Matthew McConaughey Lost His Phone On A Six Flags Roller Coaster, But There's A Happy Ending

Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Theme parks can be fun places to go, but while they are places that are fun for the whole family, being the “dad” at a theme park comes with a certain amount of responsibility. Matthew McConaughey knows all about that on a recent trip, where he was put in charge of everybody’s phone and he successfully kept track of all of them... except his own, of course. 

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Matthew McConaughey related the story about taking his daughter to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, a favorite park of thrill seekers, because she wanted to ride roller coasters for her birthday. Because who doesn't want to go to a theme park for their birthday? The group rode every coaster multiple times, and it looks like they got the VIP treatment and probably got to skip a bunch of lines. Unfortunately, on what was likely the last ride of the day, MConaughey lost his phone. And yet, the story has an incredible ending.

Losing your phone on a roller coaster is a nightmare scenario for a lot of people. Many attractions are now requiring that guests use lockers to store valuable items because the odds of them flying out of a pocket, no matter what you try and do, are just too great. You can’t ride Jurassic World Velocicoaster without stopping by a locker. When I was last there, a Team Member stopped me because he saw the outline of where my phone usually was in my pocket and thought I still had it. He wasn’t letting me on with anything.

Most of us would write off a phone lost on a roller coaster. Even if it went off in a place where it might be easy to find, the impact in most cases would almost certainly destroy it. In this case, it seems the phone didn’t shatter into a million pieces because it landed in what the actor called a “swamp.” In that case, you have to assume that water damage is going to kill the phone, especially since it would need to sit wherever it was for a few hours while the staff waited for the park to close.

And yet, not only were the Six Flags staff able to find the phone, which is an incredible feat for which they should be commended, but somehow, through just luck, the phone still worked. Most of us would not be that fortunate. Matthew McConaughey certainly has some serious theme park magic going on. 

Six Flags recently announced a merger with Cedar Fair, which will create one of the biggest amusement enterprises in the world. One hopes that the combined company will have employees as dedicated to finding phones as Six Flags Fiesta Texas. 

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.