Huge Disappointment

I have been planning this trip for 3-years and my kids and I were really excited to
go to Cedar Point. I flew from Arizona to Ohio and planned to 2-day trip to
the park for myself and the kids. I am 6Ft 7Inches tall and of medium build. I have been to dozens of amusement parks in the past and I always fit on all of the
rides. But "NOT AT CEDAR POINT" The safety restraints and seatbelts at CEDAR POINT were all too small for me! I was unable to ride all of the new rides.
I only fit on two old roller coasters. The mine ride and magnum. But I was not able to ride anything else. So if you are tall like me don't waste your money on CEDAR POINT. You won't be able to ride Top Thrill Dragster, Mellinium Force, Raptor, Cork Screw or anything built in the last 20-years. This place is a big rip-off. And the people are so insensitive and cruel. I actually got the seat belt buckled and properly tensioned in the test seat for Top Thrill Dragster. They told me at the front of the line that I would be able to ride it. When I actually waited for 2-hours in line and tried to ride the coaster, the seat belt for the actual ride, was just a little smaller than the test seat. I got it buckled, and was securely fastenend into the ride, but the operator wanted me to be able to show him a half inch of slack in my seat belt or he wouldn't let me ride. They can take that half inch and shove it up thier ass! This has nothing to do with ride safety! I was securely buckled into the ride with all of the approved safety equipment. These people just get a thrill out of humiliating people!

Yes, you're right. Cedar Point gains a great busisness advantage by insulting their guests.

Ohio state law says that parks must comply with safety recommendations from the ride manufacturer. Intamin recommends the 1" [edit: Scratch that. Apparently it's half an inch now] slack rule so Cedar Point must follow it or the department of agriculture, which oversees ride safety in Ohio, would not approve the ride. So, no, you were *not* buckled into the ride with "all of the approved safety equipment." You didn't have the slack, you couldn't ride. Allowing you to ride would have been a violation of Ohio state laws.

But, please, tell me how it is that you were able to ride Mine Ride and Magnum, but weren't able to ride Gemini.

And spell it with me. M-I-L-L-E-N-N-I-U-M.

If you're thinking you'll find sympathy around here, don't waste your time. Folks who sign up and make such whiny crybaby posts with such a poor attitude as their first ever post don't fare well around here.

*** Edited 7/30/2005 1:57:36 PM UTC by Michael Darling***

If you had done your research then you wouldn't of been as shocked as you were. The half inch is standard. I am very sorry that you couldn't ride every thing. One last thing, there has never been a person that died at Cedar Point but I'm pretty sure there are some that have died at some of the parks you visited.

Actually, people have died at Cedar Point. None of them have died due to a ride accident, however. Things like heart attacks, strokes, cougar attacks, etc happen everywhere all the time.

What crawled up your ass, John? I don't doubt that ride operators were unkind to him. It happens all of the time. I'm sorry, but if you fit in the test seat, they gotta let you ride. This apparently happens all of the time, and it's not cool.

I understand Barry's aggravation. My sister was able to ride MF since it opened until last year when the seat belts were shortened. She carries her weight in her hips so can no longer pull the required 1/2 " on the belt. I am a size 12 and can barely do it(the average woman is a size 14). Yet I'm seeing men with bellies the size of Ohio able to ride because they have small hips. They just lift their belly up and slide the seat belt under it. I would think this is the "high risk rider" Intamin would want to keep off. As a cardiac RN I can tell you an overweight person who carries it in their abdomen is a much higher health risk than someone who carries their weight in hips. I think all Intamin has accomplished is making many people angry at Cedar Point. My sister no longer buys a season pass.

Does height really have that much to do with it?

Unfortunately, this is the way many people perceive the park. All this bull in the name of safety.

Being tall can make a huge difference on rides like Raptor, Corkscrew, etc with OTSR. I am 6' 4" and can just ride Corkscrew now with the seatbelt, Raptor was a little easier. I haven't ridden WT so cant comment on it. Also, if most of your height is in you legs, it can cause a problem with other rides. I frequently need to cross my ankles which drops my knees slightly before some ride restraints will close properly. At 6' 7" I'm more surprise that he hasn't had trouble at other park as well. I know several rides have maximum heights of around 6' 4" on rides. For example I am just short enough to ride Runaway Reptar at PKI.

I'm not insulting anyone here, but if you just stay skinny or small like me you'll be able to ride all rides.

