Cedar Point is now responsible for...

Not to be difficult, but I would like to think that what happened on Raptor would be deterrent enough. I'm really not trying to be insensitive, but shutting down a ride to prevent someone from running into the path of a moving train seems unnecessary. I'm not saying I want people to get hurt (I would prefer they not get hurt and then just get ejected and banned from the park), but at the end of the day, businesses need to stand up to customers who don't seem to think the rules apply to them. Catering to stupidity hurts the experience for everyone else who abides by the rules.

Sadly, it's that whole lowest common denominator thing. X percentage of the population understands that rides are heavy and fast and will mess you up. The other percentage is drunk/high/stupid/entitled. One percentage seems to be climbing, and I'm not sure it's the good one. I've only been to CP three times, but all three times, guests entered restricted areas to retrieve items. One also attempted to enter the Raptor restricted area to retrieve a beach ball.

Add into this that lawsuits stemming from ride vs idiot have sometimes swung in favor of idiot (idiot's family anyway), and they're probably just being extra cautious to prevent litigation in the future.

Maybe there should be some sort of punishment included in this though: you bring an item on the ride that gets lost, they stop the ride and retrieve your item, but then you immediately get removed from the park. I am guessing that wouldn't work because people would just not report stuff and continue to play Dodge the Coaster instead, but it's an idea.

You're right, Bunky. There's always going to be people who, um, don't think things through. "There's my cell phone! I'll just climb this fence next to this sign with some words on it and get it back!" "I'm at an intersection with four lanes of traffic in one direction, five in the other, during rush hour. I'm just going to walk diagonally through the intersection, holding up all nine lanes!" (Happened while I was on the bus last week.)

Sometimes you just have to admit something is gone and walk a way...I lost 2 hubcaps at once just before exiting the freeway on trip to Cedar Point of all places. Apparently when I switched into the exit lane at Rye Beach early I hit the rumble strip and off they flew. The car next to me waiting to turn onto Rt 6 yelled to me that they had seen them both come off at the same time and roll in opposite directions. I was already upset about my car because the delivery guy at Pizza Hut backed into it earlier that week while we were eating dinner and left a big dent in my fake woodie panel and now my hubcaps flew off. The person who told me where they were was all like "you can probably go back and find them..." Nah, classic car or not I am not playing chicken with 3 lanes of 70mph traffic for hubcaps. It's just not worth it. For all I know they may still be in the weeds there someplace but at those speeds who knows how far they may have rolled driver's side cap could have crossed the east bound lanes who knows...I miss my hubcaps but I'm not getting run over looking for them. I do think about them whenever I drive by.

Ooohhh... Classic car? Wood paneling? You have my attention.

Unless it's an Escort Wagon or a K-car, I'd love to hear more.

Edit: I take back the K-car comment, because I'd totally drive this:

1985 Buick Electra Estate Wagon

"Do you have hubcaps for a '72 Pinto hatchback?"

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!)

They still make flip-phones. I got a new one last year. I hate smart phones! They are the downfall of our society! I will never have one. I have no need for one. Things I want my phone to do: Call, receive calls, voicemail, text (could live without but nice to have), and alarm is kinda nice too.

Most of the time when at a park, my phone is left in the car. I go to a park to get away from everything. Not to remain plugged-in why in park. To add to that, parks like CP do their Tweet-ups to score nice items. That always irritates me. I would rather walk into a gift shop and purchase, than have to keep track on my phone and try to get.

But, hey, that's just me! I'm old school!

I can think of a crap ton of things that have contributed to the proverbial "downfall of society" more than smart phones.

I need my flat thing. Sorry. (Not sorry).

Vater said:

I can think of a crap ton of things that have contributed to the proverbial "downfall of society" more than smart phones.

Like serving alcohol at theme parks (THINK OF THE KIDS!!!!) and dancing.

I have a smartphone. Its important functions to me, in descending order:

1) tells me the time
2) lets me ignore my mother's phone calls, er, I mean, talk to my mother each week
3) surf the internet at work

I will carry it into a park when I'm with my friend Mark; he has health issues so being able to text back and forth allows us to split up when he needs to rest. Otherwise it stays in the car.

I see a lot of families come into the theater, each one of them poking away at their phones; sometimes I wonder if they're texting the people they're standing next to...

I don't spend much time on my phone but I take it everywhere. I never used to but about six years ago I very abruptly developed a heart problem and for some time going anywhere by myself even in my own backyard if I wasn't right up by the house became scary. Taking the phone with me became like a security blanket and even now that I'm pretty much well I don't see myself getting out of the habit of having it with me at all times unless I'm in the water.

CoffinBoy said:

They still make flip-phones. I got a new one last year.

I'm *supposed* to be getting a smartphone for my 50th this Summer. Dreading it...

How "present" can I be with my face buried in a smartphone screen?

Having the screen doesn't obligate you to bury your face in it...I don't use my smart phone for too much more than calls and texts most of the time. I may occasionally post pictures of things on facebook but aside from when I was stuck in the locked down high school surrounded by cops a couple weeks ago I don't really spend much time on facebook or other sites with my phone. I'm just not in the habit. It goes in my pocket in the morning and sometimes stays there all day. If I had a nicer phone maybe things would be different but I have no plans to spend the money for a nicer phone.

I'm going to take the opposing view here (surprise!) and say the smartphone is the greatest thing to happen to humanity. You have a tiny computer/communication device with access to all the information in the world available at all times in your pocket.

I can't think of a single thing I can't do better, faster or easier (or at all) without it than with.

Ride a roller coaster without clutching your pants?

Andy DOES have a point there, Gonch.

I'm not a clutcher:

Lord Gonchar said:

I'm going to take the opposing view here (surprise!) and say the smartphone is the greatest thing to happen to humanity. You have a tiny computer/communication device with access to all the information in the world available at all times in your pocket.

I say this all of the time, and all people do is squander the opportunities that the technology enables and complain about how much everything sucks. **** those people.