Personal Effects: How do you manage them?

At a park I must carry cash, change, wallet (including a season's pass at respective park), sunglasses and a hat to protect from the sun in those 2-hour exposing lines. Any recommendations on management? Lost a great hat on first drop at PKI on the stand-up. Worry about breaking expensive sunglasses, etc. What do you wear/do?
Jephry's avatar
When I go to amusement parks, I try and bring as less as I can. I don't bring hats because there is the chance of me loosing them. Wallet, I either pin it to my poket (mine has a chain with it) that way it doesn't fall out.

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You are the Weakest Link, Goodbye.

I put my wallet, keys, pen, and a few other asorted items into a hip pack for the day.
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Hi, my name is Eric, and I am a coaster junkie.
Cargo pants work if it's not too hot...you can put stuff in the pockets by your kneeds and they are relatively safe while on the ride. They're even better if the pockets have zippers.

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http://www.bolliger-mabillard.com
I agree. No hat, cargo shorts with zippers. Last week I bought this summer's pair for my theme park visits. Seeing as I was the only one in my group of non-regulars who had any foresight, I carried in separate pockets:

-Money/Debit Card/License
-Change
-Phone
-Camera
-Keys/Sunscreen

Granted I weighed about 10 pounds extra, but if you have no choice, cargo shorts are the way to go.
Hip sack, plus locker rental. I like to bring a towel and extra socks. SOmetimes an extra pair of pants. Sometimes I use a small backpack.

I will bring.
keys, sunscreen, camera, phone, towel, money, frozen bottled water.
I always bring a hat, since I have thinning hair, and my scalp sunburns badly if I don't. What I do with my hat is simple: On sitdown rides, I sit on it. Any airtime you get isn't enough for the hat to come loose. If the ride has a seatbelt connecting an OTSR (B&Ms), I put the seatbelt through the loop on the hat and just let it sit. Other than that, my wallet and keys are always secured in my pockets (I wear jean shorts to parks) and if I brought sunglasses, their usually in my back pocket (clip-ons). I wear glasses about half the time on rides, and usually put on a strap with them, but I rode MF without a strap and never came close to losing them (wind kept them on!)

Jman
Plus, if you're afraid you'll lose your sunglasses on a ride, do what I do...attach them with croakies. They stay nice and secure even on Chiller. You don't need to drag your whole wallet around with you - just bring in money (or credit card), which you can put in a very small fanny pack, belly bag, hip sack whatever (or into a pocket that zips or velcros. With the hat thing, put your arm through the hole in the back of the hat where the adjustment tab is (if your hat has that), but I liked another Buzzer's idea of hooking it through the ride's strap if it has one, instead.
Pockets. That takes care of the wallet, change, Swissknife, applicable medications, writing implement, and tape measure. A key to the trunk of the car attaches to a belt loop, and my key ring goes in the trunk of the car. If I am carrying the computer, it fits into a little fleece bag that suspends (by two carabiners) from my belt loops. If I am carrying the video camera, it fits into a little tiny waist pack which also has a shoulder strap on it because I don't trust the belt buckle. If I am carrying the 35mm SLR, it comes on a purpose-built 3-point suspension harness. I don't like hats, the good Lord provided me with effective natural sun protection, I don't carry a canteen, and although I should, I don't own a pair of sunglasses (I keep saying my next pair of glasses is going to have a photo-sensitive tint), but I do have a neck cord for my glasses which I only use if the park insists on it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Aside from what I wear on our persons (shirt, pants, shoes and socks) my wife and I take along these extra items...

Camera / Flash / Film. I love taking pictures and since my wife gets motion sickness, she can't do as man re-rides as I can so I get free "on ride Photos" (and at more interesting angels than those sold by the park).

Jackets. This all depends on the weather. Only if they are ABSOLUTELY needed!

Rain Poncho. I don't mind going with out these, but my wife insists.

Hats. We each have two floppy wide brimmed white canvas "out back" hats. They have cords that act as chin straps to help keep them in place on not so wild rides. For wild rides (coasters) they can either be sat upon or rolled up and stuffed in the back pack.

Fanny pack and back pack to carry all the extra stuff. The camera fits nicely into the fanny pack. the flash/film and poncho fits into the back pack.

We also take along lots of quarters (for lockers).

As for wallet / car keys... my wife usually does not carry her wallet, and I keep mine in my front pocket of my pants (not only at parks, but in any crowded area... not as easy to get "picked") or locked in the back pack in a locker for water rides. One set of car keys go in my other front pocket, one set goes in the pack pack.

And as far as the back pack goes... don't be afraid to look "un-cool". Those things have two straps on them, use them! One over each arm and weaing it on your back! I see so many people either a) carrying them in one hand by a strap or b) having them only slung over one shoulder and then having to walk like Quasimodo in order to keep it from slipping off!

As for my glasses, I do have one of those little cords that straps around the temples and keeps them tight on your head, but as someone said above, only if the park insists. I have a 2nd pair of glasses that fit very snuggly to my head. I usually wear them because they fit so securely. They probably would not fly off my face with out taking an ear with them.



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Oh the good old days... when superheros were superheros and coasters were coasters...



*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 5/4/2001. *** *** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 5/4/2001. ***

SLFAKE said:
And as far as the back pack goes... don't be afraid to look "un-cool". Those things have two straps on them, use them! One over each arm and weaing it on your back! I see so many people either a) carrying them in one hand by a strap or b) having them only slung over one shoulder and then having to walk like Quasimodo in order to keep it from slipping off!



This seems to be a high school thing. I know here at Cornell, you can always spot the new freshman because they still carry their bags on one shoulder. Once they are here for a month, they realize it's a lot easier to use both straps when walking 10 minutes between classes.

Jman
They do make spray-on sunscreen especially for hair/scalp these days.
Jman said about the double strapped back packs on one shoulder seems to be a High School thing.

I work at a college, and I still see alot of people carrying them this way. Never made sense to me.

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Oh the good old days... when superheros were superheros and coasters were coasters...
Cargo shorts are the greatest invention. A bunch of pockets help store everything you bring. I try not to bring much into parks, especially a park like IOA, when I know im gonna get soaked. Wallet and keys are all I bring. I used to bring sunglasses with me and then stick them in my pocket on the coasters,but after breaking a couple pair of Okleys on the Hulk I decided its not a smart idea to bring them with me anymore.
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Favorite car B&MW
I will never wear jeans or jean shorts to a park. I recently bought a pair or cargo shorts with large pockets with zippers. With these I can manage my wallet and my camera. I always wear a hat and (a. Sit on it or (b. leave it on the platform. I never bring sunglasses.

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"I traded my soul for a ride on Millennium Force"
www.starcoasters.com
I used to be afraid of loosing glasses but after 35 yrs of life the only activity that took them away was getting hit in the back of the head by a giant wave at Daytona!!! Don't Ask!!
I lost a wallet once on the Turnpike coming home from CP, showed up 9 months later in an envelope from Wriggly Field!!

The Hat fits down the front of a tucked in shirt.

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"If you look out the left side of the Train you will see the coasters of Cedar Point."

'01 Trips thru the spin cycle-SOB 06
Don't forget the zip-loc bags. They keep your wallet and other non-wet ables dry.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

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