Universal Enforcing Hulk Rules

[Teebin]

I carry a Surge tool from leatherman

Are you kidding? Is it really called a "surge tool"? While I can be childish on here, that name demands base humor. "Let me whip out my surge tool and I'll fix y'all up, sure and shootin."

 

[Nick]

^ right. and we have no idea what "pocket knife" means in this case. It could have been a 7" deer skinning knife or it could have been a 2" cub scout starter knife. No one here will probably ever know what it amounted to.

Exactly. The poster never specified what it was. For all we know, maybe it WAS a swiss army pocket knife. Maybe it wasn't. We simply don't know.

 

[SeventyOne]

I get bringing a pocket knife (or even a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman) into the parks.

I don't understand having an OPEN pocketknife on a roller coaster. And I've yet to see a knife that simply falling would open.

Sounds like there is more to this story, but I'm sure Comcast has paid out enough $$ to make sure we'll never hear it.

 

[Nick]

I get bringing a pocket knife (or even a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman) into the parks.

I don't understand having an OPEN pocketknife on a roller coaster. And I've yet to see a knife that simply falling would open.

Sounds like there is more to this story, but I'm sure Comcast has paid out enough $$ to make sure we'll never hear it.

I don't want to continuously sound like i'm defending this, but was it ever said that the pocket knife was open? I thought it just mentioned that they got hurt from a pocket knife. A pocket knife falling and hitting you on the head is gonna hurt cause some hurt no matter what, open or closed.

If it was open, then that's where I say it's stupidity. Why would you even want to go on a roller coaster with an open pocket knife...? Sounds painful to me.

 

[natespf]

I carry a Surge tool from leatherman

I automatically put it on every morning
With my belt
even closed if you get hit with it
it would hurt bad

I normally leave it in car when i go in park
But i have forgotten and brought it in a couple of times

I put it in locker when riding.

Well that is even more of a tool than a Swiss Army. I don't see it likely to open to a blade. But the shear weight of it could be quite painful falling like that.

I get bringing a pocket knife (or even a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman) into the parks.

I don't understand having an OPEN pocketknife on a roller coaster. And I've yet to see a knife that simply falling would open.

Sounds like there is more to this story, but I'm sure Comcast has paid out enough $$ to make sure we'll never hear it.

Many of the knives that would be illegal to bring into the park could open up, like a switchblade could spring open just being jostled out of the pocket. That is what I was trying to say, if it opened I see it much more likely a weapon than a tool. But as has been said we can not even be sure if it did and we will probably never hear the whole story.

I just went hunting down the post, and UniversalFreak beat me to it VVV

 

[RonaldsModernLife]

Yes, it was open.

Not a close call but a direct hit. Open pocket knife to face.

 

[ynnoj]

It is not that weird really, some people just always carry a pocket knife with them, especially swiss army type knives.

Where did this incident take place actually? HRRR or Hulk? And at which part of the track? In HRRR I'd think that the most likely place to lose something would be near the end when the coaster does that half twist over the queue entrance.

I guess it's just a different culture over here when talking about 'knives'. But that would be out of the ordinary for somebody to be carrying one in a UK park.

 

[tsojl2005]

it was a freak of nature that a knife fell out someone's pocket and hit someone. it also could have been a freak of nature that the thing opened up when it came out the pocket. not all pocket knives are made with strong springs to keep those things shut. it could have gotten snagged on a piece of fabric and popped open. Just never know :shrug:

 

[SeventyOne]

it was a freak of nature that a knife fell out someone's pocket and hit someone. it also could have been a freak of nature that the thing opened up when it came out the pocket. not all pocket knives are made with strong springs to keep those things shut. it could have gotten snagged on a piece of fabric and popped open. Just never know :shrug:

Agreed we'll never know. But that's two freak of nature happenings in a row--Occam's Razor suggests we should look for a simpler explanation.

[ETA: This is all going off the barest of information in a single post. But there is something very suspicious about an open pocket knife falling from a coaster in just the right place to hit someone.]

 

[MrRoamer]

I just thought of something, this is HRRR that we are talking about. Why couldn't they hold the person whose "pocket" this came from at fault? It does sound like a whole lot of coincidences, and they just so happen to video the entire ride for every car. I would think that they would have instantly pulled the videos and taken appropriate action, maybe that is why there hasn't been much word on this. The lawsuit/settlement/whatever isn't between Universal and the guest rather a guest and a guest.

 

[anihilnation]

Bummer too, I always enjoyed riding the coasters of central Florida with my pockets loaded with these:

Lol ... I can imagine a lot of ninjas will be complaining to guest services. What I have to put away my darts, nunchucks, throwing knives, katana ... :bonk:

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I just thought of something, this is HRRR that we are talking about. Why couldn't they hold the person whose "pocket" this came from at fault? It does sound like a whole lot of coincidences, and they just so happen to video the entire ride for every car. I would think that they would have instantly pulled the videos and taken appropriate action, maybe that is why there hasn't been much word on this. The lawsuit/settlement/whatever isn't between Universal and the guest rather a guest and a guest.

