Could it be? The first CF park with metal detectors?

HA!!!

Did the $145 mil aquisition include the metal detectors at SFWoA? Could we possibly see CF keep these at the gates and become the first CF park to utilize them?

Empty your pockets at GL because you never know. :)

Yes, the new GL will continue to have metal detectors. A new department was being created under Six Flags ownership to get rid of the LD kids and have a truely trained staff for the metal detecors. It looks like CF might keep this department.

You can't call it an aquisition yet as CF and SF just agreed on a price... They are still a looong way from signing the deal!

Regards,
Steve *** Edited 3/16/2004 6:28:01 AM UTC by insider***

That's not to say Cedar Fair won't just leave the @$#! things unplugged... :)

After all, they really don't improve park security, they just cause a lot of hassle for people trying to get in and out.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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RideMan said:After all, they really don't improve park security, they just cause a lot of hassle for people trying to get in and out.

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They don't?

I could have sworn that metal detectors were the main reason a deranged man with a weapon was not let into PKI last season. Without them, who knows what could have happend.

Metal detectors are indeed capable of improving park security in some way. Sure, they might seen useless and a hassle to some but it all boils down to how sensetive the detectors or, and who is checking things on the other side.

I won't name the park but in 1997 I visited a park with metal detectors. As I was going through them, my camera bag sent off the alarm. I stopped and was preparing to open my camera bag to show someone what was setting it off. Surprisingly I was told just to continue on.

This confused me in a way as anyone with any sort of weapon could have easily gone through. With a history of violence, the park should have done more to physically check belongings.

Not two weeks went by after I visited the park when I heard on the news that a couple of people were stabbed because a knife was let in to the park.

If parks are going to have metal detectors, they need to make sure they use them correctly. For myself, it doesn't really matter if a park has them or not. I am a paitent person and if a metal detector is going to prevent the guy in front of me from shooting someone in the park, then I am all for it.

-Sean

Sean, you would have been searched had you fit the profile they had their eyes open for.

My theory is if you're getting bothered by the detector then you're carrying too much stuff :)

My guess is that the liability of having detectors and not using them is higher than not having detectors at all.

I know in the hotel business there have been plenty of lawsuits lost by hotels that had security cameras but didn't have tape running or the cameras weren't operating.

There is an implication of a safer environment when you see those detectors. Not that I think you are safer but it certainly is assumed.

I get bothered by the metal detectors because I have a swiss army knife keychain so small, that I usually don't realize I have it on me... but I was stopped on akwards parts when I brought it into Six Flags Darien Lake.
They let me through the main gates no problem, but wouldn't dare let me pass through Darien Square, despite me just using that as a short-cut to get from point A to point B.

My point has nothing really to do with what I just said... but Cedar Point has had an excellent history of non-violence & great security. I haven't heard any bad reports of gang fights, weapons of mass destruction, or really just about anything worse than a few words & fists. Hell, I think their biggest offense at Cedar Point are line jumpers & line smokers.

If that is an indication how Cedar Fair runs all of its parks... then there'd be no use for those metal detectors. I actually feel more safe at a park without the detectors than with them. Who's stopping one from just tossing a hand-gun or knife over the fence?
I'd be happy if they scrapped the detectors...

...yet at the same time, I'm relieved they got them at Paramount Canada's Wonderland, where someone got shot & killed outside in the parking lot of the park right after it closed. Not a pleasant thought to think about if they had no detectors that someone could have been walking around the park armed & ready to use it if someone pissed him off.

I can not believe, especially after 9/11 that CF has not followed the trend and installed metal detectors as most of the other parks have. What better place for some crazy man or terrorist to strike than an amusement park. You have hundreds, if not thousands of people packed into the queue lines like sardines. I hope CF keeps the detectors at GL and gets them for the rest of the park. One other factor to think about is Ohio, like many other states, now has a concealed carry law and though I am pro gun, do not think that they belong in parks. I do think that the minor inconvenience at the gate is well worth it.

