No assitance with seat belt.

I’m a uniquely proportioned individual. When riding MF the seat belt just fits, and I need assistance from a ride-op to fasten the belt. (too fat to turn around and buckle the belt). On TTD with an almost identical system, I was not able to ride. The reason I couldn’t ride was that the ride-ops were not allowed to fasten the rider’s seat belts for them. Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this? If I knew this before I got in line I wouldn’t have wasted all of the time in line.

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Cedar Point can not and will not be responsible for any thing lost or dammaged.

Same thing happened to me but I inadvertently sat on the female end of the belt and couldn't find it. The op rudely told me the same thing that she couldn't help me. They started to pull the train to launch position so I pulled the bar back and then I yelled at her if she would like to assist me now so they released the bars and she came over and hooked the belt,pulled it as hard as she could,then pushed the lap bar three clicks further than she should have to the point where I was in extreme pain. Thankfully it was opening day and few silver badges were near the ride,I went over and told them what happened and got free tickets out of the deal.

I say again,these ops on this ride are blatantly ignorant and rude,at least the 4 times I have been there so far this year and the 25 or so Dragster shots I have experienced,much worse than Mantis was,of course,I could just have bad luck with them while I am there but i doubt it.
*** This post was edited by MFJedi 5/18/2003 1:37:59 PM ***

I can understand being mad abuo tthe seatbelt, but pushing the bar down-they were doing that to everyone. I went opening day, the ride-op politley asked me to breathe in, she counted to three, I sucked in, and she slammed it down. Yes it was painful. I was like "owwww" and she said "don't worry, the pain will be gone soon"...she ws right-I wasn't worrying about it, and I STILL got airtime on top of that hill. The stapling is just part of the procedure...the ride op wasn't doing it because they were mad at you.

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OMG! The Space Spiral is leaning!!" Must be the weight of that new air conditioning system everyone keeps hypothesizing about...

I have a pretty simple guess why they can't touch the belts...

Legal liability reasons...

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002-2003
Fright Zone Screamster 2002-2003

I went Opening Day too. My friend got assistance with his seat belt and the ride op politely told us to breath in and said "this might hurt a bit", laughed, and stapled us in. Although it did suck, it was worth it and I didn't mind it much.

Yeah when i rode it on opening day the op said, "buckle your seat belt" I did, then she tightened it as hard as she could. Then told me "breath in...ready?" nad pushed as hard as she could. I think its just standard procedure, and i didnt think they were rude at all, the op was very nice to me.

The ride-op did help me with my belt. I asked her to hold the female end while I pushed the male end. It took a bit of wrangling, but she was really nice about it all.

Eric

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E Blitz Entertainment
Bay City, Michigan
A Division of LCA Entertainment
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I say a little exercise wouldn't hurt. ;)

I've found that if you pull your own lapbar down the ride ops won't staple you nearly as bad. Instead of having from the idle position down to your abdomen to gain momentum and swing the bar down, they have just a little room to push down further. So if you want your bladder to remain in tact after the long wait, use my method.

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...and the most anticipated event of summer 2003 is...

The Matrix: Reloaded!

The first time I rode it, the ride op tried to push the bar down some more, but it wouldn't go no further. She did not step on it, she just tried pushing it. The next day when I rode it, I did not push it down as far. I moved forward in my seat and lifted my legs to make it look like it was down. They did not try pushing it down. I had about an inch to an inch and a half clearance between my body and the bar when I moved back in my seat. I was sitting in the front seat and didn't get any air time.

SteelRaptor said:
I say a little exercise wouldn't hurt. ;)

Thanks you Richard Simmons, however I was asking about seat belt fastening procedures, not about fitness sugestions.

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Cedar Point can not and will not be responsible for any thing lost or dammaged.

CP_bound said:
I've found that if you pull your own lapbar down the ride ops won't staple you nearly as bad. Instead of having from the idle position down to your abdomen to gain momentum and swing the bar down, they have just a little room to push down further. So if you want your bladder to remain in tact after the long wait, use my method.
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...and the most anticipated event of summer 2003 is...
The Matrix: Reloaded!

Good information, but still does why will the not help you with the seat belt. (not the lap bar)
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Cedar Point can not and will not be responsible for any thing lost or dammaged.

Rob-I kinda guessed that might be the case. When you think of it,what if something were to happen. A guest would simply say "Well, they fastened the it,so it aint my fault".

Last year,I was lucky a couple of times riding WT & MF, where I was assisted. And it wasn't ride-ops that knew me either.

It's sad to hear that they are sometimes rude to guests. I have a friend that loves going there, but last year had nothing but horror stories. He got a lot of rude ops that day. I can't remember if he went to park op afterwards or not.

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http://www.magnummania.com
jerry@magnummania.com
*** This post was edited by Magnum "Candy" Man 5/19/2003 1:35:50 AM ***

If they have to staple people into the seats I can't see this ride lasting to long before they have a major problem with it. First they tried 4 cars, which resulted in the train going over the top hat too fast, so they added the other car, now it seems that it's going over the top hat too slow, so now there removing the goodyear tires to speed it up a little. This is just my opinion, but I hope they can work everything out.

Funny, I recall reading the same exact things regarding the Xcelerator ops...stapling and sporadic assistance with seat belts. Coincidence? I don't think so. CP just wants to make SURE you are securely in your seat before sending you 420 feet into the air and straight down again. They've pushed the limits of height and speed once again, and want to make sure there are no problems that would put a guest into danger.

Don't know where you are getting your information from, jwhoogs, but I don't think CP removed the tires to "speed it up a little".
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm

Sorry to be so blunt, jwhoogs, but that's a dumb theory.

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- John

Whether you get assistance with a seat belt or not seems to depend on which attendant you get. I watched a lot of people get help, and I watched a lot of people refused help. There was no consistency to it...some attendants helped, some did not.

As for people getting lap bars rammed into them, again, it seems to be an attendant issue. I never had any problems, but I saw some people get shoved awfully hard. Unnecessarily hard, I might add.

All that said, this is all typical Cedar Point paranoia. Just look at Millennium Force. When that thing opened they were ramming lap bars, complaining about bags and glasses, forbidding 4' kids, assigning seats, all that related nonsense. Now that the park has some experience with the ride, operations have loosened up significantly, and the platform is more efficient...and nobody is any less safe. The same will undoubtedly happen to Dragster over time.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who shudders to think of some of the possible consequences of mashing a lap bar into a person who has been standing in line for four hours....

jwhoogs said:
If they have to staple people into the seats I can't see this ride lasting to long before they have a major problem with it. First they tried 4 cars, which resulted in the train going over the top hat too fast, so they added the other car, now it seems that it's going over the top hat too slow, so now there removing the goodyear tires to speed it up a little. This is just my opinion, but I hope they can work everything out.

they didn't try 4 cars, that was because they wanted to break in the motor before they launched a full train, its a motor just like your car, you don't want to rag on it too early, or you will blow it up. the tires might have come loose and are getting fixed who knows! whatever it is i know it is not on there because i am sure it is for the safety of the guests who come to the park, and not to make you mad or dissapointed cause they aren't there.

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If beating old people is wrong, i don't want to be right! hehe

trips to CP:3 Dragster:1 MFer:4 Magnum: 8 doesn't get any better then a nice day in may!

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