Bonus Weekends in November?

You know Kings Island, with considerably better whether than CP during the winter, used to have a holiday light fantasy thing and even they discontinued it several years back.

The old Sea World Ohio did a holiday thing as well for a couple of years but it too fell flat. I just don't think people associate the Ohio parks with great winter activities.

There is a great state or county park to the east of Cleveland that has a terrific toboggan/sled hill with a tow rope to get you back to the top. Now THAT is what I call good fun in the winter when you have coaster withdrawal. I don't remember the name of the park as it has been years, maybe even decades, since I was last there.

Anyone know where I am talking about?

If Cedar Point put the same amount of effort into a Christmas event as Hersheypark does for "Christmas in Hershey," it could work. I've made the trip to Hershey more than once for their Christmas celebration, and it isn't exactly across town.

They didn't give the event in 1994 enough of a chance to succeed. Regardless, Cedar Point wants to become a year-round resort. When they do, I'm sure a big deal will made for Christmas.

Winter in Sandusky does not get bad until after the first of the year. In fact, Sandusky only sees a white Chirtmas about 1 out of every 4 years.

------------------
Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

*** This post was edited by Gemini 11/6/2002 2:22:28 PM ***

---

Gemini said:

Winter in Sandusky does not get bad until after the first of the year. In fact, Sandusky only sees a white Chirtmas about 1 out of every 4 years.

------------------
Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

*** This post was edited by Gemini 11/6/2002 2:22:28 PM ***

---

Lol, Here in NYC....we get a white christmas every 20 some years. Its Nice to see a little bit of snow during the whole season.

------------------
- Dennis

I wish that they would open earlier than close later. I love the closing point, I just wish they would open in early to mid March. As I say it, open cold, close cold.

------------------
CP Top 3:
1) Mean Streak
2) Gemini
3) Disaster Transport
I love that large wooden structure!

---

Chief Wahoo said:

There is a great state or county park to the east of Cleveland that has a terrific toboggan/sled hill with a tow rope to get you back to the top. Now THAT is what I call good fun in the winter when you have coaster withdrawal. I don't remember the name of the park as it has been years, maybe even decades, since I was last there.

Anyone know where I am talking about?

---

I know of a place in the Cleveland Metroparks called the Chalet Recreation Area, located in the Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville. The have two ice covered toboggan chutes, each of which is about as tall as Gemini. It's a great ride, but there are steps to walk up. I'm not sure if it ever had a tow rope. You can find info here:

http://www.cleveland.com/visit/index.ssf?/recreation/more/sled.html

------------------
Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

---

Old Timer Tim said:
It isn't a matter of "people will come"...It is a matter of WEATHER and STAFFING...CP will someday maybe sooner than later have something for what we now consider the off-season.

---

Guy; with all due respect, the weather and staffing excuse is a load of bull. On Sat. 10-26, it was breezy, misting rain on and off, overcast and the temperature never got above 55 all day. There was also hardly a problem with a shortage of CP employees. Yet, the main parking lot was damn near capacity and the place was very busy.

Fact of the matter is. If CP wanted to stay open a couple of more weekends into Nov. (even just Saturdays only) they would make it work just fine.

Oh...and for the record..it is a matter of whether the people will come because without them there is no Cedar Point.

------------------
I was super before Superstew was cool
*** This post was edited by Superstew 11/6/2002 5:39:22 PM **
*** This post was edited by Superstew 11/6/2002 5:40:35 PM **
*** This post was edited by Superstew 11/6/2002 5:41:52 PM ***

Whoa? Were you at the same park I was? I saw Ride Prides everywhere on small ride crews, and frat boys who couldn't figure out how to fry cheese, let alone operate a cash register. Food service was the slowest it has ever been. There were few food carts around the park, stores had minimal people working them and the huge foreign population was headed to the airport Monday.

But maybe you already knew that since you prefaced your argument about staffing with the point that it was crowded.

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

Okay.. you were there and so was I. Hey! Bottom line is.. They were open.

