2007 Smoking Policy

Cedar Pat said:
I did kinda leave this out. But when I was there last weekend, I was only asked one time to put out my cig (I dont smoke in lines). It wasnt by police or any sweep, it was by a spookster in Fright Zone. And when I was asked, I immediatly extinguished. Everyone else the whole weekend never said a word.

...And thus proves my point. Many people know about the policy and merely choose not to obey it... at least until someone says something to them.

JuggaLotus said:
It was a complete failure. Zero signage telling people about the new policy, combined with zero enforcement results in zero success.

I said it in March/April and I'll say it again. Cedar Point (before this season) had a no smoking policy in place regarding all queue lines. That has never been sufficiently enforced. Just like the real world, there is no point in creating more rules (laws) if you can't/won't enforce the ones that already exist.

This was nothing more than a PR ploy.

For the record, it's extremely difficult to enforce it in the queue. It's not like we have people patrolling it and if they're mid-queue in something like MF it's almost impossible to see them doing it.

Hey, it's not my problem if they're so addicted they can't help but suck on another cancer stick while waiting in a two hour line. If anything it's almost a guarantee I'll live 40 years longer than them and be in much better health.

It amazes me people like that can even afford CP with all the money they spend on feeding their addiction. And then of course they display the intelligence of a two-year old when they can't find an ashtray that's two feet from them and decide to just toss it on the midway.

^40 years huh?

Validate your argument.

Also, if Cedar Point is not going to enforce the rule, then they should put the ash trays back and you won't have the problem of inconsiderate people leaving their butts on the ground... because ash trays are not "2 feet" away anymore. Also, non-smokers are also culprits in leaving their garbage around. not just smokers. Present a valid argument instead of generalizing. It helps if you want people take you seriously. *** Edited 10/16/2007 6:09:39 PM UTC by Coastern3rd***

Yeesh, is it me, or is it hot in here all of a sudden? Let's calm down a little bit. To be honest, I'm pretty neutral about the smoking policy. After all, it is outdoors, and that makes a huge difference from being in an indoor smoking area. Nonetheless, rules are rules, and I wish CP would do one of the following:

1) work on enforcing the rule more
2) Make it clearer to the guests that smoking is only allowed in designated areas. If it weren't for threads on PointBuzz, I would never have known there was a rule during my 3 days this summer.
3) Get rid of the rule.

I know #3 is pretty drastic and unfavorable to many, but if they can't enforce the rule, the only thing that it's making people do is complain about how it doesnt work. *** Edited 10/16/2007 6:39:27 PM UTC by Dvo***

I'm all for the rule and would hate to see it go. I just want to see some enforcement.. I wrote a letter to CP some time ago about this. It's unfair that I obey the rules when at the park and some idiot gives me a bad name. I have yet to receive a response.

Here is my only thought, and I think I have changed my opinion on this slightly.

I dont smoke, and I believe in the effects of second hand smoke. That said, in all my trips to CP, the only time it ever has bothered me is in the lines. Out in the open it is too easy to just walk in a different direction, etc.

That said, I always get upset at the punk (it's usally an adolescent) who thinks he is being sneaky by lighting up in a line.

I am even MORE upset at the employees who let this go.

So as this year comes to a close, I would suggest putting more emphasis on enforcing the queue line rule, and forgetting the ban/smoking area policy.

For the record, it's extremely difficult to enforce it in the queue. It's not like we have people patrolling it and if they're mid-queue in something like MF it's almost impossible to see them doing it.

No, it is extremely easy to see them. And you do have people in the queues...not "patrolling", but they are there. Usually when I say something to an employee you can tell they are too scared to confront the guest, so I do it myself. Nice.
*** Edited 10/16/2007 7:00:12 PM UTC by Kevinj***

^ - and to be honest, I can't blame them. They already get bitched at by the fat people who can't ride, the ones who think the wait is too long, and those that think a ride being down is a personal affront to them. So I don't blame the ops for wanting to avoid another confrontation.

However, there is no reason CP Police couldn't be posted at rides to be called very easily and quickly by an op, or talked to by a patron who has noticed smoking, line jumping etc. Its known which rides have long waits, so that makes it very easy to know which queues to patrol.

The new "policy" was nothing more than a PR move.

Agreed on the PR move.

Kevinj said:
No, it is extremely easy to see them. And you do have people in the queues...not "patrolling", but they are there. Usually when I say something to an employee you can tell they are too scared to confront the guest, so I do it myself. Nice.
*** Edited 10/16/2007 7:00:12 PM UTC by Kevinj***

Kevin, while I often respect and agree with your views, one of my biggest pet peeves are people telling us how easy our job is, and that we could be doing a far better job than we already are. Stand in our shoes for even a day, and maybe you'll finally realize all there is to the job. All of the bitching we take for every little thing. We take the wrath for the weather changing! Do you know how annoying that gets after even just 10 minutes? For the record, it is actually difficult to spot someone in the middle of a line, especially in one as large as MF. When I would clean up the line at the end of the night I couldn't believe how many cigarette butts I was picking up. And yes, we do actually pay attention to the line from the station. The one time that I know we caught two smokers in line was only because they were smoking in the area of the line right next to the control booth. Despite what you may think, it is difficult to catch things in the middle of a large mass of people that is constantly moving.

