremely rare and only ever happened one other time in the 7 years I worked there. There used to be a picture of me floating around that someone took that day of me standing at the roped off entrance to Frontierland
It’s refreshing to hear Disney actually accepted liability even after settling. Most big corps will settle but still try the “we don’t feel we did anything wrong but we’re settling because it’s the right thing to do” nonsense.
That is because corporations usually do not settle because "It's the right thing to do" but instead because the cost of going through legal procedures often vastly exceeds the cost of settlement. Even if the corporation believes themselves to be not at fault it doesn't mean much if it will cost them millions to prove it, a sum which they could never recoup from a small family or limited class action group of the sort that bring many of these suits.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop the train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another
6:00 I read the accident report and was always confused what exactly fell off the train on the final break run on the 12th cycle. I assumed it was a tiny bolt but seeing how it was an entire up-stop wheel was shocking to me.
This channel is so incredibly tactful when talking about tragedies. Satisfies the human desire to understand, correct, and prevent harm without profiting from the names and stories of victims.
I really appreciate the animations, they make it a lot easier to get what's happened as someone with no real understanding/education about these machines. thank you for all the time and effort you put into these vids
I rode this ride so many times without knowing there was an accident, my family loves this ride. It’s quite obvious that the maintenance and management not properly training their ride operators on what trains to use and what cards indicated the status of the trains.
Big Thunder is always a favorite of mine! I've actually written several fictional railroads based around Big Thunder and it's lore! Ironically, Big Thunder's main joke always seemed to me how poorly maintained the railroad is, and how lax it's safety standards are (Within the ride's lore), which is typically ironic compared to how safe Disney's rides usually are...my condolences to the family of the rider that was lost, and to the other rider that was injured.
@@Fireball_that's definitely not true at all. If Disney was really consistently unsafe we would hear about it and the parks reputation would plummet. The Disney parks see more riders per hour than anyone else, and their rate of fatality attributed to ride operations is extremely low. I grew up in Disney World, my lowest estimate of days I've been in those parks is at least two years of my life. It's probably closer to 3. I grew up knowing the friends and family members of people who died at the parks, and none of those people even think that the parks are generally unsafe. My own grandfather died on Disney property, it was his own self neglect of his heart condition, but he still counts in incident and fatality statistics. Most adults I knew worked at the parks at some point. The woman who signed her own daughter and myself into the parks most days worked in the park safety department offices, she was terrified of elevators and drainage grates in parking lots, and she felt like the Disney parks were the safest place to drop us off for the day when we were old enough to go without our parents.
I'm getting a "Wildest ride in the wilderness" tattoo on my lower back 😂 I love Thunder Mountain so much, it's in my top 10 out of the 80+ coasters I've been on.
@Livk57 theme parks are very safe but for every 1 person that dies at any other theme park 2 die at Disney parks and most are of course medical conditions Also why would you want to go to a park like Disney they don't have good rides all coasters are made by vekoma except for slinky dog dash which is a mack and much of the dark rides aren't great compared to many parks Disney world is only good for guardians of the galaxy and tron and that's pretty much it
@@Fireball_ because the parks are beautiful and have some of the best dark rides in the world? Because of the theming? It's not really about the coasters, it's about the theming, entertainment, and food. And again, that statistic is nonsense because Disney parks have way more visitors and particularly very young and very old guests because the rides are accessible and not intense. It's all really simple math and logic, but if you're afraid of dying at Disney I suggest avoiding all theme parks in general.
funny you described this incident as a case study. when i worked at disneyland in 2018 or 19, i was at one point sent to an emergency preparedness class and this was one of the main case studies used by the instructor! he described it as you did, just with less technical detail. i didn't know how badly the wheel assembly was affected, just that the bolts hadn't been properly tightened and had been signed off on without proper inspection of work done. most of the discussion during the class was focused on response procedures afterward, but this is also a useful study in how major accidents can be prevented BEFORE they happen 😅 knowing that cast members were aware of strange noises coming from the locomotive and allowed it to continue running for so many cycles is just wild
Dude, your animations look awesome! Great job, especially for your first video using homemade animation! ❤ it was super helpful for visualizing the issues that we ‘non-ride-operators’ have trouble with.
ive been here since the GP to Coaster Enthusiast days and I love to see how u progress. the animation on this WRH is phenomenal and did a rlly good job at not only explaining but giving that physical portrayal of the severity of what happened. so excited to see what else u have in store for us!
As I was hoping for, the advent of 3D animation has made this so much easier to understand, making this a super approachable video! It also really elevates the perceived quality of the video, it's great stuff! You've come so far from GP to Enthusiast! Have you considered going back to some of your earlier "What really happened" videos and remaking them with your new skills? Anyway, good stuff, as always. Disney incidents draw a lot of attention, and because of that they tend to be particularly susceptible to rumors and misinfo. As usual, you've dispelled the horror stories, and once again it was an issue of employee training and ride maintenance. Trained professionals are pretty good at designing safe stuff, it's almost always human error that gets in the way.
