Worst guest experience/encounter?

What does he care?
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Wicked Twister Rocks

Get To The Po!nt My Website
Evan H., Webmaster, GetToThePo!nt

I'm about 99% sure you heard the story wrong. Employees would not take chase after someone for digging in the trash. If anything the workers will simply call security and let them handle it.

While Nothing to do with guests, it does have to do with ride ops, and I don't feel like starting another topic. It was the funniest thing ever! (@ CP at least). I was on Wicked Tister, and I was in the Q waiting to go. They had just filled the train ahead of us, and the ride op was like "Clear....3...2...1..........(nothing happened)3....2.....1.....(nothing happened). After a few seconds, out of nowhere, she launches the train out of the station without a word. The ride ops were all laughin, we were all laughin, and as the train was going up the first spike the 1st time, she goes "321"....that was the best. I know it's *realativly*off topic. but it was a cool encounter with a really funny ride op. And she just countled simply for my train...lol
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OMG! The Space Spiral is leaning!!" Must be the weight of that new air conditioning system everyone keeps hypothesizing about...

Funny ... unless a guest was injured because he/she braced at the wrong time.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Having been a CP employee (and a Mom for that matter) I was AMAZED at some of the ploys a parent would use to try get their (less than 52" tall) kid on Raptor. Having the kid tell me they just rode it last night (kid is like 46" tall-yea what ever) telling the kid to stand on their toes, high Sketcher shoes (then getting mad at ME when I told them they had to take off their shoes to be measured correctly) and then the one parent who stuffed their child's shoes with diapers. The poor kid couldn't even walk right. Funny thing was the Mom kept trying to get him on every time we did an entrance rotation. Different op there, here comes that same kid again. Of course we had obviousely told each other to keep an eye out, and every time he tried to get on we told him he needed to take off his shoes. He would walk away with Mom. Go figure
The bottom line stupidity on that is there is a REASON why B&M says 52". Those SAME parents would be the FIRST to sue when their kid gets hurt. Many parents act like YOU just don't want THEIR child to ride!!! My youngest had to sit and watch my oldest and I ride Raptor for 2 years before she was tall enough.
As for the worse guest encounter, I personally always hated the guests who decided personal hygiene wasn't important.
When you have to hold your breath to check their seat belt and of course they just HAVE to talk to you and show you their 3 remaining teeth--BLECH I HATED that! Main reason why I didnt mind entrance and BEGGED for controls! No touchy touchy!
But ya know I'd work there again in a heartbeat if I didn't have so much going on here! :)
Nate I will definitely look for you on Paddlewheel. I got a bunch of GTTP'ers hooked on it during CoasterMania, seems they always skipped it. Now that they see how much fun it can be-they all have to ride it! :)
"I'm not allowed to ride Mantis because they don't allow bad stand ups"

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
Gemini 100 "Survivor"
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Cowboys dig cowgirls in trucks
Cowgirls dig cowboys in Wranglers! ;)

I just love it when guests try to convince me to let a child ride if they are just short of 48 inches by about an inch or two. They'll tell me "oh he's right there. go ahead and let him ride." They don't seem to understand that we have height requirements for a reason. I'm constanstly tell parents that if something happened to their child while riding that there is absolutly nothing they can do to stop their child from being hurt. That's when they ask if the child can sit in their lap.

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Annie

CP & LE RR Crew '01
ATL Swings and Swans '02

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Gemini said:
Funny ... unless a guest was injured because he/she braced at the wrong time.

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What about the launched rides that have no warning?

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- The Darling one
The closest I'll ever get to riding a B&M Flyer is looking down while on Raptor... :(

If there is no warning, guests understand that the launch happens at anytime. When you use a fake countdown, you intentionally put the guest in a relaxed position.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

I've always wondered about that. In theory wouldn't a coaster have to be safe enough to bring a rider back safely even if they pass out (and become relaxed) on the ride? I would have to say that that is something taken into consideration on every coaster. What's to say the rider who passes out doesn't do it half a second before a launch? Really the worst I can see a coaster manufacturer allowing to happen there would be a few minor bruises, if even that.

