Cedar Point traffic nightmare!!

Jeff said:

Siouxsie said:

...is that I stated QUITE CLEARLY...

Why is it that disagreement is always the result of a reading comprehension problems on the part of everyone, and never on the person trying to communicate?

Other than having mentioned that we could clearly see the traffic from the Breakers area moving much of the time we weren't, there was also this:

"He vented to a woman there (Guest Services) who immediately a knowingly responded, and I quote: "We've heard that complaint before. It's because the people who are directing traffic don't know what they're doing". "

It's amazing how people seem to pick out select parts of a message so they can relay a skewed alternative picture of what was said or happened. Gee, this must be how the bible was written...

The way the parking lots are designed, the Breakers / Soak City lots are going to be slow to empty, especially when there are a lot of people all trying to leave at once. There is one lane for all of the following: 1) Soak City 2) Breakers 3) The front of the main parking lot 4) The middle of the main lot. 5) The side lot next to the marina. That is a lot of people all trying to get out of the park with one lane. As has been noted: when the parking attendants have been letting the people from the back out too long, the people at the front of the main lot (and probably the middle too) will start honking.

I'm not really sure how to fix this. I suppose they could add another lane starting at the front of the main lot, so that the back and side could all exit with one lane, and the front of the main lot could have a lane to exit. But this then leads to a potential issue of the people from the back who want to exit Cedar Point Road, rather than the causeway.

It seems to me that Cedar Point has just accepted that this slow exit from the back is going to happen a couple of times a year.

As I've said, the situation in the Shores lot was indeed really bad, but we got around it by just parking again and going back in. It changed my plans for the evening a little, but, hey we were still at Cedar Point so no biggie.

What hasn't really been brought up, and I'm hesitant to even do so, is the role that the new storm warning system played in causing the backup. Before anyone jumps all over me, yes, I'm very concerned about safety. We were at the park last year during the storm that knocked over all of the poles on the causeway, and my kids were actually trapped on a ride because the op didn't know there was an e-stop button. That was a storm that it would've been nice to have this new system. Sunday's storm just wasn't bad at all. It rained for 15 minutes and there was a little thunder and a couple flashes of lightning. IMO, by putting out a whole park warning and telling guests to "immediately seek shelter" and that the park was "suspending all outdoor operations" caused a lot of people to panic and head for the exit when all they really needed to do was duck in a store, theater, or restroom for 10 minutes.

Siouxsie said:

Jeff said:

Siouxsie said:

...is that I stated QUITE CLEARLY...

Why is it that disagreement is always the result of a reading comprehension problems on the part of everyone, and never on the person trying to communicate?

"He vented to a woman there (Guest Services) who immediately a knowingly responded, and I quote: "We've heard that complaint before. It's because the people who are directing traffic don't know what they're doing". "

I think you are failing to realize that guests relations job is to deescalate a situation and do what they can, especially when a guest is 'Venting' at them and was clearly angry and vocal with other employees, to calm a guest and make the best of the situation. Maybe it was a poorly worded response or it was just being agreeable with an angry guest to best appease them, I don't see that it was indeed verification that the traffic directors were doing something other than what they could.

If Guest Services knows it is because of incompetence, why don't they fix it? My guess is Guest Services told you what they thought you wanted to hear to make you go away.

And how do they know it is because of incompetence? Are they outside monitoring whether the traffic people are following the proper procedures or are they inside trying to deal with problems that can be fixed (and staying out of the rain)? Did they also confirm that the reason for the long line for Raptor at 10:15 am is because the ride ops "don't know what they are doing?"

I wonder if he heard wrong and was actually told, "We've heard that complaint before. It's because the people who are driving don't know what they are doing." Some people hear what they want to hear and not what is said.

For comparison:

Harry Potter 7 Part 2 sold 1800+ tickets for the midnight opening. Our parking lot has 3 exits. It took at least a half hour to clear traffic after the movie.

Ha! Now you're actually trying to make the excuse that the woman at Guest Services told me what I wanted to hear, even if it meant condemning the park? You people are truly pathetic. I mean, did you actually read what you typed? Can we say denial? Tragic, seriously tragic. I hope CP is paying you for your paper thin attempts to defend them, but then you're doing about as good of a job as someone who would, say... direct traffic.

Reading comprehension can be made difficult when blinded with uncontrollable rage.