I agree 100% I always struggled to visualize it, and even now, I'm having trouble putting the physics of the locomotive's movement and end position into mental images. This video does greatly help, though. I'm a very visual and hands-on learner, and I'm immensely grateful that these concepts can be put into a 3D visual medium, giving information that diagrams just can't provide.
I remember reading about this incident quite some years ago. I've been afraid of tunnels ever since. The animation here really helped me to understand what actually happened, great work!
@@Floridafanatic28They’re probably referring to not being properly informed about the incident; there were rumors and sensationalized versions of the incident that claimed a rider was decapitated by the ride tunnel.
I remember when this happened and it was a horrible tragidy. For a relatively tame family coaster, it's a very fun ride and I got to ride it 3 times over 2 visits to Disney World back in 1994.
This happened when i was like 7 or 8 and my imagination always went wild trying to visualize how it happened and would always think about it every time i go to disneyland, so this helps me understand it completely thank you for your content Coaster College!!
Love the new animations, i'm glad you don't just use linear keyframes as that is what a lot of new animators do mistakenly, great video can't wait for the drop tower one!
I rode this after the accident when I went to Disneyland for my birthday and at the time, I never knew there was an incident and someone died. I didn't find out until years later, but this was a good video. I've watched videos on this accident, and alot of them wasn't good at explaining what caused it
@@spinningpeanut 2003. I had worked at WDW that same year and was consuming a lot of Disney content at the time. I'm surprised I didn't hear about this happening at Disneyland.
This is one I rode multiple times growing up and remember hearing something had gone wrong with it but never knew the details. Even the tamest looking rides must be maintained properly.
Thank you for making this video!! I’ve always known of this incident but I’ve never seen an informative explanation of what went wrong, only the super clickbait-y videos. It’s scary that they continued using the train even though it made weird noises, but at least a lot of changes happened in the industry as a result of this unfortunate situation.
Man, I just want to take a second to shout out just how far this channel has come. While the older videos were fun to watch, especially you eviscerating clickbait videos, these newer, more grounded and polished videos, where you break things down from a very knowledgeable and technical standpoint, feel much less "Angry Reaction" video, and much more "short documentary/technical beakdown". And the new CGI visualization is great
Thank you as always for the clear and unbiased insight into these accidents! It makes me rage against the stupid sensationalist channels that cover coaster accidents with a fraction of the information. Also makes me baffled by people perpetuating the 'Can't die at Disney' myth
Been a ride operator for nearly a year a popular amusement park, and we are told outright if something sounds off say something. Maintanace has never once yelled at us or any other workers for looking out for things not ordinary. This sometimes has results in rides being taken down for 1-2 days of downtimes properly find what is wrong, and making sure its safe for operations. Most times is just nothing but a few times it has lead to things being found before they become an issue. Where i work we have 2 inspections, Maintance inspection that begins in the morning before guess or workers arrive to ensure they all get the proper time to look over and do whats called a "Ghost Cycle". And the a second inspection with a TL (Team Lead) which usally involves in a worker to ride the ride and listen to anything concerning, It's crazy there is so much that has built up from 2003 to help with same but nothing beats eyes and ears.
I remember coming home from school and turning on the T.V for braking news about this accident had happen. I was shocked and sad to see something like this to happen to one of my favorite rides as a kid. My eyes were glued to the report as I saw footage of the ambulance making its way to the attraction. Did ride it shortly after it reopened. To this day, this accident still hunts my mind and always think of it when I ride it.
I love your videos! I watch every single one as they come out. They are so interesting to me and help give me insight on the rides I go on :) The animation made it so clear.
This is one of my favorite roller coaster crashes because of how well documented this one is. The animations are fantastic for showing how the front car derailed. Its one of the biggest malfunctions in coaster nerd and disnerd circles and I'm so glad to see it told in a way that leaves nothing to the imagination. While being fully aware of this crash I've ridden on this very coaster twice since, very much with the morbid thought of "this is where car two crashed" when going through the tunnel. The road to safety is paved in blood, always has and will be, it's important to keep record of tragedy so we never repeat it.
at least disney settled everything up and accepted liability, but it does make the accident even more flagrantly terrible. also interesting it wasn't an industry standard to cycle new ride vehicles once before accepting passengers. black clouds and silver linings
I was actually there that day Roughly an hour after the incident, my mom and I headed to Frontierland. They had closed off that entire area but kept mum (for obvious reasons: did not want to stir a panic). When we got to our hotel, we turned on the news and saw what occurred. Definitely freaky After this incident, I still rode Big Thounder Mountain Railroad during my DL trips but it took a few visits...I went in 2012, 2015, 2018...before I was not ever nervous about riding it. When I went in January/2020 (the next time after 2018), there was no nervous tension at all. For those three prior visits, there was a little nervousness each time I rode it.
Ah! So this is the rollorcoaster Chuggaaconroy spoke of. He said he was lining to sit where that poor person was killed. No wonder he gained a fear of coasters. Yeesh! Rip to the lost soul!