Let's step outside the Millennium Force/Top Thrill Dragster issue for a moment. We all know that's a problem.

If he was able to ride Mine Ride (which I find impressive at 6'7"!) and Magnum, certainly Blue Streak, Disaster Transport, Gemini, Iron Dragon, Mean Streak and WildCat should have all been options. Not to mention a whole host of flat rides, Demon Drop, Power Tower, etc.

I'm not going to get into the whole "I can't ride the big two" argument. We've been through that. I understand it's a problem. Yes, I think it could be handled better. If you fit the test seat, you should ride. The slack requirement is silly. Believe me, I understand the frustration. But, let's not exaggerate.

All this bull in the name of safety did not prevent him from riding any of the other rides. Other than the fact the ride ops can no longer assist, has Raptor changed since 1994? Larger guests have always had problems with Raptor (and other B&M inverted coasters). There's a reason there has been a test seat since day one. If you can't fit on maXair, you're probably not going to be able to ride Delirium. If you can't fit on Wicked Twister, you're probably not going to fit on Vertical Velocity. Those are not Cedar Point issues.

J Ohde you probably have a good chance of riding Wicked Twister. My friend is around 6'4" and they yanked him out of line to check and apparently he just made the requirement. He wasn't able to ride Deja Vu at SFMM for the same reason.

I HATE Six FLags....you can talk about staying skinny and small AFTER you turn 25, when your metabolism slows down and just getting a whiff of fried food puts a few pounds on you. ;)

Unfortunately, a few people I know have had similar experiences with MF. They all have ridden in the past but were turned away after fitting in the test seat. Needless to say they vowed never to go back and I've lost a few riding partners. :( *** Edited 7/30/2005 4:45:57 PM UTC by macho nachos***

I would agree with you Walt, but he still left with complete disappointment. Especially after being told he could ride in the test seat. What do you want to bet he wouldn't have been as upset if he hadn't been told he couldn't ride on Dragster at the entrance only to be turned away? Then he could have possibly ridden MF as well. Then you're talking about Raptor and Wicked twister which might have turned him away.

That leaves a different feeling of 'Oh, well I got turned away on 2 coasters' instead he feels like he was turned away on pretty much every coaster because he couldn't ride anything 'big' except Magnum.

Yes, the ride ops are just doing their jobs. But it's not right. Now he's going to go back to AZ and tell everyone how crappy of a time he had at Cedar Point, when all of this could have probably been avoided if they'd just get rid of that slack rule.

I don't disagree at all - this is about Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster. If we strip away the exaggeration in the original post, we're back to the same valid discussion we've been having over and over for two years.

He's not the first upset guest to post here. I'm just trying to keep things in perspective.

Can someone tell me what the half inch of slack is for? Does is accomplish anything other than pissing people off?

Vince982 The only thing it does from what I can come up with is Piss people off.

If yon really need a half inch in a belt to ride then there is something wrong with the belts what are you going to fall out if you dont get half an inch. Becides there is a lap bar it is not like the only thing that is holding you in is the seatbelt.

It is interesting for me to see, there were two posts on here angry with CP, this was their FIRST post. I understand long time pointbuzzers because they have been there and understand the rules and know how it "used to be".

In a way, I am a bit disturbed. I have been a CP fan for quite a while and never heard of "Pointbuzz" until 2003, yet someone from AZ who hadn't been to CP in a while just posted to say they were not satisfied.

So my question to the first time posters who thought they were going to get an "gee, WE are sorry," responses, why didn't you go to park operations and state your complaint?

If they were soooooo geeked about doing CP, they should not assume all the rules are the same at every park (I learned this the hard way at Knotts).

We know the rules at CP are not the best rules, but let me tell you what, it still doesn't stop the millions of people or me from visiting.

Just like Walt stated, had these first time posters done some searches, they would have found a lot of posts about the slack rules, etc and found out that they aren't the ONLY people in the CP world that have been denied a ride.

As stated in another post, it is just one less person in line!

Good point for seat belt info do a search here. Cedar Point should advertise this site for info about rides do a search for seat belt and you would be unbelivably happy

It was never my point to have people do a search (if it was, this thread would be closed) or to discount the original post. My intent was to bring perspective to the post.

*** Edited 7/30/2005 7:57:09 PM UTC by Walt***

Question: I'm 6'0" at the moment, but in a few years, would it be possible that I could be turned away from some of the rides? (I'm 14 and quite thin, so I still have a lot of room to grow. ;))