Cedars or Commons?

This seems to be the big quesiton for a lot of first years... so here's my two bits.

The 2004 season WAS my first season. I do not own a car. I lived in Cedars (the on point dorms for those of you who aren't familiar with our loving nickname) the entire summer.

THAT being said, I liked living in cedars and will be living there again this summer. The ONLY reason I wouldn't is if some of my friends living in commons (off point) had an opening in their room I could jump into.

Cedars are VERY old. They need renovation, end of story. But the fact is that when you work at cedar point, you don't (well... shouldn't) spend much time in your room. I was in my room pretty much only to sleep and sometimes on my day off, nap (lol). I mean... really. You're working at the greatest amusement park on the planet which YOU have unlimited access to - SANDUSKY is right there - HUGE tourist town - PLENTY to do. The people there are great. If you spend a lot of time in your room... you're missing out.

Back to the point... yes cedars are a bit run down. NO there isn't air conditioning. YES walking to the bathroom is a bit of a hassle sometimes, but don't you hate walking down the hall to get to the bathroom when you're at home? it's not a big difference. NO there is not lots of sexual harassment in the bathrooms. I felt just as comfortable in the cedars bathrooms as I did in my bathroom here at OSU. I never had any temperature problems with my room, and the park noise didn't keep me awake. My window was the second closest to the laser light show and I slept through it fine if I was trying to sleep at that point...

The cedars are RIGHT next to the park, so you don't have to catch a bus to go to work which is OH SO VERY NICE. If you have a car, you can park it at the EVS lot - RIGHT by commons - or in the blue streak lot, but I think those spots might be first come first serve - I odn't know how it works... ANYWAYS... a quick bus ride gets you to your car. It's not that big of a deal. If you don't have time for a bus to take you to your car, you shouldn't be going anywhere anyways. PLUS the park entrance traffic doesn't effect how early or late you are to work...

Bascially - cedars makes more sense (especially for people like me) all around. If you can't handle having no air conditioning, or having to walk to the bathroom, or living with one or two spiders lol... then maybe you should try to get in commons. But really cedars is fun. AND cheaper. AND more convenient.

*end soapbox*

im just worried bout a/c cus it does get so hot and humid were i cant sleep. so if im gonna be working full time plus hours i need too rest. so im bringing a portable a/c with me cus i want to dorm at cedars also cus its close to cad cars. im just worried about the heat and humidity. i lived in cedars for bout a month before i transfered to breakers. and breakers rotunda was better i thought. can non accomodations workers rent out in the breakers? or is it exclusivly for accomodations?

Last year was my 1st year working at cedar point and i stayed at cedars also. i liked cedars because it was right at the park and if you were almost last you could just run across the little roadway and your in the park and we had the best access to the park 24/7 if we wanted we could go in the park at anytime and walk around or just sit outside on the stairs infront of the post office or under the tree.the bathrooms were ok but could be better. the only things i didn't like at cedars was in out tv room we didn't have cable and commons did but i kept complaning and we finally got it and we were mostly in there especially when the nba finals came on and the other things were how our parking was way down by the blue streak when they could have gave us that little parking lot on the side of cedars that's hardly used and last but not least the rooms. they badly need to be renovated the floors were bare wood and need to be redone and they rooms need to be painted and new beds. but my roomate and i redid our room ourselves and we had the best room there and we will this year. but overall cedars was good.

There are 2 secrets to living in Cedars that I will let you all in on.
1) get good roommates, best to bring them with you.
2) Do the daily SSS in the boathouse bathrooms. The bathrooms are locked with codes that change every few weeks but multiple codes work at any time. The best way to get codes is have a pool of 2-3 guys who will use the pay phones outside of the bathrooms to call home. While one the phone just right numbers as the boaters yell them to each other. That’s it… You are golden.

If you don't want to risk losing your job, use the cedars restrooms. Employees are not supposed to use the boathouse bathrooms. If we WERE we'd be GIVEN the codes from the start. Those restrooms are for guests only...

I stayed in Cedars for most of the year last year... Buy a fan, ESPECIALLY one that cools the air. That should take care of the AC problem, because the rooms are small, so you wont be cooling much.

Seriously, I lived in a two person room. I spent as little time in there as possible, and it worked out fine. My problem was food, and the food they sell in the store is a bit overpriced. If you are going to live in Cedars because it is cheaper, my vote is live in commons. Having the ability to cook food in your own room makes a world of difference, and the $5 you save will probably be spent on food anyways.

I worked at CP back in 99, and I stayed at Cedars for I think the first 10 days. It was HORRIBLE. It was hot, the building is old, and I had sucky roommates. I filled out a form and transferred to the Commons as quickly as possible. I'm kind of dreading arriving so late at CP this year (June 7th) because I'm afraid that I'll be forced to live in Cedars. Even though Commons has problems as well, it was about a million times better than the Cedar dorms. I actually thought that with all the renovations CP has been doing over the past 6 years, that Cedar would have been completely renovated by now.

oh you had me convinced,until you said spiders....

yuk i hate bugs. blahh. We had scorpions in death valley.. that was it though. Thank God.

I lived in Cedars in 2002 and 2003, not as horrible as some people make it out to be. In both years I lived there, I only had to squish maybe three spiders in my room, (and if you know how many spiders are at the park and commons then you know that's very impressive) I lived in commons last year (as well as when Cedars was closed in 2004) and will this year only because that's where most of my friends are. Plus I like the 24 hour store instead of the muchery and who can forget club curb!

cedars wasn't so bad. the bathrooms and showers weren't too inconvienent, and i didn't notice and more sexual harrasment than my dorm at bsu. my only problem was my room was about 30 ft from the wild cat and every time one of the little cars went by, my window rattled.

i think i'm living in the comons this year just for the a/c

Hey I'm a very old employee of CP. I worked 91-92. I stayed in the "White" dorms which no longer exist and they were much better than the gold dorms, as far as on point dorms go. Had nice twins beds with real a mattress with box springs! They also had carpet in the rooms. The halls were very large and had a great breeze from the lake. There were two sets of white dorms each had three floors each, they were right next to the entrance to Hotel breakers. AAH the days of flirting with all the bell hops on the steps at breakers were so much fun!! I think they were part of the old breakers. Does anyone remember these dorms? Also does anyone remember the old rec center, it was where the "new" wing of breakers is now. Those were the days. Anyone who works at CP enjoy it , it may seems like a pain in the butt some days, but I never dreaded going to work, it was always fun!!

heh - my TL from last year told me about those dorms

she showed me where "they used to be" and yeah they were apart of the old breakers. it sounds like they were really nice... but were they only for girls?? (It sounds like you're a girl... no offense if you're not :))

As someone who lived in Cedars from 1986-1988 and then Bayside in 1989, there are pros and cons for both. The best part is that you live close, no buses needed, walking distance to everything. This was great my first few years when I spent every spare moment in the park or on the beach.

As I got older, I wanted a little time away from the Point, and Bayside was good for that. However, I did have to cook all of my own meals as opposed to eating in the Employee Cafeteria. I also had to plan for travel time, especially important on Saturday mornings. Even if you took the bus, you still had to allow for an extra half hour at least for traffic.

If it is your first summer, go for the Cedars and hope for a good roommate. I had two roommates, great guys, but with their schedules, we rarely saw each other.

And for those other old time employees, I remember the old Rec fondly! They made homemade pizzas there for 95 cents and sold beer for around 50-65 cents a glass. They also sold cans of beer at the dances in the old ballroom for $.50 a can, limit 2!!Those were the days!!
*** Edited 4/6/2005 5:42:04 PM UTC by PianoJohn***