Cedar Point 2023

I'll be happy to trade new coasters for better operations and updated bathrooms. Those are 2 aspects that need improved on. Most bathrooms in the park are way outdated.

Rusty said:

When the Lakeside location first offered perch sandwiches, they were stacking those buns pretty good with perch fillets for the first few weeks. I thought I had found my forever place for meal plan food! But then someone must have told the front line workers to stop giving away the perch and they cut back. Still - perch is perch! When they stopped serving it altogether, I was sad. I would LOVE to see that brought back in some fashion.

Lake Erie perch numbers have been on the decline the past few years whereas walleye has been BANGING.

It goes in spurts. 10-ish years ago you could limit out for perch (30 pp) in just a few hours and limiting out on walleye (6 pp) was an all day affair. That has totally done a 180 today. I would guess the trend will slowly switch over the next couple years.

If Cedar Point actually was able to deliver the experience they sell to us via Winter Chill Out and other marketing tools, it would likely be the top amusement park/beachfront resort outside of Florida.

But the inconsistant policies, lack of stellar service, really bad ride operations, the laughable ride weather policies, and general challenge to have the place actually running until a month into the season are all major issues that should not be occuring anywhere, let alone at such a flagship destination.

Marina Steakhouse had the best fried walleye.
I think about it a lot.

I swear I'm probably the only one that hasn't really noticed a huge difference in operations for the coasters at least from the two times I've been this year. Are they as fast as they were at their peak? Nah, but it's also not the worst I remember experiencing in the park.

Whatever year it was (I feel like it was a late Kinzel year but it could've been sooner) that they made the big deal about having used some consulting firm to change things up for ride op procedure is still the worst I personally remember. No clue if any of their 'findings' ended up sticking, but I'm at least happy that the audible "SCANNING!" step before the "clear" doesn't seem to have.

That all being said, I totally get where people are coming from with flat rides, though I wonder how much of that is still ultimately an understaffing thing. Even accounting for an aborted cycle stopped after about ten seconds for some doofus pulling out their phone, Windseeker should not have been my second-longest wait of the day after Steel Vengeance the other week.

Cedar Point fans don't seem to recognize the most parks do not have nearly as many rides and coasters. The days of seeing a few coaster built every other year are long gone.

Thabto said:

Most bathrooms in the park are way outdated.

At this point, there should be no need to touch any bathroom surface other than perhaps a stall door in any bathroom, and it is frankly embarrassing that CP is so far behind in that regard. I understand that updating restrooms is no small task in a park that size, but this is something that was already long overdue several years ago.

That Crazy Dan said:

I swear I'm probably the only one that hasn't really noticed a huge difference in operations for the coasters at least from the two times I've been this year. Are they as fast as they were at their peak? Nah, but it's also not the worst I remember experiencing in the park.

Whatever year it was (I feel like it was a late Kinzel year but it could've been sooner) that they made the big deal about having used some consulting firm to change things up for ride op procedure is still the worst I personally remember. No clue if any of their 'findings' ended up sticking, but I'm at least happy that the audible "SCANNING!" step before the "clear" doesn't seem to have.

That all being said, I totally get where people are coming from with flat rides, though I wonder how much of that is still ultimately an understaffing thing. Even accounting for an aborted cycle stopped after about ten seconds for some doofus pulling out their phone, Windseeker should not have been my second-longest wait of the day after Steel Vengeance the other week.

Most definitely, I can’t remember when it was either, but they should take the hint and totally do away with the consulting company and go back to doing things completely in-house like they did in 2011. It would make capacity and throughout much easier & simpler.

I believe that consulting company you're referencing is iROC.

https://ridetraining.com/iroc/about-iroc/

It's not just CP - it's been the downfall of operations at other parks, as well. Some have moved away from it because of that.

Maybe when I become a senior citizen, and not able to control my bladder, and frequent the restrooms every hour on the hour; then maybe I'll care about updating the bathrooms. But I walk into a bathroom, relieve myself, wash my hands and leave. Couldn't be in there longer than 3 minutes at a time. Then I'm back outside looking at the CP app to check queue line times.

If renovating the bathrooms delays a new ride, then I could not be more opposed...

I've mentioned before, a theory I seen on Reddit. That they're making these large, cafeteria style restaurants to be able to demolish smaller buildings in the future for more rides. I wonder if they haven't spent money on bathrooms because they could all be moved at some point in the future 5 year plan.

That's the sort of incompetent, shortsighted thinking that was the worst of the Kinzel era - "people gotta poop!" Even if I don't personally benefit from an improvement the park makes, I can at least recognize the value to the company in doing so.