That failure to understand and check the BAD CAR (yellow) tag is also serious . The person that put the tag on the locomotive did the right thing, but the next people handling the train failed badly by ignoring or removing the warning .
It’s a shame what happened. Big Thunder was a favorite of mine. I am sorry that young man had to die. I feel sad even after all these years because this should never have happened.
If I’m not mistaken, there really was no clear maintenance program beyond that inspection procedure of “72 hours” of operation. Now I think the program they implemented afterwards is based on “cycles of operation” going around the track, and with certain components replaced based on the cycle life they have operated regardless if they pass inspection or not. It’s a very fool proof maintenance program, leaving little doubt towards if something needs replacement or if it can “go a little while longer” It certainly removes the guess work on the lifespan of a part and while it may be expensive to initially implement, it significantly decreases overhead with predicted parts purchasing based on cycle counts for each train set and their cycles of operation.
I don’t understand how someone signed off on the maintenance when the safety wire wasn’t even there? Did they not even inspect it for themselves? Crazy
i’m an ex ride op. my coaster started making very quiet noises and i shut it down a cycle after it was reported by one of my loaders. turns out bolts were loose in a wheel axis. got it replaced and we reopened within half an hour. it’s really not a lengthy thing. wheel changes could only take 15 mins. if they were that concerned about efficiency i think they need to do a bit more training on their operators.
It wasn't manufactured by Disney themselves, it was arrow with a later retrack by Dynamic. Disney always likes to claim they build rides themselves, but they never do and just pay manufacturer's extra to allow them to act like they made it themselves.
"Designed and manufactured by the Walt Disney Company." Correction: It was Arrow Development (later Arrow Dynamics) who manufactured Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland following the design specifications from the Walt Disney Company. The other versions were all manufactured by Vekoma based on Arrow's patent, as Arrow had shuttered its doors back in 2001.
The use of safety chains between the cars could have prevented the locomotive separation. (Similar to trailer safety chains as a backup to a tow hitch failure.)
Hearing about this, even from the perspective of Chuggaaconroy (who avoided being that one passenger by sheer luck iirc), it made me too nervous to ride Big Thunder Mountain… until my Disney trip in 2023, when I was “dragged” into riding the ride. And thankfully, I was able to enjoy that ride, and even got a picture taken near the entrance/exit by one of the cast members to commemorate that moment!
I've always felt that Disney's parks are probably some of the safest parks you could be in, even within an industry that already builds itself on safety - so it's surprising to me to hear about this. Still, with Disney being so old, it had to happen eventually. So even if I do feel a little scared of this situation, there's no doubt in my mind that I'd still trust Disney's rides.
Yep it has been said that Disney has some of the toughest/safest standards when it comes to ride safety. However, eventually a slip up occurs but this was more so due to human negligence rather than Disneyland's age or the ride's age. Thankfully in the end, it helped improve standards not just at DL but other parks nationwide I'm unsure if you saw my above comment but I was actually at Disneyland the day this occurred. About an hour after this tragedy, mom and I went to Big Thunder to ride it but they had closed that entire area of the park without saying why. We had to use the Adventureland entrance to access rides like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain. It was not until we got home that night at our hotel that we saw what happened via the news. Definitely freaky! I still ride Big Thunder to this day. Accidents like these are extremely rare, especially with Disney satisfying Cal OSHA's requirements, and it's a thrilling attraction. For a few visits after this incident, I did get a little nervousness while on the ride but now I'm not nervous whatsoever.
It’s surprising how much higher Disney parks body count is than Universal parks. From rides crushing employees & children, alligators eating children, and brain eating amoeba.
thankfully it's very rare. It even was rare back when this happened. Even when a theme park accident occurs, more often than not it's due to a careless guest. This was one of few instances where faulty maintenance led to the incident.
An oversight in saftey had me cut off the tip of my ring finger last night. I was cutting the cheese 🧀. I got to the end and had a double wide slice. Without thinking much i decided to slice it. The cheese bent in a U shape as i began cutting. I didn't think much of it. Then BAM! The knife came out of the bend suddenly and sheared off my fingertip! It all happened so fast and the knife was so sharp, i had a clean slice of finger stuck to my cheese. I ate that cheese in victory after stemming the blood flow and crossing 2 bandaids over my new stump. Thankfully only a flesh wound! In hind sight. Just turn that last bit of cheese sideways and make little sticks... its a saftey parameter!
i used to go to disneyland with my family a lot, we went on this the day before the accident. i was under 10 and it scared me of roller coasters. didn't help there was an accident a couple years later on california screamin that solidified my anxiety for roller coasters. only until much later six flag magic mountain changed that lol
This is frustrating, because you can have the best safety and maintenance procedures in the world and yet they're useless if people are not trained on them/actually follow them. A massive hole in the block of swiss cheese that accidents will happily slip through.
It's such a tragedy. Nobody should die on a roller coaster, especially as crappy as this one. My heart goes out to the family that will forever wonder how a loved one could die on such a crappy coaster.
