Ride Height Requirements

During opening weekend we experienced an issue in regards to the height requirements of rides that still has me somewhat perplexed. My son is 51" tall without shoes, putting him very close to that 52" threshold for rides such as GK, TTD etc... The 1st ride we attempted to go on was GK, the employee at the entrance measured him under the height bar and it hit his head with about a quarter of an inch to spare. We thought we were in good shape to ride the 52" rides. Next up, power tower - no go, the bar slid right over his head. The employee at the entrance did a great job and handled the situation perfectly, tried having my son stand up straight and tall, put his feet together - but it was not to be, he's just a smidge too short.

Even though it was down, I was curious so we stopped by TTD - told the employee at the entrance what was going on and he measured my son - bar hit his head, didn't seem to have as much clearance as GK but nonetheless the employee said he was tall enough to ride TTD. After this we headed up to the front of the park where the measuring station is, ended up being about the same as Power Tower, didn't matter if my son stood with his feet together or not he just is a a bit too short yet.

Now, just to make it clear, I am not complaining about this at all, I understand the height requirements and would not attempt to argue them. I am simply curious as to why there are differences between the rides, I was paying close attention to how my son was standing each time so I do not think that was the cause. The official response from CP is that all the 52" rides are indeed 52"... However, from our experience this past weekend it sure doesn't seem that way. So, does anyone here who has worked at CP, or works in the industry know if there are in fact subtle differences between rides? For example could the "real" height of GK be 51 3/4" and they just call it 52"? Could Power Tower really be 52 1/4" and called 52"?

Can you stop somewhere on the way in and have your child measured and wristbanded?

Or do they still measure anyway?

At any rate, I doubt seriously there are official measurements like 51 3/4 but rounded up to 52. Rather, I'd guess there are accidental discrepancies between the measuring devices.

^^That seems more likely.

Did you stop by park operations and discuss the matter? They're not necessarily going to know there are such discrepancies if they're not brought to the park's attention.

They have a measuring station at the front where you can get the wristbands, we did stop there and it was one of the spots where he is just a tad too short so they wont give the 52" band.

We did indeed talk to the park about it and they said all rides at 52" are 52" - I let them know about him being able to ride GK and TTD, but not WindSeeker or Power Tower. Someone who I think was a supervisor took us to a measuring station and said sorry he's just a bit too short. I asked about GK and TTD and was told so long as the bar doesn't slide over his head he can ride them , but they are not able to give him the band because he isn't tall enough for it. I am positive they were expecting me to be complaining about it but I was only trying to figure out why he is able to ride some 52" rides, but not others. There really wasn't any answer given, other than as long as the bar cant slide over his head he's fine - so they told me to just have him measured at whatever ride we would like to try and go on.

RCMAC - I would agree that some discrepancies from height bar to height bar are the cause but from Gatekeepr (which seems to be the shortest) to the official measuring station (tallest) I'd bet its close to an inch of difference.

All of this will be a moot point in a month or 2 the way this kid is growing... but I was still curious if anyone has run into this or knew if there were in fact more detailed requirements from ride to ride.

It really sounds like just manufacturing tolerances in the measuring devices. I wonder if there is a way to fine tune those by maybe adding or removing washers?

Not sure if its still done but "back in my day" all the height stands would checked at the beginning of the season with a tape measure to make sure they were all correct and then periodically throughout the season. I've been told that they can get knocked out of whack over time from being moved around, in and out of storage, etc. When I was a Supervisor we had a tape measure in the office that we would occasionally have to bring out to show a parent that their kid was in fact not tall enough to ride. The Carpenters make and maintain the height stands around the park and should be called to bring out a new one if they are ever off.

In this case I would suggest you ask for the stand to be measured since you have examples that clearly show either a couple stands are too tall or too short. Or like you said just wait a month and your kid will be riding everything!

The timing of the day (morning vs. evening) could make a difference as well in terms of a person's height. As people (children) walk throughout the day on the payment at Cedar Point, it compresses the disks in your spine. This makes people a tad bit shorter at the end of the day than in the morning. When people sleep, the disks recovers and your spine stretches back out. So, it is possible to be just over 52 inches in the beginning of the day and then just under 52 in the evening.

"From my expereince" as a ride op, its usually the height sticks that are the problem. If the park is using the old PVC sticks with the colored tape those are usually made by operations in preseason. Its the job we all love, cutting and taping. Since they are plastic they tend to grind down through out the season. Many ride hosts at the entrance tend to bang them and scrap them and they just naturally wear away. Asking to double check the stick, or to use one of the metal stands is best.

Like some stated earlier its best to get measured as early in the morning as possible and get a band if possible. Spines do compress slightly changing height.

On the plus side, if your child is that close to 52" he/she will most likely be over 52" by mis summer.