I don't mind the metal detectors, and I think every park should have them. If they stop only 1 mad man with a knife or gun getting into the park they have done there jobs. And if done the right way I they can done without slowing guests down to much.

At SFGAm they do it what I would consider the right way, they ask you to hand any metal you have on you through the metal detector and then let you walk through and they only need to use the wand if you have a metal on you (i.e. metal belt buckle or something).

SFMM however was doing it the wrong way the 3 days I was at the park which resulted in about an hour wait to just get through the metal detectors. They weren't asking people to hand any metal items they had through the detectors first. They just let the people go through and then they basically would use the wand on everyone resulting in long waits.

Although Cedar Point doesn't have metal detectors, they do not allow picnic baskets or coolers into the park. A terrorist would most likely have a bomb than a small weapon. They are preventing the need to periodically have security check people's stuff by not permitting it into the park.

There's also a big difference between a place that you have to travel a relatively long way to get to(Cedar Point) and a place that has substantial housing nearby (Geauga Lake). SFMM has a so/so need for detectors, being somewhat close to developments (again, wish they'd learn how to use them), as does someplace that draws large from cities like SFGAdv and SFGAm, but some of the smaller parks which require significant travel to get to them (significant meaning beyond the range of foot or bike) there's really no need. Someone can start trouble for a lot less gate price and a lot less gas money elsewhere ...

Just my theory.

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CPgenius said:
A terrorist would most likely have a bomb than a small weapon.

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I guess that was our thinking at aircraft security checkpoints pre Sept 11th.

Well, I don't think anyone is going to drive a Cadillac Car into the Hotel Breakers anytime soon.

CPGenius havent you been watching the news lately?

Spains terrorist attack was carried out using bombs in backpacks, CP definatly lets those through. I also must agree with Antuan assesment.

Seriously folks is it that much of an inconvienece to be held up for 5-15 mins and know that you are safe? Every park has seedy people at it and I prefer to know they dont have weapons on them.

As for tossing stuff over a fence areas close to fences are usually off limits to guests (and usually contain ride footprints) it would be pretty hard to retrive your weapon from that area.

Sean said:

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I could have sworn that metal detectors were the main reason a deranged man with a weapon was not let into PKI last season. Without them, who knows what could have happend.

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It is equally possible that the metal detectors were the main reason a deranged man with a weapon attempted to enter PKI last season.

If someone is intent on causing trouble, a magnetometer at the front gate isn't going to stop him. In a park like Geauga, it isn't even going to keep him from getting a weapon inside.

Someone mentioned Canada's Wonderland...Amazing how much safer the parking lot is when they put the magnetometers on the park entrance, isn't it?

Ever consider the fact that with or without metal detectors, such events don't happen inside the park, but frequently erupt in the parking lot? Ever stop to think about why?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who is annoyed that one of the results of "increased security" at our nation's airports is people walking around with guns in the "no weapons" area...

Did someone mention tailgating?

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wahoo skipper said:
Well, I don't think anyone is going to drive a Cadillac Car into the Hotel Breakers anytime soon.

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Is that Cotton Hill driving that car....you know he got his shinnies blown to smithereens by the Nazzies, and he's none too happy about it? ;)

Sorry, the phrase "Cadillac Car" just always sends me off on a KotH rant, LOL....:)

My opinion fwiw, keep the metal detectors and ADD drug sniffing dogs. Its kind of hard to maintain a "family" atmosphere when Rufus and Jamal are walking down the midway passing a blunt between them.

Despite what profile the park is looking for, every single person that sets off that alarm should be looked at in great detail. I don't think anyone disagrees with me on that.

Like millrace said, having loads of extra items is probably to blame for the delay of getting people through a dedector zone efficiently. If anyone is not happy with them, then perhaps they can do their part by not slowing down the line and preparing in advance what not to take in by leaving it in the car.

Dave, while shooting and stabbings do happen outside the park, the stabbing I was talking about did happen inside the park gates.

-Sean