UPDATE: Worlds of Fun season ticket holder Christian Tanner took this video on July 24, 2016 showing the SteelHawk amusement ride stuck roughly 300 feet in the air with riders on it.
And again..... @41ActionNews @kmbc @fox4kc @KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/CGDzbMffJ4
— Christian Tanner (@Ctanner98) July 24, 2016
“We marked the time and shot that quick video and took a couple of pictures of it,” said Tanner. “Saw that it’s still up there for about 12 minutes before it started moving.”
Tanner noted that from his vantage point of the ride, it looked to be full.
“We’ve been in the park this year probably 15 or 20 times and it’s been stuck at least once every time we’ve been here,” said Tanner who tells 41 Action News he won’t go on the ride.
“I’ll never ride that ride again. Some of my family have rode it once and after seeing it stuck all the time we, I mean I won’t let my kids on it,” said Tanner. “I’m sure they have a plan in place to get people down, but just being stuck up there for an extended period of time is not something we want to risk.”
41 Action News reached out to Worlds of Fun for a comment on today’s events, but have received no response at this time.
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Is Worlds of Fun ride breaking down again?
A barrage of recent social media posts describe the malfunction of a popular Kansas City amusement ride. However, the park who operates the ride is adamant the ride is safe.
Jessica Wobus posted a video on Twitter of the Steelhawk on July 4 showing the Worlds of Fun ride stalled.
Chilling @worldsoffun when Steelhawk decided it wanted it's 4th of July day off too pic.twitter.com/J4pRX6sfZL
— Jessica Wobus (@JessicaAnnW4) July 5, 2016
But several other park goers posted similar concerns from June 28 through Independence Day.
41 Action News interviewed a family two years ago who were stuck on the ride because of a malfunction.
“I'm sitting there, you know, as a parent. There's a lot more just different scenarios going through your mind. So I was just like, I hope this thing doesn't let loose and we fall down,” said Josh Olvera.
And the ride already had a checkered history before arriving in Kansas City in 2013.
Before it was the SteelHawk, it was called the Windseeker, located at California’s Knotts Berry Farm. The ride was temporarily shut down in 2012 after it malfunctioned, leaving riders suspended hundreds of feet in the air for more than three hours.
However, a Worlds of Fun safety official told 41 Action News the ride was safe upon installing it in 2013.
"It's inspected on a daily basis, actually a number times when first starting up, just to make sure it is safe,” he said.
Worlds of Fun spokesman Eric Burke gave 41 Action News the following statement Wednesday over the phone, saying, “The ride did what it’s supposed to do. It said something was wrong, so it stopped. Maintenance always works quickly to get riders to the ground.”
All other questions regarding what causes the ride to stop and how often the malfunctions happen went unanswered.
The State Amusement Ride Safety Office confirmed Wednesday that SteelHawk has passed all recent inspections and that no incidents have been reported.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
