CP Opening Day 5-15-10...here we go again with the belts

This was my first experience visiting opening day at CP, and it was a last minute decision based on inexpensive hotel options for the weekend. Overall, I'm glad that we came down for the day, but it has been a weekend dulled by negative events...which I hate. But hey, I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. Every other trip I've had here has been flawless.

First, the good:

• The park was much busier than I expected. Why do I think this is good? Admittedly it made ride waits longer than we had hoped for, but on the other hand I was glad to see so many folks turn out for opening day, especially with the economy as craptastic as it's been.
• Many of the ride ops, with very few exceptions were a real delight today. They were having fun with their jobs, cracking jokes, and basically just enjoying themselves. It was nice to see, since typically in the summer many of them get lack-lustre in their attitudes and just go through the motions.
• The park looked great, but duh, it's opening weekend. Odd to see no flowers in place yet.
• Disaster Transport is one of those rides that my husband has an weird love for that goes back many years, so we always have to get a ride on the goofy thing. They actually patched some of the daylight gaps in the building, making it a lot more fun this year. Nice to see some attention to small detail.

But with every compliment comes a complaint.

• For starters, our car was broken into Friday night at Breakers Express. It was locked, and the only thing they managed to get was our mp3 player that we accidentally left in the car, but it was an annoying start to the day and they TRASHED the inside of the car. So not cool.
• We headed in for the early ride time, and despite everyone racing around to get their rides in, it took until almost 10:00 before we actually got on Maverick...and it was all because they weren't actually letting people INTO the queing until 9:30. We always stay on site to get in early and have never had a problem with this until today, but it was frustrating.
• Rides were continually down today-this was TOTALLY expected, mind you, being opening day. So not really anything to throw a fit about, but good lord there were enough teens whining about it on and off all day long in the lines. Some of it wasn't their fault though. There was some sort of discrepency at Dragster tonight where, I kid you not, eight or nine security guards escorted a group of four men out of the park and ejected them. No idea what the heck was going on but it shut the ride down for quite a while.

And to close, I'll tell a little story...

My husband and I have been working on losing weight for a while now. He's lost 50 lbs, and I've lost 25 since January. I've lost 2 sizes since the last time that we went to CP, and we were looking forward to hopefully getting a ride on Millie together as he had some issues last time (I did not and could ride just fine). We've never complained about his not being able to get on. We've never had a problem with any of the issues so many have had. But today, I join the ranks of irritated enthusiasts of, as CP so kindly likes to call, "exceptional size".

We went to Millie at some point during the day to see if we could fit into the seats this time around, and the employee working the gate quietly thanked us for bothering to check. She said that the seatbelts had been shortened again this year and that so few people knew about it that she was getting yelled at all day by angry folks that had had to take the walk-of-shame. The poor kid looked ready to cry. Of course, I was surprised that they would shorten them yet again, and she quietly told me to the side that we should go try the dragster seats before getting on as they were shortened this year too and people were throwing a fit. I thanked her for the trouble and we headed over a little later to see how it fit.

I could just barely get the belt done, and my husband couldn't at all. This is nuts, as we have been on Dragster several times in the past and have never had a problem. Heck I am 2 sizes smaller than any other time I have been to the park, and I had to fight to get the thing done. And I couldn't cinch it to meet the 1/2 to 1 inch tightening.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know that the belts in line are, as some speculate, a little shorter than they are in the station. But what I want to know is why shorten them yet again? The first time, I got it. But did I miss something? Why shorten them yet again? I could go on a tyrade about this but it won't do any good. I will just say this. The average American female is a size 14, and I am darn near close; another two months and I'll be there. How is the norm exceptional? Long story short, their 'guests of exceptional size' rule is getting out of hand in my humble opinion.

It was still a very nice day, and I enjoyed myself. But it will be a long time before I enjoy myself at CP again. I'll be taking my money to a park where I don't have these problems. Kings Island and Holiday World, here I come. ;) I need a ride on Voyage this year anyway.

Rokuchan said:
How is the norm exceptional?

Because 2 of every 3 Americans is overweight.

Not saying I agree with what's going on with MF, just answering the question. :)

I was also there, Had to wait at MF until 9:40, but got first train of the year with the usual suspects...
Did anyone notice the horrible power washing job around the park! They power washed all of the gum around the park, which in itself is normal, but the operator who was doing it layed on the trigger from piece to piece....The ground all over the park looks like a giant graffiti party. Just looks bad in my opinion.
Just got this mornings edition of Sandusky Register and low and behold Jeff is stirring the pot for 2011!!!!

@Gonchar: Yeah that was kind of a given. :) I still think their tactics and practices are asenine.

@Joshua: god you are SO right about the power wash. It was worse in some spots than others so I didn't really take too much notice, but now that you mention it, it was pretty gross.

Might have to pick up a copy of the register on my way out...

