Sometimes an amusement park thrill ride is shut down because of safety concerns but not the Gold Striker roller coaster at Great America Park in Santa Clara CA.

It had to be taken offline because the riders were having too much fun. They were screaming too loudly and disturbing the neighbors.

They started screaming from a height of 108 feet with a drop of 103 feet at 54 MPH which is equal to a lobbyist tossed off the roof of the capitol Building. That scream would be a little louder as the Congresspersons saw their pay-day vanish into the pavement.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that the shrieks were exceeding the decibel limit agreed upon in a settlement with Prudential Real Estate, which owns adjacent properties.

The amusement park lawyers advised they also have a case because buyers screamed too loudly when told the price of California real estate and it disturbed the thrill seekers.
“Nothing brings you down to earth like a bunch of screaming middle agers. It sounded like their parents” said Jack Klinghoffer, the park attorney.

Originally, people in nearby buildings thought the screams were coming from a first floor bank’s depositors when told the yield of their savings accounts.

Great America had to cover a portion of the track in a sound-dampening tunnel but would it have been less expensive just to gag the riders? “They could have tied and blindfolded them and changed the name of the ride to A Rolling Hostage Adventure” said Klinghoffer.
If they just tie riders down, the park could have saved a lot of money and produced world class screams by simply forcing teens to watch repeated episodes of ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County.’