Safety Overkill?

Give them time.

I definitely think these measures are necessary. Like the point made above, most of the changes that happen at the park come from incidents at other non-Cedar Fair parks. Remember when the kid at Six Flags jumped the fence and was nailed by a coaster train? Cedar Point was forced by Ohio to put up new fences like those on the infield of Corkscrew. So like it or not, these actions are necessary because some sort of incident forced them into place.

I personally like that the children's rides have an extra lock. How would you like to watch a kid unbuckle their seatbelt and potentially get extremely hurt? I definitely wouldn't.

In order for Cedar Point to provide world class thrills and keep everyone safe, these measures are necessary.

Some measures are needed while others are just downright odd, like a seat belt on Giant Wheel.

Also take into account that different ride manufacturers have different safety requirements. Maybe the seat belts on Giant Wheel are required by the manufacturer or the state.

^^Can't you just un-buckle it?

They are not original to the ride and I have rode similar models from the same company that do not have belts. As for the state, I do not know why they would decide that the park needed them unless it came from an accident (which I don't think has happened).

Yes you can unbuckle it, which is why I think it's silly.

The one thing i can add to this post is that i do greatly appreciate the fact that CP has added a seat belt type device to Corkscrew,when i was younger i always thought that the harness will open on the ride,now i feel a little safer and on Raptor too, i really dig the seat belt thing on those harness rides, i just feel safer,but thereis an overkill on some rides if you ask me, but that is not my call to begin with i have to follow the rules like everyone else,but on the other hand i know people that would not ride anything until i showed them that they will not fall out cause the seat belt will hold them in!!!
There was a time i rode the roller coaster At the now non-existing bob-lo island and as we were going up the lift hill the lap bar did not keep closed untill the last second then when we hit the turn it came open again and again at the last second it locked again,then when we got to the breaks and platform it would not open so me and my friend had to go around again and had to sit on the transfer track while they had to go underneath and pound and bang things until they had got it open so we could get out,but the moral of the story is that i wish that thing had seat belts cause if the lap bar did not close when it did i probably would not be talking to you here today!!!

Jacob Ryan Hartman said:
So like it or not, these actions are necessary because some sort of incident forced them into place.

Your example doesn't make sense. It's necessary because people do stupid things?

99er said:
OTSR for Cadillac Cars! Really though, I thought the door straps on the Giant Wheel were just dumb. Then again, I also think seatbelts on Giant Wheel are needless (they are still on there, right?). I am shocked that they have not added belts to Sky Ride.

The seatbelts on the Giant Wheel as I recall were installed after it's first year. They were ordered by the park's first safety czar Richard Coulter. From what he told me that there was a lot of comments left at Operatons the first year about there not being any door locks or restraints. As far as seatbelts in the Skyride, the nature of the loading procedure precludes the extra step. I can see them screening in the cabin tho.

Door locks would have made a lot more sense than seat belts on the Giant Wheel.

^Exactly. What good are seat belts? I find it hard to believe that the park installed seat belts just to make guests feel better about their safety. If that was the case, why did Matterhorn run so long without locking harnesses? You could stand there and watch, 99% of the time, guests freaking out because their harness was not locked.

As for Sky Ride, I was just joking. But I don't see much of a difference between Sky Ride and Giant Wheel as far as rider safety. If seat belts are warranted on Giant Wheel, why not in a Sky Ride cabin?

I should note that the Giant Wheel has had seat belts for as long as I can remember. It has had seat belts longer than many of the coasters have.

It does make some sense on the Giant Wheel for one reason only. Remember, the doors on the Giant Wheel do not lock. If your seat belt is fastened when you leave the boarding platform, then there is no way you can exit the cabin 150 feet in the air without intentionally removing the seat belt.

The Sky Ride, on the other hand, has locking doors.

Actually, that's the most useful function of a seat belt on any ride: to indicate that any unscheduled departure from the ride may have been an intentional act.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, but when did they add those annoying door belts with the plastic clasps? As if loading and unloading wasn't slow enough.

Did the park at one point use the load the whole wheel? I am just wondering because they have the steps what they dont even use anymore.

Originally, when the que was full all six loading stations were used to load the cabins. That meant that there were six stops before the load/ unload cycle was complete. It was then spun twice and the cycle started again. Back in the day it required a crew of ten hosts per shift to efficiently operate. Six in the loading positions, One in the control booth, one at the beginning of the que with "the stick", one on the deck to route guests, and a floater who would give breaks. With a good crew you could complete a cycle every ten minutes, giving you an hourly capacity of 2160 Now you could do it with fewer loaders, it was not unusual for one person to supervise the loading of two, or even three cabins, in a pinch, but that could get a little hairy.