NEW Policy with MF seatbelts?

I remember attributing the belt problems on opening day with the weather. It wasn't exactly a warm day and people were wearing lots of layers. I did notice a few people getting turned away, which does happen from time to time and I thought that maybe it was their heavy clothing. I was wearing a t shirt, a sweatshirt and my light rain proof jacket and was able to ride with my "solid" 34" waist. Of course just a few weeks later this thing has snowballed and has even been on the news. It's amazing and sad watching this problem happen to my favorite coaster on the planet. I have to get back there soon and see how things are going in the station. I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around this issue. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Gomez, it's been stated before in this thread that it's not CP making the rules, it's Intamin. Cedar Point is merely inforcing the rules.

Well at 6'4", 240 and 42" waist it doesn't look good for my June visit. Proportion wise I'm pretty much straight up and down so maybe that'll help. I am hoping that something is done about this by then. I don't remember having a tight seat belt at all in the past, in fact the MF moved to my favorite ride because it was so comfortable to sit in compared to Magnum and the others. The only ride I have had trouble fitting in is Cedar Creek Mine Ride.

Wow, there are some disturbing posts on the newsnet5.com discussion about this...People who obviously don't have much knowledge of Cedar Point to begin with, in one post MF is referred to as "Magnum Force" I don't know if anyone else have read these posts but these people obviously have no compassion for the larger rider..here are a few of these horrible posts..

1)I'm no skinny person, but I do watch what I eat. Maybe some people show skip the "Super Size" food.
America is FAT people, time to take responsibility for your eating too, Can't blame that on Cedar Point.

Being fat is an option that everyone has, and I choose to not be fat.

2) really don't feel sorry for the people who cannot ride the Magnum Force because of their excessive girth. I am a very petite woman who, all her life, has had a struggle attaining the minimum height to ride certain roller coasters and other rides which had minimun height requirements. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Oh, well, at least you overweight people can do something to help yourselves fit onto the ride. I can't add height to my stature. Nature made me what I am; your eating habits made you what you are.

3)The restrictions protect all (small medium and large) riders. From airplanes to amusement rides fat is becoming unacceptable. Lets get FIT and ride.

4)I can't understand why anyone who is overweight would see a problem with this being enforced. As a person who loves roller coasters, I put the safety of myself and others as first prioritry. If this is discrimination, then so is not letting children under a certin height or weight ride. That has been going on as long as I can remember. No one cried discrimination about that. It is all about safety. BIG crybabies.

5)HA HA HA HA HA .....WOW....CANT STOP LAUGHING OVER THIS ONE...HEY! SINCE OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE CANNOT RIDE THE RIDE....MAYBE THEY WILL MEET AT THE PIZZA STAND TO THROW A FEW MORE DOWN

Anyone else outraged by these horrible posts?

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TTD is sinking too! said:
If people with waist sizes >36" can't ride their two feature coasters.

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I have a 36" waist and I have rode Millennium Force 19 times this year with no problem. My guess is that there is more to the story.

To all who got the blade request,I got one too but replied with my work address (which bounces everything anymore) and I deleted the original post.

Could someone forward the request for interview email to me?

rch1@mindspring.com

I have the super horror story about my May 10 visit I want to try and get out. Thanks!

Yes, cedarpointchic, I saw those nasty posts too. I was completely shocked by the remarks of obviously uneducated people.

My husband and I LOVE MF and there is a very real possibility that we won't be able to ride after reading all of these posts of people that I can't believe were turned away. Our daughter also loves MF and I really don't want her going on by herself, so if we can't ride, it will be tough. Our 5-year old twins are also tall enough to ride MF this year, and one of them actually wants to, so that will be difficult too, because they can't go without me or my husband. Guess we'll find out on Memorial Day.

I would be very surprised if Intamin isn't trying to figure out a modification to the belts/seats/trains to make it more accomodating to average/larger guests. I would think that CP is "putting on the heat." I'm still trying to figure out how an inch of "slack" would be any safer than just being able to buckle the belt. In my opinion, there's more of a chance of the slack loosening during the ride. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what the new rule is.

There are several posts that I agree with... Americans are built different from Europeans (even though it may be because of what we eat)... maybe I should rephrase that... Americans seem to have more weight problems than any other country. Plus, each generation gets taller. How many of your grandmothers are taller than you? The accidents that have happened with Intamin rides seem to be due to human error rather than restraint failure. I think it's a little unrealistic to think that a restraint can completely cover for human error... be it the person riding or the person loading. When I ride, I make sure I'm in good... and I check my kids.