I don't know if it's necessarily for more rides, but I do agree that they'll decommission smaller, less efficient food locations. We saw that this year with "RoundUp" being turned into a "bank" which is allegedly a Live E changing room or something. Maybe "Roost" (formerly a fries place) will close when the new beach pavilion opens. There really isn't a ton over in that area though - at least that's open regularly - as far as food.

djDaemon said:

...I can at least recognize the value to the company in doing so.

That is the struggle I have with the bathroom renovations. Would nicer bathrooms be appreciated - sure they would. Do I go to the park fewer times or spend less money because the bathrooms are not the nicest - no.

How does the value that new bathrooms would bring to the company get defined? Do gold plated toilet seats bring more value than black plastic seats? How does the return on investment get calculated?

I just want to not have to go to Breakers if I find myself in need of an after lunch extended sit down.

Shades said:

Do I go to the park fewer times or spend less money because the bathrooms are not the nicest - no.

Again, this is Kinzel's "people gotta eat" mentality. I much prefer the "best day experience" strategy proffered by Ouimet.

Most enthusiasts are clearly more Kinzel than Ouimet, and this is a prime example. You and MrLewis don't seem to care about the facilities, because you're enthusiasts who are there to marathon rides or whatever, and that's fine. But that's not market writ large, especially in an economy with ever more competition for entertainment dollars.

The whole experience matters, from the little things like fresh paint and clean midways, to the medium things like good food and clean, modern bathrooms, to the big things like rides and entertainment.

Do you know anyone who specifically has cut visits/spending due to the bathrooms? I don't. I didn't say I don't want better bathrooms, it is just not something that is real high up on my list.

I don't know how to quantify the value in upgraded bathrooms. You say there is a recognized value, but what is it? Is it just a warm and fuzzy feeling or are you able to assign a monetary value to it?

I do wonder why Ouimet didn't he fix the bathrooms. I would guess because there were bigger issues during his time. As the years go by and more and more things get improved, at some time the bathrooms will become the top problem. But until then I don't see big improvements coming to them.

I don't know anyone who has cut visits/spending due to no new attractions, so the park should definitely not add any more of those, by that logic.

Of course the state of facilities can be quantified to some degree. You survey guests, which the park already does, ask what they did and did not enjoy about their day, and there you go.

As far as Ouimet, I would wager that, much like the atrocious state of Cedars and Breakers, the bathrooms probably registered as something that needed addressed, and those were on a list. But I would be surprised if giving away the gate were higher on that list, so it would seem his list was abandoned by current management, who seem intent on quick revenue regardless of the long term damage to the brand.

I don't think anyone expects to go to an amusement park and be blown away by state-of-the-art bathrooms, unless we're talking like those family-sized air dryers by Snake River Falls.

I feel like bathrooms at an entertainment setting are something where the ideal is for them to *not* stand out, to be immemorable if you will. This isn't RCT, people aren't going to be walking around saying "the bathrooms at this park are so neat and tidy!", and I'd argue a hypothetical bathroom can range from causing no emotional reaction to inspiring a "THE BATHROOMS OUTSIDE OF SOAK CITY WERE TOTALLY DISGUSTING!" angry social media diatribe. Which I'm sure totally isn't something that the park's Twitter and Facebook pages get thrown at them all the time or anything.

That being said, just because you know damn well the restrooms are all going to be collectively gross by the end of a busy day, doesn't mean you just shrug and say "eh, people gotta poop, as long as they're not going on the sides of buildings I guess the 1970s-spec bathrooms are a-okay."

...Speaking of the waterpark, while we're wishing for redone bathrooms, can we get rebuilt bathhouses please? I'm trying to remember if the main one by the old slides ever had benches or any place to put your stuff while changing other than awkwardly dangling it off a shower head while avoiding the gaggle of perching mayflies, but yeah.

Thabto said:

I'll be happy to trade new coasters for better operations and updated bathrooms. Those are 2 aspects that need improved on. Most bathrooms in the park are way outdated.

I agree 100% overall park and ride operations at CP and Cedar Fair Parks have slipped and fallen off an I've been visiting the the park since 1994 an it! I decided not to go as often anymore with price increases for everything at the park and other things which for me an my situation they have priced me out of going!

At the end of the day, a public bathroom at an amusement park is still going to have piss on the floor under the urinals, clogged toilets from the nervous $***s by a newbie, pee on the toilet seats from dudes that are too lazy to lift the seat and can’t aim, empty paper towel and soap dispensers….the list goes on. They don’t need updated. They need CLEANED. And maintained by having scheduled cleanings/service by designated Park Services employees!

EDIT: As much as I would love operations to go back to the old way, I’m starting to realize that IROC (which was implemented during Ouimet’s era in 2015) is not the only problem. It is the lack of emphasis of capacity by the area supervisors. It is the lack of motivation from the ride ops that SLOWLY walk back to their safe zones as if efficiency does not matter.