Coney Island Cyclone Gets Stuck On First Public Ride Of Season
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Coney Island reopened Sunday, but the Cyclone wasn't quite ready for the season.
In its first public ride of the year, the 88-year-old thrill ride got stuck about 10 feet from the top.
Photos and video from the scene show workers helping the approximately two dozen riders walk down to safety on a small walkway that lines the track. They had been stranded for 10 to 15 minutes.
(video courtesy of amNewYork)
Park officials told WCBS 880's Jim Smith there is a safety feature on the ride that prevents it from rolling backward if it encounters a problem on an incline.
No injuries have been reported.
Luna Park spokeswoman Angie Morris told 1010 WINS' Roger Stern there was a problem with a belt that lifts the roller coaster cars.
The roller coaster had one earlier ride with dignitaries aboard to reopen it for the season.
Luna Park spokeswoman Erica Hoffman told WCBS 880's Smith the ride was shut down while technicians work to repair it. It remained unclear Sunday night when the ride would be reopened.
"The most important part obviously is that everybody was safe," Hoffman said.
Many who were on the stalled ride -- some of whom are die-hard fans that have been on the Cyclone hundreds of times -- told Smith the experience was nerve-racking and that it has never happened to them before.
"We could feel that there was something wrong," one woman said. "It started slowing down."
"I've been here since yesterday and once I get my chance to go up, it goes up, it goes up, goes in the middle and just stops...just stops out of no where," David, of Bensonhurst, told 1010 WINS' Stern.
"Made the trip in at 4 o'clock in the morning to make the first ride," Diana Elsener told CBS2's Valerie Castro. "Once we got about halfway, maybe three-quarters of the way up, we knew there was something wrong."
"I didn't really look down or anything," said Adam Myers, of North Gillmore, N.Y. "I kind of just went with what they said. It was a little shaky, but I'm not afraid of heights."
Those riders, however, said they are not scared and even waited around to see if the ride would reopen.
"I've been riding this thing since I was 9. I'm going to keep riding it until the day I die," Myers said.
Luna Park opened at noon. The amusement park will be open weekends until May 22, when it opens every day for the summer. It will also be open the entire week of April 6, Spring Break for most area schoolchildren.