Please ban BASKETBALLS!

Im so sick of workin entrance or crowd control and dealing with guests that have basketballs cause we do not permit em on WT or Skyride and most of the other rides ive been workin

Skyride is 10 times worse cause you get the people who hide the basketballs and once you put em in the cabin and then notice the ball in their hands you have to ask em to step out and put the ball in a locker or throw it away and then the guest refuses which backs up the whole ride so everyone is screamin 99 and the guest still wont get out so u just close the door and send the retarded guest out and then work ur ass off tryin to even out the 38 cabins....ahhhh no more basketballs please

I know how annoying people with basketballs are, there playing, bouncing them from the time they win them to the time they leave. I've been working at PKI for two years and yes that gets annoying very quick. Some times I just want to take'em, and chuck'em somewere ;).

I think giving away basketballs is fine.

Giving away inflated basketballs, on the other hand, isn't.

The day one of those basketballs hits my kid is the day I get my butt kicked because that basketball will be thrown in an area that NOBODY will ever get to.

I had two basketballs yesterday that almost hit my son while in his stroller.

~Rob Willi

e x i t english said:

Giving away inflated basketballs, on the other hand, isn't.

yeah that would be great idea. At the end of the day have an area to pump them up before they leave the park.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:
The day one of those basketballs hits my kid is the day I get my butt kicked because that basketball will be thrown in an area that NOBODY will ever get to.

I had two basketballs yesterday that almost hit my son while in his stroller.

~Rob Willi

Don't worry, Rob.

If I'm around and that happens, I got your back :-)

Those things annoy everyone, but unfortunately make the park a lot of money. I agree they should be given away un-inflated, they cause a ton of problems both on the midways and at the rides.

So yesterday, a group of high school age African American girls were playing some pretty intense "street ball" in front of Sagebrush Sue's in Frontier Town. They would physically run into guests, yelling at the top of their lungs, etc and did this for a good 15 minutes or so. I noticed a few silver tags walking by, shaking their head and rolling their eyes but refusing to say anything. At least 4 guests tried stopping these girls and told them to find something better to do with their time. The response was not pretty.

Later on, I noticed 2 boys putting the basketballs in the front of their athletic warm up shorts and making very loud sexual references whilst children questioned their parents as to what those comments meant.

All in all, basketballs are a horrible prize. Of course, so is a 5 foot tall stuffed Stewie or Brian from "The Family Guy" but who am I to argue?

Ya and I am so sick of always hearing people bouncing them on the midways....... boune after bounce erg!!!!!

I like e_x_i_t_english's idea of giving away deflated basketballs. I think it would solve a lot of problems.

^ Me too.

Giving away deflated basketballs would be great from my perspective, along with the many other people who don't like them. However, getting an inflated basketball is whats so attractive to many. Getting a deflated one would probably decrease business a lot (which is fine by me) but it is a huge money maker for CP, and I'm sure they're not too keen on changing things.

I think another idea that could work is, instead of selling them deflated, give them out in a bag and simply tell the guest there's no bouncing in the park. Easier said then done, since it would require enforcement, but it should be easier to catch than someone smoking in line.

That is one prize i would like to see go!
If you think CP has it bad with basketballs then go to King's Island
it is far more worse there.

Rob, I can totally understand, and I'm with e x i t on this one. Although my idea of where to throw that ball is different, as there is one person who'll be able to get to it - a proctologist.

As for deflated balls, I agree wholeheartedly. In order to try and keep people interested in the game, they can simply have a bunch of inflated basketballs on display, and give out deflated ones. Sure, their sales might go down, but I'd bet the day someone gets hurt is the day CP will adopt this policy with lightning-quick speed.
*** Edited 6/20/2006 12:00:36 PM UTC by djDaemon***

They should just give out stuffed animals instead of basketballs, that might solve the problem. ;]

I have always hated the Basketballs as well. If I remember correctly there was an incident one year where someone got one stuck in Magnum's track that goes over the midway! I can handle the walking and bouncing of them, but when they pass them from one side of the midway to another and mow everyone over to catch them that is enough for me. I have always wished that they would go away or give them away deflated.

Maybe if kids were taught common courtesy then maybe the problem would be solved.

Don't get me wrong, I love basketball and I even want to win one from CP myself (especially because my good one sprung a leak and I'm too cheap to shell out more than $5 for a new one:) ) but seriously, when someone comes up to me when I'm walking over to pee, and acts like we're gonna play some ball, it pisses me off. (ha, I think that was an unintentional funny.)

I seriously just think that giving them away deflated is a good idea. Granted if I win one, I'll dribble it. But I'll dribble it right out to my car and put it in the trunk, cause I don't want to carry that thing around. Talk about a pain in the ass.

e x i t english said:
when someone comes up to me when I'm walking over to pee, and acts like we're gonna play some ball

Did that happen Sunday?

What I think they should do is just make the games harder. Now, you can't make the rims smaller, the ball does have to fit in, it does have to be possible to win. But that doesn't mean they can't make the backboards smaller or move the rims back about 5 feet and raise them 3-4 inches. No one said the game has to be easily winnable. Not to mention, the less winners they have, the more money they'll make because people will keep playing till they win. Or are out of money.