NEW Policy with MF seatbelts?

Today 05-12-04. I was buckled in Mf when a ride host came by to check my belt. He looked at it for a few seconds then looked again and tugged then looked again and tugged very hard some more. then said to me. "sorry sir, new policy for MF is we must see 1" of black seatbelt in order for you guys to ride". so it may be tight. If you recall the belts are black with an orange handled end that they can tug on.. So I guess with all of the Intamin talk across the world right now this is CP's way of taking precaution. I wonder if they don't see exactly one inch if they make you get off. ?. If your wondering Im 6'1" 240. 37" waist. thought it was interesting is all..

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TTD rides =40, Time spent waiting for those rides= 56.5 hours.
MF=86

They seem to be doing it on a lot of rides. They even checked on the Gemini. Its prolly due to "recent icidents in our industry regarding saftey of riders"

On opening day I rode MF twice and saw three people get turned away because they fastened the belt but couldn't get the inch of slack they now require. It's a stupid rule if you ask me, it won't help safety in the least, just create a lot of angry guests.

People were also turned away on even the Blue Streak for not having the inch of slack. They actually told the guy (couldn't have been more than 150 lbs and 5'10") that he was "to large to ride" and told him to wait outside the ride for his buddies.

Does this mean that larger people may not be able to ride anymore?

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-Jon-
2008 - Roving Team Leader (Michigan's Adventure)
2007 - Maverick (Cedar Point)
http://www.cheezonastick.net

If that's the kind of thing going on, they'll have to start putting test seats at the gates or start giving back a lot of admissions.

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Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - My Blog - Video

I ran into the same thing. I wear a 36" pant size and was told i was of extreme size and could not ride. My wife,about 150lbs,was told the same thing. We both were seated,belts fastened and tight,with bar down and they released the bars and told us to get up.

I emailed Peggy Bertsch at CP,she sent me the canned reply and told me she couldnt refund my ticket price because "they had hundreds of complaints and couldn't give free tickets to all of them". She said I should understand the ops rudeness and humiliating treatment because they were in their first weekedn of operation. BS. The ops went out of their way to say it as loud as they could and to make everyone on the platform hear,causing much laughing and snickering. People were told to leave every train while i was on the platform for 20 minutes waiting on the front seat.

Duh-doesn't that tell you something is wrong? I just sent a letter to Mr Kinzel telling him of my treatment by the op and blowing off by Peggy so we will see what happens. I told her that they measure height and base ticket prices on that, and if they are going to be biased towards people who they think are overweight and can't ride safely,that they better weight and measure your waist at the gate and give a discount based on what you can't ride. Needless to say,she didn't reply anymore.

I have no problem with safety policies,but there shouldbe notice either on their website or outside of the gate before you pay,telling you the new policies.

This policy is rediculous. If the belt is locked, then it will hold the person in. This is just making them take longer to dispatch trains, pissing off a lot of guests, and not making anything safer. I was there this past Tueday, and I saw them turn several people away. The group I was with all managed to get the needed slack in the belt even though we are all a little bit larger in size, but I still felt bad for abyone turned away by this policy.

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-Paul

Ralph, how is it not going to help safety? Sure it will create a lot of angry guests, but it will also ensure that no large guests go flying out.

You can't expect Cedar Point to pro-rate admission for large guests just because they are unable to fit into rides safely. There are 68 rides to choose from, not to mention Live Entertainment.

Says right on the Cedar Point website as well as outside the park gates...

All passenger restraint systems, including lap bars, shoulder harnesses and seatbelts, must be positioned and fastened properly to allow guests to ride. Due to rider restraint system requirements, guests of exceptional size may not be accommodated on some of our rides. This may apply, but not be limited to, guest who exceed 6’2” or those who exceed 250 pounds, have a 46” waistline or 54” chest.

Our larger guests may experience difficulty on Blue Streak, Chaos, Corkscrew, Disaster Transport, Mantis, Mean Streak, Millennium Force, Mine Ride, Power Tower, Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, Wave Swinger, Wicked Twister. *** Edited 5/13/2004 9:25:12 PM UTC by Rihard 2000***

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Richie Anderson
Millennuim Force TL '01
Ride Maintenance '02 & '03
Party Decor

Let's see----I'm about 6-3 ,230, 40" waist ...I didnt try to ride MF on opening weekend,,, I didn't have a problem on dragster at all.....I will say if I was ever turned away from MF....., then some Mfer is going down.... (venting complete)

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"Show me a 450 in skee ball and I'll show you a wasted childhood."

