No cell phones... at all

Well I’m glad you settled it through logic. Case closed, on to the next topic.

XS NightClub said:

What did he do before free wifi in the park, not come back until they had it?

Eeeewww! Why would anyone use that lousy free wifi when you can just use your truly unlimited Verizon data that only costs $40/month including truly unlimited hotspot? Is using 300GB/month a lot?

XS NightClub said:
What did he do before free wifi in the park, not come back until they had it?

Although I’ve made the journey several times a year since 2001, he had never been to the park before 2016. So he never experienced the non-awesomeness that is Sprint on the peninsula. And even now he will only go for CoasterMania. His wife won’t allow him another trip.

Interesting read. From what I can gather is this.

No Solution. Free lockers, bins would be nice. Idiots and such are everywhere. Lets have a warning about hot sauce. Sigh. You can't fix stupid.

The issue with SV is that you have people that really don't care or have no idea what this ride does. We are all in a bubble around here and tend to forget that most riding this masterpiece haven't a clue what they are about to experience. Every coaster in the park has roughly the same warnings.

Cedar Point is struggling with generational issues along with ignorance and that people don't care. Kevin is spot on about the addiction phones bring. Just imagine if we were all more social with one another. SV was the first ride in years that I had amazing conversations with random people.

However on a broader scope I doubt a policy can fix stupid. But maybe and we all make mistakes so I don't support this 100%. If you loose anything on this ride just consider it gone, the park isn't going to look or give a damn about it. Does that work? I doubt it.

This ride is so bat **** crazy and even us enthusiasts were caught off guard. The average person on vacation is not aware of what SV is and can do. I always thought the back pocket was safe from reports and it isn't.

Sigh, I just don't think there is a solution to this. It's the price paid for building a ride like SV. And we all know SV didn't invent all the guest issues it has, they are just magnified because it's new, long and intense.

myxmastrmike said:

My issue? Having to move it every 3hrs.
If the line for SV + ride time is under 3hrs, no issue.. But if you don't end up getting back to the locker till 3hrs 1min you're just... Borked.

Your comment made me curious about what happens after the 3 hour limit expires. Turns out not much - you pay $1 per hour beyond 3 hours, in addition to the original $10 fee.

Looking at the days they're open the longest (thus the lowest cost-per-hour for the lockers), you have 14 hours, which works out to about $0.71 per hour. So in the unlikely event you're stuck in a 3+ hour line, you'll be out an additional dollar, bringing your average hourly rate to about $0.79.

But the thing I still cannot understand is how the park figures there are enough lockers to support such a policy. Based on my earlier napkin math, there needs to be more than 600 lockers at SV alone to support this policy. I've never counted, so I suppose it's possible. But it seems unlikely that there are enough lockers.

I would think if you are with 1-3 other people you would probably be sharing a locker. This would reduce the number needed and the cost.

My napkin math used the assumption that an average of 2.5 people would share a locker. And that only 70% of riders would need a locker, either due to noncompliance or no need for one.

$0.71 an hour?!? MONEY GRAB!!!!!!!!

Today was our last trip to CP before Halloweekends (sigh). Completely unplanned, we surprised the kiddos with a road trip to enjoy the waterpark and get in a few of our favorite rides. I was curious to see all the hype for myself, and I volunteered to be the "designated parent" to wait in line for Parent Swap for Steel Vengeance.

After a rain storm washed those annoying other guests away, the time had come. What would I see? My imagination raced...

(it helps if you start playing this in the background at this point)

Perhaps some rogue guests would be pinned to the ground...arms behind their backs while beefy security guards frisked them until finding their smuggled devices...

Maybe I would see a group of teenagers getting revenge on Cedar Point, placing Soy Sauce packets on the tracks and waiting to watch them explode as unexpected riders get bathed in liquid sodium...

Or maybe I would see an unsuspecting grandma getting frisked by the steel vengeance characters, brought to tears as they empty her purse before she enters the line.

So, I handed my wife my cell phone and told her I would meet her by the Mine Ride in about an hour. It's showtime.

First, the line of defense outside the line was the queue-monitor-employee (I'm sure there is a title to that job) asking literally every guest coming through (and that's a lot) dead in the eye if they have a cell-phone. Imagine the guilt you would feel lying to this poor employee, only doing her job. She was shadowed by a security worker, who I would imagine is there for a very good reason. Some people, I'm sure, just can't handle this new policy emotionally. That said, while I would guesstimate that most of the guests around me were actually playing along, I observed rider after rider shoving their phones in their back pockets (really?), one girl in front of me as we crossed the R.R. tracks shoved it on the inside of her spandex shorts (fail-safe, for sure), and so many folks were just shoving them into cargo shorts. Surely there are going to be some fireworks soon, right? All these law-breakers are going to get busted. And I get to watch. And then go to Pointbuzz and get me some likes!

