Cell Phones/Cameras on Rides

The biggest problem with cameras/phones etc. at Six Flags parks is that the Ride Operators are not allowed to restart the roller coasters themselves. Only Maintenance is allowed to restart. That's why SF parks tend to not do as many ride/lift stops.

Had few rides on the MF messed with last year. I was more concerned about my goddaughter or myself getting hit with a phone when the asses trying to film their night rides lost them.

Always happy to see phones get lost in such situations, and if I managed to snag one it would be useless before (if) I returned it to the owner.

Love the idea of the perpetrators being removed from the park.

Bossmccann said:

Yesterday on Raptor all the trains were in the station and the ride didn't go for about 10 or 15 minutes because someone lost their hearing aid and had to look for it underneath the ride.

That might have been it, then! It was fairly early in the morning cause it was the second ride we went on, so that would definitely explain why we were waiting for so long. Thanks! (:

theatc99 said:
^and when exactly did that happen?

Opening day this year

Phones and cameras on rides wouldn't be a problem if Cedar Point didn't take the POV's themselves. Oh well, maybe next year. ;)

DejaVu2001 said:
The biggest problem with cameras/phones etc. at Six Flags parks is that the Ride Operators are not allowed to restart the roller coasters themselves. Only Maintenance is allowed to restart. That's why SF parks tend to not do as many ride/lift stops.

Actually, and I can only say this from experience, we are allowed to start and stop the ride and lift. If we couldn't, we wouldn't be able to complete our morning safety checks :)

I suspect Six Flags revisited their policy after that girl in Kentucky lost her feet while the ride op was on the phone trying to get permission to stop the ride...

Ralph Wiggum said:
I suspect Six Flags revisited their policy after that girl in Kentucky lost her feet while the ride op was on the phone trying to get permission to stop the ride...

I totally agree with you! I'm sure a lot of policies were revised after that incident.

CedarPtForever said:

DejaVu2001 said:
The biggest problem with cameras/phones etc. at Six Flags parks is that the Ride Operators are not allowed to restart the roller coasters themselves. Only Maintenance is allowed to restart. That's why SF parks tend to not do as many ride/lift stops.

Actually, and I can only say this from experience, we are allowed to start and stop the ride and lift. If we couldn't, we wouldn't be able to complete our morning safety checks :)

Which park? At Great America, they still aren't allowed to restart coasters. Safety checks that require restarting are completed by Maintenance.

Six Flags St. Louis. And it depends on the situation. You're correct in saying most rides don't have cameras on the lifts, so if the train stops there, its most likely for a trouble light. We do have control over the lift though, but on most rides we wouldn't be able to see if they have the phone out to stop the ride. We do have the power to get security involved too as previously stated.

When I worked on maXair in 2010 we had to watch carefully for the first few upswings for cameras and phones. If we didn't catch them before that point, we had to let the ride run its full cycle and then find them once their ride was over.

As far as safety is concerned, the problem of phones and cameras on maXair is that its a safety hazard for the people in the midway AND the riders. I can't tell you how many phones were brought to us from the midway by guests. And think about how heavy smartphones were back then!

Ive been stopped twice, both in unusual locations. My first time ever on the MCBR of Mantis because someone had a GoPro strapped on his chest and the ride ops just THEN saw it. The next was on magnum on the breaks right before the turnaround to the final brakes to the station. Plus I've caught 2 phones, 3 hats, and one pair of (REALLY) expensive sunglasses. All on Millie...

Back in 2011, my brother and I were riding Mean Streak, as we were leaving the station I hear a girl behind me say "can you believe they stopped me on the hill of millennium yesterday cause I had my phone out?! Ridiculous!" No less than 30 seconds later we were stopped on the hill of Mean Streak. First the ride op came onto the speaker telling her to put it away, but nobody heard it because we weren't far enough up the hill, then a few minutes later an operator came up to tell her to put it away.

As I had said on the onride video thread the. Park should offer onride video DVD to buy in that way the park won't have a problem with people sneaking their phone or cameras on the coaster just so they can have their pov onride videos. For two years cedar point had offered onride video dvds at the raptor that you could buy at the raptor,s photo shop. It was a nice thing to have. I personally have two raptor onride video dvds. Two years ago cedar point was going to offer onride video dvds on maverick but the park backed out of it for some unknown reason. Maybe one of these years that the park would start offering onride video dvds after they had so much problem with people sneaking their cameras & phone on the coaster.

Don't pull out your phone on Gemini. Every other time I have rode it this year. There was some type of cell phone stoppage. I swear can spot a cell phone on Raptor with how good they are at catching them.

I haven't had a ride stopped while I'm on it but I've seen it happen several times. I've heard it said the train is the only ride you can take pictures from. Is that true? I've taken them from Skyride and the ferris wheel since there's no other place to take pics from high up. I always make sure I keep it inside the cabin so if I drop it it won't hit someone in the head. On anything else it's just not safe.

Some people are too cheap to buy an on-ride DVD they will still take out their camera-phone. When caught ride-ops should take away the phone and turn it over to police. Let the police return it--as they escort them out of the park.

^It can and has happened...

Happened to me on Gemini 2 times in the same day.

I will be the first to admit that I love my phone. I'm one of those that looks things up constantly and to think about going 12+ hours without it just might make me show signs of a stroke.

However, it's BECAUSE I love my phone as much as I do that I will not journey around Cedar Point with it on me. The benefits of being able to continue to use it after the trip outweigh being able to look up the lifespan of a flamingo while in line for Magnum. I simply won't take the risk of having it come loose from my pocket, or smashing the screen on a bumpy ride on Mean Streak.

As far as taking it out ON a ride? No way. I'm clumsy enough to drop it in my lap while laying in bed.. let alone at highway speeds.