Alright... I'm 6'5". 250lbs. 40-42" waist. Dunno my chest, but definitely not close to 54"... Last year I could ride everything at the park. On TTD and MF (as well as SRoS at SFDL) by pulling the belt out all the way to the end, fastening it, and cinching it down real real tight. Was there slack? Yep. Dunno how much, but here's hoping that there was more than an inch(I'm pretty sure there was)... Here's the thing: Fully extending the belt had more to do with my height and long legs than it did my waistline. The way my thighs are angled upward under the lap bar, I was going NOWHERE...

Is that the official ruling then? 1" of slack between the buckle and the loop? I heard earlier reports of 2"... I really hope I'll be able to ride!!

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But then again, what do I know?

Rihard-when was the last time someone flew out of anything at CP or any other ride for that matter? It's not like we have people flying out on a regular basis. This was one handicapped person who 1. shouldn't have been allowed to ride in the first place and 2. had his belt off and lap bar halfway on that should have been checked by the ops and it wasn't. It hs nothing at all to do with his size,if the belt and bar isn't on,you can be Paris Hilton and you are going to fly out of a high speed turn.

This is Intamin trying to cover their ass from being sued by blaming it on his size. If the belt is buckled and even if you can suck your gut in to get 1 inch of slack,once the ride gets moving,that slack is going to disappear when the belt latch moves anyway so they are gaining nothing except angering and humiliating guests.

I had no problem on Dragster which I worry a hell of a lot more about coming out of than MF.

Well: I am glad that I am not the only one who was told this. I was not kicked off but he tugged alot. though he was tiny. I am not fat or overly large in todays world. I work out every single day and eat right most of the time. I am a bigger guy. Football build. I think this is getting a little out of hand, If the seat belt can close easily then I do not see the need to embarass people. And have we not seen that most of these accidents were investigated and proven fault to a human error. not the size of the seatbelt. I have lost 35 lbs since last season and my latest pair of jeans is a 36" waist. I have been applauding myself for this. Now this seatbelt hype? who knows.. safety yes.. but is this too much? After dragsters temper for the past year I dont think they need anymore bad press. Most of the general public I talk to everyday about CP still thinks the magnum is sinking and Dragster is broke.. I can only imagine what this seatbelt thing is gonna spread.. wow. Happy New season all.!

MFJedi2-Nope, nobody has flown out of C.P's rides. And they intend to keep it that way.

Not flying out on a regular basis? I'd say four times is pretty regular. The most recient rider being "handicapped" wasn't the sole reason for that accident. Like you said, the ride op failed to secure his lap bar and seatbelt. His belt and lapbar were "halfway on" and his weight was the reason for it.

Sure, maybe the seatbelt might loosen back up on those guests that have to suck it in. But at least they can suck it in (maybe Intamin thinks that's good enough). Maybe it's the ones that can't that they don't want riding.

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Richie Anderson
Millennuim Force TL '01
Ride Maintenance '02 & '03
Party Decor

4 times where? CP? NO. Intamin coasters-NO

He was handicapped and obviously couldn't put the restraints on himself. At CP he would not have been allowed to ride. That enough would have prevented this accident. The seatbelt having 1 inch of slack is not going to prevent anything. The people that get hurt by falling out of coasters do it to themselves by doing something moronic like leaving the bar up or belt off for airtime or doing insane things like trying to stand up when the bar is loose. A person whose belt is buckled,no matter how damn big they are,is not going to come out of the ride. If the belt cannot be buckled that is another story.

CP alienating and humiliating people who they say are of extreme size becuase there isn't belt leftover isn't going to do anything for safety.

Seems the people with the everyone but me is fat attitude or people like the moron the other day who said Dragster was down last year because of overweight people riding are the ones creating the BS overweight problem. *** Edited 5/14/2004 2:32:15 AM UTC by MFJedi2***

Ok... I am just a little slow here..if I have to pull the seatbelt all the way to the end (and when i buckle it it is tight) to ride MF or TTD..then the op's will not let me ride?

That's right. If you cannot pull two inches of belt back through the buckle,you will be told you are of extreme size and asked to leave the ride as I,and about 20 other people were on monday while trying to ride MF.

I was able to ride last year... OK off to my friends Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers

Yeah,thats how I feel, my friends,my wife and i have all been riding it since the day it opened. And now half of us can't and the heaviest person is 180lbs.

Richie: Don't pull the corporate line here. Use a little common sense. Suggesting that the ride hasn't been safe the last four seasons is silly.

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Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - My Blog - Video

They better put up that new sign on the frontier trail-beware of flying guests, they come out of MF so much. No one has ever come out of an Intamin ride as far as I can remember.