I've said it before and I'll say it as many times as I have to; do not think for a moment you know how to do our job better if you haven't done it! After you've put up with what we have to, for the hours we have to, and in the conditions we are in; then you may have some more credibility in my eyes. This ban is another in a long list of things for employees to keep track of, and quite frankly, I'm more worried about the line jumpers and threats to safety than someone smoking outside of a designated area. The one exception was around Blue Streak. We had some smart guest throw a cigarette into the mulch underneath our ride, and the mulch started to smoke. Consider the situation: a lit cigarette in a mulch area below a wooden coaster. The mulch is smoking, which means it is slowly starting to burn. thankfully we caught it almost immediately. Yeah, the paint on Blue Streak is supposedly fire-proof, but there's so much of it missing that its almost pointless.

I say this thread is pointless but.
I think the smoking rule was nice the park didn't have cig butts all over it and didnt smell like smoke except for a couple of area's which is better for the guests in my opninon..good job by CP on that one..well they have good decisions on everything ( cept for TTD) ;)

halltd said:
Why would you intentionally walk around the park smoking if you know you're not allowed? I really don't understand people like you.

In all honesty, the whole weekend, I only found one of the Designated areas next to the train station in Frontier. I went to where the park map said they were and didnt find them. I eventually just gave up. They need to do a better job of marking the locations in the park, not just on the map.

The one by Panda Express, straight across from Red Garter was pretty easy to find.

I wasn't even looking for the smoking areas and I saw ALL of them. It's really not hard to see plumes of smoke wafting up into the air. If there were only five places in the park I could get Diet Coke or go without it, you'd be certain I'd find those places. If I didn't really care about finding them, of course I wouldn't look very hard and then give up.

Besides, that's why I don't think it's hard to see smokers in the queue at all. I have a really sensitive sense of smell when it comes to cigarette smoke. When I'm in the queue and smell smoke, all I have to do is scan the top of people's heads. When you see smoke go into the air, there's the smoker. Oh boy, that was hard.

I don't blame the ride ops for not enforcing this because it's obviously not part of their job requirements when management doesn't even enforce it. But, to say it is near impossible to find the smokers is just bull. It's not hard to see clouds of smoke in confined areas like the queues at Cedar Point. Spot the person, grab them at the end of their row and eject them. If they had police monitoring the queues for line jumpers, smokers and fights, it wouldn't be hard at all. Should it be the ride ops that enforce this? I'm not so sure. If they wanted the ride ops to enforce this, have them give a verbal warning, call the police with a description of the guest and have them ejected from the park when they get off the ride.

If they really wanted to enforce the rule, it wouldn't be hard at all. The simple fact is they don't want to enforce it.

^^ I spent a lot of time by Panda Express on my trip and honestly didnt see one sign. I hunted for 10 min looking for the one by Raptor without any luck either.
*** Edited 10/16/2007 8:11:49 PM UTC by Cedar Pat***

Its almost straight across from the entrance to Red Garter. There are like 2 benches, 3 Smokers Outposts and maybe 2 signs saying that it is a designated smoking area.

I honestly didnt see it Jugga.

^^2 outposts. ;P

Seriously though.. Light these places up and drop one of those large arrow signs in front of it. Get a dancing clown, Organ Grinder and his monkey and play some circus music.. Seems like the only way people will start to take to notice.

^^ - don't feel too bad, that's the only one I remember seeing.

^ - that would be the other thing, especially now in the fall. Light them up so people can see them. As it stands, They are just benches off in a dark corner, who's going to find that?

one of my biggest pet peeves are people telling us how easy our job is, and that we could be doing a far better job than we already are.

Well I certainly didnt mean to come off as thinking I could do a better job. I guess from the patron's persepective, I have always "discovered" the smoker...but then again, I have an hour to find them.

I have never worked at CP but in my ears I have worked many service jobs, so I feel for ya BlueStreak...I know just how it can get.

Again, I think the "park-wide" ban is ridiculous, and impossible to enforce. I think Jugga brought up a good point, as well, about using Cedar Point PD. The thing is, there are only 2-3 lines where this is even necessary (on busy days).

You wouldnt need someone watching in a 4 minute WT line or a 2 minute Gemini line, but why not post a police officer in MF? Maverick?

Of course, an emergency could take priority, but I find it hard to believe CP couldnt work "line duty" into the CP PD's patrol list.

It would help with line cutting as well.

It seems that Six Flags and Holiday World are able to effectively prohibit smoking in their parks - and they both have park-wide bans. So, it's obviously not impossible. I really just don't think it's a priority for Cedar Point.