Measuring kids

I'm sure this topic has been covered before so sorry in advance....We are going taking my 7 year old to Cedar Point next week and without shoes he is 47 1/2 inches with tennis shoes he is just over 49 inches, will they make him take his shoes of to get measured? Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Thanks

The rule is that it must be a standard shoe. So as long as they aren't straight out of the 70's, they won't make him remove his shoes.

If your kid just makes the height they will likely take his shoes off to make sure you didn't put something in them to make him a little taller.

Should not be an issue for your son since he is quite a bit over the 48" mark but I would recommend measuring him at park ops rather than at the town hall. The bar clearly hits my son in park ops but it passes right over his head in the town hall. I think their measuring devices could use some calibration.

Go to park ops and get him measured for the wrist band. It's the easiest way to go and will save you from waiting in line and possibly get turned away by the time you get to the station.

Not so much a gripe as its more of a curiosity, one day I'd like to bring my tape measure to see the actual measurements. We measured my son at home and he is 46.5" in his bare feet, however at the park with shoes on he barely makes the 46" mark at park ops, same thing with the height checkers at the rides. I wonder if they build in some height to accommodate those trying to ride with platform shoes.

Good luck!

~Rob

Thanks everyone...we are staying at Castaway Bay the day before so I just dont know if I should buy him the full price ticket or the under 48in ticket.

So you're telling us that your son is 1 1/2 inches taller in tennis shoes? That's a heck of a pair of tennis shoes.

It does seem like alot but they are just a normal looking pair of Skecthers.

mweeks said:
Thanks everyone...we are staying at Castaway Bay the day before so I just dont know if I should buy him the full price ticket or the under 48in ticket.

Are you buying the tickets at the hotel or the park gate? Not sure how they work it at the hotels, but the gates have measuring devices to determine if a kid is tall enough for an adult ticket.

Ralph Wiggum said:

mweeks said:
Thanks everyone...we are staying at Castaway Bay the day before so I just dont know if I should buy him the full price ticket or the under 48in ticket.

Are you buying the tickets at the hotel or the park gate? Not sure how they work it at the hotels, but the gates have measuring devices to determine if a kid is tall enough for an adult ticket.

Im buying them at the hotel because they are only $30.

mweeks said:
normal looking pair of Skecthers.

Well, Sketchers certainly explains why it adds an inch and a half.

Measured with a wristband and all, my kids sometimes get rejected from riding, which leads to an argument and off to park ops we go to find out what the deal is and are told if it is a close call and they have a wristband they should let them ride. Then are told that they will contact that person and let them know.

That is the reason we have them measured before we do anything, so we don't have to go through all of that. I hate having to get into a mini argument with a ride op and start their day off bad, especially when we did what we r supposed to do, is it just a lack of communication about the wristband between park ops and ride op? We even ran into this problem a few days later with the same person.

But whose ass is on the line if something happens and your kid is too short? I realize the park ops wristband should indicate they are tall enough, but I also can't begrudge an employee covering their ass.

The wristband should be the final word. There's a reason why parents go to Park Ops to get their kid a wristband: It's so that situations like that don't happen.

JuggaLotus said:
But whose ass is on the line if something happens and your kid is too short? I realize the park ops wristband should indicate they are tall enough, but I also can't begrudge an employee covering their ass.

Thats the reason we go to park ops first before even attempting to put them on rides, to avoid this certain situation. I don't want to ruin their day, let alone ours, waiting in line for a ride and being told its to close and they cannot allow them to ride, in which they have wristbands on saying they were measured by park ops at 42" and are able to ride anything up to that height (mini argument now started that could have been avoided). Being too close to call and having a wristband saying they were measured should equal their asses being in the clear.

How about an actual ride host's explaination, will that help?

Everyone who goes to Park Op first before you do anything else is doing the right thing. In fact I frequently thank parents of kids who have wristbands on our ride for that reason. However, IF your kids is really close it is our job to still check them against a height stick or height stand to see if they are close. As long as they are close, if they have the wristband, then they are good to go.

Unfortunately there are people who abuse the rules. Parents who have the same 48" kid measured twice and then give the first wristband to a kid who isn't tall enough. That is why a lot of the times we'll just double check really quick if we're unsure. Hope that helps.

Thanks tcgolfer!

I still can't believe there are parents that would put their children at risk just so they can ride. Does anything happen to these people that get caught doing so, removed from the park etc.???

At least when I worked there in 04 they communicated it pretty clearly - If they had a wristband and were close, let them ride. If they were obviously 1-2+ inches too short, don't let them ride.

if they are sketchers shape ups I know last year CP was on the lookout for those, and your kid might have to take off your shoes for that. I think they will let your kid try on your shoes