Hey, guess what got stuck on the lift yesterday?? Yep, the Silver Bullet and firefighters had to rescue the riders once again (I've decided to always ride in the back now.....I'm a wimp). This makes 5 times in the last nine years people have had to be rescued off the ride:
1. August 2008
2. August 2014
3. June 2016
4. May 2017
5. June 2017
Jay
To be fair though you can make a similar list for many rides at all kinds of parks. A lot of us enthusiasts have multiple stories about getting stuck on rides. I got stuck on Valravn at Cedar Point last year, and it is a brand new tens-of-millions-of-dollars ride. Most of the time they simply have to restart the ride.
If I'm understanding correctly, they didn't have to do much this time - it was a simple computer reboot.
I absolutely agree that this is becoming a PR nightmare though. While lots of rides get stuck, few require such intense evacuations when they really do get stuck. Mostly all they need to fix this is a catwalk extension like BGW did, then it won't be so dramatic. I'm pretty sure that it will still require firemen presence though when people have to climb down the cat walk... Eventually they will start getting upset about repeat calls.
But if the media is freaking out this much over a 15 minute stoppage and computer system reboot... then surely the PTB are feeling pressure to come up with a replacement plan. Certainly not this year, or probably even the next, but in three to five or so I can see it. I could see them selling it to a carnival or swapping it with another one of their properties. With a little finagling they could fit the Gauntlet into that space...