Are lawyers taking the fun out of amusement parks?

I believe so with all the changes in the last 5 years or so. At Cedar Point the beloved character signs are gone, replaced by stirile boring signs with more warnings than ever. Ride spiels are becoming inpersonal and boring and more people than ever are being excluded. Bring back the good old days.

Yes, but unfortunately with a sue-happy society such as the one we currently live in, it's not possible. Judgements in favor of idiots who spill coffee in their laps and those who do other stupid things like stand up on roller coasters and get ejected. The "Good ol days" won't ever come back.

One tenth the population of the world, half of the lawyers in the world. We have to put those boys to work somehow. ;)

I agree with bholcomb. Those good ol days aren't coming back. The day that lawyers say to themselves "we need to be less picky when it comes to amusement park safety" will be the first.

Unfortunately, it only takes ONE person to mess it all up for everyone.

I was concerned after MF was built all these legislators were trying to pass a law that coasters couldn't go higher or faster. I am glad to see the coaster world is doing their own thing and building bigger and faster.

What I never understood is why Cedar Point removed the ride signs and added the "lawyer" signs... why didn't the park keep them like Dorney did?

http://www.coasterimage.com/pictures/dorneypark/wildmouse01.htm
http://www.coasterimage.com/pictures/dorneypark/littlelaser01.htm

Lack of a staffed entrance postion is my guess.

The only reason I find the lawyer signs annoying is that the lawyers themselves would probably tell you that they don't save the company from liability anyway. Ditto for spiels or anything else.

Why wouldn't that save the company from liability?

When I worked at Raptor and it was raining, we stated in spiels, "you will get rust on your clothes while riding this ride." People still did not listen. They rode the ride, got rust on their clothes and then went to Park Ops to complain.

It doesn't matter whether or not it is in the spiel, people are going to complain no matter what is written or spoken.

According to the signs, you could die on a ride and it's not the park's fault. Just because they tell you that you assume some kind of risk, it's also reasonable to believe that there is no risk. People sue for stupid things like falling out of a Matterhorn tub.

What ever happened to good ol' Darwinism?

Its still at work, unfortunately now, its the Jim Bob "Darwin in Action" Dummy's RELATIVES who think that they are owed something.

Darwin is dead, remember? ;)

Yeah, now its just the Darwin awards, which need to be brought into the public more. I think if everyone knew that there was a chance they would be humiliated in front of the whole world for doing something stupid, it could stop some people. :) But then there are those (like some of my friends) who would love to win the Darwin award. *** Edited 10/28/2005 1:59:20 PM UTC by BlueStreak64***

Fastball84 said:
One tenth the population of the world, half of the lawyers in the world. We have to put those boys to work somehow. ;)

And they still are overworked too! I've heard that there are about 75,000 lawsuits filed in America each day! As a country, we file 95% of the total lawsuits in the world. I wish I could find a source online.

Are they taking the fun out of it? Yes to some extent. While there are many lawyers out there willing to make a buck off of a frivilous lawsuit we are also forgetting the morons that will go to the lawyer to file the suit.

It's very difficult to take responsibility for oneself these days...

Of course that's one of MANY things that's wrong in this country but this isn't Fark :)

~Rob Willi

Edit: OOPS
*** Edited 10/28/2005 6:19:40 PM UTC by HeyIsntThatRob?***

The trouble is, it isn't just the lawyers. Well, it is, it's the corporate lawyers and the insurance company lawyers...but in reality it isn't the lawyers, but rather the *fear of litigation* that is causing an awful lot of trouble these days. How much crap do we now have to put up with not for the purpose of improving ride safety, but for the purpose of covering somebody's butt in the event of a lawsuit?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

too much, Dave. waaaayyyy too much.

Lawyers do take a lot of fun out of it. I'm happy there is still some in it though :)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051027/ap_on_go_co/congress_lawsuits

Hopefully this could help... in a lot more areas than just amusement parks.