Field Trip Nightmare: Eight Students Stranded 100 Feet Up on Texas Roller Coaster

What was supposed to be an exciting afternoon at Pleasure Pier in Galveston turned into a four-hour ordeal Thursday when eight middle and high school students found themselves literally stuck at the top of a roller coaster ride. The group from Energized for STEM Academy Middle School and STEM Academy High School learned the hard way that thrills can quickly become trauma.

The malfunction happened around 5:20 PM, trapping the eight riders roughly 100 feet in the air with nothing to do but wait—and wait, and wait. Nearly four hours passed before Galveston Fire Department finally extracted the last person at 9 PM. According to Galveston Fire Department Chief Mike Varela Jr., the students were left visibly shaken by the experience. First responders used a fire engine’s basket to carefully bring each student down to safety, a painstaking process that required precision and patience.

The good news? All eight riders were checked for dehydration and cleared medically. They’re physically fine, though the same can’t necessarily be said for their nerves or their future relationship with amusement park rides. A representative from Landry’s Inc., which owns Pleasure Pier, explained that the ride malfunctioned and shut down exactly as designed—a fail-safe that, while saving the day, didn’t make those four hours any less grueling for the kids involved.

This incident highlights the real stakes of amusement park safety. While the ride’s automatic shutdown prevented what could have been far worse, it also shows that even the best-designed safety systems can still leave people in genuinely frightening situations. For these eight students, what was meant to be a fun STEM Academy field trip became a survival story they’ll be telling for years.