Discrimination

just resently i went to Cedar point with my family, and went and had a pretty good time except for that my dad could not fit on almost nothing. Last yr he was really heavy and had a large stomach, but he could fit on almost every ride except raptor and mantis b/c of his chest, but this yr he could not fit on anything. He fit good on MF last yr but he could not even buckle himself nor could the ride ppl. I think it is total BS that Cedar point does not atleast put a cupple of larger seats on the train. He loves roller coasters and cedar point but they are slowly taking that love away. I just hope that if enough of us larger ppl get together, that just maybe they will put lager seats or atleast longer seat belts.

This is an extremely touchy subject no matter how you look at it. I don't want to sound rude, but if your father can not fit into the MF cars which iif I'm not mistaken fit a size up to 44, he should start thinking about his health.

-------------
MF Laps: 2
Raptor Laps: 3
Magnum Laps: 2
Power Tower Launches: 1
Power Tower Drops: 1

He is so much lighter than last yr and he is also smaller than last yr. Then tell me how he could fit on MF last yr when he was very heavy but not this yr when he is alot smaller? If u ask me it is DISCRIMINATION!!! IT IS WRONG THAT THEY ONLY WANT TO HAVE SMALLER GUESTS RIDE TO CUT DOWN ON THE LINES. LARGER PPL SHOULD FILE A DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST CEDAR POINT.

For god sakes, how hard is it to maybe make the seat belts 2 or 3 inches longer? I do not expect guests that weigh over 350 to ride but my god 2 or 3 inches to the seat belts! How much would that cost? maybe $100 per train?

I agree ddog.

This is a very touchy subject, and it's hard to discuss without offending someone.

I can tell you that the reason there are no seats built to accomadate larger riders on Raptor, Mantis, Corkscrew, and a few others is because they were built before the time of special seats for bigger riders. It may not be benificial for the park to spend the money re-fitting the trains with those seats.

I can also tell you that if it is interperated as discrimination, then you are mis-interperating it. I can gaurentee you that when considering a new ride, Dick Kinzel doesn't call up the manufacturers, and say

"You know, I really don't like larger people. Could you make sure to make the trains a bit smaller so that the fatties can't ride?"

Rides are not built a certain way to discriminate against one perticular group.

If your father has trouble fitting in a ride that's made to acomade someone with a waist of up to 44 inches, then it may be time to stop worrying about riding roller coasters, and start being concerned about his health.

I'm not gonna go any further, because I'll end up pissing someone off... I'll leave this to those who are better with words than I.

-------------
Joe - Drill Man, Elite Eight
Screw laps: 13 and counting... *** This post was edited by Intamin2k on 7/22/2001. ***

Cedar Point is not discriminating against anyone. I'm sorry that your father found he could not fit onto rides, and it certainly is a touchy subject and a sensitive one, but the fact of the matter is that amusement companies must manufacture rides to fit the majority of riders. By it's nature, this will leave out riders of extreme size, whether tall, short, or heavy. To equip coasters with longer belts and so forth could begin to endanger riders that are not so large, because the restraints would not fit as snuggly as safety must provide.

This gets to the point of where do you draw the line? If you were to equip coasters to handle (let's use height as an example) riders of 6'5", then riders who are 6'7" would be the group complaining. Then if you expanded the restraints to fit them, those few individuals who are even taller would have cause to complain - you did it for them, why not us? And those riders who are shorter would not be able to ride, because the restraints would not fit them properly.

There is no absolutely correct solution to this issue. Amusement companies (and Cedar Point does not build the coasters, so in the most basic sense they are not the ones you ought to be concerned with) need to make a profit, and they do so by targeting the majority with their attractions. ddogg has the right advice: if a person is having such trouble that they cannot fit into any coaster, even the newer ones that are designed more generously, then they ought to be considering their health and well-being, rather than the roller coasters.

