No loose items, or free lockers, on Cedar Point's Top Thrill 2

This is a terrible look for the park. There’s no reason, other than greed, to make those lockers an upcharge.

Of all the ways to handle loose articles, Cedar Point has quite possibly chosen the absolute worst. In this day and age, it is unreasonable to expect visitors to travel without a phone, wallet, and keys, so if you ban riding with anything in pockets yet fail to provide short term storage for such items you're essentially creating a pseudo-upcharge attraction. I'd be a bit more understanding if this was implemented on an existing attraction, but for all intents and purposes Top Thrill 2 is a new ride, so Cedar Point really should have devised a more guest friendly solution.

LOL, that is going to go over so well with the guests, I feel so bad for anyone who has to work this queue.

This is complete B.S.

"Working with the manufacturer’s recommendations, Top Thrill 2's rider safety guidelines were revised after initial testing, resulting in our strict policy of loose articles not being permitted past the ride's entrance"

What in the world does the "ride's entrance" have to do with anything, and who says the physical entrance has to be in the same spot it was before? Cedar Point allows guests to bring their loose articles past the physical entrance to Steel Vengeance, where that attraction's locker bank is located in the center of the coaster's layout. Even if the manufacturer recommended that loose articles not be brought into the area inside the track's layout, where guests walk under the launch track, there's nothing in that statement that would preclude Cedar Point from turning the existing pay locker bank into free lockers, and adjust where guests enter the coaster to the area just to the north of the old entrance (the queue often extended through that area towards the tower it's opening season anyway). If Cedar Point would rather make it easier to get your stuff after you ride, it would have been just as easy to build a locker bank near the photo booth (or perhaps underneath the observation bleachers), and just make it clear when you enter the plaza that if you're planning on riding the coaster to drop your loose items at the locker station. Yeah, it would be a bit of a walk if you get turned around at the entrance, but that's certainly better than what they've chosen here.

I really thought Cedar Fair was finally getting some common sense by installing free lockers for small personal items at coasters where those items could pose a safety hazard on the attraction. Now Cedar Fair has gone down the Six Flags route by trying to leverage safety rules for profit. Shame!!

What's the over-under on the number of times the queue staff get cursed out in a give day? One thousand? Two thousand? This is one of the least customer-friendly decisions any theme park can make. Cedar Fair does market research, they know that a vast majority of parties aren't leaving a designated non-rider behind for their "new" and will be most marketed ride. They also know that even 11-year olds have phones today, so they have made a conscious decision to create a pseudo-up charge for this ride. Cedar Fair should be ashamed of themselves. I really hope that the money they make from the lockers sufficiently covers all of the ill-will and scorn it will earn them. The Six Flags effect is already infiltrating Cedar Fair. Get ready for more anti-customer decisions in the future.

Make no mistake about it they know exactly what they're doing, the way they see it its an easy way to make an extra $15-20 thousand or so a day. Or I should say an easy way for the people making the decision and counting the money, not so easy for the employees that get to be the human punching bags (but who cares about that?).

SFGADV does the same thing with El Toro, or at least they did when I was there 6 years ago, and no coincidence that was the last time I went to a SF park. The scummy business practices in this industry (and many others) are out of control. I'm glad I got to grow up in an era before all this kind of stuff existed and experience parks when they were actually fun and not soul sucking.

This would be tantamount to Universal or Disney forcing guests to pay for the waterproof “pocket” that stows their belongings on Bluto’s Barges or the Kali River Rapids. It comes across as being a very crass and cynical play by Six Cedar Fair Flags to make an easy buck, with zero added value to the customer. I really enjoyed Cedar Point on my only visit there but my last visit to the Six Flags Great America was rife with customer service hurdles. Hoping that the backlash for this is swift and harsh enough that someone that came from the Cedar Fair side and still has the administrative heft can make this kind of crap go away.

I would be interested to see if the TT2 lockers installed at the ride entrance are ones repurposed from elsewhere in the park. This all feels like a planning screw-up that forced a last-minute change. I wonder if the planned locker/bin system didn't fit or something. Because if this was the plan all along, it feels like CP would have planned a better explanation for it.

No matter the specific reason, this plan is a just ridiculous error for a park to be making these days. So fans will - justifiably - ridicule it.

Even if they are telling to the truth and last minute changes needed to be made for safety reasons, it's absolutely hilarious that the park basically said: "instead of doing the right thing, we are just going to inconvenience every single customer AND charge you extra for it. See you at the park!"

A true epic fail on multiple levels.

@Robert - There were already pay lockers in the area just to the right of the entrance (where you walk under the launch track), which guests were pointed to if you tried to enter TTD queue with any bags (aside from fanny packs) or large loose articles (like refillable cups, game prizes, and the like). It sounds like Cedar Point will probably just use the same locker bank, and may enlarge the area with additional lockers given that they will almost be universally used. We went to SFGAdv a couple of weeks ago, and were forced into pay lockers to ride El Toro and Kingda Ka. However, because the park was so uncrowded, we ended up putting our phones, keys, and wallet into a locker for almost 2 hours and rode the 2 coasters, which are decently close to each other, a total of 6 times (the locker cost $2 for the time), so it wasn't a terrible value, though it still felt like we were being blackmailed into using the lockers (some daring guests were putting their phones and other valuables on top of the locker banks).

Also, since the plan was always to maintain the separate load and unloading platforms, there was never going to be a way to configure the queue in a way where they could use double-sided locker banks (like at Steel Vengeance). The excuse they're giving here is complete hogwash, and was never a change in approach or change in recommendations from the manufacturer.

I agree with Mantis...I feel bad for the employees at the queue, they'll unfortunately be getting the anger & complaints directed at them.

It will be interesting to see IF this policy actually stays in place or if there will be a "we've decided to offer our guest free use of storage" update at some point.

The biggest problem is going to be the footwear thing. CP is going to have to place significant signage outside the gates that says "no flip-fops or sandals if you want to ride TT2" and even with that — the longest lines in the park will probably now be at guest services. Not many people will have a backup copy of shoes in their vehicle: can't imagine how this will play out, but I don't see an easy fix there, especially once the warmer weather starts in earnest.

As for the lockers, sure, the no-brainer is to just make them free for all riders. Actually, I'll be surprised if that part of the problem isn't rectified by opening day.

It's too bad; I was there for the park's Eclipse event, and they pulled that off without a hitch; turned out to be a great early-season event. Now this debacle and the unfortunate banning of the local newspaper to attend the media day for TT2 — definitely a one step forward, two (or three) back type of thing.