8/17 Worst CP day in years

I went today and calling it a disappointment is an understatement. I usually go many times a year, this year it was only my second time

The day started out ok. We got there around 1030, parked by the Gemini and headed straight to the Maverick. We got in line and saw it was down, but waited for about a half hour until they came on the loudspeaker to tell us all it would be a while and we should go to something else.

So we went and rode MF, which was amazing as always and headed to the Iron Dragon (a classic fun one!). We walked back over to Maverick, to see it wasn't open yet. Then we headed to our picnic lunch. We then headed to Dragster (only waited 45 minutes) then did Blue Streak.

That was when everything took a turn for the worse...

We went to the frozen custard place on the Midway (that has the fruit and custard bowl) were in line and happy to see that the fruit was back (last time we checked, it was gone) to find out that they had no vanilla custard. You are a custard stand and you are out at 3pm??

We then decided an Icee would be good so we went to the Icee place right by the SkyRide, waited in line for 5 minutes ordered two blue raspberry Icees...and they only had cherry. Again, how do you just run out?

Walked back over to Maverick and found out that it probably wouldn't open for the rest of the day. This really made us annoyed. Really, the only reason we spend $80 was to ride Maverick. Last time we went was two days before it opened, and I leave Tuesday to go back to college so this was my last chance this season and it was closed. I don't care that it happens, it is their new ride, they should figure out what is wrong and fix it.

We were actually tempted to stay and do other stuff so we decided to go over to the Mine Ride...and saw it stuck at the top of the last hill! The Mine Ride! In the 70+ times i have been there, I have never seen it down!

At that point we just gave up and left pretty po-ed and have already sent out emails sharing our disappointment with others.

I love Cedar Point and am usually the last person to criticize but this was too much

1 out of 70 times down for Mine Ride is pretty good.

Maverick being down happens.

Although them being out of supplies shouldn't happen, it does. It's nearing the end of the season, and is hard to predict how much more custard and slushee they will sell this year.

I was also there today. We had waited in line for maverick early this morning. Every time the air compressors and kicker wheels would make noise we were all happy, but no such luck. We went to try wicked twister and also down.

Now around 7:30 when leaving we saw Maverick testing with empty cars but the line was horrible and we needed to get out of there. We drove around perimeter road on our way out and it was still testing with empty trains. I dont know if anyone actually got to ride it.

Well I was just commenting on that. I'll think about writing a full trip report tomorrow. I start back to school Monday morning so I will be busy.

So your whole day was ruined because you couldnt get the flavor of frozen treat you wanted?

Trust me, I know how it feels to not get on the "new ride" (2 years of straight no-dragster years after it opened).

Still, I would hope we can all find a way to have a gerat day at Cedar Point.

Even on my worst day at CP, I've still had a blast.

Don't you think you're a little harsh? I mean come on. There were so many rides that you didn't ride and you call it quits already? Magnum, Gemini, Mean Streak, Wildcat, the list goes on. And you sent e-mails to Cedar Point?

No I don't think it is harsh! I had been this year and done Magnum and Mean Streak and have no desire to ever ride them again. I don't pay money to be put in pain!

I've ridden everything else at least 40-50 times before I had no desire to do it again!

And yeah when they don't have something that they should, I think management should know that their employees are unprepared for a day in the parks. I know other people sent emails too because everyone around us was very annoyed. And it isn't the end of the season, their season doesn't end until the end of October. I have never been disappointed in a trip before

Since when are the employees not prepared exactly? Every day I go all the rides are in great operations. Cedar Point has probably the best liability with their rides.

Despite what you may think, this is end of the peak season and is pretty darn near the end of the season. Yeah, it sucks when stuff goes down ride-wise, but a ride usually goes down for a good reason...like, it not being safe to ride.
As for the food issue...it's already been said, it's hard to predict things. They do their best to predict how much product they'll need but they don't have a crystal ball sitting in the foods office.

It sounds like a few annoyances have turned into an over-exaggeration fest. That's just my $0.02

I'm sorry, but I have to agree, though I didn't have any frozen treat problems, this was one of the more un-fun days I've ever been to CP. I guess I get spoiled being able to go so often (this was my 7th trip this season), but it was far more crowded than I expected. Combine that with downtime (particularly Maverick downtime) and heat and it makes for a not-so-pleasant day. We also started out waiting for Maverick, we got to the entrance right as the last two trains were coming into the station and thought it would be a short wait. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the day,. I'm spiled by walk-ons for WT, Gemini, etc. We noticed a large amount of school buses and marching bands which would probably account for the large number of people.

Magnum never puts me in pain. You're riding it wrong.

And yes, it really is the end of the season for the most part. They go to 8 pm closings next week. I'm guessing they pretty much stock food/etc week-to-week during halloweekends. It wouldn't make sense to leave it all for a week at a time.

ATJazz thank you for agreeing! When I tried Wicked Twister that wasn't operating either, you are lucky on that one! There were about 3 or 4 bands, and pretty large ones so that did make it more crowded than usual

And I am not riding something wrong. Sitting in a seat how it was meant to be sat in is riding it correctly. Almost everyone i know thinks Magnum is now painful! And you are a male, so that would also understand why the bumpiness does not hurt you as much as us females.

And really, the employees were not prepared. On a hot day, you should notice when things get low and do what you have to do. One of them even admitted they let people know too late.