I just hope that the problem is being worked on. CP is a great place, and I know they work very hard to make it great. I'm sure they hate this as much as we do. I've practically grown up there, and plan on doing the same with my kids. I'll keep my fingers crossed. If nothing changes, we'll still have fun there. My husband and I have become more commited to shedding a few pounds... it may be the incentive we needed for ourselves.

I emailed CP, and got a generic response (surprise). In the email they sent me they said this

"Safety of each of our guests is first priority at Cedar Point. All passenger restraint systems, including lap bars, shoulder harnesses and seatbelts, must be positioned and fastened properly to allow guests to ride"

Which is the whole point i'm making. If the seatbelt fastens and the lapbar is down in correct position, then why does the amount of slack matter

Well Mom, I can choose not to be fat, but I can't choose to be any shorter.

They are saying on 1100 in Cleveland that women larger than size 18 and above and men larger than 220lbs may not be able to ride.

My apologies if this has already been addressed......

Is the test seat's belt representative of the seats / belts on the train? If so, and the rider can get the inch of slack on the test seat, then they should be good to go when they get on the platform, right?

My 1st trip of the season is this Sunday. I've never had "fitting" issues before on MF. It sure feels wierd to be nervous about "will I fit on the ride?"

No, the test seat isn't the same as the seats. The ride ops are saying that you need to get 3" of slack on the test seat to be able to get 1" of slack on the actual ride.

This whole thing is such a disaster for CP.And those * on channel 5's website making the fat jokes are nothing more than the same type of people who discriminated against blacks in the 50's and 60's.

A friend of mine drives for UPS and him,his wife,and 3 kids buy season passes every year. He was going to buy a combo pass for all of them this year,when i told him last tuesday how i was treated by the ops there for having a 36" waist,he immediately cancelled his season pass plans. He has a waist size of 38 which is a little bigger than me,I had the belt all the way out to the end but was able to pull enough air in to get the 2 inches of slack the second time around.

I definitely won't be making my bi annual weekend stay on July 4 and Halloweekends at the Breakers this year because of this.I have ridden MF hundreds of times with my wife over the past 4 years and now since we aren't Paris Hilton,we can't ride. Totally ridiculous.

Watch the language, please *** Edited 5/21/2004 12:18:06 AM UTC by Walt***

I just got an email from a friend of mine that visited the park last weekend, and he was also unable to ride MF due to the new seatbelt rules. He is 6ft tall, weights 190 and has a 38 inch waist. I don't consider him to be a "guest of extreme size", and am disgusted to read those posts on newsnet5.com. Its not a matter of being "fat", and it seems that while people want to raise questions and awareness on safety issues, it is turning out to be a fat-bashing message board. Thats a shame. People just want to understand why they could ride for the last few years and all of the sudden, they are unable to fit. Its not necessarily a matter of people getting bigger. And if MF has a proven track record with no compromised safety issues regarding the seatbelts/lapbars, why change now?

People that post on TV news sites generally to be among the less educated, and seeing as how they don't moderate it, the "conversation" is pretty worthless.

And people wonder why we're so particular about it here!

Now I have an appreciation for Jeff and Walt's "moderation".

I guess they will soon need a "freeway" pass to get on the test seat.

The only consolation I had on Monday (when I was told that neither me nor my girlfriend would be allowed to ride if we waited in line) was that they aren't doing the same rediculous thing on TTD. Also, I feel very fortunate after reading posts from people who were belted in and ready to ride only to be told that they were too fat. It's a bunch of bull. I don't think that things will stay this way. It is going to negatively affect the park's image. It is my suspicion that Cedar Fair is quite upset with Intamin for "advising" this stupid 1 inch of slack or no ride policy. I don't blame Cedar Point for this as they have no choice. I blame Intamin and the ride crew at SFNE.

Damien

I just read the thread about this, and I quote, "seat-belt crap."

I wanted to post but didn't find an option so I'm doing it here. Please forgive the Boatman (on the River Styx).

While everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, some of the posts on this thread raise the question: How much work does it take someone's ignorance to exceed his/her knowledge?

Some of this stuff (not including Rihard and CedarPointChic, or course) sounds like something that came from the same folks who posted on that Cleveland site.

Disgusting!!!! *** Edited 5/21/2004 7:02:00 AM UTC by Boatman*** *** Edited 5/21/2004 7:09:44 AM UTC by Boatman***

There are bad apples in every bunch Boatman. Fortunately here there are very few of them. I do think that all the raving on the TV message boards and any other similar messages are by very ignorant, immature people who have nothing better to do with themselves than the need for trashing one group of people to make themselves feel better about their inadequacies in life.

I agree with you cyberdman...ignorant is a good word for those folks. Hope their ignorance helps them sleep well at night.