What's new

Parks that staple you and parks that let you go loose

Twisted Timbers applies to both. There was one ride op that asked me if I wanted airtime/more room, and gave me a good 3 inches of room above my lap. I should've left it that way :(. On the other hand, there was another ride op that destroyed my thighs as he slams down on the restraint while checking it. That really got on my nerves.
 
More often than not I've been stapled on Goliath at Over Georgia, I got one lap with loose restraints and that's what puts it at my #8 overall. The Lightning Rod staff are your enemy if you want to get one of those glorious airtime-filled rides, as they will ensure that there is literally no room at all between the lapbar and your thighs. They even tell you that there can not be any room, but I have only been able to cheat my way out once out of the 9 laps I've ever had on Lightning Rod.
On Lightning Rod, I wasn’t fighting to get secret space for airtime. I was fighting just to try to get rides that weren’t painful. It got so that I came to know the ride ops and which side to sit on so as to avoid which person. I slowly got better at these tricks, but I never got to where a painful ride was not a possibility. Just under half my rides were painful. And a painful stapling on that coaster is no fun at all. Quad down? Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
 
I was in Six Flags New England last year and I'm aware of the incident that happened a few years ago on Superman, but I've never had restraints pushed so hard upon me like that in any park before. I even got winded on Harley Quinn Spinsanity with the restraint pushed down. I feel a slight sense of spite not being able to experience the airtime on the likes of Superman and Wicked Cyclone with having no room to leave the seat.
In contrast I was at SeaWorld Orlando last year too, on Mako it only needed a few clicks of the restraint and you were good to go leading to amazing rides where you were out of your seat more than in it.
So what are your experiences of being loose or being stapled in?
I can confirm this with my experience: ridiculous stapling at SFNE; very lax policies at SWO.
 
On Lightning Rod, I wasn’t fighting to get secret space for airtime. I was fighting just to try to get rides that weren’t painful. It got so that I came to know the ride ops and which side to sit on so as to avoid which person. I slowly got better at these tricks, but I never got to where a painful ride was not a possibility. Just under half my rides were painful. And a painful stapling on that coaster is no fun at all. Quad down? Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
I know right, that was the biggest disappointment for me. Instead of the quad down providing mad airtime, it provided mad pain. After only 3 consecutive night laps at 2016 Smoky Mountain Coasterfest, I felt very woozy and opted out of a fourth lap in fear of passing out.

Then the next day I woke up and noticed my thighs had black and blue scars. Wonder where those came from, must’ve been Thunderhead ;)
 
The ones that spring to mind are SFNE and Sea World Orlando. Superman has some bad stapling but it's really the poor restraints that make it more noticeable. But most of my rides on Mako the staff didn't even push on the restraint when checking (although I think this depended on the person). I don't keep track on how many clicks I get (probably should), but man there were a couple of times on that first drop there where I thought I might fly out of my seat. <3

I can't think of any other specific examples of stapling. RMC lap bars don't particularly bother me. They're very restrictive on the legs but I usually forget about that the restraint is there as soon as I'm pulling out of the station.
 
I got stapled so hard on Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingoland. Not only did they staple the lap bar, they also yanked down on the shoulder restraints which really hurt my shoulders. By the end of the ride I concluded that that was the worst coaster experience I have ever had.
worst than the volare?
 
So there's Cedar Fair, and then there's everyone else.
 
Top