Maverick Crew cracking down on no earing policy.

Jeff, I know I'm not Dave, but I believe that if the manufacturer says, "Such and such policy should be in place because this or that might happen if not" then the park has to abide by it for safety reasons.

Certainly NOT abiding by it would created extra liability problems if anything bad happened

Jeff said:
The park doesn't get a pass just because the manufacturer says this or that. They're the customer, they bought the ride, and they can make change happen. Dave could correct me, but I'm pretty sure state inspectors don't establish policy either.

It was my understanding, based on the time that I worked for the park, that the manufacturer does indeed set the minimum requirements, and in Ohio those requirements are binding. What's more, these requirements can be retroactive for existing rides per manufacturer dictate, with little recourse available to the park beyond refusing to purchase additional products from that company. From what I understand, this is one of the (many) big reasons why the CP/CF-Intamin relationship soured. Remember how none of the Intamins used to have that maximum height limit, and then a year or two ago suddenly had one? This was apparently a new directive from the manufacturer that CP/CF had to comply with. While the parks are free to set restrictions above what the manufacturer dictates (which CF has rather inexplicably done with many of their Arrows), at least in Ohio they cannot go under the restrictions. This was also the explanation given to me as to why CP doesn't have the "big boy" B&M seats. Take it for what it's worth....

Jesus, no one wants to read or understand anything here today. Is this how the summer is going to go?

I'm perfectly aware that the state requires manufacturer policies to be adhered to. I wasn't arguing to the contrary. My point was that the customer is well with their right, spending tens of millions of dollars, to tell the manufacturer, "This situation sucks, is unacceptable, and you're going to do something about it." In this case, that action is to tell Intamin, "Your restraints suck, so change them, or drop the stupid policy."

Of course, they have to deal with Sandor, which is like dealing with some combination of a TSA scanner jockey and an IRS auditor.

Jeff said:
Of course, they have to deal with Sandor, which is like dealing with some combination of a TSA scanner jockey and an IRS auditor.

+1

"They're the customer, they bought the ride, and they can make change happen. "

I think that might have been where I misunderstood you.

Sure the park can ask the manufacturer to change a restraint/policy/train/SOP. But if they say no, what kind of recourse does the park have, short of threatening to not give them another $10-25m for a shiny new toy? I'd actually be kinda curious to see the language in the purchasing contact that governs that sort of thing.

Jeff said:

Of course, they have to deal with Sandor, which is like dealing with some combination of a TSA scanner jockey and an IRS auditor.

That sums up a lot of it. I'd be highly surprised to see CF go back to Intamin anytime soon.

Since Cedar Point isn't going to be adding a coaster every other season like last decade, it's conceivable that we don't see another Intamin in the park for 10 years at minimum

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but I was there in mid May, and I was next in line when I see someone come back in with their hands and shirt covered in blood, grasping their ear. They had gotten an ear ring ripped out throughout the course of the ride.

I rode several times this past weekend and not once did they ask anyone to remove their earrings...

When the manufacturer refuses to cooperate, the park's easiest recourse is to get their own expert to make the rules, make any necessary changes...but if they do that, the manufacturer has a legal "out" if something goes wrong. This is basically what happens when the park makes major modifications on a ride where the manufacturer is out of business.

For an obvious example, I don't know for certain, but I expect that Intamin has probably disavowed the trains on Ride of Steel at Darien Lake.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.