Once we got into the queue, I saw very few cell phones out, but the party in front of me (a family of 4...dad and his minions) all had their phones out, taking pics, etc...partying like it was still the first week of July pre-policy. Every once in awhile an employee would wander through the queue and phones would disappear, and I also noticed a camera pointed directly at the queue (the one right before the "tunnel" leading to the station. I imagined the video being fed into a dark room somewhere...monitors being watched by scrupulous employees waiting to nab a law-breaker. When will they swarm the crowd? Or maybe it's just always been there.

No fights. No arguments. No one getting frisked. No one asked to leave the line. No one taken away by police in cuffs. Heck, even a group of "unruly" teenage boys in front of me before entering the line actually politely answered yes to the employee asking if they had cellphones, and seemed to have no issue with getting a locker for them when told it was the policy. What?

To say I was disappointed in our society's apparent non-reaction to this policy would be an understatement. Don't they know it's a money grab? Don't they know this is an over-reaction? Don't they know we're out here to help them deal with all of this?

Maybe the rain just washed all those folks away, or maybe it's just a non-issue.

Actually, I have an idea.

I think it's time to put these to use.

You get caught with a phone, you spend an hour of your day here. Play along and you get your phone back. Make a fuss, and passerbys get to throw hot sauce at you while you're locked up.

I can confirm that camera just over the entrance to the tunnel has been there, at least since early June.

Since mid May at least.

Post of the year, Kevin 😂

The way Kevin describes it, almost sounds like.....

don't say it.... DON'T...... For the good of the universe do not say it...

Security Theater. (oh, Lord, please forgive me).

I bet Ben Franklin wouldn’t ride SV.

Kevinj said:
Imagine the guilt you would feel lying to this poor employee, only doing her job. ...All these law-breakers are going to get busted.

😏 Oh yeah?

Anyone else find it odd that they have the entrance host asking if you have a phone... when Paul Blart is stationed right behind her.

XS NightClub said:
Anyone else find it odd that they have the entrance host asking if you have a phone... when Paul Blart is stationed right behind her.

I find it hysterical. It’s all such a joke. Secure your phone in a cargo pocket tell them you don’t have one and go ride.

Exactly. Cargo shorts are your friend.

Just got back from KD so I can talk about how their policy works at TT and draw comparisons.

I went on a Monday with pitifully short wait times (no more than a 5 minute wait for front row, got 9 rides total). As such, they had three lines of defense. One was an automated message outside the queue entrance telling people to not have any cell phones on the ride. The second was a ride op at the entrance asking everyone if they had phones or not before they entered the line, but there was no added security guard. The third was the ride op at the station, who I assume was assigning seats, but never did and never talked to anyone since it was a station wait anyway. Never saw anyone scoping the line, but this was probably because the queue itself was empty anyway.

Now, I'll come clean officer; I broke the rule on my first ride to test the extent of the policy. I had my phone in a zippered cargo short pocket that is basically unseeable from the naked eye due to how the bulky the pocket in front of it is. I checked multiple times to make sure that it was completely zippered, as I understand that they prohibit phones in zippered cargo shorts because there are idiots that forget to close the pocket before riding, which is why I agree with CF's policy regarding them. As another test, I had my wallet in the pocket in front of my phone, but this pocket is buttoned. It almost looked like a phone though, so I half-expected a ride op to ask me more questions.

The long and short of it is that they didn't. They never searched or asked me anything besides the initial question of "do you have a phone?" There's no added security otherwise, which is why I think this new policy won't change anything. I kept my phone in a locker for the other eight rides out of respect for the policy, but in all honesty, I could've kept my phone with me and never got caught as long as I didn't whip it out.

I'll soon be heading back to CP and SV again, and I'll gladly keep my phone in my car or a locker, as it's not a necessity when I ride anyway. But to anyone that does bring it onto a ride, I obviously can't stop you. Just be respectful to the loose article policy; secure your phone in a zippered cargo pocket, make sure the pocket is zipped before entering the queue, and never take it out until you get off the ride. You don't want to lose hundreds of dollars, and guests below don't want injuries.

Also, for the love of G.A. Boeckling, don't carry hot sauce packets throughout the park when you're not eating. You look ridiculous even without malicious intent.

coast said:
Exactly. Cargo shorts are your friend.

Thank you.