If he were to "stand up" at thw entrance where the ruler is he probably wouldnt have been tall enough. I also remember the other incident mentioned was Britney Spears' bodyguard
A true crime youtuber, Eleanor Neale just made a video about an accident on The Smiler. While it's a longer one, I'd be interested in a video analyzing it.
The fact that it was the 13th cycle of Train 2 makes me wonder if maybe that number is as unlucky as many people have told me. Thanks for all this information, the more I know about rollercoaster history the less afraid I am. It's nice to see that people (not always corporations) learn from these fatal mistakes. I only wish they weren't written in blood.
When it comes to maintaining safety of rides Disney does a very good job, it's just the animatronics and effects they aren't great at maintaining because that takes money. But safety is their number 1 priority.
ride safety and maintenance are basically the things disney is least likely to skimp on at the parks. from a cynical point of view, brand reputation is EVERYTHING to them, and people getting hurt or killed on the attractions would be pretty horrible press. on a similar note, one of the cleanest kitchens i ever worked at was in a disney park - and 99% of the reason for that was because it would've looked bad for the company if people ever got sick off disneyland food, or started posting pictures on social media of health hazards or vermin in the dining room
The fact that the train was making weird noises for several cycles before the operators finally decided to pull it into service (unfortunately one cycle too late) is really scary. Unusual noises COULD be nothing, but they could also cause a fatal accident. It was a mechanical failure, sure, but it was also a tremendous human error and this all could have been avoided if procedures were followed and ride operators acted more quickly when they first heard the noises.
Definitely something that was overlooked at the time. Now it's standard procedure to shut down the moment a strange noise is heard.
8:50 As stated in the report there was no formal procedure on what to do at that time.
Also, BTTR has had ambient noise throughout its history (chugging, scraping, etc.) so it’s conceivable to me that the Cast Members working the ride would have thought “Weird, maybe just part of the theming” and kept going, and by the time they reached a consensus that it was too weird and probably not theming, it was too late sadly.
It usually unfortunately takes an accident like this to cause changes...
Sad someone had to die for Disney to figure it out. 😢
On the other hand, this accident lead to some really good changes that dramatically increased safety procedures in not just Disneyland, but theme parks in general. Lessons were learned, and who knows how many lives have been saved because of it
if you hear an someone say “on *very specific time* the *name of ride* was operating normally,” something bad is about to happen.
An someone? Who is that?
I was a security cast member that day. I had arrived for my afternoon shift after the accident had occurred but it was still very much an active scene. It was bad enough that they actually closed all of Frontierland and kicked guests out in order to facilitate ambulances coming right up to the scene and stage. Which is extremely rare and only ever happened one other time in the 7 years I worked there. There used to be a picture of me floating around that someone took that day of me standing at the roped off entrance to Frontierland
Fantastic work on 3D animation. Very useful for a visual aid. Simple designs goes a long way.
Glad you like it!
Simple design...
It's like when somone says "oh that's too much" not realizing 80 work hours went into making what they're looking @.
FANT WORD ALART
It’s refreshing to hear Disney actually accepted liability even after settling. Most big corps will settle but still try the “we don’t feel we did anything wrong but we’re settling because it’s the right thing to do” nonsense.
That is because corporations usually do not settle because "It's the right thing to do" but instead because the cost of going through legal procedures often vastly exceeds the cost of settlement. Even if the corporation believes themselves to be not at fault it doesn't mean much if it will cost them millions to prove it, a sum which they could never recoup from a small family or limited class action group of the sort that bring many of these suits.
@@Mr.ToadJanfuBig corporations should take responsibility for things that go wrong and fail instead of trying to cover it up.
It makes sense for a leisure resort to want to maintain good PR. Especially one primarily targeted towards children and families.
Disney is responsible and always accepts liability for injury’s on their rides
@@alexross367 The two Matterhorn Bobsled deaths leading to restraint changes that Disneyland denied were caused by: 👁👄👁
I really like the animation of the wheel assembly it gives better understanding of what happened instead of just before and aftermath photos.
Thank you!
For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop the train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another
6:00 I read the accident report and was always confused what exactly fell off the train on the final break run on the 12th cycle. I assumed it was a tiny bolt but seeing how it was an entire up-stop wheel was shocking to me.
Like how did nobody see an entire upstop assembly fall off? The track for this ride isn't that big....
@@phyllojoe5346There's a lot fo scenery around it though.
This channel is so incredibly tactful when talking about tragedies. Satisfies the human desire to understand, correct, and prevent harm without profiting from the names and stories of victims.
Thanks so much for understanding and enjoying!
I really appreciate the animations, they make it a lot easier to get what's happened as someone with no real understanding/education about these machines. thank you for all the time and effort you put into these vids
Glad they helped you understand!
I rode this ride so many times without knowing there was an accident, my family loves this ride. It’s quite obvious that the maintenance and management not properly training their ride operators on what trains to use and what cards indicated the status of the trains.
Definitely been a lot of improvement since.