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- John, who enjoys intelligent discussions like this one every now and then. :)

The rider safety guide available from Park Operations makes reference to a person's ability to being able to hold on, brace themselves, etc. I have the 2000 version here (can't seem to find my 2002 copy, but I'd guess it's says something similar). It says "Generally, to ride guests must have the ability to brace themselves upright in the seat and support their head and neck during the ride movements." It goes on to list several specific criteria for a guest being able to enjoy a given ride including, "control of upper torso including neck and head," "ability to hold on with one functioning arm," "ability to brace self with two functioning legs," etc. It's a very comprehensive list and a chart shows which of those rules apply to any given ride. For example, where upper torso control is required for most rides, it isn't required for, say, CP&LE Railroad.

So there is an expectation that a rider is able to brace themselves. Obviously if someone passes out, then being able to brace himself is beyond the control of the park and the person riding. In general, though, a ride is designed with the belief that a guest has certain physical capabilities.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

In line for White Water Landing, there was a mother behind us who knew her kid (couldn't have been more than 3) was short by a few inches. All through the line, she was coaching him on how to stand up tall when they got to the station. This same mother was letting another child splash the water in the trough that passes next to the line while heavy boats came within inches of crushing her hand. Bottom line: people are stupid.

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-Chris Woodard
Just because you can't justify charging $3 for a Pepsi doesn't mean you can't charge $3 for a Pepsi.

Well, I once saw somebody that was really rude to a ride-op. It was a while back so its kinda scratchy in my memory.

Well, this guy who was extremely overweight was trying to get on the Corkscrew. Once he realized he couldn't fit, a ride-op came over and said really nice "I'm sorry sir but if your can't pull the restraint over you, you must not ride". Well the guy, who took it as if the op had directly called him fat, yelled at the guy and got out. To everyone's surprise, he punched him in the jaw. Luckily, another op had called security and had him in custody very fast.

That just shows how high people's anger can get when they can't ride something. Pretty pathetic in my opinion.

Actually, this deed went unpunished (to the best of my knowledge) and probably is the one drawback (other than, of course, other people going in front of you) of legal line cutting systems.

I waited in line for Raptor this past Thursday, and while making my way around the first maze of queues (between the helix and station) saw about 4 or 5 people with stamps waiting for the op to let them cut through. Right after, a woman, who may or may not have had anything to do with the aforementioned group, comes in and starts complaining about how she wasn't around, and that she wanted to ride with them. Of course, she didn't have a stamp.

Correctly, and very commendably in my eyes, the op sent her out of the line. Not 3 minutes later (I was over by the DJ booth) I see the woman come darting in, jumping between people, over rails, etc. to try to cut to the stairs.

I am not sure how the story ends. I didn't see commotion among park security, so I assume she got away with it. Hard to imagine, too. Everyone was staring at the dumb***.

I too have seen coaching going on throughout the park as far as parents telling kids how to look taller. Big shoes are worn, as well as hair high up in some sort of bun on the back of their head. Absolute insanity if you ask me. I almost feel scared whenever there's a close measurement. I mean, at Disney, if you're within an inch or two, you get crowd support.

As weird as it sounds, yes, some people (usually middle aged mothers) will make it their duty to be the chearleader to the 50"er.

Quite honestly, I think it should be spelled out on the Cedar Point map and/or ride signs.

"If one does not meet the minimum height requirements for a ride, it would be too great a safety risk to allow that person on."

Or, maybe that's already there... I haven't really looked at the height requirement signs since they got rid of those character boards, and I became a decent 73".
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-Matt (Czar of the ever-reworking Loopscrew.com & proponent of campy Demon theme song! VIVA!)

