There was plenty of screams – for help, not joy – at Disney California Adventure on Friday afternoon when four trains on the California Screamin’ ride became stuck, some on the ride’s peak.

“Currently stuck at the top of California Screamin,” one passenger tweeted.

Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer was among the passengers. He posted a photo of himself and said, “Not sure what is more difficult, pitching in a Major League game or this.”

The ride “experienced a minor mechanical issue,” about 2 p.m., so four trains holding about 100 passengers on the ride stopped, said park spokeswoman Suzie Brown.


“We were going pretty good, going up the tallest hill and were about to go over and it just kind of stopped, the music was still playing,” said Maci Hensley, 15, who was in the rear seat of one of the trains. “I’m actually afraid of heights, and I’m a little claustrophobic, and it was just scary.”

It took crews five to 30 minutes to walk passengers off the ride. No one was hurt.

“Once I got on the ground I was like ‘Yes! I love you so much ground!’” Hensley said. She said she and her friends and family drove to the park from Las Vegas.

The ride was up and running again before 3:45 p.m., Brown said. Guests who were stuck on the ride received a priority admission to any attraction, she added.


This isn’t the first time a ride has malfunctioned at Disneyland lately. In October, the Ferris wheel jammed for about two hours in 90-degree heat.

A Times analysis of California theme park injuries shows that of 2,089 injury reports filed in 2007 through 2012 with the state Department of Industrial Relations, California Screamin’ generated the third-highest number of reports among Southern California attractions, with 76 reports that included nausea, seizures, fainting and shoulder pain.

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