Big Thunder is always a favorite of mine! I've actually written several fictional railroads based around Big Thunder and it's lore! Ironically, Big Thunder's main joke always seemed to me how poorly maintained the railroad is, and how lax it's safety standards are (Within the ride's lore), which is typically ironic compared to how safe Disney's rides usually are...my condolences to the family of the rider that was lost, and to the other rider that was injured.
Disney is the most unsafe park company in the world and using old vekomas doesn't help
@@Fireball_that's definitely not true at all. If Disney was really consistently unsafe we would hear about it and the parks reputation would plummet. The Disney parks see more riders per hour than anyone else, and their rate of fatality attributed to ride operations is extremely low.
I grew up in Disney World, my lowest estimate of days I've been in those parks is at least two years of my life. It's probably closer to 3. I grew up knowing the friends and family members of people who died at the parks, and none of those people even think that the parks are generally unsafe. My own grandfather died on Disney property, it was his own self neglect of his heart condition, but he still counts in incident and fatality statistics. Most adults I knew worked at the parks at some point. The woman who signed her own daughter and myself into the parks most days worked in the park safety department offices, she was terrified of elevators and drainage grates in parking lots, and she felt like the Disney parks were the safest place to drop us off for the day when we were old enough to go without our parents.
I'm getting a "Wildest ride in the wilderness" tattoo on my lower back 😂 I love Thunder Mountain so much, it's in my top 10 out of the 80+ coasters I've been on.
@Livk57 theme parks are very safe but for every 1 person that dies at any other theme park 2 die at Disney parks and most are of course medical conditions
Also why would you want to go to a park like Disney they don't have good rides all coasters are made by vekoma except for slinky dog dash which is a mack and much of the dark rides aren't great compared to many parks Disney world is only good for guardians of the galaxy and tron and that's pretty much it
@@Fireball_ because the parks are beautiful and have some of the best dark rides in the world? Because of the theming? It's not really about the coasters, it's about the theming, entertainment, and food.
And again, that statistic is nonsense because Disney parks have way more visitors and particularly very young and very old guests because the rides are accessible and not intense. It's all really simple math and logic, but if you're afraid of dying at Disney I suggest avoiding all theme parks in general.
funny you described this incident as a case study. when i worked at disneyland in 2018 or 19, i was at one point sent to an emergency preparedness class and this was one of the main case studies used by the instructor! he described it as you did, just with less technical detail. i didn't know how badly the wheel assembly was affected, just that the bolts hadn't been properly tightened and had been signed off on without proper inspection of work done. most of the discussion during the class was focused on response procedures afterward, but this is also a useful study in how major accidents can be prevented BEFORE they happen 😅 knowing that cast members were aware of strange noises coming from the locomotive and allowed it to continue running for so many cycles is just wild
Yeah, I have also been through similar classes that mention/study this accident. It definitely hasn't been forgotten.
Dude, your animations look awesome! Great job, especially for your first video using homemade animation! ❤ it was super helpful for visualizing the issues that we ‘non-ride-operators’ have trouble with.
Thank you so much!
I really appreciate the warning given in advance for real footage of the accident. Awesome & very informative video, thank you!
Well it’s nice to see a youtuber who literally starts off with exactly what the title is about right off the bat
Always try my best!
ive been here since the GP to Coaster Enthusiast days and I love to see how u progress. the animation on this WRH is phenomenal and did a rlly good job at not only explaining but giving that physical portrayal of the severity of what happened. so excited to see what else u have in store for us!
Thanks so much for sticking with for so long!
As I was hoping for, the advent of 3D animation has made this so much easier to understand, making this a super approachable video! It also really elevates the perceived quality of the video, it's great stuff! You've come so far from GP to Enthusiast!
Have you considered going back to some of your earlier "What really happened" videos and remaking them with your new skills?
Anyway, good stuff, as always. Disney incidents draw a lot of attention, and because of that they tend to be particularly susceptible to rumors and misinfo. As usual, you've dispelled the horror stories, and once again it was an issue of employee training and ride maintenance. Trained professionals are pretty good at designing safe stuff, it's almost always human error that gets in the way.
Thank you so much, I have been slowly remaking some older videos, but I'm probably done with that for now. Thanks for watching!
I agree 100% I always struggled to visualize it, and even now, I'm having trouble putting the physics of the locomotive's movement and end position into mental images. This video does greatly help, though. I'm a very visual and hands-on learner, and I'm immensely grateful that these concepts can be put into a 3D visual medium, giving information that diagrams just can't provide.
LOVE the visuals on the this!! Definitely helps with comprehension, and let me keep backing up and rewatching to understand what happened
Yay! So glad they helped! I'll keep working on making them better in future videos!
I remember reading about this incident quite some years ago. I've been afraid of tunnels ever since. The animation here really helped me to understand what actually happened, great work!
The tunnel had nothing to do with it.
@@Floridafanatic28They’re probably referring to not being properly informed about the incident; there were rumors and sensationalized versions of the incident that claimed a rider was decapitated by the ride tunnel.
@@ErisIsAnAbomination That's likely what it was. This was so long ago that I don't really remember why it sparked my fear of tunnels.