-------------
PO!NT OF VIEW - A Different Look at Roller Coasters
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/

U guys are missing the point. Y THE HELL COULD HE FIT ON MF LAST YR WHEN HE WAS IN A 50 pants and weighted about 330 lbs? IT does not make sense. I am not saying to endanger ppl on rides like mantis and raptor by making the shoulder harness larger but how hard is it to maybe add an inch to the seat belt. By the way he is 6'4 with a 54 inch chest thats y he can not fit on those rides. He fits in the seats and everything the only thing is that the seat buckle will not click. It is just wrong that they will not ask the roller coaster company to increase the seat belt maybe by one inch. Like next yr if they put in the TA2K, ppl over 300 will not be able to ride b/c the coaster has a seat belt. also tell me this y can he fit on corkscrew if its seats and restraints are smaller and y could he fit on MF when he had a 50 inch waist

I was told they moved the seats up a bit because of the lowered height requirement to 48". Last year I would actually tighten the belt, this year I don't.

--------------
2001 Force Laps-82
2001 Magnum Laps-209
6/11/01 Gemini Laps 100

It is just not really fair. we come up every single yr for a fun vacation but this yr we had a really sh*ty on b/c my dad could not fit. Y should he have to sit out and not have fun while i am having a great time? It is so stupid that they will not make the damn belts an inch or 2 longer.

The ride manufacturers design their rides to fit the average person. There was a very heated debate over at Coasterbuzz over Vekoma makin ghte cut off for Deja Vu at 6' 4". Many people are taller than that and can never ride.

Cedar Point isn't discriminating against anybody, they are just fitting the average person into their rides.

But they have to understand that there are larger ppl that want to ride roller coasters too. If they are just out there to fit the average person then that is descrimination against larger ppls. Y is it fair to have awsome rides and not allow larger riders go on them? Its not!!! THEY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS LARGER PPL WANTING TO RIDE TOO NOT ONLY THE AVERAGE PERSON!!

"It is so stupid that they will not make the damn belts an inch or 2 longer."

So what about the people who need more than that inch or two added to the belt? What then? Is your dad the largest it needs to get? At what point do you stop lengthening it?

It says in the ride description that those guests who are very large may not be able to ride... if that's not enough for you, I don't know what is. I'm sorry your dad got short-changed when they went and rebuilt the trains, but guests of his stature have to be ready for such problems to arise and take them in turn. I run into similar problems on some smaller coasters and flat rides myself because I'm no beanpole myself. Cedar Point is not trying to ruin your day, I think they've shown that they (unlike, say, a certain Loony park to the east which shall be called Six Flags Worlds of Adventure for my purposes) care about every guest's experience and want no one to go home unhappy.

They aren't out to get you and perhaps you should, first, try to explain your reasoning in more rational terms, and second, tell Cedar Point about your problem (which I'm hoping you did if you're complaining to us about this).

-------------
Joe McNally
01 MF Count - 9
Total MF Count - 23

www.fallentree.org *** This post was edited by VorTeX on 7/22/2001. ***

Is it exactly fair to exclude those under 48" as well? Parents as well as children alike are just as upset because their child is just a little bit too small and is unable to ride. Why is it fair to have awesome rides and not allow smaller riders to go on them?


-------------
AIM: Pritti Kittie

One of my good friends cannot ride magnum because she is too thin. She gets jostled around too much. By your standards they should also decrease the size of the seats to fit her and leave people like me (about average build) to not be able to fit in the seats...

Ride manufacturers build their rides to fit the broadest sample of the population safely. Maybe some rides if made any larger or smaller would be endangering the smaller riders.

It is not discrimination to larger people, it is an effort to make each and every ride safe for the largest group of people possible.
-------------
-John Gilman; Proud Participant of the DT 80 and member of the O.C.!