Because the video only records the top half of each rider. That angle doesn't do much good when trying to determine what fell from a pocket.

And besides that, what would that accomplish? Sure you can go ahead and punish the offender for having a "weapon" on property but punishing that one person would not prevent other incidences from happening in the future, which is what this policy is trying to ensure.

 

[anihilnation]

Because the video only records the top half of each rider. That angle doesn't do much good when trying to determine what fell from a pocket.

And besides that, what would that accomplish? Sure you can go ahead and punish the offender for having a "weapon" on property but punishing that one person would not prevent other incidences from happening in the future, which is what this policy is trying to ensure.

Hmmm ... would be a messy situation even if they had full video. Go through footage, identify the person, find his name etc ... also, the victim would have to claim for damages separate from Universal making a claim for a weapon in the park. In any case, as I said already, if they will stick to this policy I think they will have to improve the lockers, in full season lockers are quite busy just for regular stuff like backpacks etc, now calculate in everything from one's pockets ...

 

[Kevin38]

Screamscape is reporting this change was sent down by Rip Ride and Rocket manufacturer (Mauer)

I would surmise Universal did not want to have different rules for each Coaster

If something came out of a pocket on one of the other coasters
Some lawyer would make buckets of cash on different rules for different coasters.

Kevin38

 

[Teebin]

^ I take posts on Screamscape with a tiny grain of salt. I'm going with the pocket knife story.

 

[Nick]

I just thought of something, this is HRRR that we are talking about. Why couldn't they hold the person whose "pocket" this came from at fault? It does sound like a whole lot of coincidences, and they just so happen to video the entire ride for every car. I would think that they would have instantly pulled the videos and taken appropriate action, maybe that is why there hasn't been much word on this. The lawsuit/settlement/whatever isn't between Universal and the guest rather a guest and a guest.

First of all the person injured would want to go after the party with more available funds, which would almost definitely be Universal.

Secondly, Universal let them through security with the pocket knife. It's technically their fault. I know you can't pat own every guest and there's nothing they could've really done, but the guest would never be the one that they would go after. Thaat case could easily be written off as a freak accident whereas a case with Universal could force them to change their security policies as a whole.

- - - Updated - - -

^ I take posts on Screamscape with a tiny grain of salt. I'm going with the pocket knife story.

It does seem awfully suspicious that we haven't heard a peep about it though.

I mean I know they probably wanted to shut them up if true, but they must've gotten paid off big time for them not to get this out there somehow.

 

[pastis]

Having worked for Disney Security for 6 years, 4 of them undercover, I can assure you that literally hundreds of pocket knives enter the parks daily. There were so many that eventually management told us to stop looking for them, as it took too much attention away from scanning for other threats.

 

[AK-Jake]

I wear a Swiss Tool (a Victorinox "Leatherman" multi-tool) and a separate pocketknife--both in pouches on my belt--every day. I'll one-up it from there: my pocketknife is an AUTOMATIC (aka, a "switchblade") because they're 100% legal in Alaska. I am so used to having my knife and Swiss Tool on me that I don't even think about the fact that they're there...though I am conscious enough about them to remember to take them off when I need to. I sure as heck don't travel with them and wouldn't even consider taking one into a park. That absolutely blows my mind that people would be ignorant enough to do something like that. Leave the damn thing(s) in your car! I'd much rather Universal install metal detectors outside the park gates and put up netting in areas where people walk under Rockit and Hulk than see them implement a ridiculous rule like this.

 

[natespf]

I wear a Swiss Tool (a Victorinox "Leatherman" multi-tool) and a separate pocketknife--both in pouches on my belt--every day. I'll one-up it from there: my pocketknife is an AUTOMATIC (aka, a "switchblade") because they're 100% legal in Alaska. I am so used to having my knife and Swiss Tool on me that I don't even think about the fact that they're there...though I am conscious enough about them to remember to take them off when I need to. I sure as heck don't travel with them and wouldn't even consider taking one into a park. That absolutely blows my mind that people would be ignorant enough to do something like that. Leave the damn thing(s) in your car! I'd much rather Universal install metal detectors outside the park gates and put up netting in areas where people walk under Rockit and Hulk than see them implement a ridiculous rule like this.

I just realized my previous post on this was worded a little funny. Switchblades are not against Florida law, but some local governments have banned them (not sure if Orlando or Orange County are one of them). But the state laws are concerned with concealed carry of a weapon, not so much open carry. But it is quite vague what constitutes a weapon, it would boil down to what courts decide. The precedence seems to be that 4" mark.

That is just in general, as you said they are not needed in a themepark. But when I first read about this I was envisioning a 4"+ pocket knife.

 

[Marni1971]

Rules are rules and rightly so.

Dragons was a shame.

Something came off a guest on a Uni ride in the fall that could have been much worse. Hence the needed enforcement.

Edit - I see it was posted.