Wrong ride. That's the Matterhorn.
I remember when this happened and it was a horrible tragidy. For a relatively tame family coaster, it's a very fun ride and I got to ride it 3 times over 2 visits to Disney World back in 1994.
This happened when i was like 7 or 8 and my imagination always went wild trying to visualize how it happened and would always think about it every time i go to disneyland, so this helps me understand it completely thank you for your content Coaster College!!
Thanks so much for watching, glad I can help!
That's such a rough way to go out for the person in the front
I'm sure their hopes of having a good day were absolutely crushed
@@TS_Mind_Sweptway to derail the conversation.
@@mechcommander7876 I tend to have a few screws loose
the animation was very helpful. you should keep using it
I agree!
Love the new animations, i'm glad you don't just use linear keyframes as that is what a lot of new animators do mistakenly, great video can't wait for the drop tower one!
Thanks, I'm going to keep working on improving
I rode this after the accident when I went to Disneyland for my birthday and at the time, I never knew there was an incident and someone died. I didn't find out until years later, but this was a good video. I've watched videos on this accident, and alot of them wasn't good at explaining what caused it
Glad you enjoyed!
I totally missed the news of this happening. Thanks for the videos, I love them.
It happened in like 2007
@@spinningpeanut 2003. I had worked at WDW that same year and was consuming a lot of Disney content at the time. I'm surprised I didn't hear about this happening at Disneyland.
This is one I rode multiple times growing up and remember hearing something had gone wrong with it but never knew the details. Even the tamest looking rides must be maintained properly.
Nice work on your 3d models
Thanks!
Thank you for making this video!! I’ve always known of this incident but I’ve never seen an informative explanation of what went wrong, only the super clickbait-y videos. It’s scary that they continued using the train even though it made weird noises, but at least a lot of changes happened in the industry as a result of this unfortunate situation.
Really well covered and the 3D models/analysis is great!!!
Thanks, I'll keep working on improving the animation.
Man, I just want to take a second to shout out just how far this channel has come.
While the older videos were fun to watch, especially you eviscerating clickbait videos, these newer, more grounded and polished videos, where you break things down from a very knowledgeable and technical standpoint, feel much less "Angry Reaction" video, and much more "short documentary/technical beakdown". And the new CGI visualization is great
Thanks so much for watching for so long!
Thank you as always for the clear and unbiased insight into these accidents! It makes me rage against the stupid sensationalist channels that cover coaster accidents with a fraction of the information. Also makes me baffled by people perpetuating the 'Can't die at Disney' myth
Thanks for watching!
This is incredible. You did what I always hope for, a beautiful simulation.
Better animation coming soon!
I do want to say thank you for giving warnings on real life stuff. It makes watching your videos much more enjoyable for me ❤
Been a ride operator for nearly a year a popular amusement park, and we are told outright if something sounds off say something. Maintanace has never once yelled at us or any other workers for looking out for things not ordinary. This sometimes has results in rides being taken down for 1-2 days of downtimes properly find what is wrong, and making sure its safe for operations. Most times is just nothing but a few times it has lead to things being found before they become an issue.
Where i work we have 2 inspections, Maintance inspection that begins in the morning before guess or workers arrive to ensure they all get the proper time to look over and do whats called a "Ghost Cycle". And the a second inspection with a TL (Team Lead) which usally involves in a worker to ride the ride and listen to anything concerning, It's crazy there is so much that has built up from 2003 to help with same but nothing beats eyes and ears.
Could be Nice to see what really happend on cobraen at tivoli friheden. Anyways, great video!
I remember coming home from school and turning on the T.V for braking news about this accident had happen. I was shocked and sad to see something like this to happen to one of my favorite rides as a kid. My eyes were glued to the report as I saw footage of the ambulance making its way to the attraction. Did ride it shortly after it reopened. To this day, this accident still hunts my mind and always think of it when I ride it.
Great work on the 3D models and animations! I’ve been looking forward to this one.
Thank you!
I love your videos! I watch every single one as they come out. They are so interesting to me and help give me insight on the rides I go on :)
The animation made it so clear.
Thanks so much for watching!
Hell yes now I have another video to spam watch while drawing
I'm drawing as I watch this and I feel called out😂 coaster college is a blessing for every artist
i get so excited for these videos
This is one of my favorite roller coaster crashes because of how well documented this one is. The animations are fantastic for showing how the front car derailed. Its one of the biggest malfunctions in coaster nerd and disnerd circles and I'm so glad to see it told in a way that leaves nothing to the imagination. While being fully aware of this crash I've ridden on this very coaster twice since, very much with the morbid thought of "this is where car two crashed" when going through the tunnel. The road to safety is paved in blood, always has and will be, it's important to keep record of tragedy so we never repeat it.
Great animations!
I can’t imagine how long those took you, well worthit!
at least disney settled everything up and accepted liability, but it does make the accident even more flagrantly terrible. also interesting it wasn't an industry standard to cycle new ride vehicles once before accepting passengers. black clouds and silver linings
Definitely was a turning point for a lot of things
Great job on your animations, they probably took a while but it was worth it. they look great
Thanks so much, definitely a lot of work to go to improve them for the future!