I'm not a CP employee, but I have to give the people working the line at MF a huge tip of the hat for this one. Two years ago I was entering the line when I noticed a family that had been stopped by the guys working the line entrance. They'd somehow managed to figure out that the little girl, who looked tall enough, wasn't. Get this - her parents had stuffed folded socks in her shoes so she would be tall enough to ride! What fool parent is willing to put their child at risk like that? The worst part of it was that the little girl was crying, not because she couldn't ride, but because she was standing in white socks and they were getting dirty. Rather than being concerned about her, the parents were still insisiting that she be able to ride. People never cease to amazing me. I can't tell you all how impressed I was that the CP staff were able to tell something wasn't right in this situation. Hats off to all of you!

Shoe stuffing is caught more than you'd imagine at the park. Believe it or not, CP has a height measuring class taught by Peggy in Park Ops that ops must attend. If they miss a few shorties, they are forced to attend the class again! :) When that many people go through a place, there's bound to be a few idiot guests. You just have to root them out and not let them get on your nerves. It's the other 99.9% of the guests that I went to work and busted my butt every day for, not those few idiots who are there to cause problems.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

People Never Learn!

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Wicked Twister Rocks

Get To The Po!nt My Website
Evan H., Webmaster, GetToThePo!nt

I've always loved going on PT at night, especially during the summer spectacular. Everynight, it never fails, someone line jumps and the people in the booth always tell the ride-ops through the speakers and all of them run after them. It's actually pretty amusing! Thank you PT crew for keeping the idiots in line (no pun intended)

I started out on the swings last year and the first week we were open we had a mother and daughter come through our line. The child was probably about an inch shy of 48 inches. So the mother lifted the girl up on her tip toes and then ran off with her to a swing before anyone could blink and eye. I was at controls and refuse to start the ride before that girl and her mother were kicked off. That and I had a lot of parents asking me if their children could ride on their laps in a swing. The shoe thing is another issue. I personally have never caught anyone with stuffed shoes mainly because I've worked mostly on the train the past two summers. But I have seen some of the things parents used to put in a child's shoes. It's really bordering on child abuse. I've anything rocks to lighters to spice girl shoes. It's sad.

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Annie

CP & LE RR Crew '01
Swings and Swans/CP & LE RR '02

I'm not a CP employee but I really enjoyed reading this thread. I'm sure there are millions of tales that can be told. I always have had a great deal of respect for anybody that works in an amusement park. They have to put up with people that are 1.) Annoyed at having to pay out $$ for park entry and parking, 2.) Probably irritable due to the fact they got lost on their way or missed a turn off or something, 3.) Are hot due to the weather. After reading this thread, I really think allot of you are overdue a huge pat on the back and a raise for all the bullcrap you have to deal with. Keep up the good work, your aiding a lot of folks in having some great memories and good times at your park. :)

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1 day, 4 planes, a whole new world. 9/11/01

I haven't been online in forever so it took me a while to get to this. I totally agree with everyone. The beloved "tooth" lady is becomming quite a ledgand with all the employees. Nothing will strike fear into a person more than when they see a stupid guest heading straight for an operational low zone.

As far as other stories (since Dan took my best one) I think one of my favorite was this time when I was working entrance at corkscrew. I was getting really fed up with stupidity and there's no postition I hate more that corkscrew's entrance. I was attempting to explain to this lady why her bag wasn't allowed in line when she began to yell at me. "WHY DON'T YOU GUYS TELL US THAT WE CAN'T TAKE OUR BAGS." I looked at the lady and, rather calmly actually, explained to her that I was telling her that she couldn't take her bag in line. I also explained that there was also a sign in front of me that explained this and that if she read her CP Guide Map there would also be a list of rides in there that do not permit bags.

Or how about the white guy that called me a predajuce B%$#H because I wouldn't let him take his beer in line. Um...beer isn't alloud in any line at CP.

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