I'm fairly convinced that Siouxsie is one of those people that spend 10 minutes holding up the checkout line to have a manager override some error on the register to save that one extra penny between what's printed on their coupon and what it rang up as.

Hold on, I gotta go cash my check. Brb.
Thanks, Cedar Point!

Siouxsie said:

You people are truly pathetic. I mean, did you actually read what you typed? Can we say denial? Tragic, seriously tragic.

Yes, I read what I typed.

You, OTOH never said what should be done differently to draw the black lot through ONE lane on Perimeter Rd and ALL of the Point down what I assume was 3 lanes of causeway WITH EVERYONE LEAVING AT THE SAME TIME.

I'm sure if I ever finished my degree I would have software available to me to simulate traffic patterns. Until then I can figure the average speed per vehicle and estimate the distance from the front of one car to the front of the next to get an estimate of the best-case scenario for cars per hour.

Edit:

Here's a good estimate. 1000 cars per hour per lane for every 5mph average speed.

There is a way to improve the situation. The people directing traffic need to actually direct traffic, allowing for a traffic "zipper" at the Shores exit and the other merge points. It would take just as long to clear out the lots, but at least all of the lots would be moving.

Second, a traffic director at the Marina Gate crosswalk should mediate between vehicle and pedestrian traffic, overriding the stop sign. Pedestrians need to wait a minute or two. Let the cars flow for a bit, then let the pedestrians cross in larger, less frequent groups. Those larger groups will in turn provide holes for the bay side parking lot exit.

Finally, when it gets crowded, put a bag over the "NO TURN ON RED" sign at First St. Westbound traffic gets its own lane down by the A-frames, and bleeding that traffic non-stop out of the right lane can increase causeway capacity by a nontrivial amount.

In theory, traffic flow from any point on Cedar Point should be consistent, albeit slow. The only impediments are the traffic lights at First and Fifth, and between Cedar Point Road and First St, by the time the traffic hits US-6, the total volume should be well below the capacity of that road. That's also why the 35 MPH speed limit on the Causeway actually makes sense: it limits the rate at which vehicles will pile up at the light at Cleveland Rd.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Roundabouts.

In theory they should work, even all-way stops should work too. However, the one constant is a driving public, many without patience and prone to road rage, that does not follow the rules. Those are the people that simply do not follow the traffic directors now, they barely follow police directing traffic. Add in anxiousness to leave, bad weather, crying children, etc... and the situation gets even more heated.

RideMan said:

Second, a traffic director at the Marina Gate crosswalk should mediate between vehicle and pedestrian traffic, overriding the stop sign. Pedestrians need to wait a minute or two. Let the cars flow for a bit, then let the pedestrians cross in larger, less frequent groups. Those larger groups will in turn provide holes for the bay side parking lot exit.

That is actually what they are doing at the Marina gate now Dave.

Yes ive seen traffic control at the marina crosswalk even on slower evenings around cps closing time. I agree they should alternate who gets to exit, and i agree we should have a ramp entering the lake for stupid drivers.

CP Maverick said:

I'm sure if I ever finished my degree I would have software available to me to simulate traffic patterns. Until then I can figure the average speed per vehicle and estimate the distance from the front of one car to the front of the next to get an estimate of the best-case scenario for cars per hour.

Edit:

Here's a good estimate. 1000 cars per hour per lane for every 5mph average speed.

So at 35mph it would take an hour to drain 7,000 cars or 2 hours to drain 14,000 cars

Ideal conditions, yes. I would imagine the real number is quite a bit lower due to human error. (Could easily be less than half that number in reality.)

When we hit the access road traffic was moving smoothly, which made my friend that much angrier. He insisted we stop at Guest Services, so we did. He vented to a woman there who immediately a knowingly responded, and I quote: "We've heard that complaint before. It's because the people who are directing traffic don't know what they're doing". Really!?

So, let me get this straight.

You finally got out of the Shores parking lot and were so pissed that you decided that instead of making your way down the causeway and out of the park, you'd go back to the Main Lot, park, and then go to Guest Services to complain?

But I thought your time was so much more important than the thousands of other guests trying to leave at the same time? That doesn't seem to make much sense there, Siouxsie...

And do you realize what Guest Services does all day? They deescalate. I know, because I've worked in customer service basically since I entered the workforce after college. They will literally say anything that they are legally allowed to say to make sure you leave their office quieter than when you came storming in. And if they can pawn it off on another department, they absolutely will.