Great job on this video! 3D renders really help.
Tysm
I was actually there that day
Roughly an hour after the incident, my mom and I headed to Frontierland. They had closed off that entire area but kept mum (for obvious reasons: did not want to stir a panic). When we got to our hotel, we turned on the news and saw what occurred. Definitely freaky
After this incident, I still rode Big Thounder Mountain Railroad during my DL trips but it took a few visits...I went in 2012, 2015, 2018...before I was not ever nervous about riding it. When I went in January/2020 (the next time after 2018), there was no nervous tension at all. For those three prior visits, there was a little nervousness each time I rode it.
When I was younger, this was the reason why I was too scared to ride Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World 😂. Embarrassingly it wasn’t that long ago..
This was very interesting! Thanks
Thanks for watching
@@CoasterCollege this is the first video I've seen and I'm impressed! I'll be watching more of them.
A new coaster college video is the best time of the year
This is why you lock-out tag-out instead of just tagging out.
Same principle really. Lock out tags in a warehouse just tell you to not use it until maintenance signs it off.
Awsome and informative video keep up the great work.
Ah! So this is the rollorcoaster Chuggaaconroy spoke of. He said he was lining to sit where that poor person was killed. No wonder he gained a fear of coasters. Yeesh! Rip to the lost soul!
Ah! I was wondering if anyone would bring up Chugga. I feel bad for him. This must have been traumatic.
@@saphiriathebluedragonknight375 He has been overcoming that fear recently. Which is a good thing! Just maybe don't show him this video.
That failure to understand and check the BAD CAR (yellow) tag is also serious . The person that put the tag on the locomotive did the right thing, but the next people handling the train failed badly by ignoring or removing the warning .
It’s a shame what happened. Big Thunder was a favorite of mine. I am sorry that young man had to die. I feel sad even after all these years because this should never have happened.
He had just graduated too. This was a graduation celebration trip.
@@rebekahwolkiewicz449 😞💔
Makes me think I should look at the wheel assemblies of a coaster before I get in! Though probably wouldn’t really understand what I’d be looking at.
This video may help you understand more: th-cam.com/video/3tswDM9Nek8/w-d-xo.html
If I’m not mistaken, there really was no clear maintenance program beyond that inspection procedure of “72 hours” of operation.
Now I think the program they implemented afterwards is based on “cycles of operation” going around the track, and with certain components replaced based on the cycle life they have operated regardless if they pass inspection or not.
It’s a very fool proof maintenance program, leaving little doubt towards if something needs replacement or if it can “go a little while longer”
It certainly removes the guess work on the lifespan of a part and while it may be expensive to initially implement, it significantly decreases overhead with predicted parts purchasing based on cycle counts for each train set and their cycles of operation.
I don’t understand how someone signed off on the maintenance when the safety wire wasn’t even there? Did they not even inspect it for themselves? Crazy
i’m an ex ride op. my coaster started making very quiet noises and i shut it down a cycle after it was reported by one of my loaders. turns out bolts were loose in a wheel axis. got it replaced and we reopened within half an hour.
it’s really not a lengthy thing. wheel changes could only take 15 mins. if they were that concerned about efficiency i think they need to do a bit more training on their operators.
It wasn't manufactured by Disney themselves, it was arrow with a later retrack by Dynamic. Disney always likes to claim they build rides themselves, but they never do and just pay manufacturer's extra to allow them to act like they made it themselves.
omg please do more disney videos im so interested
great video
Thanks!
"Designed and manufactured by the Walt Disney Company."
Correction: It was Arrow Development (later Arrow Dynamics) who manufactured Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland following the design specifications from the Walt Disney Company. The other versions were all manufactured by Vekoma based on Arrow's patent, as Arrow had shuttered its doors back in 2001.
The use of safety chains between the cars could have prevented the locomotive separation. (Similar to trailer safety chains as a backup to a tow hitch failure.)
Hearing about this, even from the perspective of Chuggaaconroy (who avoided being that one passenger by sheer luck iirc), it made me too nervous to ride Big Thunder Mountain… until my Disney trip in 2023, when I was “dragged” into riding the ride. And thankfully, I was able to enjoy that ride, and even got a picture taken near the entrance/exit by one of the cast members to commemorate that moment!
never heard of this amusement park; is it any good?
I was literally just thinking “I hope CC makes a video about this accident”
I've always felt that Disney's parks are probably some of the safest parks you could be in, even within an industry that already builds itself on safety - so it's surprising to me to hear about this. Still, with Disney being so old, it had to happen eventually. So even if I do feel a little scared of this situation, there's no doubt in my mind that I'd still trust Disney's rides.
