'The Kids All Helped Each Other:' Mom Speaks Out After Her Children Were Rescued From Adventureland Ride

EAST FARMINGDALE, NY — As children were stuck on a rollercoaster dozens of feet in the air, with their legs dangling, and first responders were working hard, parents were watching below for hours.

One parent, Danielle Paniccia of Ronkonkoma, recounted the surreal experience of waiting more than three hours for her children to touch solid ground again.

Her two kids, 12-year-old Pietro and 11-year-old Lena, were among 15 children and one adult, stuck on the Wave Twister ride at Adventureland in East Farmingdale on June 19.

There was a 5-year-old aboard the with their 40-year-old parent; the rest of the kids were 8 to 12 years old, Suffolk County police said.

Paniccia's kids were in line for the fairly new ride, a spinning shuttle coaster, and as they waited, Paniccia said there seemed to have been an issue with the ride. After some time, Adventureland completed a few test runs, and the kids moved up in line as others stepped off during the wait.

"I trusted that they solved the problem and everything would be okay," Paniccia said.

The ride was in motion, but all of a sudden, Paniccia said she sensed an issue. She was on the phone with her own mother and at 6:53 p.m., told her she had to go: "something's wrong with the ride."

Looking up, she saw all the children stuck on the ride, many of them with tears in their eyes. Her daughter, Lena, was crying, yet at the same time, trying to comfort the young girl next to her. Her son, Pietro, acted tough and tried to keep the mood light – afterwards, a child told Paniccia that Pietro was "so funny."

"The kids all helped each other," she said. "I'm so proud of them. They really are strong kids."

Paniccia added that she is thankful her children were seated next to each other. The siblings were in the air for the duration, watching everyone get rescued until it was finally their turn.

Her son was the third-to-last to be rescued off the ride, and her daughter the second-to-last. The last child was rescued at 10:39 p.m., and it happened to be the girl next to her daughter.

"I was panicking inside," Paniccia said, adding that the parents were able to talk to the children while being rescued. "I was so scared inside, but didn't show it. I tried to stay calm for them."

Her father was with her at the time, and she said with a laugh, "he was the only one who wasn't calm." She called her husband to meet her there, and said he was floored that this happened.

As the children – and guardians on the ground – awaited first responders, Paniccia said Adventureland management came to look at the ride, and she assumed they called the police or would be able to get the ride working. She said she didn't think it would get to the level of needing first responders.

It wasn't until 7:24 p.m. that her father couldn't wait any longer, and he called 911.

"I just wish Adventureland did a little bit more," she said. "They didn't make any announcements. They didn't call the police. They haven't returned phone calls."

Mark Smith, park spokesperson, sent Patch a statement about the incident.

"Please know that while Friday night was a very fluent situation, park personnel made their best efforts to stay in contact with families of those who were on the ride.

Additionally, the park's customer relations group has made outreach via FedEx today to the families involved (for whom they have contact information) to touch base and offer passes for a future family visit. Anybody involved who has not yet heard from customer relations can certainly call the park to discuss these accommodations."

Smith added that the Wave Twister was developed by the ride manufacturer with a "state-of-the-art computer safety system."

"On Friday evening, the ride system lost its signal, which caused a mandatory controlled stop of the ride as part of the programming," Smith told Patch. "We are continuing to investigate with the manufacturer how and why that signal was lost. The ride remains closed at this time, and we do not yet have a timeframe for reopening."

Although Adventureland workers did provide first responders with water, Paniccia said she wished they had offered water, or even just spoken to the parents on the ground as they awaited news about the safety of their children.

"They wouldn't talk to us or acknowledge us," she said.

Reflecting on the rescue, Paniccia said she is thankful for the firefighters' quick efforts to save the children.

"It could've been much worse," she said. "We were very lucky. All of the first responders did an amazing job."

According to the East Farmingdale Volunteer Fire Company's Facebook post, the department said they were alerted to a reported ride malfunction. The large-scale rescue operation was initiated under the command of Chief James Quinn Jr., working alongside the Suffolk County Police Department Emergency Services Unit and mutual aid departments.

"Due to the complexity of the incident, each rider had to be individually secured and carefully brought to the ground using specialized rescue equipment and aerial apparatus," the fire department said.

Paniccia said it looked as though the ride was in an "awkward" spot for fire trucks to reach, but they were able to.

"It looked like a hard access point," she said.

Paniccia said her son and daughter take after her with a love of rollercoasters, and she hopes this event will not deter them from getting on another ride in the future. Her kids have been riding coasters as soon as they were tall enough to – and with her son being on the taller side, he's been able to for years, even upside down and adventurous ones.

Usually, she hops on the rides with them, but on that particular evening, she only went on a handful of rides and skipped the Wave Twister.

"I think I was better on the ground," she said. "I felt bad, though, because I wasn't up there with them."

As time passes and she processes the evening more and more each day, she said it makes her "even more nervous."

"I'm petrified now, but I don't want them to be scared," she said. "I don't want them to have trauma from this. We won't know until they try to go on another rollercoaster."

The next morning, her kids told her they wanted to go on roller coasters again, but not the Wave Twister. She said she isn't going to let this stop her either.

"Things happen," she said. "You can't fear everything in life. I want them to be strong."