It's 6 a.m. at Six Flags
Magic Mountain, and the Maintenance team has been
inspecting the park's 19 Roller coasters and other
rides since 4 a.m., ensuring Each and every one is fully
operational before the park Opens at 10:30. Magic Mountain is just one
of approximately 308 Amusement parks in the
United States. And pre-pandemic, the
industry saw continual Growth and is expected to
reach $16.8 billion in total Revenue in 2022. With Disney, Six Flags and
Universal Studios holding The top market share. And while amusement parks
are meant to be fun, the Industry has seen its fair
share of injuries and Deaths. In 2019, there were
1299 ride-related injuries In the U.S., along with 22
deaths since 2010. In March 2022, a 14 year
old fell out of a free fall Ride and died at Ikon Park
in Orlando, sending Shockwaves through the
industry. His passing was Captured on video and
circulated around social Media. According to the
National Safety Council, There was 0.8 injury per
million rides in 2019. We have an awesome record of
safety, as does the theme Park industry in general. When you look at the 157
million rides that we Deliver in a year, you
know, people will trip, they Will sit on a queue line
and fall backwards, you Know, when you have
thousands of people in an Area in a day, there are
things that happen. We address that on a
case-by-case basis, but, you Know, when you look at the
theme park, National Safety Council puts out a report
each year on the theme park Industry in general. When
you look at us versus other Industries, you will see
that we are a very safe
Industry. You're more
likely to be injured on your Way to a theme park in your
car than you are at a theme Park. With rides becoming bigger,
taller, faster, and steeper Every year, consumers may
wonder how truly safe Amusement park rights are. CNBC spoke to industry
experts and the safety team At Six Flags to find
answers. Amusement parks did not
always look the way they do Today. The earliest
amusement park was erected In 1583 in Denmark and
featured entertainers, Primitive rides, music, and
games in the initial years Of its operation. A few centuries later, one
of the most legendary Amusement areas opened in
1829. Coney Island in Brooklyn
was linked to NYC via Roadway and became a
hotspot for outdoor Attractions. It also
eventually became home to The first true roller
coaster in America. Following World War II, today's biggest and best Amusement parks began
opening, including Disneyland in 1955, Six
Flags in 1961, Disney World In 1971, Universal Studios
in 1990, along with several Others. With so many parks
opening, a roller coaster Arms race broke out through
the 2000s. A world record for the
tallest and fastest coaster Was broken three times. With a constant chase for
the next best ride an Ongoing effort, it may come
as a surprise that rides Were not always regulated
for safety, despite how old The industry is. The first sign of
unofficial regulation did Not arrive until 1929 in
Wyoming. Other states followed suit
in the 1960s.
It was not until 1981 that
federal government Regulation was officially
introduced, but only for Mobile rides used at local
carnivals and fairs due to Complicated definitions of
consumer products. Today, fixed site rides are
not federally regulated, but They are subject to
state-specific laws, ASTM International safety
standards, and other Independent examinations. Each state is a little bit
different based on how they Manage the licensing
certification of our rides. But it's most important to
know, too, that Six Flags Also brings in a third
party company to inspect Every ride every year
independently of what the State is doing, of what Six
Flags is doing, to ensure That we have that checks
and balance, that our rides Are truly operating at the
level that we say they are, At 100%. Today, coaster and ride
technology is continuously Reaching new heights. Levitating tracks, virtual
reality, and animatronics Are all newer
implementations responsible For some of the world's
newest and most exhilarating Experiences. Safety has
come a long way as well. Ride safety laws have been
successfully implemented in 44 states and are often
reevaluated. Roller coasters are
developed and constructed For several years before
they even see their first Real riders. The time and
cost depends on the Material, ride length,
rider type, and whether or Not the ride is themed. Wooden coasters take about
eight months to finish, While steel coasters take
around one and a half years. The average cost to build
one is approximately $8 Million, with the most
expensive coaster being Walt
Disney World's Expedition
Everest, which took six Years and $100 million to
build. The process begins with the
development of a ride Concept, which is then bid
on by amusement park Companies. Once a
contractual agreement is Made, the plot of land
where the ride will be built Is evaluated before
construction can even begin. From start to finish, a
team of multiple engineers In different specialties,
computer, design, Structural, industrial and
civil, helps in every step Of the process. Well the challenges you
have, first of all, is in What I call the blue sky
phase, you try and be as Creative as possible. And then once that level of
creativity has been Successful, you've got a
concept, you've got an idea That it's going to be the
next great ride, the next Great experience, you then
have to transition that into A highly focused, detailed
engineering effort. And that engineering effort
on every level has guest Safety as its absolute
priority. So you actually will build
that structure in a Theoretical three
dimensional world, using Computerated design. Once computer testing and
simulation is completed and Approved, the manufacturing
and construction phase can Begin. Factories begin
fabricating and assembling All the parts for the ride,
including the tracks, Brakes, lifts, and support
beams. From there, the parts are
transported to the park and Assembled over the course
of several months or even Years. Once construction is
completed, the concern for Safety continues to be a
daily, systematic part of The ride process.