Yep it has been said that Disney has some of the toughest/safest standards when it comes to ride safety. However, eventually a slip up occurs but this was more so due to human negligence rather than Disneyland's age or the ride's age. Thankfully in the end, it helped improve standards not just at DL but other parks nationwide
I'm unsure if you saw my above comment but I was actually at Disneyland the day this occurred. About an hour after this tragedy, mom and I went to Big Thunder to ride it but they had closed that entire area of the park without saying why. We had to use the Adventureland entrance to access rides like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain. It was not until we got home that night at our hotel that we saw what happened via the news. Definitely freaky!
I still ride Big Thunder to this day. Accidents like these are extremely rare, especially with Disney satisfying Cal OSHA's requirements, and it's a thrilling attraction. For a few visits after this incident, I did get a little nervousness while on the ride but now I'm not nervous whatsoever.
I thought I knew what had happened here, didn't realize there was still more to the story.. glad I watched the ffideo anyway
It’s surprising how much higher Disney parks body count is than Universal parks.
From rides crushing employees & children, alligators eating children, and brain eating amoeba.
It’s terrifying that things like this can even happen at Disney parks. It’s a grim reminder that we can’t escape reality, even in a Disney park.
thankfully it's very rare. It even was rare back when this happened.
Even when a theme park accident occurs, more often than not it's due to a careless guest. This was one of few instances where faulty maintenance led to the incident.
i always wondered about what happend to train 2 ever since then I haven't see it on the track at all?
Good morning 🌅
Wow I would have thought the mechanics tagged and locked out a train so no way it could be brought into service before removing the locks
Big thunder mountain without the mountain is crazy!
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous looking lol
An oversight in saftey had me cut off the tip of my ring finger last night.
I was cutting the cheese 🧀. I got to the end and had a double wide slice. Without thinking much i decided to slice it. The cheese bent in a U shape as i began cutting. I didn't think much of it. Then BAM! The knife came out of the bend suddenly and sheared off my fingertip! It all happened so fast and the knife was so sharp, i had a clean slice of finger stuck to my cheese.
I ate that cheese in victory after stemming the blood flow and crossing 2 bandaids over my new stump.
Thankfully only a flesh wound! In hind sight. Just turn that last bit of cheese sideways and make little sticks... its a saftey parameter!
This is so sad. I am glad dianey made the changes.
The story of Mindbender should be part of all ride operator and mechanic training.
i used to go to disneyland with my family a lot, we went on this the day before the accident. i was under 10 and it scared me of roller coasters. didn't help there was an accident a couple years later on california screamin that solidified my anxiety for roller coasters. only until much later six flag magic mountain changed that lol
You will never think your final day on earth will be at Disney land
This is frustrating, because you can have the best safety and maintenance procedures in the world and yet they're useless if people are not trained on them/actually follow them. A massive hole in the block of swiss cheese that accidents will happily slip through.
It's such a tragedy. Nobody should die on a roller coaster, especially as crappy as this one. My heart goes out to the family that will forever wonder how a loved one could die on such a crappy coaster.
Its a shame that it often takes a tragedy for smart safety changes to be enacted
Rule #1: When it doubt, pull it out of service.
If he were to "stand up" at thw entrance where the ruler is he probably wouldnt have been tall enough.
I also remember the other incident mentioned was Britney Spears' bodyguard
A true crime youtuber, Eleanor Neale just made a video about an accident on The Smiler. While it's a longer one, I'd be interested in a video analyzing it.
Check out this video: th-cam.com/video/0p1uMW7ZY38/w-d-xo.html
The fact that it was the 13th cycle of Train 2 makes me wonder if maybe that number is as unlucky as many people have told me.
Thanks for all this information, the more I know about rollercoaster history the less afraid I am. It's nice to see that people (not always corporations) learn from these fatal mistakes. I only wish they weren't written in blood.
it truly was a dis-aster
Whap happened to train #2 after the accident? I know it was retired after the accident, but it's fate is unknown.
I'm not sure
Big thunder mountain is my favorite ride 💀
Damn i was really hoping this ep was gonna be about the kidney stone thing...
Thats my birthday. That was also my favorite ride. Im glad we were poor and didnt go to Disneyland that day ha ha.
When I went to Disneyworld I max sure not to ride in the front
I have watched 2 of theses what really happened videos and both had an accident with car #2. Is car 2 cursed? Lol
What's UpStop?
Nothing much man I’m just chilling ya feel.
That’s why I always. Sit in the back
Considering how severely neglected the Disney Parks are these days I’m honestly surprised they haven’t had another fatal incident like this.
They do a pretty good job maintaining rides these days.
@@CoasterCollege nah mate
When it comes to maintaining safety of rides Disney does a very good job, it's just the animatronics and effects they aren't great at maintaining because that takes money. But safety is their number 1 priority.
ride safety and maintenance are basically the things disney is least likely to skimp on at the parks. from a cynical point of view, brand reputation is EVERYTHING to them, and people getting hurt or killed on the attractions would be pretty horrible press. on a similar note, one of the cleanest kitchens i ever worked at was in a disney park - and 99% of the reason for that was because it would've looked bad for the company if people ever got sick off disneyland food, or started posting pictures on social media of health hazards or vermin in the dining room