Shorties not allowed in line for coasters

It's not about you or your job, it's about the park. That's what we're getting at here. Nobody is criticizing you, but Jeremy and I are trying to make the point here that if you, as a ride op checking restraints, would be held accountable if you let a kid ride who visibly may not be tall enough. You guys are talking about operator manuals and we're talking about common sense responsibility.

Nobody champions the efficiency and dedication of ride crews at Cedar Point more than us fanboys do, but you need to see the bigger picture and issue, remove yourself from the situation.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

I reconize that it is about the park. All ride ops are trained to look for short children, regaurdless of rotational position (and yes, it is in the manuel for every position). From what I understand, the disscussion was more on the revelancy of an entrance host. My position was that an entrance host played an important role in assessing the line and accurately measuring all questionable guests. Jeremy's position seemed (at least to me) to argue that an entrance host was not an important role. I apologize, again, since the arguement has gotten out of hand.

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~Sabrina~
2001 Gemini
2002 Gemini/Corkscrew/Live E: Hooray for Hollywood

I would like to say something here if I may: One of the reasons why kids who are not tall enough to ride a ride are not allowed in line is safety. There are parents out there who would put their 42" child on Raptor or Mantis or any other ride they are not tall enough to ride.I understand where the single parents who want to ride the bigger rides but can't take advantage of the parent swap are coming from and for that I can only suggest bringing a friend with you to the park. I know how hectic it is on a coaster with checking and dispatching a train with only 20 or so odd seconds to get a train out of the station before another comes in the station. But the bottom line here is this rule is enforced simply for the safety of a child due to parents negligence/ignorance besides I have seen at other parks where they do let kids in line but measure them on the platform and if they are not tall enough they put them in a cage and i know CP is not that cruel to do that to a child.

"Yes it is I back from lurking."

To almost quote Greg Kinnear from the b.o. flop/cult classic Mystery Men:

"I've just had lunch with a good friend of mine. Perhaps you know him....Captain Obvious?"

-'Playa

(sorry--couldn't resist)

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 10/24/2002 11:54:52 AM ***

Wow this is a major topic. I am all for not letting a kid to short ride the ride. P*E*R*I*O*D* They are not safe and if we do happen to let you through it would make our park as crapy as all the other parks that don't do this. We have our rules and we didn't make them but we aren't going to break them just for you. We totally understand that it sucks to be a single parent, but from the way it sounded you had been there plenty of times before, and should know how the park was ran.

Way to many think that just letting their kids wait in a line and then letting them sit on a bench in a box is "OKAY", no I'm here to tell you its not okay. How would you feel if you waited in a life for an hour and got all excited about the ride and how much fun it was going to be and then find out that you have to sit in a box while your parents got to ride and have a blast. NO, I don't think so. Its not going to happen.

You want your kids to grow up so fast, and make their own decisions. but wait and slow down. Give them a chance. You made them and when they are all grown up you'll want them to be little again. Let them be little while they are and sure you miss out on like what 3 or 4 rides. Big deal, you can ride those in the next couple of years to come. I'm sure they are growing as we speak and will be tall enough someday!

It is not right to make those poor kids suffer all that time when they came to the park thinking that they were gonna get to ride atleast some rides but all you let them do is "See" the big rides and you complain so much about the small ones that they have a crapy day and so do you. Let it go. Your children are your first priority, Right? Have some fun, show them that you care and enjoy your day.

This statement made by:The baby of the Wicked Twister Crew 2002, Tennie Weenie the Giggle Queenie

Peace, Love&ORANGES!! always Smile!!!

Gemini Witch, if, you'd like me to sum up my arguement into a soundbyte, I will do so. I do NOT feel that the entrance host job is unimportant, rather, I feel that the job is *redundant*. Having an entrance host may indeed make the platform workers job "easier", but having such an entrance host does not ABSOLVE the platform workers of their duty to NOT allow someone "too short" to ride.

As everyone here seems to agree, the entrance host is a "filter", but is not the one with final go/no go power. That is left in the hands of the platform ops.

Now what has gotten lost in this ramp up of "feelings" and "beliefs" is my challenge to you all to SHOW me that the elimination of the entrance host will ultimately lead to an increase in safety violations.

Joe E. you may perhaps be right, is alluding that the type of policy @ the SFGAs may not be a good *fit* for CP. I am willing to accept that. It is only the sentiment that "any other way is inherently wrong" is what I took issue with. I *very clearly* stated that I had a "preference" of one technique but didnt argue the merits of either. But I *did* proffer the challenge of showing me that one technique is clearly better than the other. A challenge I have yet to be taken up on

And TW: I'm not really sure what you are trying to say, but I think you and I agree at the core. If I take a little kid with me to a park, the only time I will allow them to leave my sight is when they are taking a dump. I know I can always come back another time to get my fill, so I'd spend the time with the child (I think that's what you were getting at right?).

