YOU said something about what went wrong with the Gaint Drop? What happened there?

Some sort of routine failure left people standed halfway up for about 15 minutes. They took the ride down and subjected it to an inspection just to be safe, even though it was a fairly standard error that left the ride stopped. During the inspection they found something needed repairs on I believe the main drive and took the ride down immediately to perform these tasks. For about a quarter or more of 2002 the West side of Giant Drop didn't operate - this is why.

I know that some people were injured on the Giant Drop though not too badly I don't think. Not sure if this was the same incident. I heard that one of the cables became loose and whipped someone in the face. Does anyone remember hearing anything about this? It was some time ago now

no, it wasnt on the giant drop, it was on the space probe where a young women got whipped on the face by a cable of some sort. i dont remeber when but it was wonderlands space probe.

There was an incident on Giant Drop quite a few years ago. I can't remember it exactly, but I believe the cable couplers didn't set properly and the gondola struck one on the way down causing a bit of mess. This is why they have those cages over the top of the seats now (nothing quite like Dreamworld's knee-jerk reactions ).

Not sure I know what you mean by 'cable couplers'?? From my understanding everything to do with the lifting and catch car system is above the gondola when it drops so it wouldn't have anything to hit "on the way down." As far as that incident is concerned yes it was on Space Probe at WL. One of the lifting cables snapped and the force on it cause it to wip down slashing one rider in the face. Quite nasty, was on the news etc. at the time.

I can assure you that a 'cable in the face' incident causing a degree of injury definitely occured on the Giant Drop at DW. According to you guys it happened on Space Probe aswell. I guess it's not surprising seeing as they are both the same sort of ride. I read about the Giant Drop incident in a Sydney newspaper

WOW when did this happen? It must have been kept reasonable quiet as it appears most of us never heard about it...

djrappa are you being smart? "Most of us never heard about it"? You mean you and Shifty right? Actually Richard has obviously heard about it... as he said Dreamworld installed cages over the top of the gondolas to prevent this type of accident happening again. It happened a few years back now, about a year or so after the drop opened. And no it wasn't kept too quiet, as I said I read about it in the paper

Well, hang on. What are we talking about, the cable coupling incident or this cable snapping thing? The cable couplers are these steel cars built onto the tower which close around the cables when the catch car is low to stop the cables moving around. They open up one-by-one as the catch car goes up. What happened was one of them didn't flatten properly and on the way down the gondola hit it, causing a nice bang. I've personally never heard of a cable snapping on Giant Drop. Space Probe's does sound vaguely familiar though.

No not being smart, I think you might be a bit mixed up because I'm sure there was not snapping incident on GD. Wow Richard, never knew those devices were installed on the ride, will have to have a closer look. (note that just because I said "wow" again I'm not trying to be 'smart' HEHE)

Wonderland and cables aren't friends are they? You'll find Channel 7 pulled the pin on their sponsorship almost immediately after.

I don't think the cable actually snapped as such but there was a definite injury and I thought it was to do with the cable hitting someone in the face. I didn't say anything about snapping. I think it just came loose and was a bit out of place or something. Never heard about the Space Probe incident. Maybe i'm thinking of 'whiplash' and getting it confused. It's gotta be the same incident you're referring to Richard... surely they haven't had multiple accidents on that ride

Some sort of routine failure left people standed halfway up for about 15 minutes.

Does this sort of thing happen 'routinely'? If it was routine as you say, why was on section of the ride closed for so long?

I don't think the cable actually snapped as such but there was a definite injury and I thought it was to do with the cable hitting someone in the face.

How did the cable hit someone in the face if it didn't snap, or break in some way?

The cable couplers are these steel cars built onto the tower which close around the cables when the catch car is low to stop the cables moving around. They open up one-by-one as the catch car goes up. What happened was one of them didn't flatten properly and on the way down the gondola hit it, causing a nice bang.

Do you have any photos of these? They sound like they could be dangerous if the gondola hits it and breaks one off. I don't know what they look like or how they work so I'm not sure if it's possible for that to happen. On the subject of cables snapping, does anyone know of anything else like that happening to other rides anywhere in the world? "The Bus is now leaving for Cables Artificial Surf Reef, Western Australia"

Without going into too much detail about the couplers, here's a picture. It's not the greatest - you can't really get an idea of how they work, but you can understand the circumstances which could lead to the thing hitting. Those two tubey-things close around the cable when the catch car is down and open up as the car goes up to let it pass.

Bus, There's a certain ride, at a certain Sydney theme park, that has had numerous, lets say troubles, with cables in the past.

Dreamworld's Giant Drop incident was exactly as Richard said, the car hit one of the cable separators on the way down. Not sure what the cause was, but from memory, the 'will not operate in high winds' policy started soon after, so read into that what you wish. There were no injuries on the incident, although it was covered on the news at the time quite heavily, the cable separators landed on the grass next to the ride, missing the operators and the model T lane. Dreamworld made (another) modification and put the very flimsy looking covers over the cars so that next time a heavy metal object falls off the tower hopefully it'll stop it from hitting guests :-)

Sorry Richard but that photo doesn't help me at all. To me it looks just like the guide rails on Space Probe and as far as I know that doesn't have any cable protection on it. Is someone able to take a picture of the cable protectors opened and closed so I can see the difference and how they work. "The Bus is now leaving for Upper Guide Falls, Tasmania"

A bit above the middle of the photo is two thin tubular steel devices. They look like a television antenna or something similar to that. That's the device and it's hard to explain how they close off or see it from the picture, but let's just say that they move to close around the cable when the catch car is below it and open as it comes near. I've attached another shot. The above one was with it opened. This one is closed - you can see the two cables running through it.

Ahh I see now. I was envisaging large metal plates covering the cables not a small thing like that. Are these all the way up the tower? Or are they just on the lower sections? I presume that they close as soon as the catch car passes them therefore catching the cable before the wind can blow it around. I haven't been to Dreamworld since Giant Drop opened but do these devices mean that wind is not a factor for the ride, like it is for Space Probe? Thanks for the pictures Richard. "The Bus is now leaving for Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area South Australia"

Wind's still a major factor, though it rarely gets up to the speeds it needs. If they weren't there, wind would be a huge factor. If those cables weren't held down, it would make no difference even if there was full load on them - they'd still be flopping around up there with the slightest breeze. They're found probably every 75-100ft or so up the tower, so they're not exactly close together. And you're pretty much spot-on with how they work. The reason they're not needed on a ride like Space Proble would be they would be ineffective on such a small ride.

Since where on the GD topic does anyone know how far the tower moves in high winds? I dont some work on the center point tower in Sydney and it moves like 5m sometime so i was just wonder about the GD/ TOT.

I'd guess it's cabable of something around a foot of sway either way, and even that might be a huge overestimate. It's about half the height of Centrepoint and has a relatively negligible weight on it at the top which really makes all the difference.