Ride operaters & cell phone cameras

Went to Cedar Point today for one last trip for the year.

Had a great time, noticed that the ride operators on Cedar Downs were very adamant about riders not having cell phone cameras out - they interrupted the ride audio several times to tell riders to put away their cell phones. At one point the ride operator threatened to shut the ride down if people didn't put their phones away.

Same thing happened on the carousel on the way out - the ride operator said several times for riders to put their cell phones away.

I don't remember them repeating the warning so often last year. Is the focus something new, or did I just get rides where people had their cell phones out?

On an unrelated note, Cedar Downs needs a checkup - the ride was going slower than I remember, and the audio cut in and out the entire ride when I was on it. It didn't cut out for the next ride, so not sure if it was a recurring issue.

Personally, I couldn't tell whether they've increased the phone warnings this year. I did notice a few times the operator just kept repeating their line till the guy with his phone out got the idea. I've seen people on rides hide the phone before they get back to the station and it doesn't seem like anything happens.

Today was the first time I actually saw them stop a coaster though. Stopped Iron Dragon half way out of the station, took a girls phone and continued the ride. She got a nice speech before they gave it back. I didn't hear what was said, but I'd guess it wasn't pleasant.

I think a phone out should be an automatic ejection from the park. There's absolutely no reason you need to have your phone out at any point during a 3 minute or less ride. Someone can get seriously injured or possibly even killed if getting hit by a phone at a high velocity.

A flying IPhone Max in a case is going to kill someone. I'm shocked it hasn't happened yet. We saw so many phones out on our trips this year, including on a midnight Beast night ride on the 4th of July. Infuriating.

In response to SarahB1863, I've often been on Cedar Downs when the admonishment from the ride-op is spoken. Sometimes the offender puts it away, other times they ignore it, or possibly do not hear it, other times they do indeed stop the ride. Some days the ride operator interrupts the end of the race with the dismount instructions thus I can't be certain whether War Emblem wins the Triple Crown or I have a 70-1 winning ticket with Saravah.

Thabto said:

There's absolutely no reason you need to have your phone out at any point during a 3 minute or less ride.

Exactly. It’s sad people can’t go a few minutes without their phones. I’ve witnessed several rides stopped due to someone having the phone out, and glad to see the rule enforced.

It's because some people think they are hot stuff by taking their own POVs or selfies of themselves on the rides. The rule is being enforced but they are just giving them nothing more than a slap on the wrist. When I was at KI 2 weeks ago, they stopped the Racer on the lift hill and said over the loudspeaker to put the phone away. That was it. I feel that should be an automatic ejection from the park. Unfortunately, it will probably take someone to get seriously injured or killed as a result from a phone out before they start being more strict about it. I know the SV loose article policy was a result of an incident on Twisted Timbers but I think it needs to be enforced across all attractions, not just one. I'm not saying all rides should have lockers like SV, but they just need to eject offenders from the park. Once they start cracking down on it, that should deter anyone from taking their phone out.

SarahB1863 said:

On an unrelated note, Cedar Downs needs a checkup - the ride was going slower than I remember, and the audio cut in and out the entire ride when I was on it. It didn't cut out for the next ride, so not sure if it was a recurring issue.

Sounds like they are neglecting Cedar Downs. Should we be worried it’s on the chopping block? Isn’t that the first sign of a ride being on the way out, they stop keeping it in top shape?

Shane Denmark said:

SarahB1863 said:

On an unrelated note, Cedar Downs needs a checkup - the ride was going slower than I remember, and the audio cut in and out the entire ride when I was on it. It didn't cut out for the next ride, so not sure if it was a recurring issue.

Sounds like they are neglecting Cedar Downs. Should we be worried it’s on the chopping block? Isn’t that the first sign of a ride being on the way out, they stop keeping it in top shape?

