6/1 Mid Day Report

Today has by far been the worst visit to Cedar Point I have ever had...weather, wind, ride op issues, all kinds of stuff...lets just say its 4 and I have been on 3 rides all day...gatekeeper has been down all day...fast pass plus has this been useless and between weather and mechanical I have never seen such delays...

Hoping to ride gatekeeper at least once tomorrow or later today...

Yeah, CP has not been doing well at all this season thus far for the most part.

Give it time.

So far this year, the weather has sucked. Media day was an amazing day, and easily ranks in my top visits to CP. Other than Sky Hawk, I don't think any other rides have had any major mechanical issues.

Yes, I would add that media day was one of the best days that I had at Cedar Point and they only had three rides running. Can't say enough about the hospitality and the wonderful job that the management and employees did that day. I'm thankful that they invited us coaster nuts, they could have just had the media there and not invited us. I really had a great time and the food was awesome! The weather that day was just right, perfect day. Thanks again to John Hildebrandt, Brian Edwards, Tony Clark and the rest of the Cedar Point Team!

This crappy weather is not helping Cedar Point's day to day operations. Hopefully the weather will improve and you should see less down time. Nothing Cedar Point can do about the weather. My heart and prayers go out to those people living in the Plain States.

Things actually got better around 5pm on 6/1 and we were able to ride Gatekeeper about 5 times with fast pass which was a life saver! Additionally, even SkyScrapper opened that night, which is a cool ride (almost reminded me of Soarin' at Disney with the music, etc, but an extreme "real" Soarin'"

The next day was better with the weather and everything opened. I think the main issue I had was that employees did not seem to really care that rides were down because of the weather. I know that they can't do anything about it because it is not their fault (although it does seem like some of the wind delays are a bit extreme and have gotten more restricted in the last few years), but still. I think that staff needs to understand that when a ride is down, it may be fun for them because they are just hanging out (sometimes I saw managers come around and get mad at the staff for doing nothing so they started sweeping, etc), but for guests who paid a ton of money to get into the park and sometimes can't come back whenever they want, it is a big deal. I don't want Cedar Point to even do anything really, I just want them to train their staff with that mindset.

Also, Top Thrill Dragster looks horrible. I understand that it was ahead of it's time and perhaps will eventually be torn down, but they should really do something to clean it up in the mean time. They need to power wash the black soot off of the track and seats, repair some of the conduit and/or tie downs for the millions of cables, and do some basic landscaping...it is the worst looking ride in the park.

Unsurprisingly, Maverick it totally ruined when it comes to theming. I never understood this about CP -- if you don't want to keep up theming then don't build it. Somehow everything in the tunnel is broken or turned off and half the lights going up the track are burned out. I was hoping that this would change with Gatekeeper but I noticed some of the lights burned out on the trains. :-(

It would be a shame if the front gate theming went the way of Maverick or, god forbid, Disaster Transport.

What do you want the ride ops to do when the ride is down for weather, sing and dance? I don't get your point in what you want the staff to do. Maybe go through pout training so they can walk around with long faces and make you feel better? Misery loves company I guess.

Bstillman said:

Also, Top Thrill Dragster looks horrible. I understand that it was ahead of it's time and perhaps will eventually be torn down, but they should really do something to clean it up in the mean time. They need to power wash the black soot off of the track and seats, repair some of the conduit and/or tie downs for the millions of cables, and do some basic landscaping...it is the worst looking ride in the park.

I heard that Dragster will be painted starting this off season. Can anyone else confirm this?

Pete said:
What do you want the ride ops to do when the ride is down for weather, sing and dance? I don't get your point in what you want the staff to do. Maybe go through pout training so they can walk around with long faces and make you feel better? Misery loves company I guess.

Pete, I don't really know what they should do to be honest, but somehow when a ride is down at Disney, I don't get the feeling like no one cares and I should just deal with it like I do at Cedar Point. I don't think that the ride ops there are pouting either, I just think they deal with it better by what they say and do. They seem (at least in my experience) to take it seriously, and perhaps that is because it is their full time job and/or because their actions are hidden inside the ride buildings, I don't really know. But a very simple, "I am really sorry but the weather is down because of [a clear explanation that makes sense], we understand this is really and inconvenience, but we are doing everything we can to get it back up and running as soon as possible." and then, don't laugh on the platform and hit on each other because you have nothing to do, do something. Maybe clean something, maybe socialize with guests reassuring them you are doing what you can, I don't know. But still, I don't think that they handle the situation the best it can be handled.

One thing I did like, is that when Top Thrill went down due to a wind delay, they gave the usual generalized spiel about a weather delay (even though it was sunny out and not windy on the ground) but then some people told us that the ride could not run in winds in excess of 35 mph and that is why it was down, it was different at the height of the ride vs the ground level. That is a good thing to do, so we are not just sitting there, not sure if we should leave our place in line we have been in for an hour, waiting with at least some idea of what is going on.

Bstillman, if you were that unsatisfied with operations, theming, experience, umm...weather?...Perhaps I suggest you don't visit another park again.

Cedar Point is not Disney, nor does it operate on a budget of multiple BILLIONS as the Disney/Universal parks do. Cedar Fair has 11 parks, 4 separate water parks, 5 hotels, 4 campgrounds, 2 marinas, etc. The company barely breaks a billion in revenue. And you complain about TTD's "condition", yet call SkyScraper a "real" version of Soarin'? Paint jobs require a part of a yearly budget. This year, a brand new coaster was bulit, the entire area receieved a facelift, we received a brand new entrance, MaXair was repainted, and MF finished its paint job. Patience, my friend, other improvements are coming, including to TTD.

If you are a fan of a corporate owned amusement park, you have to understand what you are getting in to. CP is by far, a very well maintained park, with a very intelligent and experienced staff, in all areas. Complaining about the weather and operations, that are out of their control, is simply ignorant. If you are a member here, you should understand or at least try to comprehend exactly what Cedar Point is, especially how certain days/weather/events/ride downtime at the park will affect your experience. It isn't Disney, but that doesn't mean the park is not quality, or doesn't care about its customers. You've got to factor in safety and guidelines. If the past two years are any indication, the park is on a big upswing, and hopefully we see more fellow fans appreciate that.

Also Ride Ops not caring when weather is down. They usually make an announcement, and if the ride is stopped and it's raining, honestly common sense should kick in. Also ride ops can somewhat socialize with guests but can't. One, they aren't going to have a whole platform go through the queue or other side of the station to chat with people everyone somewhat stays in a general area around their position or congregates together waiting to be called up. Secondly, if you look at it, it gives us a bit of downtime to relax and enjoy it, being a ride op isn't an easy job by any means. Also when sups do come around everyone has to be doing something to one not draw attention to the ride, and plus the park loves busy work. If they're paying you they expect something out of it. One day during halloweekends I was at maggie and we spent all night cleaning even though I bet that train was cleaner than opening day after the first three hours of downtime. So you have to understand that side of it too, alot of things are already taken care of, and you're just wasting time doing it again.

I assure you the park and ride ops will start bringing rides up ASAP after weather or downtime, and as soon as the call comes in the cycles start. Just deal with the weather, it's out of the parks control, and if anything, go enjoy a sit down for food or one of the live shows that still performs in weather. Of if you're like me and don't mind the rain, go out and enjoy the downpour.