Bag Check Question

I noticed today that they were inspecting bags at the entrance. Is this just the basic make sure there is nothing dangerous in the bag or are they confiscating/turning away outside food and drinks this year?

That's interesting. I didn't notice anything like that on Saturday.

People might turn on me for this but i prefer having checked bags because it is really easy to sneak a firearm into Cedar Point as well as most of the Cedar Fair parks excluding: Kings Island, Dominion, Carowinds, and Great America because of the detectors. Even if they took some of the unused detectors from the former Paramount Parks. They could install them into other Cedar Fair parks.

Metal detectors sound like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

If the TSA Were Running New York

I saw it at the Soak City entrances on Sunday. Before early entry they made an announcement saying they were checking bags and anyone with a bag would need to be in the left line.

Yeah, they checked our bag and stroller on our way in this morning at the Soak City entrance. Which is understandable because both of my boys are terrorists at home.

In all seriousness they are checking for outside food and alcohol. And who knows, maybe because of Shoot the Rapids people might be bringing their guns in to fight back. I honestly don't think its a big deal, but then again we had nothing to hide. We had water, graham crackers, and goldfish packed for the boys and nothing was confiscated.

~Rob

Security theater is fun!

I was curious about this too. We ran out to the car and as we went through the gate I saw them checking some bags. However, we both had bags with us (more of a camera type bag), and left and entered the park twice, and they never checked ours. Maybe it depends on what kind of bag, or they were just being inconsistent

I’ve always been surprised that they don’t do any kind of bag checks, but I also like that too, because at most places it takes forever. Don't get me wrong, I like safety, but it's gotta be done right.

Glad to hear they didn't confiscate the snacks.

Checking bags, like most of the hoops at airports, does little or nothing to improve your safety. It only improves gullible people's perception of safety.

Wait, you mean watching them throw away a bottle of shampoo didn't actually make me safer?

Which is why I would rather drive for days and days than fly.

I can bring water in my car. I can't bring it on a plane.

djDaemon said:
Checking bags, like most of the hoops at airports, does little or nothing to improve your safety. It only improves gullible people's perception of safety.

Exactly! If someone really plans on causing harm, they will figure out a way to do it regardless.

I've always felt safe at the park. I feel way safer there than at the places that do have security checks.

Just to pose my response to the question posed in the article Walt linked to--

If the New York attitude were running the TSA, they'd hand each passenger a baseball bat upon walking through the security checkpoint and tell him to have a nice day. :)

Getting back on-topic...

I noticed that the CPPD was more visible than in the past yesterday, and I should note that they have allegedly been doing bag inspections for a number of years now...but it seems that they are only spot-checks, and my camera bag has *never* been so much as looked at. There is no mention anywhere of what they are looking *for*, so far as I can tell.

Note I said the CPPD was more visible than in the past. That doesn't necessarily suggest a larger police presence in the park. Security at Cedar Point has always been tighter than you probably think.

As best I can tell, it's about as much of a non-issue as the me_al detectors at Kings Island.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The Magnum entrance was not checking bags. Some Dr. Peppers and brownies were great in Mean Streaks line. :)

When I was in CPPD (couple years back), we'd do bag checks not to look for food, etc, but more like dangerous or illegal stuff, such as alcohol, drugs, weapons, etc.

EvilChameleon09 said:
Which is why I would rather drive for days and days than fly.

I can bring water in my car. I can't bring it on a plane.

I'm not a fan of flying since 9/11 so I'm with you there but you CAN bring water onto a plane...you CANNOT bring water beyond the security checkpoint if you bought it outside of the checkpoint, but once you're cleared, there's plenty of places to buy a bottle of water and you can bring it on the plane. Least, Continental never stopped me.

I'm still trying to remember, when was the Bottled Water Bomber incident again? I don't seem to remember that one.

Not too long after Magnum started to sink ;)

Our daughter has a baby-jogger that can hold tons of stuff...we've never been checked.

What I thought was funny is I was checked coming in with my handstamp on Sunday. After I was checked I watched 10 other people with bags walk in begind me and they weren't checked.