Hey cedarpoint! did i ever say i was going to sue them ? NO! WHAT IS THE DEAL HERE? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE THE SEATS BIGGER OR SMALLER. I AM JUST SAYING TO MAKE THE SEAT BELTS A LITTLE LONGER!! SO THAT LARGER AND SMALLER GUESTS FIT SAFELY. HE IS 305 and he already knows that he can not ride X-Flight. He knows that he can not ride raptor mantis gemini mean streak and like 1 or 2 other rides. He know because the belts are t short. He told me if the belt was maybe an 1 or 1.5 longer he would fit. so do not go out and give me this bull crap about making the seat it self larger. *** This post was edited by Jeffrey Spartan on 7/22/2001. ***

TA2K Giga

I think it would help your argument if you typed in complete sentences with no abbreviations and DO NOT SHOUT! Thanks

I think I see the main gist of your argument, which is your dad could fit in last year and now he can't. Moving the seats up may have shifted the scope down to fit for more smaller people because of the belts. I am not a Swiss engineer, but I think moving the seats up would cause the restraints to come in contact with the body faster, regardless of body mass. Since the belts were not adjusted, they are now fitting smaller. They could make additional adjustments to the belts, like moving them up or making them an inch bigger to compliment the seat moving. That's up to Intamin though to find out if it's safe, not me :). After all a large man already fell out of another Intamin Designed hyper, so I doubt they would take any chances.

Whatever they did also made the test chair in front is inaccurate. I've heard of people fitting in the test chair and then not on the ride

--------------
2001 Force Laps-82
2001 Magnum Laps-209
6/11/01 Gemini Laps 100
*** This post was edited by Joe E. on 7/22/2001. ***

the gemini seat belts are much more than 1 or 1.5" longer than the MF ones, so if he needs those that much larger he would need MF's alot longer...

-------------
DT80: 30 and proud of it!
Proud member of the O.C.
Elite Eight (ring man)

He fits on to gemini BUT it is the divider in the car that makes him not fit

TA2K Giga, if you're here looking for all of us to back you up when you're yelling and ranting, you've come to the wrong place. It is unfortunate that your father could not fit rides, but are you going to try and say that this is unique to Cedar Point, that wherever else you may go he never has a problem? And having worked at Cedar Point (as have many others here), I can emphasize that Jess makes a good point - if you want to claim that your father and other large guests are discriminated against, what about the child that is 47" tall but really wants to go on the 48" coasters? The answer is tough, you can't. It isn't discrimination, it's safety, pure and simple, and like a lot of people here have said, the rides attempt to fit the broadest range of riders as safely as possible. If you want to claim that this hypothetical child will grown an inch in the next year and be able to fit -- well, according to your numbers your father lost 25 lbs. since last year, therefore he could lose 25 lbs. in the next year and not have a problem when you visit Cedar Point again in the future. We're not unsympathetic, but this is an old argument against ride manufacturers and amusement parks -- the fact of the matter is, some people just don't fit on the rides. That doesn't make it nice or fair, but that's how it is. By letting it ruin your entire trip this way, and if you're going to feel this intensely about it, perhaps you'd be happier to find somewhere else to go for next summer. Not once have you mentioned anyone trying to help your father out by trying to fit him on the rides (which I know the ride ops struggle to do every day with larger guests), nor have you mentioned all the other things that are available at Cedar Point regardless of your size. I'm sorry that you feel this way and I'm sorry that you had a rotten time, and I'm sure there are many people here that sympathize with the way you feel, but complaining here and insulting us ("and swearing") isn't going to do anything to change it.

-------------
PO!NT OF VIEW - A Different Look at Roller Coasters
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/ *** This post was edited by Jeffrey Spartan on 7/22/2001. ***

i want to appologize for saying that stuff. I am 15 (almost 16) and well you can, i guess say a kid wanting to do as much as i can with my father while he is able to ride these incredable new rides. I know safty COMES FIRST!! Cedar point is the best park i have ever been to and i do not want u guys to think i hate cedar point b/c i do not. I wait with such high anxity just thinking about what new wild and extream ride they will put in. I would never hate cedar point, and i hope that since it is bascly a traditon to go there, that i will hopefuly be able to take my family there when i get older. Once again i am TRULY sorry about my harsh words and i hope that everyone would be able to forgive me. I am sorry again.
Tom