Cedar Point Announces New Water Ride for 2010 Season

The price to stay at Breakers express for example is extremely high compared to an economy hotel just down the road. Trust me i research possible hotels every year i come down and i take the economy hotel over breakers express.

PB-Reader said:
This isn't a ride that would make me want to get a season pass to ride it.

No, but its a ride that maybe gets a family to make a second trip to the point during the season. If its something they can all ride together and enjoy, then its a success.

Ty Z said:
Maybe Cedar Points declining hotelattendance has to do with the economy being so bad over not havingenough family rides. Ever think of that?

Gosh, you think? Was someone suggesting this ride was intended to correct that?

PB-Reader said:
I have thought it over for a day now, and my first impressions still stand. This isn't a ride that would make me want to get a season pass to ride it.

Is every new attraction supposed to have a serious impact on pass sales? CP isn't even a pass-dependent park in the first place. Their gate mix is heavily on single-day, package and group sales tickets, as they've indicated in various conference calls. I'm sure new restrooms don't drive sales either, but if they leave guests with a more favorable impression, they're certainly worth it.

Ty Z. They don't want to be like Disney? Meaning they don't want to make millions of dollars? They've been the rollercoaster park for 20 years now. Guess what? There is NO growth in that. Attendance has never really spiked since the mid 90s and for the past couple of years the per cap (which they use to hang their hat on when attendance was down) has started to take a hit the past couple of years.

Obviously they needed to change things up. Cedar Point wants to be whatever will bring people throught the turnstiles AND get them spending gobs of money in the park.

Chief Wahoo said:
Jugga...you are right that during peak season the hotels are pretty full. But, the shoulder seasons are still an issue and as far as I know they are still keeping Sandcastle Suites closed after Labor Day.

I thought Sandcastle staying closed was more of a staffing issue rather than occupancy. Even still, if they close that, but the remaining resorts operate at 85%, what reason is there for lowering the price? People are paying it.

I do agree that early season seems to see lower occupancy, but I don't know that lower prices would really change that.

Did you not read what i said? Cedar Point does not want to be like Disney and have nothing but family rides. and Cedar Point can't make the amount of many Disney makes because Disney is open year round plus makes a ton of money on movies. NO one can compete with that.

Do we have to go there again? Cedar Point as a destination resort does compete with Disney. This will be the second year that I'm skipping an on-site stay at CP and going to Disney World instead. They are competing, and I'm spending my money with the competition. Just because the scope and dollar amounts differ doesn't mean that they don't compete.

Disney is open year round? Dude...I know a couple of things. I've actually worked at Disney...and Cedar Point...and Geauga Lake.

No, Cedar Point does not want to have nothing but family rides. You are exactly right. And, since they really don't have much in the way of ANY family rides (at least none that are less than 25 years old) but they have a cityscape of towering wood and steel I think we can agree with what they ARE.

But...and this is where you are not reading what I say...they want to be MORE than that. Yes, shocking as it sounds, they might actually want to be a little more like Disney and provide something MORE than what they currently have.

I'm not saying they don't compete, but no company can compete with the amount of money Disney takes in, unless of course cedar fair starts making hit movies and making millions of dollars on every one and is able to stay open year round.

Jeff said:
Do we have to go there again? Cedar Point as a destination resort does compete with Disney. This will be the second year that I'm skipping an on-site stay at CP and going to Disney World instead. They are competing, and I'm spending my money with the competition. Just because the scope and dollar amounts differ doesn't mean that they don't compete.

Jeff, I for one have done the same this year. My family and I are season pass holders so we feel that it would be best to spend our Resort Dollars on a destiniation than stay at CP.

How did we get so far of topic? Back to talking about the new ride. Like most new rides Cedar Point gets, will this one have all the down time its first year that the rest of them had?

And no one is suggesting that Cedar Point will make money on the scale of Disney. Its not a race to see who makes the most money, but there is a decision to be made based on value. Is going to Disney at X dollars for a week a better use of my money that going to Cedar Point for 3 days and Y dollars?

If the person decides that Disney is the better value, then Cedar Point HAS lost. Lose enough times and you're not making money anymore and need to make a change.

There will always be people that go to one or the other, but of the middle ground, Cedar Point needs to provide a value reason as to why they should be picked. Expanding the selection of full-family rides is one way to build on and strengthen that value.

T said:

Now, this summer when we were in Soak City I overheard someone talking(yes I know rumor) but they were talking about CP buying land somewhere else in Sandusky to build a new waterpark and closeout Soak City attached to CP. Has anyone else heard this rumor?

No chance, Soak City is a big part of the resorts package to entice people to stay on site. They are not going to make people staying at the resorts drive to an off Point water park.

In all honesty i wouldn't care if cedar point moved soak city. They won't, but i wouldn't care, i would be cool with it.

CP's growth issues compared to Disney have much more to do with the region the two parks are in (and the population growth rates in those areas) and weather than they do the mix of rides. You could dump the entire Disney empire in Sandusky as it exists today and it wouldn't be anything of the success it is today. (And as for the list of Disney rides, I rode them all and didn't find any of them to be very fun as compared with the best coasters I have ridden (other than Soarin' which was interesting but I couldn't ride it multiple times and tower of terror which had good elements but needed to be twice as high and long -- and my daughter who doesn't like coasters could ride all of the Disney coasters (and did ride many of them though she will only ride Iron Dragon/Mine Ride at CP)).

And I guess I define "family ride" differently than most people here. Every ride in the park is a family ride. I have ridden the Blue Streak, Millennium Force, TTD, Maverick, etc. with my dad (in his mid 70s, my siblings (30s-40s), kids (preteens), uncles/aunts, nieces/nephews, etc. So the notion that its teens who like the coasters and older folks who like the slower/tamer "family" rides doesn't make sense to me.

Pete, I was thinking the same thing.

Ty Z said:
Maybe Cedar Points declining hotel attendance has to do with the economy being so bad over not having enough family rides. Ever think of that? Cedar Point resorts are rather expensive and the way the economy is i would rather stay at a cheap hotel for a couple nights then stay at a resort.

Even more reason to expand the family market and get a wider audience of potential hotel guests. Look at this picture:

Platinum Pass Coaster Enthusiast

Buys $160 pass
Brings own food
Hardly buys merchandise
Complains about CP not building a 500 foot coaster

Family Group

May stay at a resort ($$$)
Will buy food for the family ($$$)
Will buy souvenirs ($$$)
May also go to Soak City ($$$)
Likes that CP has a ride like STR the whole family can enjoy.

The midwest economy isn't great but there are plenty of families with the discretionary dollars to visit the parks if they want to.

Bucks...you obviously like coasters and Cedar Point has been the place for you. If Cedar Point were ONLY interested in driving you and your coaster loving friends to the park then we would have seen another coaster this year.

If you have children under 48" there aren't a lot of rides you all can do together outside of the spin and pukes and the train, car ride type of attractions. That is just a fact. And, given those types of rides when was the last NEW one to be built?

(Probably Chaos to answer my own question which was circa the mid 90s, yes?)

Chaos was 1997.

So it has been 12 years since the park added this "family" type of ride (assuming they get the height limit under 48")? And, during those same years they have significantly increased their resort offerings including the Breakers Tower, Lighthouse Point and Campground improvements and Breakers Express.

And, during those same 12 years the per cap has plateaued.

I think there is a correlation in all of this. Yes, the economy turned over the last year and a half but I would argue that these problems were headed Cedar Point's way before the signs of a bad economy set in.