10/29/2011 - Where Was Security?

It sounds like Cedar Point needs to stop offering group rates during Halloweekend Saturdays. Maybe the increase in price for large groups will keep at least a little bit of this mess down.

Yes the park is packed on HalloWeekends Saturdays, but it's crazy to suggest that Cedar Point should deny admission, or not offer group rates. Cedar Point is a business and needs to make money wherever or whenever they can. Let's not forget that higher attendance = bigger profit which means Cedar Fair does well and there is more money available for cap ex projects.

Instead, maybe CP should just hire a few extra security officers, or post ride ops at the entrance location of each ride on extremely busy days.

+1

And another +1 that CP really, seriously needs to do something about staffing. I have tempered optimism that Ouimet realizes that staffing is a cause of many issues facing the park.

Or perhaps instead of posting ride ops (or ride prides for that matter) at ride entrances, maybe some should be stationed inside the busiest queues to prevent line jumping, smoking, etc.

^ I'm not sure that would work. When I worked at the park in 2001, I would ask people to obey the rules. Then they would ask me for my name and badge number and say I was being rude just for asking them to obey the rules they agreed to by purchasing their ticket.

I heard of the fight Saturday evening in front of the park near the theathre and the huge number of buses.

Sounds to me like the park got slammed with the perfect storm. Unusual late season group/crowds (not becoming so uncommon) and the lack of available staff. Add to it that it is final weekend.

Int he last half hour of the season Sunday while on Magnum, I witnessed a guy take off his shirt while going up the lift hill all the while holding his cell phone. I was very surprised that we did not stop on the hill. Shirtless he rode while holding the cell abive his head. After the final tunnel his put his blazer on and than a t-shirt. Once in the station no ride op said a word to him. At the photo booth the employee's there just talked and laughed with the guy when his pciture came up. They alsi were more concerned about people taking pic's of the screens with their mobile device's.

My very next ride on Magnum and I experienced the same thing again with another individual taking their shirt off while on the lift. Again, no response from the crew upon return to the station.

I guess it is a combination of the end of season apathy by the crews, and the general age of the crews, offenders and myself differ by 20 some years. For as many years as I have been a pass holder CP staff would hold to the rules to the final season bell if you will in the not too distant past.

I guess things change as time goes on, but why must people think rules do not apply to them...ah wait...there I go thinking like a logical person. :-)

The overall attendance was not high on Saturday. The main lot was never more than 3/4 full (as observed from Space Spiral twice over the course of the day) and the Soak City lot didn't even fill up to a point parallel to the guard shack. In fact, the older gentleman who drives one of the shuttles remarked about how light the crowds were. Frankly it was one of the lightest attended Halloweekend Saturdays I've ever been to, and I've been to one every single year since they started. A general overcrowding was most assuredly NOT the issue; if it were, why did this topic not pop up after Columbus Day weekend? One only has to look as far as Boblo Island for an example of what happens when problems like these are not addressed with dispatch.

It was nice to see Space Spiral operating, but am I the only one that hears it creaking? It sounds like an old old wooden ship.

I beg to differ - there were a LOT of people there - everything had a longer than usual wait - Even Corkscrew had a 60-75 minute line at some points. It was a peak capacity day - mostly due to the amount of busses that were there.

For reference, I was at CP the day after this, and it was the same pure, safe-feeling, and fun park I've always known.

Enough of the perfect storm excuses for Saturdays in October. Let's hope the park makes adjustments to keep everyone feeling very safe & happy these 4-5 days in October next year.

Out of curiosity, how did CP security handle these groups of 20+ brawls? Does CP have a zero tolerance policy, such that all of these individuals involved were escorted out of the park? Or were the groups simply dispersed?

Also, in the event that additional security was quickly needed, does CP have planned access to the Sandusky police or outside enforcement?

Krafty said:
It sounds like Cedar Point needs to stop offering group rates during Halloweekend Saturdays. Maybe the increase in price for large groups will keep at least a little bit of this mess down.

This is not a bad idea. This seems to work in other venues, like sporting events and bars. The higher the ticket price/cover charge the less likely one is to act unruly and need to be removed. On another note I did notice that outside of people lighting up at will, there was at least 1 group that was smoking pot on the Dragster midway. The park really needs to clean up the garbage and can raise these "group" rates in my opinion.

^Are you suggesting raising the group rates across the board for the whole season, or just for HalloWeekends? I'm sure Cedar Point has researched what price point will drive the most business and feels comfortable with that decision. I feel that a increase in the group price just for HalloWeekends would lessen attendance, and that is definitely not a good thing. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the drop in attendance from about 2008-2010 was due (in a large part) to stagnant if not falling group attendance. Like it or not, Cedar Point gets a lot of it's revenue from groups, not only from admission, but per cap spending. From the look of things, groups are back to pre-2008 levels, if not higher. I don't know about you, but I like to see my favorite park succeed and make a profit.

On Sunday during early ride time 5 girls asked the people behind me if they could go up w/their friends in line for Maverick. I watched 10 people get in front of me w/out asking. Halloweekends or not this has been an issue all year. Plus Oct.30 my son was in line for Windseeker...dummies don't listen when the operator says " this is your seat number". My son was in line someone took his seat &the ride ops made him leave cuz all seats were full. Momma wasn't happy as a vet pass holder.

Ffej said:
Out of curiosity, how did CP security handle these groups of 20+ brawls? Does CP have a zero tolerance policy, such that all of these individuals involved were escorted out of the park? Or were the groups simply dispersed?

I'm pretty sure they get arrested.

Also... fun fact. Most of the CPPD are actually bonded officers. So they actually are real cops and not security.

If anyone read the reports on Screamscape (I know, Screamscape is like the National Inquirer for amusement news), it seems like the park really got out of hand.

Lance actually brought up a great point in the article though. CP does not have metal detectors or bag inspections, which is very out of the ordinary for ANY amusement park. I think metal detectors are the way to go. Kings Island does a pretty good job with their metal detector system.

It's not out of the ordinary for parks to not have metal detectors.

its a last weekend thing i guess. same story at rye playland and six flags great adventure,. all the workers just seem lazy...either the energy is gone or theres nothing to lose since its the last day

I was there on the 30th with my girlfriend for our 9th or so and final trip of the year. We were fortunate enough to have short waits with the longest being about a half hour at Maverick. Only once did I notice anyone jumping in line in front of me for Eerie Estates and the screamster at the door couldn't throw them out because he couldn't tell who in the group had cut. He also stated that he had a whole group of 30 cut the night before.

We did both notice a change in the demographic as stated earlier in the thread. But in all reality, that is only part of the problem. It seems a majority of people are becoming more ignorant, arrogant, rude, and/or trashy and it really is a shame. Especially when it spills into a place we care about so much.

coolkid said:
Kings Island does a pretty good job with their metal detector system.

Out of the twelve or so times I went to King's Island this year they only used the metal detectors once. They don't wanna pay for staffing those things.

I have a feeling these parks will start wanting to pay to staff metal detectors when someone gets shot or stabbed one of these days. I feel the way society is headed it's just a matter of when not if.

Your mom is to fat to ride TTD. said:

Out of the twelve or so times I went to King's Island this year they only used the metal detectors once. They don't wanna pay for staffing those things.

You probably visit Kings Island much more than I. The last time I was there was about 2 years ago. I just remember them using very efficiently. There were about 20 metal detectors in one row, but only 3 were being used.