Disappointment and pain

I was at the park yesterday with my 19 year old niece. We both have been riding all of the big rides for years and we were really looking forward to riding Gatekeeper because its not often that you get to ride something new.

In fairness to the ride i will tell you a little about my physical condition. I am 51 years old and I lost my entire right arm and shoulder to bone cancer when I was 14. I have been going to the park my whole life and have ridden every coaster there multiple times with no problems at all

We got on the Gatekeeper and almost immediately the harness/vest did not seem comfortable to me or my niece. By halfway through the ride it seemed to be much tighter and painful. By the end of the ride we were almost begging for the ride to pull into the station so we could get out of the harness. It was hurting my right side a lot and my niece said it was so tight she was almost having trouble breathing. We both agreed that will never ride Gatekeeper again unless they can somehow change the harness

If it was just affecting me then i could understand since I am built differently than everybody else but I have been reading other reviews this morning that have mentioned problems with the vest tightening. I purposely did not read any reviews before we rode it because I wanted to be surprised. Have any of you had painful experiences with the harness/vest? Do you think Cedar point can somehow change them to be less of an issue?

I would if you haven't already let the park know about your experience. The more complaints they get would surely have the park doing something to rectify this. Perhaps during the off season.

I will send an email to the park but after I posted on the Cedar Point facebook page somebody else wrote this which lets me know I am not nuts

"Agreed & ditto, my friend. Have had the exact same experience many times on Gatekeeper. Once you come out of that helix at the end of the ride, it tightens to the point that you're simply unable to take a deep breath (it restricts your rib cage's ability to expand). I'll admit, it can be quite unnerving (and possibly scary for some), especially if there are three trains running, where your wait to exit may take a little longer. I am one of Cedar Points' biggest fans and I do love this ride, however I do think this issue should definitely be addressed before it causes any further problems for its guests. I would think that the last thing Park Ops would want, is a new ride that causes pain & discomfort."

I have the tight harness problem as well, it just hurts my collarbone but it still isn't fun. Tony has posted that they are looking into it.

They are in the process of fixing the problem. Its a very slow process. Each seat takes 5 hours to fix.If you push the vest away from your body and hold it there you can ride it pain free. (you need 2 arms to do this)The ride op I talked to knew which seats had been fixed. I'm sure they would help you. I rode one of the fixed seats and it was great.

The other thing I have found is that if you ride it on the inside seat there is alot less vibration. This ride went from being not liked to one of my favorites.

novak72 said:
If you push the vest away from your body and hold it there you can ride it pain free. (you need 2 arms to do this)

I'm glad they're fixing the problem. Otherwise, not looking forward to Banshee either with these vests. At any rate, I pushed my abdomen out to have some extra room with the vest and tried holding out the restraints throughout the ride and they tightened like the others said above regardless. Do you mean keep your hands behind the vest throughout the ride and push out to keep it from tightening during the ride?

It's really hard to enjoy this ride having to worry about whether my breathing will be restricted.

Steve1984 said: it tightens to the point that you're simply unable to take a deep breath (it restricts your rib cage's ability to expand). I'll admit, it can be quite unnerving (and possibly scary for some)

Exactly!

just put a thumb under the vest and push out. do this before
the train leaves the station otherwise it will lock. It does
take any some enjoyment but its better than being in pain.

Vette said:
I have the tight harness problem as well, it just hurts my collarbone but it still isn't fun. Tony has posted that they are looking into it.

Slight collarbone pain is the only issue I have. Other than that, I don't have the other problems being discussed here.

Those otsr suck bigtime and its surprising coming from B&M who's made the best restraints for years. I would rather they put their old ones on their newer rides! If they plan on selling more wingriders in the US they better fix that problem or those coasters will become junk that no park wants.

They are fixing it so the vests don't lock anymore, letting it move freely with you during the ride. Some seats are already done.

I, too, had read about this when the coaster first opened and saw the exchange on here about it. Didn't let it sway me either way but I have to say I'm not a fan of Gate Keeper for a few reasons.

