Dozens of park attendees are stuck on a Batman-themed rollercoaster at Movie World on the Gold Coast.
The ride, which lets patrons pay to wear VR headsets for “a 360-degree virtual reality experience, with technology seamlessly syncing the movement of the coaster with the visual effects” of the headset, has passengers hanging suspended from their seats at the top of one of its turns. The Suspended Looping Coaster travels over a distance of 765 metres and has 5 inversions, or loops, across its course.
#BREAKING Dozens trapped on #goldcoast Movie World ride https://t.co/UIZR6gp5Tq Pic: @7NewsQueensland pic.twitter.com/0Hjbzi5rXU
— The Courier-Mail (@couriermail) January 11, 2017
The Arkham Asylum – Shock Therapy coaster, which was previously themed for the Lethal Weapon movie franchise, was opened to the public at Movie World on Queensland’s Gold Coast in 2012. The metal coaster, designed by Dutch theme park company Vekoma, cost $16 million when it was built in 1995.
Metal rollercoasters are so named for the metal track that the train cars run along, and generally feature loops, corkscrews and tight banked turns where their wooden counterparts don’t. The virtual reality experience that passengers on the Arkham Asylum ride costs an additional $5, and mixes recorded video of the track captured by 360-degree cameras with pre-rendered footage featuring characters from the DC Comics franchise.
The theme park’s description for the Arkham Asylum ride says it can achieve speeds of up to 85km/h and exert forces of up to 4.2Gs on passengers. Up to 40 passengers can ride the rollercoaster simultaneously, spread across two train cars with 20 passengers each. At its tallest point, the Arkham Asylum rollercoaster suspends passengers 33.3 metres above the ground.
Get ready for a high voltage thrill on the world’s first Arkham Asylum themed ride!
This crazy experience will have adrenaline junkies harnessed into the Ivy League of Insanity for the shock of their life.
Strap into a brand new train featuring electrifying on board audio and rocket through Arkham Asylum at speeds of up to 85km. Race along in the terrifying new trains and experience awesome upper body freedom like never before. Pull 4.2Gs as you face five stomach-churning inversions on this not to be missed coaster.
Only the bravest of people can enter the Asylum to face one of the most infamous criminal minds on the planet, The Joker, as he attempts to infect all of Gotham City with dangerous monsters. With The Joker on the loose, riders will need to beware as the likes of Harley Quinn and Killer Croc could lurk around any corner.
Firefighters are currently climbing the rollercoaster to gain access to the stranded passengers. In a move of unfortunate timing, the Movie World Twitter account just sent out a tweet asking Twitter users to tag their friends to visit the park’s rollercoasters as a New Year’s resolution.
Tag someone that you think should add these to their New Year’s Resolutions! #repost #movieworldaus pic.twitter.com/cL2YcRCptx
— WB Movie World (@movieworldaus) January 11, 2017
Movie World recently used the Arkham Asylum coaster to promote a Facebook competition giving away yearly passes to the theme park.
Developing…