Bizarre discovery raises questions at Colorado theme park

Yikes....I mean....on several levels, not the least of which is how the hell someone gets into any theme park packing like that.

They found him at opening, so presumably he had snuck in overnight. I am guessing there is not much of a third shift on site, if anyone.

One shudders to think what could have been. It is lamentable that the swath of this person’s life led them to this course of action, but quite a relief that we aren’t having to hear Robert’s report of an unfathomable loss of life at a theme park. I still get chills when I think of the coward who gunned down all of those innocent club goers at the Orlando Pulse night club shooting, and how it was later revealed that he had made plans to continue his rampage at Downtown Disney / Disney Springs. My wife and I are actually headed to WDW this coming weekend and I will celebrate our time there together with that much more gratitude and joy.

Well said, Fatty. Sounds like this freak ate his cyanide capsule a little too soon, thank god.

Just one more day the gun death capital of the western world!

Bizarre indeed. And one would hope that this is a one of a kind occurrence. Speaking of Glenwood Caverns, I thought about visiting it. Riding a roller coaster hanging over a cliff would be the most terrifying thing I ever did but I probably won't do it due to the high risk of altitude sickness.

It wasn't that long ago at the Orlando parks we didn't have metal detectors as it was viewed as ghetto, it was an ongoing joke for many years about how Six Flags had metal detectors. During this time UO only had them during Horror Nights.

Then was when mass shootings started happening regularly, particularly after Pulse, was when the parks started having detectors. They put them up so quickly and had no one to staff them so for the first like 6 months of them being there that Disney and Sea World actually hired CSC Security (their uniforms and all) out there running it, which was a huge deal especially at Disney where the last thing you expect to see are the same uniformed security people you would see at any other major event. For a few years Disney only had a few metal detectors and randomly selected people to have to go through them, which really confused the GP and even enraged some of them who would flip out because they felt the park was unsafe because the lack of security checks. It was really sad to see public perception of metal detectors go from being ghetto to being 100% necessary in the span of a few years.

Disney Springs didn't even have any security check until covid. I remember after Pulse they greatly increased the police presence, however, including having mounted police roaming around. At this time there was an incident at Bongo's where an angry customer flipped a table and there was mass panic because people thought the noise of the table hitting the ground was a shooting and stampeded out in all directions then dozens of cop cars came flying in. I worked at DS at the time and had just left for the day and a new/young manager was closing that night...I felt bad for him.

I should note that security at Disneyland has been abysmal this fall, with 30-minute waits not uncommon. That might be acceptable at the airport, but when you're paying BIG bucks to visit Disneyland, they need to hire sufficient security to move people through quickly.

This will surely only make things worse.

I haven't been to DLR since well before they built the new security checkpoints (which crazy to think was 5+ years ago), but even the old way with those little tents at the entrance of the esplanade (where they could only check a few at a time) the wait was never 30 minutes. That is insane.

I tend to think we're at critical mass when it comes to "security theater". Plus, I've definitely noticed more theme parks and other entertainment venues utilizing rapid pass-through metal detectors recently that dramatically decrease the need for supplemental searches which can often slow the process for everyone. While some entertainment venues have started to crack down on bags (many in the DC area and elsewhere have prohibited bags altogether or at a minimum require them to be clear or prohibit backpacks or bags with multiple pockets), theme parks, especially those with integrated water parks and/or attractions, simply can't do that.

I think as technology improves, the screening process will eventually improve as well, particularly as guests get more accustomed to stricter screening standards elsewhere. It's definitely been happening over the past year or 2, and I expect that improvement to continue next year as well (if Six Flags can do it, anyone can).

Personally, I've never waited more than 15 minutes to pass through security of ANY theme park, including Disneyland/DCA (that obviously doesn't include waiting for security/gates to open and doesn't include pandemic-restricted operations), so I'm not sure what the specifics were of thecolonel's observation, which does seem like a pretty absurd situation. I could see long waits to pass through security at HHN and other parks that draw massive crowds during an afternoon/evening changeover period, but those situations are pretty rare and isolated, and obviously necessitate a more comprehensive and thorough screening process, which is why many have just started prohibiting bags altogether to expedite screening.