Cedar Point is now responsible for...

Folks, I posted this over at P-Buzz, and while I am aware of the crossover for some of us, I am curious what the C-Buzz crowd thought of this. We're on day 2 of a week at Breakers, and this little surprise happened yesterday upon arriving at the park.

Since our oldest just hit 54" this week (literally), we decided to stop in the park for a couple hours before checking into Breakers so she could try Rougarou for the first time.

We got in line around 2:00 or so, and after about 10 minutes Kylah (that's the daughter) noticed no trains were running at all. Sure enough, she was right. I just assumed it was a little breakdown of some kind, but then a few minutes later a worker walked up and down the line informing us that a customer had lost a "valuable" on the ride, and they were shutting the ride down until it could be found. Sure enough, there was another worker under the tracks searching for this valuable.

A few of us starting talking in line, wondering just what this valuable could be. An irreplaceable wedding band? The rest of the map to find Luke Skywalker? Kinzel's lost diary?

Turns out it was the cell phone of some kid. A very broken cell phone.

Since when is this a policy of the park? The line was shut down for about 20 minutes while we waited for a kid's phone to be found. I'm not suggesting one's phone isn't valuable...I think we all know the lengths some have gone to retrieve this possession...but, really?

EDIT: I should add, when the employee came around the second time making her announcement, I asked her what was lost. She told me it was as cell-phone, and that "Cedar Point does this for valuables, which includes cell phones and things like car keys". Um, they do?

My idiot friend once lost his digital camera on the old Twister at SFNE....staff told him to come back at closing time to search the area under the ride. Because obviously a park guest's idiocy should not hold up all the other park guests' good times. Has Cedar Point lost common sense?

I'm sure your friend loves thr nickname you have given him.

I lost a cell phone and a wallet under the Great Nor' Easter. Thankfully the pools weren't full and they could get me my wallet. For the phone, I had to wait until closing time.

Back when I was there (at Blue Streak) we would go down for real valuables like a passport, wallet, etc. as soon as we could (i.e. preferably when someone came back from a break and we had an extra person so no one else had to leave a position). Otherwise, you were waiting until the park closed (or maybe before if it was slow and no one was riding), even if it was a cell phone. I guess considering the Raptor incident they may have decided it was better to take the quick operational hit for a ride area that guests could easily get into, but I would be a bit surprised by that. Maybe they do actually class phones as "valuable" though, since you can buy tickets, FastLane and such from the phone.

As noted elsewhere 'round these parts, I'm not neurotypical. I'm constantly checking to make sure my keys and wallet are where I left them.

So I don't quite get why hundreds of people have to be inconvenienced because one person wasn't careful with their belongings.

Knowing the number of phones lost on rides, if this is their policy I'm surprised that their rides run at all.

^Exactly what I was thinking. I was just at Hershey on Tuesday. At the entrance to Storm Runner there was a warning to secure loose articles, and to drive the point home there was a plexi-glass box under the sign filled to the top with broken cell phones...30 or so, maybe more. It's got to be pretty common, and closing the ride to retrieve one should never be park policy.

I'm not doubting OhioStater's account of what happened by any stretch, but I can't help but think there's more to this story than what the employee told him.

It was a cell phone. The kid was about 15. We all saw him leave with it out the exit after our forced delay. And apparently I'm not alone with this situation (via p-buzz)...which I also find shocking.

It's like Fast Lane for retrieving lost items.

Don't wait until the end of the day to get your valuables back! For just $79.99 you can skip the waits and have your items retrieved immediately! Purchase your Flashback™ wristband today!

As stated on Pointbuzz, a similar thing happened to me on Blue Streak when a kid that looked about 10-12 years old lost his cell phone. They stopped the ride for 30+ minutes and the phone was completely busted when found.

So essentially rides are being stopped so guests can retrieve their recently converted paperweight. Totally worth it.

I always smile when I hear that a cell phone "lost" on a ride was found broken. True justice!

Vater said:

At the entrance to Storm Runner there was a warning to secure loose articles, and to drive the point home there was a plexi-glass box under the sign filled to the top with broken cell phones...

Same at Diamondback at KI. It's a very effective deterrent, because all of the phones in the display are very old flip phones, meaning no one has lost a phone on Diamondback in at least 10 years.

(Even more amazing when you do the math!)

Or they just haven't added new broken phones to the display?

My theory is much plausibler...

...or sarcasticer. Take your pick.

When I worked at Elitch's we had signs at a couple of the rides stating that lost items would be retrieved at certain times of the day. So if we were notified something was lost we would search at the designated time.

It's one of those tough spots where you don't want to shut the ride down to retrieve loose items after they're warned to secure them. But you don't want stuff sitting in the infield all day, especially if it's in easy view of the midway. It's kind of a preventive measure to prevent the idiots from hopping the fence and being decapitated or whatnot.

Years ago, when Firehawk was new to KI, I lost my cell phone on that ride. I was told it could be retrieved at the end of the night. I chalked it up to a lesson learned. I even had cargo shorts on, thinking it wouldn't come out, yet it did. I never went back to retrieve my phone, although mine did not cost nearly what they do today.

I can kind of see where the logic would be to look for it and shut down the ride, to prevent the temptation from stupid people. Although, it is something that shouldn't need to happen.

Wow, how sweet of them. I lost my key fob on Incredible Hulk (pre metal detectors). They pretty much told me to kick rocks and check lost & found at day's end.