Also, I have a relative in food service who said that it sounds like people messed up on that one. And he knows when to complain and when not to.

One good thing, the employees were still enthusiastic, which I have noticed in other years they aren't by August.

I figure it was the bands and people getting one last trip in before school that made for the crowds. I'm sure today wasn't super-crowded by any means. I just wasn't expecting that many people. I got used to walking on WT and ended up with a 40 mintue wait, 1/2 hour for Gemini, 1 hour 15 for Mf and TTD (which isn't all that bad). I also noticed that the employees still have good attitudes, which helps for a better experience. I'm also not going to complain too much about the maintenance, these things happen, it can just be a bit frustrating at times.

I didn't think Magnum was that much rougher than usual as much as how much the trims had us slowed through the pretzel. It felt so slow through there.

So, would you prefer that the stands just close? Put up a sign "Sorry, we're out of raspberry. We have plenty of cherry, but people get pissy if we're out of raspberry."

If you don't enjoy the other rides, why did you go? One ride is not worth it, not without taking in everything else that the park has to offer.

I prefer they do their damn job!

And yeah I went there for one ride, I know people who do it all the time. I enjoy the others but been there, done that. I don't go and make a special trip just to go on the Blue Streak again. If Maverick wasn't there, I would not have gone today

You need to understand, rides go down. It happens. Take it from a ride op, it's not exactly anything we plan on. For you to be pissed because Maverick was down, well, it's something you have to put up with. It's a new ride, they're still getting out the kinks.

Also, for you to say for employees to 'do their damn job', maybe you should think about the fact that they aren't the ones who supply the food for the stands, or order how much of everything. They're doing their job with what they have to work with, and for you to get pissy with them because of that isn't going to help anything.

Oh boy, this discussion is getting pretty heated...

I was there today. I decided to take my kids there this evening for a while. We got in the park at 6pm. Raptor wait sign said 45 minutes. We don't know if it truly was that long, but we said forget that and walked away.

Blue Streak was smooth and a walk on. Since we were right there, we rode Calypso...that didn't seem to go as fast as it usually does. Kind of disappointing, considering that it's my favorite twirly ride, but whatever...

Maxair's line was at the end of the queue rails. Probably not too bad of a wait, but my kids said no, they weren't waiting. So we checked out DT. Too long. Rode Troika instead. Then Chaos. Both were good and quick lines. Next was Ocean Motion. Fun, as usual, but a short ride.

We took the train back to check out Maverick. They were running test cars...a lot of them...and the line, which started at the test seat, was all the way back to the carp pond. Not too bad, considering the queue rails had nobody in them, but...kids didn't wanna wait. I don't know if Maverick ever opened today because we headed over to Gemini. Less than 15 min. It was fun...other riders were really upbeat about the race, which was cool.

Next was Witches Wheel. Fun, and a walk on.

Then we got on Magnum. Line was to the bottom of the steps. Ride was awesome as usual. I didn't notice any change in the way the ride runs. Seemed the same to me. Still my favorite coaster.

Didn't check out TTD. Figured it was long, anyway. So we went on Super Himalaya. Super fun and good music. Another walk on.

Next on the agenda was Power Tower. Another walk on. Fun as usual.

We wrapped up our rides by 9pm.

The point of my post was not to ramble, but instead to show that my kids and I had a great time in the 3 hours that we rode rides. Sure, a few of the biggies were either too long or not running, but we made the most of our trip.

So the icee flavor you wanted was out. Big deal. That park has so many other drinks/food choices that I am sure you could have found something else to satisfy you. Stop at the 7-11 in town and get a blue slushie if it means that much to you.

Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff.

Caitie, I'm sorry for your disappointing visit to Cedar Point.

First let me touch on the ride downtime issue. I can certainly understand your anger with Maverick being closed. I remember how disappointed I was the numerous visits I took early on in 2003 only to find Top Thrill Dragster closed all day. While it doesn't make it any easier for the guests who really want to get on the rides, parks don't want the rides to be closed either. It isn't helping the park by keeping a new ride closed. I can assure you that they were working as hard as they could to get Maverick re-open. Unfortunately, sometimes they can't re-open it as quickly as everyone would like. It really hasn't been having that many problems this year, I think you just visited on an unlucky day.

On the food matter, it is obviously it is annoying when you visit a food stand and they are out of whatever you wanted to purchase. The custard place shouldn't have been out of custard, but as said above it is nearing the end of the season (the summer one especially) and it is during this time when the park does a lot of new ordering to replenish. And plus, it doesn't sound like the park was out of much other than the custard and the blue flavoring...

A so-called "bad day" at CP is still infinitely better than any day at work...

Ok this is my 2 cents.A few rides were down and they ran out of your flavor of custard or whatever.Call the friking waaaambulance.With all the things that can go wrong in your life if this is the worst than you are considered lucky.I wish I could go there right now just to soak up the atmosphere. You have alot or disappointments in life a head of you.Time to grow up.Sorry for being so harsh. *** Edited 8/18/2007 12:48:20 PM UTC by fastercat***

Where is Josh the wahhhhmbulance driver when you need him anyway?

Seriously, because I'm male Magnum doesn't bother me as much? wtf? I'm not going to argue that it's an intense ride - Ron Toomer designed it that way. It's got airtime. If we smoothed out the bumps and added better banked turns, and painted the thing blue we'd have millennium force. It's not bumpy though, unless you happen to sit on a bad axle. It happens from time to time.