I can't believe what I saw on A coaster show!!!

long story short: Height Requirements are there for a reason. To keep people safe. And make sure everyone has a day that does not end with an ambulance or worse a hearse ride.

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Pugsly,The Coaster Jester Of Cedar Point.

Nothing made me more angry than Desperado on the original Wild Rides..."right now, were going about 90 mph!" in the MIDDLE of the ride, on a ride that isn't even 90 mph to begin with.

I was wondering more about why the kid was dressed as a prostitute...

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

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rollergator said:
"If parents OR the park even *suggest* that height requirements are remotely NEGOTIABLE, then there's a serious problem there. "

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But the requirements are arbitrary anyway.

EXTREME EXAMPLE: Imagine someone who was right at the 54 inch requirement then for some reason had both feet amputated so now they were three inches shorter. Would the restraints on say Fire Dragon be any less safe for that person now? Well since the feet are not the point of restraint, the obvious answer is no. What should really be measured is the upper body dimensions, but that is much harder to give a quick go/no go decision so they go with height.

FACTUAL EXAMPLE #1: Demon @ SFGAm has a 42" requirement and Shockwave has a 54" requirement even though the coasters use the same restraining device (and very similar trains). Why the descrepancy?

FACTUAL EXAMPLE #2: Millennium Force had a 54" height requirement when it opened. Now riders only need to be 48". Did the restraint system change? Or was the height requirement wrong?

FACTUAL EXAMPLE #3: Apollo's Chariot @ BGW has a restriction of 52". NITRO @ SFGAdv has a restriction of 54". Still think there isn't "fudge factor" room in these requirements?

Now, I'm not saying that it is up to a patron to make that call, but I'm just saying that these "hard and fast" rules are not necessarily based on the mechanical limitations of the rides themselves.
lata,
jeremy

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

Couldn't agree with you more that there IS in fact some "fudge room". But I certainly don't want a parent or a kid to decide if the kid can ride something. Different rides/restraint systems call for different dimensions in order to be safe (e.g., FoF now uses an entirely different part of the body to restrain riders and keep them SAFE). 99.9% of the time, anyone that's *close* to the listed height is gonna be safe to ride. But once you start saying "close enough", it becomes impossible to make a distinction between a kid who's 1/2" too short in flats and another who's 1/2" too short in heels. After an hour wait in line, the parents AND the kids want to ride.....understandable.

The burden of height-checking should occur at the ENTRANCE to the park.....doesn't HP have something like that? I just HATE seeing kids cry....

In the case of Demon V. Shockwave, after having ridden both of them for the first time, I would suppose that the difference in height requirements has more to do with the forces sustained on the ride than the restraints or trains. I would think that someone only 42" tall (more than likely a child) would have some difficulty sustaining the forces on Shockwave.

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no love for whiners

*** This post was edited by Mark W. Baruth on 7/11/2002. ***

In the case of Millenium Force, Intamin recommended 48" from the start. Due to the nature of the coaster, and the conservative, safety-conscious attitude of Cedar Fair, the height was raised to 54" the first season to get a good grasp on what the park was really dealing with. Once it was realized that the harnesses were more than able to restrain someone as small as 48", Cedar Fair reverted to Intamin's recommendation.

TRY TO GET YOUR SHORT KID PAST ME ON THE POWER TOWER...I DARE YOU.

Shoes must not be thicker than "regular tennis shoes" or they must be removed or switched with a "regular" pair for measurement.

If ankle is showing, shoes must be removed and checked for items placed in shoes to artificially enhance height.

When standing on the height stand, the bar must be able to move a person's head for them to enter...simply touching the hair does NOT work, and if the hair is up on top of the head, it must be let down for accurate measurement.

And I WILL ALWAYS follow every rule pertaining to height requirements, because there are moronic, child-endangering parents out there who should be sterilized because they aren't mature enough to understand one little rule that can save lives. Not only that, if you sneak your kid through at MY park, you can have two consequences:

"Line jumping is cause for removal from park; NO REFUNDS"

or:

"Failure to obey...commands and posted warnings at this amusement park violates Ohio Revised Code...and is a misdemeanor offense."

That's the first, last, and ONLY thing there is to say about this disgusting trend of immature parents.

Alan--PTC02

Cedar Point Employee Forum http://pub23.ezboard.com/bcedarpointemployeeboard

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Big Al said:
"In the case of Millenium Force, Intamin recommended 48" from the start. Due to the nature of the coaster, and the conservative, safety-conscious attitude of Cedar Fair, the height was raised to 54" the first season to get a good grasp on what the park was really dealing with. Once it was realized that the harnesses were more than able to restrain someone as small as 48", Cedar Fair reverted to Intamin's recommendation."

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Which more than proves my point that the restriction was arbirtary in the first place, not based on any ergonomic or bio-mechanical constraints at all.

Moreover, how did they "magically" come to this conclusionn that smaller riders were okay? Did they hire the "Angry Dwarfs" from that Yahoo commercial to ride as test dummies? Or did they just admit that those who make the rides know the most about the rides and it was arrogance on their part to overrule them?

just being an a$$munch
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

I believe this has already been said but any crew worth half their salt is going to measure the kid to make sure it hits the scalp instead of simply the hair. When you get measured for your physical and you have spikey hair do the put the clip board down against your head and measure or do they measure the top spike?

Also a question for Big Al. Does CP have a black pad for kids to stand on if their shoes are too thick?

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Excalibur Team Lead 2002

The child that was 3" short and snuck on the corkscrew could have been killed. It amazes me as well what parents will do so their children can get on a ride. And the ones that do get on (god forbid) and get injured or killed will just be fuel to the fire that coasters and rides are unsafe. I wonder how many deaths have occured that were souley the fault of a "parent"? Makes you wonder and see how easily a lawsuit can be bogus.

I remember the first time I went on a big coaster. it was The Dips at West View Park. In spite of taking my Flintstones all winter, I was a couple of inches too short. My dad took me in the line anyway. When we got to the platform one of the op's came over to measure me with his stick. My dad, who could be quite intimidating, stoped him and said "he's riding". The kid just backed away. The ride was great, but the best part was riding with the coolest dad on earth.