I will say it's a great ride but not for me. I did not experience any pain the first time or two riding it...from about the third ride on-the vest was extremely painful on my collar bone as well...and I got a blister from it and I didn't like that breathing was an effort after the first drop because it locks down so tightly.

The main reason I will never ride it again, aside from the fact I'm not that much into loops anymore- is that I have a hernia which isn't very big at all, have had it for 6 or 7 years. The first time I rode Gate Keeper, the G forces were making my hernia bulge and hurt even tho I don't feel G forces anymore, my hernia certainly did LOL! Front row was the worst but no matter where I sat, it was the same.

This made me more than a bit nervous to ride Dragster and WT again. I walked over to Dragster after Gate Keeper expecting the same thing and to not be able to ride it again for the same reason...Dragster had no effect at all on me, nor did WT. Thankfully. I'd be really upset if I couldn't ride either of those again. Gate Keeper I can live without...Dragster, MF and WT...no way.

Hopefully they get the restraints fixed so people will be able to enjoy it. The vest issues really cut down on the re-ride factor..for me at least tho I have to say...coming off the lift and twisting like that just before you drop is AMAZING...especially on the right hand side. I'm glad I got the 7 rides on it I did tho.

As I've said in threads here or on CoasterBuzz, I've also had problems with the restraint and my collar bones. But then again, I'm 6' 1" 145 pounds, in other words a twig with very defined collar bones. And I agree that pulling the vest to the side does help

My 12 year old daughter and I just went on GateKeeper for the first time yesterday. Everything started out fine but I noticed the harness getting tighter as the ride went on. When we got near the station there was a delay getting us back into the station. It was difficult for both of us to breath with the harness so tight. We are both skinny sticks so this is unusual for a harness to clamp down this much. Since I didn't know how long we would be sitting there I struggled to get some breathing room and pulled a muscle in my back. This was the first ride of our trip and has ruined the rest of it for me. Now riding any coaster is painful. I can't believe it's almost the end of the season and these things are still this constricting. I don't plan on riding GateKeeper again. Millennium is still better in my mind.

I rode my first time on L side inside seat front row with my cousin. I'm 4'11 and 100lbs and my cousin is a bit taller and bigger than I am and we were having a hard time breathing. Other than being happy to get out of the OTSRs when the ride was finished I was super happy with the ride. I hope they fix it b/c it's enough to make someone become clustorphobic.

Ya i see what you guys are talking about here, I was at the Park yesterday for Customer appreciation weekend and i got into the park for 20.00 Bucks (sweet deal) and I Rode GateKeeper for the First time this year and it was the First ride i rode right when we entered the park (wanted to ride GK before the rain came) and at first I didnt think about the restraints being too tight, but as soon as the Train stopped i can tell my collar bones were sore as heck, I didnt have trouble breathing though, I went a second time later on that day and noticed my collar bones hurt just the same, I sat in the second row of seats from the Front of the train Both times I rode! I Really love riding Gatekeeper Its a Sweet Coaster But They gotta fix those Restraints quick! Im 5'9 and 165lbs too, I can tell the restraints could use some fluffy padding around the neck and shoulder area and not that crazy rubber they are made of, ouchy!

I've logged a couple dozen rides on GK this summer, and at most I've experienced what I would characterize as mild discomfort in the shoulders (I call it "Chaos shoulders") that limits the number of laps I'll take to no more than 3 - 5 in one visit.

Rode about 45 times on Media Day with no problem. Might be due to my large size.

I rode it the day after Media Day and I was fine too. It's just that when I rode it again in July, it was painful (because of the harness.)

I saw some of you were talking about new harnesses being implemented in certain seats? Does this mean they're going to do this to all the trains before next season?

I have an idea. How about taking a nonscientific poll? Let's list our heights, weights, and subjective pain ratings of Gatekeeper; on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being completely pain-free and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, rank your experience of the ride. Maybe we can ferret out a correlation.

I'll start. I'm 6'2", 223 lbs, and my pain experience has been a '2'.