Been there just last weekend. It is an amazing experience. For an engineer mind is an incredible masterpiece. Getting (the creator) is always there supervising the maintenance of its creations.
They are a little bit hard to operate but the feeling of enjoying a ride that has been propelled by your own legs is terrific.
I cannot suggest enough to pay the place a visit. Also do absolutely eat there, the price is right and the quality is incredibly high for the type of food.
Reminds me of MIT, ~15 years ago. For dorm rush, when incoming freshman walk around campus and decide where they want to live, undergrads at my dorm, East Campus, would build out some neat, full-size wooden roller coasters. I never personally rode one, but I was always super impressed by them! They weren't quite as intense as the photos in the article here, but were still pretty big and seemed to get to a decent speed.
That said, looking back now, I'm kind of shocked the administration let them get away with it! I wonder if anything is still going on like that now? Sadly, I kind of doubt it would even be allowed, for liability reasons. But I also wonder if East Campus even kept up with it otherwise. It strikes me as the kind of thing that would have been instituted by someone or some group of people (some kids on Second West, IIRC) because some people are just like that, which could then maybe keep up by cultural inertia for a time once the founders move on, but which would ultimately stop on its own.
For almost 100 years, Texas A&M created MASSIVE bonfires prior to their game against archrival University of Texas. The bonfires became bigger and bigger each year.
In 1999, 70 students at a time set up more than 5,000 logs.
On November 18, 1999, the stack was 59 feet high.
You should all see where this is going....
The stack collapsed.
Cranes were brought in. The process was slow - a wrong move...further collapse and students were under the logs.
Easy to test, are unqualified people able to build a massive wooden rollercoaster on university grounds in (insert healthcare utopia here) without university admin getting itchy?
Similarly I had just read this thread summary about a person asking how to fix a zipline that had been built without any engineer input. They'd only calculated after spending $40,000 and building two massive platforms that it would probably kill anyone who rode it.
The OP article took a different turn when I got to the part where it said a government-approved engineer checks his rides (what the people in the thread I linked definitely didn't do).
There is an interesting audiobook about the place by the founders son (who worked there). It’s obviously biased, but does not turn a blind eye to all of the issues, I found it pretty interesting and certainly a fascinating story:
Not every country has yet fully gone the legal route.
At the same time, Italy is one of those southern countries with many rules where nothing is possible yet everything is possible at the same time (if you know the right people :))
in the past sometimes the fire brigade has suspended one or more of the attractions, but since no one was ever hurt somehow they managed to fix them (both legally and as safety)
plus we are in italy, we are masters of (also) high precision mechanics
[the first person who responds to me with a joke about "Fiat" gets a slap]
This man literally plays Rollercoaster Tycoon in real life. What an absolute legend!
I really admire (and envy!) people like this, they have a great passion for something, and they build it to enrich the world without selfishness and agenda.
They are a little bit hard to operate but the feeling of enjoying a ride that has been propelled by your own legs is terrific.
I cannot suggest enough to pay the place a visit. Also do absolutely eat there, the price is right and the quality is incredibly high for the type of food.