Who knows? Maybe next year CD will be gone and all the gift shops will be selling "Limited Edition Cedar Downs Glue"...

jimmyburke said:

In response to SarahB1863, I've often been on Cedar Downs when the admonishment from the ride-op is spoken. Sometimes the offender puts it away, other times they ignore it, or possibly do not hear it, other times they do indeed stop the ride. Some days the ride operator interrupts the end of the race with the dismount instructions thus I can't be certain whether War Emblem wins the Triple Crown or I have a 70-1 winning ticket with Saravah.

I want to see them replace the entire race audio with the dog track race scene from the Bugs Bunny cartoon "The Grey Hounded Hare":

Announcer: [covering the dog race] Wait a minute, there's another rabbit on the track... and he's chasing the dogs! This is unheard of! He's got Bill's Bunion by the tail! He steps on Bill's Bunion! He's out of it! There goes the rabbit. He lands on Pneumatic Tire. The dog can't see! He's running all over the track! He's heading for the wall! OW! Pneumatic Tire is flat! Now the rabbit leaps up into the air; he lands on Bride's Biscuit. The Biscuit is out of it. The rabbit is running and... oohh, what a tackle! That hurt! Motorman's Glove is down! The rabbit is off again! Now I've seen everything![sound of gunshot]

kylepark said:
Exactly. It’s sad people can’t go a few minutes without their phones.

Has nothing to do with the phone and everything to do with the camera. The phone has just replaced the disposable and non disposable cameras that people had been bringing onto rides for years before anyone had a cellphone.

Thabto said:

Unfortunately, it will probably take someone to get seriously injured or killed as a result from a phone out before they start being more strict about it.

You know this statement is interesting to me because people have been bringing loose articles onto rides way before cellphones were a thing but how many times over the last 30 years can you remember hearing about a death or serious injury from a lose article? Hell, what I would consider the most harmful injury from an object came most recently on TTD.

Look I get it. It is a rule and we need to follow the rules but people take their phones out on rides a lot but the rate at which they are dropped and hurt someone is pretty low. In the 20 some years I have worked in the business, I have never encountered an injured guest situation due to a dropped item. It really isn't that difficult to hold onto an item while riding, especially when that item costs $1,200. You know what has a higher failure rate from loose articles? Retrieval of hats from low zones.

I know it’s all about the video and pictures. I just referred to “phones” since it covers those features.

Kills me people can't listen. Follow the rules or just like Thabto states, automatic ejection from the park. Send a message, loud and clear. Can't play by the rules, to bad for you.

I was on Gemini a few years back trying to race my son and his train got stopped because some yahoo decided to pull out their phones, the CP employee raced up the lift hill and took their phone. Sucked we couldn't race but hats off to the employee for stopping the ride and taking their phone.

Needless to say I won that race! LOL!!!!

Everyone here is quick to have guests ejected for pulling a phone out. But have any of you gone to a Disney park? Hershey? There are plenty of parks where guests can freely take phones/cameras onboard coasters and rides with no penalty.

I agree nobody has any business taking photos or POV on a Cedar Point coaster. But I feel like admonishing guests over the PA for taking selfies or video on the Carousel is a ride op power trip.

Mr. Cartwright, I think "power trip" is not necessarily the motivation. I'd imagine that phone policy is stressed to a great deal by the Black Shirt Higher-ups, then by the zone higher-ups, then by the ride crew chiefs, etc.... so that the ride-op is possibly in danger of a reprimand of some sort for not being vigilant enough.

Of course we can see that little or no harm (in our opinions) can come from phones/cameras on some mild rides. On Sky-Ride nearly every car I pass has people snapping pictures, Giant Wheel as well. The mere fact that those two could result in the object being dropped from quite a height is enough to have a "safety policy" in effect. Spinning rides like Troika, Tiki-Twirl, Matterhorn, Super Him, Scrambler, Cedar Downs could have a projectile injure a spectator.

Cadillac Cars is another one that is seemingly harmless, but what if the phone is dropped and the person exits the car to attempt to retrieve it? Too much bad can happen. I didn't mention Antique Cars as it is being taered down.

I don't fault the ride ops for any of this, it's the offender at fault for their own "dis-regard of policy trip".

The Cedar Downs dog food would help park profits, too.