The Joker Roller Coaster Shut Down After Riders Get Stuck

Six Flags Great Adventure's newest attraction was shut down on Thursday after a pair of riders found themselves stuck for several hours. The Joker roller coaster, a 4D, free-fly coaster opened for the first time earlier in the day.

By 3:30 PM, park officials decided to close down The Joker ride down for the day. Kristin Siebeneicher, a spokewoman for Six Flags, says the park officials hope to have the ride open again on Friday but don't know for sure just yet. The shut down came about an hour after the ride's initial unveiling ceremony, credited to the vehicle's "dampener," a piece of equipment which controls the car, being in need of adjustment. It had been running flawlessly for three days prior to the unveiling.

"It's a new ride and new rides occasionally need to be tweaked," Siebeneicher said.

"We clearly don't want that to happen, so we swapped out that vehicle," said Great Adventue Park President John Fitzgerald. "No one's safety was ever at risk."

Six Flags Great Adventure is home to several other DC Comics themed roller coasters. It features Man of Steel, a roller coaster which offers its passengers a true feeling of flight, Green Lantern, on which passengers stand up for the entirety of the ride, the floorless Bizarro roller coaster, and the inverted Batman: The Ride roller coaster.

Great Adventure is also home to the world's tallest roller coaster, Kingda Ka, standing at 456 feet tall. When Kingda Ka opened in 2005, it would regularly shut down for maintenance, including a multi-month adjustment period in its debut summer.

(via NJ)