Getting a hat back blown off during a ride?

[Eeyorestail77]

Splash Mountain took my Royal Caribbean (pronounced royal kermie by my daughter) visor right after the final drop picture. In the picture and then gone forever. Now my daughter refuses to allow me to wear a hat on rides with drops. She's five and possesses more common sense than me.

 

[YawningDodo]

It depends on the park. I worked attractions in Fantasyland, and there were certain areas we were able to access to look for lost items without needing to follow lockout/tagout. These were very limited. Other times, we could ride through the ride to retrieve an item if need be, that was most common on Pooh.

I then worked 7 years as a rides lead/supervisor at a Cedar Fair park. As a lead or supervisor I could walk the ride footprint when the ride was in operation and did on many occasions to look for lost articles, I just could not go into any “low zones”. If the item was in a low zone, we would only retrieve items of value such as car keys, cell phones, or prescription glasses as these required shutting down the ride. Otherwise, we would have to wait until the park closed for the night.

Most people don’t understand how hard it is to find a specific item. I would say I was able to locate items less than 50% of the time. A lot of coasters have areas of the track that are simply inaccessible or have lots of foliage/water/etc. Even if we do find something, the frames may be broken, lenses popped out, phone smashed, etc.

Best advice: don’t wear hats or glasses on rides. Keep phones in a secure cargo pocket or bag if the ride allows bags. It’s not just a convenience thing. A poorly timed dropped item could shut the ride down if it breaks the photo eye (sensor similar to what is on a garage door) or could injure someone. I knew someone who sustained a concussion because the person ahead of him had a cell phone out on a coaster and lost control of it.

I'm glad someone with more direct experience chimed in--I worked attractions at a Six Flags, and while I did operate the largest roller coaster I was not one of the people who would go look for things lost in its footprint--there were only specific people who did but the general procedures were covered in training so we'd know how things were supposed to go.

Also, I think Six Flags was a bit more merciless! They explicitly told us we were not to call in about searching for cell phones; those searches would only happen at the pre-designated times. Management's reasoning was that if someone lost their phone on the coaster, best case scenario was that we would find a smashed phone.

 

[imbatman]

2013: DH lost prescription sunglasses on Tom Sawyer's island. And he'd already forgotten his regular lenses at home. Filed a L&F report right away. Rest of the visit, DH squinted in Every.Single.Photo. However, last day of the trip, two hours before we left, he was able to retrieve them!

2018: DH lost credit cards (2), driver's license, Magic Band on Space Mountain. Don't ask me how, the story varies and I wasn't on the ride (I waited outside because I had a headache). He didn't even ask or report it when he got off. I rush up to the CM at the entrance and she radios back to the loading area. Tells DH to go back through the exit and check to see if it fell out there... Meanwhile, I'm calling and canceling both cards and wondering how he'll be able to board an airplane. He shows up 10 minutes later, everything in hand. "I left them in the pocket of the ride."

Moral of the story: DH gets glasses taped to his head and I kept all card the remainder of the visit.