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Visitors at the Carowinds amusement park had to do without the WindSeeker this weekend.
The theme park’s newest and tallest ride was shut down because of safety concerns.
Carowinds’ parent company, Cedar Fair, shut down the WindSeeker locally and at five other amusement parks in the United States and Canada because it has stranded passengers 300 feet in the air at least four times in three parks since June.
One of those incidents happened earlier this summer at Carowinds. The most recent episode was last week at Knott’s Berry Farm in California.
Locally, customers said they were disappointed but understood.
“They were having problems with this ride all year long here,” said Neil Smith, who arrived at the park with a car full of children. “They would stop it every now and then.”
In July, the WindSeeker came to a stop, stranding about 25 people several hundred feet off the ground in the midday sun. In that case, a safety sensor stopped the ride.
Two days after that incident, passenger Chad Kistler told WCNC-TV, the Observer’s news partner, “After about three minutes, everyone started freaking out. People were wondering if they were going to die.”
Cedar Fair issued a statement Saturday, saying, “For this particular ride, the safety system has been activated on more than one occasion for various reasons at various locations.”
Park officials said the ride would remain closed “until an internal review has been completed.”
Park patrons were disappointed Saturday as they left Carowinds at closing time.
Wayne Pack said he had wanted to ride the WindSeeker, but it was closed.
“We didn’t like it too well,” he said of the company’s decision to stop the ride. “I think they had a good reason, but we’d still like to ride it.”
Despite the attention the malfunctions are getting, no serious injuries have been reported.
