2012 Improvements, Additions, and Changes. Leaks and Announcements

Jason Hammond said:
Even with 2 train-op, I can't remember the last time I didn't at least walk right up to the bottom of the stairs.

Halloweekend Saturdays.....

Well yeah. But, on average, 3 train op isn't needed. Most rides have long lines during halloweekends.

When we were there last summer, the line was literally like outside of the queue with a full line inside the queue as well. It was very odd because it wasn't a particularly busy day.

Maverick00 said:
I can't even imagine how ugly the stage will look while in Iron Dragons queue.

No more ugly then the transfer track overhead or that ugly pump that sits behind the station. You at least have the lagoon and everything else on that side to look at.

Kind of off topic, but I was checking out the construction on the webcams and thought I'd share this...love those foggy shots!

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z401/vwhowrad/DragsterCam_640-1.jpg

Maverick00 said:
I can't even imagine how ugly the stage will look while in Iron Dragons queue.

Probably far less ugly than the much larger screen looked in front of MF.

Phantom 1898 said:
Halloweekend Saturdays.....

*shivers*

On a HalloWeekends Saturday, the haunted houses aren't the scariest things in the park. The lines are equally frightening.

You know...last year around this time I was saying how Cedar Point was failing at getting me excited about the park's opening. The off season felt like forever, the WindSeeker updates were very pale in comparison to Kings Island, and then the park just opened.

What a difference this off season! Ever since the management twitter accounts, we've had a never-ending stream of things to look forward to, and it has really helped pass the time.

With all the enthusiasm this off season for CP & KI (and likely other CF parks), I'm betting on some huge opening weekends if the weather stays nice. Let's just hope that the parks are better prepared for opening weekend this year.

Interesting that you mention the parks being better prepared for opening day this year. I'm intentionally waiting to visit KI until their second weekend of operations after a really lousy, downtime-filled opening day there last year. CP usually has some opening day issues, but they're never as bad as what I saw at KI.

With the fantastic weather we've been having here in Ohio this week and last, too bad Cedar Point and Kings Island didn't open mid-March! A little off topic but the last week has been perfect park weather.

Ralph, Kings Island was exactly what I was thinking about when posting that comment. Forums were a mess of really bad feedback last year after opening day. Supposedly nearly all the rides were down at some point, with only a handful open at one time, so the lines were awful. Of course no WindSeeker, which disappointed many, and then Vortex was closed off because they were working on WindSeeker.

Then there were reports of the food service being unprepared, with very slow service and stands running out of food. It didn't help that the park had a huge opening weekend crowd. Hopefully they learned their lesson last year, as it was a terrible way to start the season. I still think that a season-pass-only preview day would be a great day of practice before the park's official opening day.

At Kings Island? Wouldn't do any good. Their season pass population is *enormous* and most of their pass holders, thinking that a season pass day is somehow "exclusive" will show up to the pass day, swelling it to an oversized crowd.

They would be better off to do a media and suppliers preview...promotional type stuff. Biggest problem is that for opening day they really have nothing new to promote this year.

Hopefully the nice weather will continue and that will prepare them for the same kind of opening weekend blitz that they got last season. Opening weekend is typically not as big as it was last year, but last year, opening weekend was nice weather following a particularly nasty winter and spring.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

As inconvenient as opening day problems may have been, I'm not sure they justify artificially limiting a seasonal park's income via a "season-pass-only preview day" or something similar.

^^Well, then make it a Platinum only event. Apparently KI used to do a preview under Paramount ownership, and Canada's Wonderland still has a preview night. Regardless, I want access! :)

I think it'd be wise for all the heavy attendance parks to do this guest preview too. The very last thing you want is people from the general public thinking that opening day is how the park always is, and then spreading word of mouth to co-workers, friends, and facebook about how terrible the experience was.

Edit: DJ, an alternative could be to open the park to all, but open on a Friday instead of Saturday, etc.

Kings Island does it weird, they open but then like every year, they closed the day after. I don't get it. They only open for one day then close.

That is usually the day that King's Island has been scheduling private events. Cedar Point has been doing something very similar for the past few years. Is it Honda that rents out the park?

Yes, the Saturday after Labor Day. But, it hasn't happened the last 2 years.

coolkid said:
That is usually the day that King's Island has been scheduling private events. Cedar Point has been doing something very similar for the past few years. Is it Honda that rents out the park?

They did for a few years, but last year when I worked, Honda day got cancelled for some reason. Needless to say, we were dead that day. Like literally standing on the platform, looking at the midway waiting for people to come and ride. Finally we just went out asking people to come ride haha.

As for what kevkevdel said, I was kind of thinking the same thing, but maybe 9:00 is when they are gonna shut down Iron Dragon and Wildcat.

They need to do something with the park entrance plaza / midway. If you look at all the best entrances, they have a unified theme (Main Street at Disneyland, Port of Entry at Islands of Adventure, Hollywood Blvd. at Disney-MGM Studios, even International Street at Kings Island). The only consistency in Cedar Point's entrance is the total lack of consistency (the theme of the buildings is all over the place and the pathway goes back of forth between sections of brick and concrete). It looks like a park that has just patched things up over the years.

They also need some kind of Photo Op. I don't expect them to build Cinderella's Castle, Spaceship Earth, the Eiffel Tower or any other kind of "weenie". Something as simply as a fountain and some nice surrounding landscaping would do. My old home park Geauga Lake had a nicer entrance then Cedar Point (albeit a little cramped) and even Kennywood re-did their entrance not too long ago.

It's the first thing people see when they enter, so you don't want it looking tacky and dated. A complete remodel with some fancy looking classic architecture would be money well spent.

I go to Cedar Point around 30 times a year. I have a P. Pass and get in the Parking Lot FREE. It was $8.00 and now it is $12.00. The families that will go just a few times or just 1 time, and they would have to Pay for their Tickets, FOOD, and many other things too. I think they should Park $5.00 or Free, because of the PRICE of GAS is to high.