GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Recent problems with Bay Beach Amusement Park’s most popular ride have been resolved.
That’s according to Park Manager Jason Arnoldi who notes the Zippin Pippin was temporarily shut down Friday morning following an incident that occurred while patrons were reportedly on the roller coaster.
“There was a sensor issue where it stopped the ride temporarily on the lift, which just causes a fault that has to be reset by a mechanic. When that was reset, they were underway. If it was the case of that, (the riders) were struck for maybe a minute on the lift, but it wasn’t a case where anybody had to be evacuated or anything of that nature. No one was stranded and no one got hurt.”
Arnoldi says park officials immediately got on fixing the problem.
“We just needed to replace it, and we didn’t have one right on site since it’s a part that typically lasts a lot longer so we had to go out of town to get it.”
Arnoldi notes this is a problem the park has never seen before.
“It was a new one so it took a little bit longer time to diagnose exactly what was going on with it. With it being a part we haven’t had to replace, it just took a little bit longer. Once we got it into the park, we were up within an hour.”
The roller coaster was back in operation by Friday night.
Fixing the problem that evening meant crisis was averted for what Arnoldi calls a busy Memorial Day weekend.
“Very similar numbers (in terms of money brought in), just slightly over last year.”
Arnoldi did not have exact figures to release.
Bay Beach’s hours will soon expand for the summer: http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2017/apr/19/bay-beach-prepares-for-2017-opening/.
This past weekend was not the first time in recent history that concerns have surfaced over the Zippin Pippin.