Now I'm a little worried. I fit on MF first time, in 2001. Then didn't fit on that OR Dragster in 2003 or '04..not sure which year I went. Then, through the end of '06 and into Summer '07, I lost a lot of weight, and fit both easily in 2007. Last June, I was fine. But I have put on weight again, and compounded with this news about the belts, that's causing concern to me. I'm planning to visit CP as part of a 4 or 5 park jaunt in late June. I love CP, and I hope it works out . I'm going about 225 now. Well, if I can't ride the big boys, there's always Cedar Downs....

Silly as it sounds, Cedar Downs is always my last ride on the way out. Sort of a tradition. Last night's ride was sort of sad though. I don't think we'll be back this year, or the next, unless they start making changes in the RIGHT direction.

At the rate this is going, you are going to have to be a walking stick to ride Intamin coasters.

If the park has a problem with guests of exceptional size, perhaps they should stop selling corn dogs, chicken fingers, french fries, nachos, ice cream, and soda, and all the other goodies.

Clever , RGB.

Does the park offer any healthy food anywhere in the park? I like apples, nuts, and fruit juice a lot. I never used to eat so well, so I don't recall seeing anything "good-for-you" at the park.

LostKause said:
Clever , RGB.

Does the park offer any healthy food anywhere in the park? I like apples, nuts, and fruit juice a lot. I never used to eat so well, so I don't recall seeing anything "good-for-you" at the park.

The market buffet has a salad bar...that was about it in there.

Btw, did anyone see that pic of those guys on TTD from the PointBuzz newsletter? That's all you need to know about the belt situation...they look ready to snap like an over-tuned guitar string they're so darn tight!?! I'm almost getting worried as someone who is closer to "stick"-like! How will Coastermania ERT work now for many??

First of all, a size 14 is NOT huge. I would look HOT if I were a size 14! :) (But then, I'm tall-ish.) Hearing stuff like this about CP is really disheartening. Hope it doesn't spread to all of the other CF parks!!

Trying to eat healthfully at a park is a real challenge. It's hard to find anything that hasn't been dipped in batter and deep fried. Or is just deep fried batter! (Mmmm, funnel cakes... :D ) Even the durn Chick-Fil-A's (at least at Carowinds) only have the fried chicken nuggets and sammiches-- no grilled. For better or worse, I usually don't have much of an appetite when I'm at a park, so I either don't eat anything or eat very little. Unfortunately for me, if my sugar goes down that means I HAVE to eat. And I usually do not want to take the time to go to the parking lot, leave, eat, and come back. I want to ride.

I did see some wimpy-looking salads in C's Country Kitchen, but they were side-salad size, and I need more than that. Why not more grilled stuff? Grilled food is yummy!

How is Panda Express? I've thought about trying it, but I don't know what kind of menu selections the ones in the park have. According to their online menus, they have some healthier options.

Feed us all kinds of fried crap, then expect us to fit on the rides? :) Puh-lease!

Too bad stuff like the old Jack Rabbit restraints at KW aren't feasible for today's coasters... :D

I guess I'd better wait on a Cedar Point trip until my fiance and I have lost some weight! I made it just fine the last time I went, but I was a size 12 then! Argh. Hope Kings Dominion doesn't get all crazy with belts too, now that it's a Cedar Fair park. Wait, there are too many morbidly obese people in Virginia to do that. :D

Kings Dominion doesn't have the same issue because of the over the shoulder restraints we all complain about.

Hey. I haven't complained about them, nor will I, so it's not "we all", now is it? :)

Rokuchan said:
Heck I am 2 sizes smaller than any other time I have been to the park, and I had to fight to get the thing done. And I couldn't cinch it to meet the 1/2 to 1 inch tightening.

I'm pretty sure there is no longer a "1/2 inch of slack" rule (or whatever the asinine policy was) or at the very least, they stopped enforcing it around the start of last season.

As for the power washing induced "graffiti", I found it was most evident while on Power Tower looking down into the queues. Somebody really went nuts there.

I'm pretty sure there is no longer a "1/2 inch of slack" rule (or whatever the asinine policy was) or at the very least, they stopped enforcing it around the start of last season.

I did ask the girl out front about it during our conversation and she said that she wasn't sure about it and was fairly sure some of the ops were enforcing it, but she could neither deny or support it.

RatherGoodBear said:
If the park has a problem with guests of exceptional size, perhaps they should stop selling corn dogs, chicken fingers, french fries, nachos, ice cream, and soda, and all the other goodies.

LostKause said:
Does the park offer any healthy food anywhere in the park? I like apples, nuts, and fruit juice a lot. I never used to eat so well, so I don't recall seeing anything "good-for-you" at the park.

CatPurrson said:
Trying to eat healthfully at a park is a real challenge. It's hard to find anything that hasn't been dipped in batter and deep fried.
...
Feed us all kinds of fried crap, then expect us to fit on the rides? :) Puh-lease!

If there's any justifiable time to eat crappy, fatty food, it's on a day where you're spending 10+ hours on your feet, walking several miles.