Given the choice between the somewhat negatives that you pointed out or not being able to go to the park at all because they're closed, which would you chose?

I'll go to the park and deal with Ride Prides and frat boys. That kind of stuff is small potatoes.

------------------
I was super before Superstew was cool!

It's not really small potatoes because CP has a reputation for a high level of guest service and when staffing is not at proper levels, service can suffer. Just being open is not good enough in my opinion. They need to be open and providing the same kind of experience that they do throughout the summer. I did notice the abundance of ride prides and for the most part, they were doing a decent job. There were some exceptions, but CP's operations in the late season are still far and away better than the competition's.

Would they be able to maintain this level of service for an extra month or whatever? I'm not sure...

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis 11/6/2002 10:16:35 PM ***

I'd guess service quality would go down. Reputation is everything in the Cleveland market, and I wouldn't want to mess with it. Six Flags has a terrible rep, and that's when they're "fully staffed."

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

Six Flags could be over staffed and still only be operating at 30% work efficiency.

I remembered the name of that park with the big hill and tow rope. It is called Punderson. They also have a bunch of snowmobile trails.

Going back to the "extra" bonus weekends argument. Again, the full time staff doesn't need the season to be any longer but I will give you another reason.

It is quite an undertaking to "pack up" the park for the winter. Closing food stands, taking trains off the coasters, closing up the other rides, etc is quite a process. Getting the hotels buttoned up takes a good month to a month and a half.

You people that say, "why not just stay open a few more weekends" have no idea what that entails. Relatively speaking, it wasn't that long ago that Labor Day was it. Then it was September weekends, then October and Halloweekends. Enough is enough.

That's something I had not thought about. That 96% uptime during the season I don't doubt has a lot to do with what goes on in the off-season. The first time I saw the shops around the park I was in awe. You'd never believe how many parts the rides actually have.

I think they're really playing the odds as it is in the off-season. They're taking a few trains off before the end of the season as it is, and I have to guess they're not getting everything they'd like to do by opening day. That's my standing theory for MF's blue train sloppy springs at the start of the season.

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

---

Gemini says: Great Bear Lodge seems to do very well during the winter, as they are often booked to full capacity.

---

In my opinion, Great Bear Lodge is a different kind of attraction, and does nbot require as much staffing. The local community has resources to support that year round because of the size.

And that's the type of attraction Cedar Point will look at to generate off-season income. From the article I posted a link to earlier in this thread:

"Cedar Point is also trying to find a way to bring in year-round revenue. Kinzel said one of the goals of the park is to extend the season as much as possible and eventually become a year-round family resort. While no specifics have been determined on how this would be done, Kinzel said it is possible for Cedar Point to offer a destination in the future similar to Great Bear Lodge in Perkins Township."

------------------
Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Aha, a retractable dome over Soak City. I can see it now!

I know its been said but... I remember I travelled to CP in early Decemeber of 2000 to audition for the 2001 shows... I can recall walking into the space spiral gate, and walking just to the live e office (in the back of the ballroom) and by the time I had gotten there, I was completely frozen through. I suppose being a peninsula and having that crazy wind coming off of the bay made it so visciously cold... As much as I love the park, unless there were mammoth heaters everywhere, I couldn't see myself enjoying hot chocolate and a ride on the carousel, even if there is a fabulous ice skating show ;)

------------------
2001 - Hooray For Hollywood
2002 - Hooray For Hollywood: The Sequel

You don't know how bad it can be unless you have been there.

Another thing, they generally do not get a lot of snow but if there is a little snow on top of the frozen bay and a good wind picks up, visibility on Perimeter Road and the Causeway can become non-existent.

Many years ago, Cedar Point staff members were stuck overnight at the hotel b/c they couldn't get off the causeway.

I'm glad Wicked Twister was quick to build, because that beach is not a fun place to be in winter.

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

ill bet it was scary doing construction on the top with all of those gusty winds... maybe thats why they are trying to get some of the heigth on number 16 up before it gets too unbearable...

------------------
2001 - Hooray For Hollywood
2002 - Hooray For Hollywood: The Sequel