OkayIloveyoubyebye

lata, jeremy

My biggest question about the sticks is, Are these sticks measured exactly at 48"? The reason for this is because I have a daughter that was exactly 48" tall and was wristbanded by park operations and still wasn't able to ride any rollercoasters except ID.. Can someone explain this?

Good Question..

The sticks are just a rough guideline which are usually used if the call is easy to make. I think the sticks all are not going to be exactly 48" because the entrance host sometimes tap them into the ground or twirl them around hitting things (like my arm ;)) so the ends can probably deteriorate a bit. The metal stands with the rotating tops are usually used when there is a close call because you can get a more definite answer than just using a level hand with the candycane.

That still wouldn't explain your situations at all. While the ride ops still have the ultimate call and can turn her down for various reasons even with a wristband. (in theory), this is not usually the case. It's probably another instance of misinformed or misunderstood operators. In fact most ride ops seem to encourage the parents children who are close to get officially measured in either guest services, parks ops, or town hall to avoid future hassles. If your visit was when the park was short staffed and "ride prides" were part of the team I could see a few of them possibly getting mixed up.

If it happens again I would go back to parks ops and tell them. I would bet a few supervisors would then go confiscate their sticks and whack them over the head ;).

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CoastaPlaya said:

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Teenie Weenie said:
We totally understand that it sucks to be a single parent, but from the way it sounded you had been there plenty of times before, and should know how the park was ran.

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Spoken with all the insight and concern of someone who has yet to reproduce. But wait, it gets even shallower...

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You want your kids to grow up so fast, and make their own decisions. but wait and slow down.

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Wrong, wrong, wrong...and I refuse to qualify the dogmatic, dim-witted statments that follow with a response. Try raising few younguns yourself first, will ya? We'll take fingershaking lessons from someone who actually knows what they're talking about, thank you very much.

Actually, you don't have to be a parent to realize there's a significant difference between wanting a child to 'grow up quickly' and just wanting to get on some rides together.

But just when you think it couldn't get any more offensive...

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all you let them do is "See" the big rides and you complain so much about the small ones that they have a crapy day and so do you. Let it go. Your children are your first priority, Right? Have some fun, show them that you care and enjoy your day.

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Meanwhile in the REAL WORLD on Planet Earth, there are plenty of families with kids of differing heights....tall kids who are tired of the kiddie rides they've been boarding the last 3-5 years in a row and their siblings who can't board 'big' rides--even when they're as bland as the CC:MR. So which kid do you 'care about' then? Does it fit so neatly in that little crayon-drawn box now? Is it as simple as the small-minded who have never been in this situation tend to think it is?

The plot gets even thicker for children with a little travel under their wings. They may have already been aboard looping coasters, wooden out-and-backs, drop rides and more at competing parks which makes their exclusion at CP even more painful. They do it at other parks, why not here?

Frankly, parents who do their homework 'have fun, show that they care and enjoy their day' somewhere else where they don't have these problems. And until CP rectifies the situation, PKI will continue to outdraw them with the exception of massive attraction debut years.

-'Playa

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.

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*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 10/27/2002 5:01:58 PM ***

Actually, the sticks ARE cut to exact height and are replaced several times throughout the season. If anyone happened to be by Blue Streak on Sunday and looked in the door on the left leading down to the entrance, you'd have seen hundreds of height sticks (all different colors and sizes) already made. If a person with a wristband is anywhere close, the wristband stands and the kid can ride, but it is still necessary to measure in case the wristband has been obtained through "shady" methods something. But obviously if the kid is an inch or more too short with a wristband, we'd still have turned him or her away and rightly so. Are you sure she got a 48" band and not a 46" one?

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Having children very similar in size -- and therefore, ride eligibility -- to CoastaPlaya, I tend to very much agree with the most recent post. My boys and I (along with my wife at times) have been to many different parks around the country. I maintain that the decision that CP has made concerning Shorties in line will have (perhaps, already has???) a negative impact on family attendance. Even though I have been to the park many, many times in the past, I never encountered the "Shorties" problem until my last visit. (As a side note, the reason I was in the line for Wicked Twister was not for me -- I have ridden WT many times in the past -- but rather for my 54" tall son who REALLY wanted to ride this ride and had not been tall enough until this last visit). I will concede that this situation does not have a clear cut easy solution. At the same time, I sure would like to see my favorite park develop a better plan for dealing with families that have children of differing ride eligibilities..