Closing Day 2018

Does the Valraven have two blocks on top of the hill? That seems weird.

Yes. One as soon as you crest the hill and another after the turn but before the drop. I have seen them block test and have trains in both locations on many mornings.

On another note, kudos to CP for coaster uptime today. Given typical rain procedures, I was shocked at what stayed open during heavy rain. One train is better than no trains and it was very, very nice to see rides open in heavy-ish rains.

I was at the park all weekend and I'll echo these sentiments. It was misty and rainy all weekend and they did a great job of keeping the coasters running as much as possible. It would have been easy to give up considering the conditions but they kept it going all the way until I left around 7 on Sunday. Excellent work from all involved.

Also, I'm not sure if Valravn stops on the lift during lift block, it might actually stop on the brake AFTER the lift. At least that's what I gathered from watching a block test once. Not sure if that's the normal way.

Then after that, there's another block that goes up to the brakes before the holding brake. The holding brake itself is not a block brake to my knowledge - if the block from drop to MCBR is occupied (wouldn't really happen in practical operation unless it valleyed, but just an exercise in thought), the train would stop before the holding brake.

It makes perfect sense to have two blocks on top of Valravn. If they have to evacuate, it is much easier to have people exit the trains on the flat section on top than on the very steep lift hill.

Looks like the first weekend of May “preview weekend” version of Opening Day will not happen. Tony has tweeted out 194 days until Opening Day, which puts it at Saturday 5/11.

Cue the same folks that bitched about the park not being ready for the first weekend of May bitching that they are pushng it back a week in 3.. 2.. 1...

Gonna be a long off season with nothing to talk about except missing dinosaurs and an empty corner lot.

Looks like some people will have to be made whole.

Winter Chill Out tickets will go on sale after the holidays. Plenty of whole making will have to go on

Customer Powers Activate!!

Perhaps a Winter Chill Out visit to Guest Services will be on the itinerary.

Cartwright said:
Looks like the first weekend of May “preview weekend” version of Opening Day will not happen. Tony has tweeted out 194 days until Opening Day, which puts it at Saturday 5/11.

That’s the first official operating day for all park guests. Preview day could happen earlier in the week, followed by Ohio State Day on 5/10. Just a thought.

A passholder preview event could occur. In fact some here would say they are owed one.

Last year on Closing Day Tony tweeted that Opening Day would be 5/5, which was the “preview weekend” before daily operations. My guess is outside if OSU day and potential passholder events, Saturday 5/11 will be it this year.

What is sad, is to go to the web cams and see most of the lights are out. A darken park is a definite sign that the season is over.

I think that after Opening Day this year, they realized that pushing opening day back to Saturday, May 11 instead of May 4 (as the Ohio State day website initially stated) helps them out a lot. This year, not only was there the typical understaffing, but maintenance didn't have enough good weather to work with to clear all the rides for operation or cycle them enough to prevent additional downtime. Heck, they didn't even finish Dragster's pre-season checks until the evening of Opening Day. From a managerial perspective, having a slightly later Opening Day in 2019 will get them a head-start on college recruiting/processing-in and allow maintenance and the state to approve all the rides.

Cartwright said:
A passholder preview event could occur. In fact some here would say they are owed one.

If that is the case, a Winter Chillout tour of the Guest Relations Making Whole department would be highly appropriate in case there is no preview day.

Considering the overwhelming success of the Hoedown this year, I would not be surprised if mid- to late-week passholder previews continue. However, for 2019, the only new things to preview would be Forbidden Frontier and whatever is announced at Chill Out, and we obviously don't know enough about them to say with certainty that they will be ready for previews in early May.

That is a good point about Forbidden Frontier. Being a new thing for CP, they probably will find an extra week very helpful in sorting everything out and getting up to speed with whatever guest interaction will occur.

I think pushing things back a week only helps the park. No one is starting multi day resort vacations that early, and any minor amount of lost revenue is made up by not offering the sub par guest experience that can happen on a first weekend in May opening.