Man reportedly loses sight after roller coaster ride

Sounds to me like a very unfortunate positioning of a large bug of some kind. I highly doubt the coaster itself is to blame.

-Josh

"Carlos Montalvo rode the Dragon Challenge at Universal's Islands of Adventure and says when it was over, his eye and face were bloody."

Jen, this seems eerily similar to Mike's bloody scalp on KK yesterday. Except the "bug" was an overzealous ride op, lol!! Maybe that's why it kept going down after we left.

Paul

> "Carlos Montalvo rode the Dragon Challenge at
> Universal's Islands of Adventure and says when it was over,
> his eye and face were bloody."

> Jen, this seems eerily similar to Mike's bloody scalp on KK
> yesterday. Except the "bug" was an overzealous
> ride op, lol!! Maybe that's why it kept going down after we
> left.

> Paul

LMAO! Those ride ops were CRAZY! I originally thought he was bleeding from the 160 mph launch and popped a blood vessel or something- LOL. I'm working on our TR novel - we went on a lot of rides yesterday!

Glad you got home in one piece - I was exhausted - I couldn't imagine doing your long drive home. Hope that cheese steak got you through!

Jen

The Cheesesteak was just what I needed. DELICIOUS!! My GPS turned me around in South Philly, but fortunately it was a Tuesday night, so the streets were dead.

Can't wait to see how you sum Tuesday up :)

Paul

> Sounds to me like a very unfortunate positioning of a large
> bug of some kind. I highly doubt the coaster itself is to
> blame.

> -Josh

I've rode both coasters numerous times and never had any problems. I too agree that it must've been some unfortunate accident, but something that happened suddenly. The rides are totally safe.
I just hope the guy doesn't try to sue for some x millions of dollars... Sad that people resorts to doing that these days...

I've always wondered about that.

With rides that can go 90-120 miles an hour now, what DOES happen if an errant beetle happens to fly past the track? Having experience on a motorcycle, I know if one hits your visor at "highway speeds"...well, you're glad to have a visor. I can EASILY see where something like this could cause someone to go blind.

I guess this is one of the hazards of being front-row. Any other row, someone else's face is clearing the air for you. :p

I mean, you have to squint NOW at some of these speeds to keep the wind from sand-blasting your corneas. You have to wonder whether they're actively hosing down grass near the ride with insecticides to prevent this kind of stuff.

Remember what happened to Fabio on Apollo's Chariot?

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/news/archives/april99/stories/040199_01.shtml

That has always concerned me slightly when riding the SuperDooperLooper over the creek at Hershey. :)

Never have I ever had anything like this happen to me. I've never blacked out on a coaster (Well, a little but barely on MF). I feel sorry for this man. It probably ruined his life.

> Remember what happened to Fabio on Apollo's Chariot?

A friend of mine who reads these boards but doesn't post called my KK injury on Tuesday my "Fabio moment." I laughed like hell at that line, I did!

Mike

I wonder, how much do ski goggles cost? Lol, I think I'll need to buy those if I'm sitting front row for KK. :)

> Remember what happened to Fabio on Apollo's Chariot?

> That has always concerned me slightly when riding the
> SuperDooperLooper over the creek at Hershey. :)

We saw a flock of geese fly relatively near some ride at Gradv Tuesday (I forgot which one) and mentioned Fabio. You have to wonder. Are flying critters a bigger problem than parks are willing to address? When working on Alpengeist, I was told a guest came back with a goose in their lap (I was on break and kind of took it as a joke since nothing came of it. This was well before Apollo and Fabio).

Birds aren't usually dumb enough to fly into the path of a speeding roller coaster train just as they don't fly into highway traffic, but I wonder if more publicity of incidents like Fabio and now this will cause parks to reconsider building high speed coasters near water.

Paul

It gets worse:
http://www.wftv.com/news/28743140/detail.html

He apparently had hardly any vision in his other eye and now is completely blind. That is so horrible. I always wear sunglasses on all coasters now (mainly started doing that because of the high speeds on KK that killed my eyes) but I find it so much more comfortable because I can keep my eyes wide open and see. Never thought of it as a safety device....

Jen

Normally I don't tend to wear sunglasses on any coasters out of fear they'd fly off, but I am thinking of wearing them mainly because of the sun and wind being problems for my eyes.

Funny enough just walking on the street few days ago, I think it was either a bee or a large fly smacked right into the side of my glasses. It probably would've hit my eye if not for the glasses.

When we were at GrAdv, there was a small flock of the bastages underneath the Bizarro/Medusa cobra roll. I had to tell my friend not to f**k with them when a train was coming by. :p