No more stapling at Cedar Point?

I just got back from my first trip ever to CP, and it was AWESOME! There is no better place on the planet as far as I'm concerned, and I will be back every year from now on.

However, for the past few years I have always heard about how badly they staple you in on MF and TTD, so I was a bit worried before I went. I rode MF and TTD about 6 times each (spread out over 3 days), and not once was my bar even pushed down! I would pull it down to a safe but comforatable level for a skinny guy like myself (an inch or two off the thighes) and that was it. They would just walk past, tug the belt, tap the bar, and we were off.

Obviously, I prefer this kind of treatment as it makes the ride much more enjoyable, but was what I experienced pretty abnormal?

When I went this past weekend, the ride ops seemed more worried about speed than safety. That wasn't cool. An op would come up to me and gently pull up on the seat belt and let it drop. It was like they were thinking "Yep, gravity applies to that." I mean even at SFKK we use the "force" when checking belts and restraints. I felt safe though because I was checking them. Except on TTD; that was the only case they were stapling me in, and wow, does that not feel good at all. And those Intamin seatbelts on TTD and MF are weird and cool looking IMO.

BDBMX, working at a Six Flags park and then visitng a Cedar Fair park did you notice anything different about being a ride op? I'm not saying this in an offensive way since Six Flags is notorious for slow ride ops, but was everything done pretty much the same? I've never been to SFKK but do you guys joke around on the microphone and check trains fast and have the same upbeat attitude that CP workers do? Because I haven't been to a park that has workers like CP and I was wondering if SFKK is similar.

Umm, at Blizzard River we try to have fun and go fast, but the rest of the park has somewhat don't care/lazy employees. Not all of them are like that; it really just depends on the day. One day, T2 can have a slow crew, and the next day, their crew could be up-beat (is that one word or what?) and fast and actually enjoying their job. Now I'm just using T2 as an example here. I really wanted to ride White Water Landing and see how differently they operate their river raft ride from ours, but I sadly never wanted to wait in that long of a line for a water ride.

Their Mantis crew didn't really seem that much faster compared to Chang's two-train operation, and this surprised me. We use three people total at Chang at one given moment; Mantis had 7 or 8 total. Both coasters still dispatch a train when the next is nearing the final breaks/motore wheels near the station, so Mantis's crew isn't that much more effecient than Chang's, despite having twice the number of people. I was glad to see that even Cedar Point has to deal with people who fail to stand up on a stand-up coaster.

I also got a "we're better than you" feeling from a lot of their employees. I can't really explain it, but it seemed they just cared about capacity and speed. One exception: this girl nemed Taylor on Raptor's crew was very nice. I had re-rode it several times in one day and when I got up to the station, she would say something like "You're riding it again!?!?!" in a joking way. That was really the only time I got the "employee interaction with guests" experience.

Boo freakin' hoo if you get stapled. It's what you get for enthusiasses getting on the Internet and talking about how they can cheat the system or get plenty of room or whatever.

Amen. Which is why I never ever present myself as an enthusiast other than online.

I completely agree that on these rides (with the horrible lapbar design) that people SHOULD be stapled, that's why I was a bit surprised that I wasn't. Even though a person of my body type was completely safe with the slightly loose bar, larger people absolutely need it pushed down to meet with the lateral bars.

I was SHOCKED when they dispatched the train (multiple times) with the bars pretty loose.

I've always been stapled on Dragster.....and on its opening day they were using their feet, no lie!

Same here TechnoScorpion. I like to listen in as other enthusiasts spout of "facts", rumors, and other jibberish about the rides while waiting in line. It is amusing (and somewhat sad at the same time :))what some of these people think of.

"I prefer this kind of treatment"

Awesome Dude!

Unsafe treatment is always the best!

Tapping or touching a restraint is technically not checking it.

It is just a sloppy unsafe way of getting the job done faster.

Hershey doesn't staple at all. They use the lift up only method unless they visually see someone trying to "cheat the system" like Jeff stated. Dorney was like this as well, which was nice.

It is kinda reassuring, when they take the time to make sure you're "Stapled" into the seat.
I went to CP about 3 years ago, and the ride op for MF literally grabbed the seat belt while putting his foot on the restraint and pulled the living hell of the the slack of the belt...

Yeah, cheating the system to allow for extra room is a no-no, but I think it's wrong for ride ops to shove the bars into the laps of riders. There are ways to push restraints down to a "safe" point without causing black and blue marks or cutting off circulation to the lower half of the body.