Cedar Point Old Rules

. . .I was talking to my manager at Gap today. (She used to be a manager at Cedar Point!)

Anyway, she told me that when she was there, ride workers were like 'segregated' -- boys would be on specific rides, and girls would be on others.

I thought that was funny. I was wondering if anyone who has been around has anything interesting to add. . .maybe about how things have changed over the past years?
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I was afraid that you'd be afraid if I told you that I was afraid of intimacy. If you don't have a problem with my problem maybe the problem's simply codependency!

---tick,tick. . .BOOM!
*** This post was edited by LIVE ENTERTAINMENT 3/3/2003 12:28:25 AM ***

This summer I was talking to a guy who worked one of the coasters a few years ago and he said that up until about 96 (I think, but it could have been later), the rides were segregated by gender. I think that's silly. I remember when it was like that though. Another rule I thought was silly was that girls hair can't be more than three inches off the top of their head. That's still from the days of poofy hair.
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Hotel Breakers Desk staff - 2002

Yeah, I think Magnum, Mantis, Iron Dragon and Gemini (most of the years anyway) usually had all girl crews. Raptor and Blue Streak always had guys. I'm not sure about the others (notice my then teenage mind remembers what rides the girls were working but not the guys ;).).

This "segregation" though didn't stop till recently though! I'm thinking 1999 or 2000 when they started with the mixed crews.

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Wow, a new ride is being built.
*** This post was edited by Joe E. 3/3/2003 5:33:07 AM ***

I think it was 1999 if not `98.

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Screamsters 2001
Millennium Force/Screamsters 2002
Rip Cord/Screamsters 2003

It was 1999.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

One major rule change has been the beer policy..until the drinking age was changed in ohio from 18 for watered down beer to 21 for everything, you could bring in about anything you wanted into the dorms/apartments as long as it was "concealed". I dont know that a dishrag conceals 4 cases of brew or a keg very well but it worked. The changes are probably for the better....sigh..

Now, I am not THAT old;), but I do remember back to my first summer (1980), and it is true about the "beverage policy". It was quite liberal as long as it was out of sight. Kegs of beer were even rolled into a Commons apartment or two during that summer. Also, it is true ALL rides were "segerated" Men/Women. About the ONLY coed crew in the park was The train with Engineers (men) and Train Girls.

Crew parties brought us all together as one male crew would be "invited" to party with a girl crew or two.

.. or three or four...

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

Perhaps this is the ultimate reason for the decreased capacity of Mantis! With only girl crews working, they didn't have any remorse for the guys who didn't stand up straight. :) When guys started on the crews, they sacrificed capacity for decreased "injuries." ;)

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.

Old Timer Tim said:
Now, I am not THAT old;), but I do remember back to my first summer (1980), and it is true about the "beverage policy". It was quite liberal as long as it was out of sight. Kegs of beer were even rolled into a Commons apartment or two during that summer. Also, it is true ALL rides were "segerated" Men/Women. About the ONLY coed crew in the park was The train with Engineers (men) and Train Girls.
Crew parties brought us all together as one male crew would be "invited" to party with a girl crew or two.

Yes that was my summer...remember the song "Rock Lobster"...He is not kidding about rolling kegs into the commons apartments;not that I would have any personal knowledge of said illegal event. I remember a couple of times when we would have bands on the beach that summer and there was a "funny smell" going around and no one from management seemed to care...Food Ops were coed thank god!

WOW...back up the Beer Truck...."said illegal events" were NOT illegal at the time! As for that "funny smell" well that is a different story;)

No in theory they were not illegal but some type of beverage policy violation, as if the front desk lady really cared! Security was a joke that summer. One girl I knew had 2 guys from sandusky living in her Commons Apartment, they just hopped the fence. A freind of mine made a fake id after he got fired (ray was clueless) and stayed with me for 2 weeks. Then the barcoding came along! Along with a myriad of rules and regs! Is having fun going to be outlawed next??

My first summer we didnt have coed rides. It was kind of fun because you were always trying to hook up with other crews. Screw your crew parties had alot more meaning then. Gemini was the first crew to go coed in 97.

1999 was the last year for segregated crews. i remember thinking last summer to myself how much more fun it was riding the mean streak when it was all female, compared to now....was it the scenery or the ride that has gotten worse....hmmm

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Cedar Creek Trading Co. 1999
MF 2002
Sky Ride...don't anybody sneeze...2003

The reason the rides were "segregate" by boy/girl was that Operations felt the rides would be safer if mixed genders weren't up there flirting with one another.

Of course in the day of same sex relationships (of which there are a significant number at Cedar Point) that argument sort of lost its luster.

I recall one of the first "mixed" crews was on Mean Streak when a guy worked with a bunch of girls. I guess it worked out because they expanded it across the park.

Same thing happens at Disney now. They used to have male and female crews. Now, it is common to see girls on the Jungle Cruise and other former "male" rides.

As for beer, it used to be sold to employees at the old Employee Rec Center that was formerly called the Zoo or Circus or something like that. I want to say that was in the 70's.

Yes it was sold in the rec center, I think that it was Pabst Blue Ribbon (yuck) and it was 2$ a pitcher. Old Timer Tim may be able to add some background on this one.

Of course the drinking age in the park was 21 and 18 yr olds could serve the 3.2% beer that was passed of as beer at the time.

I remember when John Albino got his 35mm SLR out and took pictures of 15 year olds drinking beer in front of the FT INN. He used the slide display at some type of a supervisors meeting to reiterate park beverage policy. Obviously this was the result of some miscreant guest and not the mistake of a park employee.

The year for all of this was 1980!

redbrigade said:
Yes it was sold in the rec center,

Wow, CP actually had a G-Top onsite?! :-)

Not sure if it was PBR or not but I do remember it was COLD and you could usually find someone to buy your pitcher for you!

While the drinking age in the park was 21...Ohio at the time had a drinking age of 18 for 3.2% beer. This is what was offered at the Rec Center. Also every Thursday at the Employee Dance you could buy cans of beer for a buck.

Many, many many nights were spent sipping beers at the Rec. Many many many good times were had there. Until the summer of 83(?), may have been 82 ALL intramurals were held ON-POINT right at the rec center or beach behind Oceana. After the "competition" losers would buy the first round.

Now STOP making me feel old and go enjoy YOUR summer(s)...:)

The beer I sort of remember at the employee dances was .50 cents a can and tasted like it! Alot of times it was miller and had the red %3.2 label on the top of the can. The intramurals were very fun and the dances were good as well. All joking aside CP management made alot of effort for the employees!

OTT: Of course it was cold, that's the only way to drink swill beer.

When I was in college, we used to make Beer Soup. Take a large stock pot from the kitchen (think a kitchen that feeds 50 people per meal.) Place a layer of (cheap) beer cans in the bottom of the pot. Cover with ice. Continue alternating beer/ice layers until you can't put in anymore, ensuring that the top layer is ice. Fill with cold water to cover. Stir. Even really horrible beer will soon be so cold you won't taste it. Much.

The water is essential; it is a better thermal conductor than air, so you want to surround those cans with fluid. If you were really a pro, I suppose you could add rock salt to drop the soup below 32F, but we were never that sophisticated.