Larry Chickola, Six Flags's
chief engineer, was Instrumental in creating
industry-wide safety Standards. So whether a ride is the
tallest, the fastest, or a Slower child ride, we still
use the same standards than When we design rides. There's a lot of standards,
especially regarding the G-forces that riders
experience on coasters, that Feeling of being pushed
into your seat or lifted out Of your seat. So we've
closely follow the standards That are set out in the
industry. Everything about a Ride is very engineered. They're very custom and
very highly engineered Devices. So the passenger,
of course, they're sitting In the train, they have the
restraints, the monitoring Of the restraints. The strength of the restraint Has to be strong enough for
the biggest person and so on And what the ride forces
are. So we'll go through and
analyze and calculate all That. The train has to be
built to take the weight of The riders, the strength of
the ride, all of the load Cases. And the structures
have to be strong enough. All of that being overseen
by the control system. There's nothing in the world
like Action Park. Action Park in New Jersey
was known as the most Dangerous amusement park in
the country, with reports of Six deaths, 26 head
injuries, 14 broken bones And a slew of personal
injury lawsuits causing it To promptly close in 1996. Luckily, the number of
incidents has decreased over The years. Safety in the
amusement park industry is Accounted for more deeply
than in the past. Rides today are obviously
more sophisticated than they Were even five years ago,
ten years ago.
But if you look at the data
you will actually see, from 20 years ago until now,
you'll see a decrease in the Incidence level. Our industry uses the same
software, the same skill Set, that comes out of the
aerospace industry. That allows us to make rides
extremely exciting but Extremely safe at the same
time. Parks have to deal with a
variety of challenges, like Obese and disabled people
wanting to ride roller Coasters. A report showed
that the teen who died at Ikon Park exceeded the
ride's weight limit. We train them to, how to
have that tough conversation When somebody may not be
eligible to ride a ride for Whatever reason that might
be. All of our team members Go through what we call
verbal judo and tactical Communication. It's for
them to learn how to defuse The situation and bring the
level down from here back Down to an opportunity
where we can actually Address the issue that is
affecting the guests. Here at Six Flags Magic
Mountain, safety procedures Start as early as 4 a.m. With mechanics and
electricians starting the Days first ride
inspections. Well, this morning we're
here at West Coast Racers. And the maintenance team is
going through their Inspections and their daily
checks and all of the Preventative maintenance
items that we need to go Through in order to make
sure that we've got a safe Operation. The guys that
you see behind me are going Through a very detailed
inspection. They have that inspection on a tablet. And they enter, they're
told exactly what it is they Need to do. They enter in
the data that they find. They're able to take
photographs, ask questions,
Refer to documents about
how something should be Behaving. We can use this
data for trend analysis so That we can make sure that
we improve our reliability And and keep our high focus
on safety. We have mechanical
personnel, electrical Personnel, we have
craftsmen in fiberglass and Upholstery, and painters,
and just an entire team of People that come out here
every single morning with The vision of making this
ride, as well as all the Rides in the park, the best
experience that we can make For people. The park's Operation Safety
Team meets at 9:30 a.m. To debrief on the day. Before rides can even begin
to see the day's first Riders, they must be signed
off by at least two people From the maintenance team. Once inspections and
meetings are done, ride Safety is accounted for
throughout the day with ride Operators, who ensure lap
bars, restraints, and Overall ride functions are
working smoothly. Our parks are cities within
a city. It's important to note that
in some cases, our daily Attendance can eclipse the
census of a city that we're Operating in. So we have
created the strategy and Resources to ensure that we
can protect our guests and Team members in addition to
ride safety, but just General safety in the event
of any type of natural Disaster or issue that can
happen. So, you know, we employ our
own medical services Department. We have our own
security force at all of our Parks, including the
adoption of using outside Police officers that we pay
for every day at our Facilities to keep to keep
our mini city safe as well. In the rare event of serious
death or injury.
The industry communicates
among themselves to learn How it can be prevented in
the future. Some parks even shut down
similar rides until the Incident has been addressed
internally. When they do happen, whether
it's at our park or another Park, we'll interact with
the operators and the owners Of the rides and we'll find
out what happened when it Comes out. And until then,
sometimes we have similar or The same rides at different
parks. Our rides will always Be shut down until we know
what happened. If there was an accident,
unless we know what happened And address it within our
own park, we would never Open a ride like that. So, yes, we would always
learn from the accidents, Changes. If there's a
change to be made, we'll Make it immediately. It's
not something we would not Do. Overall, many parks see
safety as an important Investment. We operate 27 theme parks in
three countries. We see about 28 million
guests, visitors, a year. And last year we delivered
157 million rides safely With 50,000 employees. You know, we spend multi
million dollars a year on Safety. Safety is truly
built into everything that We do in every facet.
