Does six flags have a "must staple" rule?

We went to six parks this past week (4 of them were 6 flags), and at every single coaster we were stapled to the point that the rides were not enjoyable.

Is this a new policy that 6 flags has?

We also did busch gardens and kings dominium, and neither one of those parks stapled us like they were at 6 flags.

On a side note, six flags parks were in the best shape I have ever seen them. They were all very clean and the ride crews were fast and for the most part very friendly.

I wish I could say the same for kings dominium.

I dont know much about the "must staple rule", and i doubt theres truely a written rule, I know what you mean about SF.. Had the same thing happen to me at SFA.

As far as KD. Believe it or not it is much cleaner and friendlier once Cedar Fair took them over. I remember always leaving the park before they were taken over wanting to get a tetnis shot every time I exited.

But its a huge uphill battle to beautify what was known as Kings Ghetto to some of us locals..

I'm always skeptical when enthusiasts make this claim. Not saying you're being dishonest, but we don't have a good reputation when it comes to complaining about it.

A claim for which Jeff? The stapling (which I have no opinion about, just happened to me once and asked the ride op to release and he did).

I assume since its the topic, that's what you are referring to, though there were side notes as well.

Edit: for personal clarity.

Maybe there's just a bunch of sadists working the rides at SF parks, the same onces who designed Mean Streak. ;)

They were pushing down as hard as they could on the lap bars. Sometimes two workers would push down on on a single bar as well.

My friend is not much of an enthusiast, and he even had red marks on his legs.

It was just ridiculas.

I am with Jeff here, when people are disappointed that they can't lean forward to allow more airtime room I first of all don't blame Six Flags for acting this way, and 2 think enthusiasts are exaggerating.

Not saying this is the case here, just saying.

I don't know if these claims are exaggerations. There's no doubt I'm an enthusiast and appreciate a little room between me and the lap bar but I've been to plenty of parks where it was obvious that shoving down on the lap bar was standard operating procedure. I'm not suggesting that "one click" rides are expected (I don't expect those, nor do I believe they are safe for the majority of park guests) but I see no reason whatsoever for ride ops to turn lap bars into a torture device. If the lap bar is resting comfortably in one's lap, is it really necessary to push on it a little more so it digs into one's body?

As for the claim, I agree that it happens at Six Flags parks more than others.

My friend and I noticed this at SFA last year, actually. I don't think they intentionally staple you or anything. But where you normally have someone check your restraint to be sure it's locked, everyone at that park pushed your restraint down as they walked by. If it didn't budge, they moved on, but they made sure it was down as far as it was going to go.

Ok. Now I have an opinion on this..

I agree with Carrie. I dont think its intentional and I dont think this feeling is reserved for just enthusiasts, Ive heard general public complain on rides too.. They just dont visit daily forums to rant about this all day.

Sometimes you get an over zealous ride op who puts his/her back into the restraint check and if you happen to sit in an awkward position while they are running by, you do run the risk of being stapled in, or at least being uncomfortable, which was my case.

But a simple "help" and they released and reseated restraints. I personally dont care of the room for air time as much as I care about being pinned through positive and negative Gs, locked in an uncomfortable position.

But any park can have this issue happen.. Not specifically SF parks.

While I disagree with not setting your lap bar correctly, Im against obvious stapling. I pull my lap bar down to the point where it touches my thigh, if because of the ratchets it ends up more in the air, so be it I think Im still safe. If a park makes me lock the bar so that it indents my skin, then I complain and know the ride will probably cause me pain...

especially if it is in th rain, and Im in the back of the train, or sitting next to John McCain ;).

Must have caught Seussititis this Firday...

Oh, the Places You'll Go! ;)

I don't care really, as long as I'm not in pain.

You know what pain is? When I left my Diamondback restrain a little loose (could have gone one more to be really in there), then in the first helix with the on ride photo, it staples down me in the seat and pins my, errr, family jewels, in a bad position. Yeah.

Save your balls, put your restrain down.

Do you think all the pushing down on hard maybe because of new training In the wake of multiple lawsuits.They may have been told in training to make sure the lap bars are down tight if they are not you will be held to account.

Just wondering if this is a result of Insurance/lawyers/risk management.

You maybe uncomfortable with bar that tight but it is safe.

Ah. Apparently this is some strange usage of the word "safe" that I was previously unaware of.

To be "safe" is to be free from injury or harm. If the restraint hurts, it is causing injury or harm. By shoving the lap bar down further than necessary, the ride operator has traded one unacceptable outcome for a different unacceptable outcome. Either way, it is unacceptable.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It was beyond uncomfortable....It was painful!

I am all for the lap bar being secured properly, but when it makes the ride "not fun" whats the point of riding? I have bruises on my thighs, and my friend had red marks on there legs.

This had nothing to do with me wanting to get some airtime, this just seemed to be the normal practice for them. We were not the only people complaining about this, there were several people comming off the rides that were in some kind of pain from being stapled that were no where near being coaster geeks.

And like I said, it was on most of the coasters that they were doing this.

And what is it with sfa and sfne not alowing you to bring fanny packs on most of the coasters anymore? We had to spend a $1 for a locker everytime we wanted to ride a coaster. Sfne told me that on bizzaro it was the manufacturer(sp) that sets these rules, but I have been on several intamin hypers this year, and these were the only ones we had to do this on. Even millenium force does not inforce this silly rule. If I were to wear a fanny pack on bizzaro, it woud not be anywhere near the restraint.

As long as it does not interfear with the restraint, whats the problem? It was like they were just trying to get more money out of us for a locker.

^^Ok, so what parks and rides were SF stapling?? Also, can I ask if you're in any way "exceptionally proportioned"??

They were stapling on most of the coasters. And I am average size.

This was the case at sfne, sfa, sfga, and on a few coasters at great escape.

^^Were they stapling on El Toro, Bizzaro (NE), and ROS? Aren't B&M's sort of difficult to get stapled on since their OTSR's are more chest-constrictive (harder to staple) and Nitro is hard to "staple" on as well!

I mean, I feel for your bad fortunate, but other than ET and the Superman's (plus a woodie like RT, I guess), I can't see where all this stapling is happening at??

I guess I have been lucky. Never have I had issues with stapling on coasters at SF or any parks. I thought El Toro was a very snug fit, but not painful. And the former S:ROS trains at SFA/Darien Lake/SFNE never caused me the issues people alwasys complain about. Not sure why this is the case either, as its only been this past year that I lost about 50lbs... and that was just so I could ride Revolution at Dorney Park LOL