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Everyone likes a good read from time to time, or even all the time. That's why our team of writers is constantly at work putting their opinions and insights into words, and this is the place to find their work: the Editorials & Articles section! We write about anything and everything, from the implications of the latest topics of news around the amusement industry, to the timeless topics of interest, to just plain satire. If you can think of a topic you would love to see in the form of an article, chances are you'll be seeing it in the future!
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Theme Park, or Media Circus?
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Theme Park, or Media Circus? / By: Devin Olson, Friday, July 04, 2003 -
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 On Tuesday, what were you likely to turn on the news and find as a top story? The latest violent deaths in the world? The progress in Iraq? No, for many, it was helicopter shots of Six Flags America's Two-Face: the Flipside stalled on its first lift hill, an incident that made top news that night on all news stations in the Washington, D.C. region, and even live international coverage.
Hyped as 'the story that left all of us on the edge of our seats', 'two hours of terror', and a 'harrowing nightmare', network and cable news stations alike buzzed with live, in-depth updates on the coaster breakdown as a third of a dozen helicopters buzzed around the inverted twenty-eight-rider train in circles, leaving the coaster community both stupefied and amused. Maybe multiple ride deaths, or a miraculous rescue of a trainload of passengers from certain death, would have been so newsworthy, but it's all the same to some newshungry people.
 Most of us have been stuck on a ride once or more for some period of time, and are witnesses to the fact that breakdowns occur at every park, on just about every ride, every month, most all of the time due to any safety concern, no matter how small. But for some parks, an inconvenient breakdown can turn the theme park into a media circus.
 The Two-Face incident lasted for two hours, but shortly after it occured, the media began to arrive. The last time that a similar event took place, you may recall, was at Six Flags over Georgia in 2002, when a power outage stalled the vehicle of the stand-up freefall tower Acrophobia at the peak for a similar duration of time. The locally-based CNN was on the scene soon after.
But if news channels plan on covering any unusual breakdown that they can get their cameras to in time, they'd might as well cover it right. Heck, a nice coaster expert might be a good addition to one of their expert panels. On Tuesday, we were tortured with the statistics of anywhere from 78 to 200 feet for the height of Two-Face's train, and top speeds ranging from 50-63 miles per hour. In reality, the structure tops out at 137 feet in height with train stalled at about 90 to 130 feet up the incline, normal speeds, of course, hitting 55 MPH.
 Visual appeal and false perceived danger of thrillrides undoubtable fuel the media hype, but from that comes a negatively influenced and mislead general public, meaning that the media needs to take a couple minuted to evaluate their priorities. If anything is gained, it might be the prevention of future inconveniences like this one; I've had in mind since I first rode Two-Face when it opened that a below-track catwalk on the lift slopes would make for much easier access to the train if needed.
In the end, how did the incident come to a close? The train was finally able to be lowered back to the station at a snail's pace. Obviously not the high-altitude, death-defying rescuing attempt that the media was hoping for. Oh well, maybe next time.
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