CP 2010 - Year in Review

We were at the park this whole weekend to conclude what has been a terrific year visiting the park. In total, we visited the park a total of 27 days, along with another 12 days visiting other Cedar Fair parks. Here are my observations and thoughts on the year as I look back:

Overall, crowd levels were considerably higher than 2009 on average. Where we used to see some slow summer days and Halloweekend Fridays, not so anymore. Give credit to Cedar Fair for better marketing and improved use of social networking and other tools to bring attention to the park and its promotions.

While crowd levels were up, park staffing levels seemed to be down. Many days there was only 50% of power tower open, despite good crowds, or another example was not all the water slides would be open in soak city, because they didn't have enough people to staff them. This was quite aggravating, and I plan to write a letter to communicate my disappointment, for whatever good it will do.

Despite having been a guest at this park all my life, the sheer number of visits this year helped me learn a LOT about how to enjoy the experience more. We ride early at morning and at night, and relax at our campsite or go into "town" during the day. I've learned how to squeeze more rides in, with less time... asking forgiveness instead of permission, and being polite to ride ops. Example... getting back on Maverick in an empty seat before leaving the station. Don't ask... just do it. If you ask they have to give you the company line and say "no", but likely if you do it in a polite manner they will not say anything.

Leaving the park yesterday was a moment of tremendous sadness. We have to wait 6.5 months to go back. Such a long time. CP is my favorite place on the planet. Really.

Finally, here are my best/worst of 2010:

Best bathroom: The small one tucked away in planet snoopy.
Worst bathroom: The one by the front entrance... usually smells like a cattle car

Best Ride Crew: Magnum (Skyhawk a close second, depends who's working)
Worst Ride Crew: Millenium Force (never opens on time)

Best Food: Oxymoron
Worst Food: All of it

Best Water Park Ride: Body Slide #5
Worse Water Park Ride: Slides 1 and 2 (OUCH!)

Best Haunted Attraction: Erie Estate
Worst Haunted Attraction: Club Blood

Where is the bathroom in Planet Snoopy?

I bet he means Camp Snoopy. Let's keep that a secret from the general public, lest they find out and mess that one up too.

The one in Camp Snoopy is pretty good. The one over by WildCat is always clean too. I agree with the staffing also; it seems like 2 years ago there was always someone at the entrance of all the roller coasters.

The bathroom back by Space Spiral and Disaster Transport is pretty good usually as well, mainly because nobody goes back there at all anyway.

The men's room at the Coliseum (near Snoopy Boutique) is consistently one of the messiest in the park.

Randall said:
The bathroom back by Space Spiral and Disaster Transport is pretty good usually as well, mainly because nobody goes back there at all anyway.

Totally agree. I always use that one. The ones near the season pass center and the old demon drop location are just asking for a messy experience.

The ones near Raptor are not very clean. I like going to the bathrooms in the Breakers (clean and nice and quiet) :)

MagnumFan said:
I've learned how to squeeze more rides in, with less time... asking forgiveness instead of permission...

That sounds like a terrible idea for many reasons.

MagnumFan said:
Example... getting back on Maverick in an empty seat before leaving the station. Don't ask... just do it. If you ask they have to give you the company line and say "no", but likely if you do it in a polite manner they will not say anything.

So in other words, be an ***hole to the other park guests, because as long as you're "polite" to the ride ops, it's ok.

I'm not sure how getting back in a seat that otherwise would have run empty is being a hole to guests. If anything, it's being a hole to ride ops, who now either have to implicitly allow your behavior, or make a stink and miss interval.

Well, it is line jumping. An activity in which ***holes partake.

Which is why I prefer parks that aren't quite so anal as CP, and actually permit you to stay on a coaster train in the absence of waiting guests.

Ensign Smith said:
Which is why I prefer parks that aren't quite so anal as CP, and actually permit you to stay on a coaster train in the absence of waiting guests.

Even KI will let you reride if there's no one waiting for your row. It has been awesome being able to reride the Beast after years and years of having to wait on a huge long and slow line.

Knotts wouldnt let you reride, but that could be cause I didnt ask...I dont assume its ok to reride just because I can find an empty seat.

SFMM let me reride anything I wanted during my last visit (park was DEAD!) it was awesome!! :)

btw-just because the Maverick crew didnt say anything about reriding doesnt mean it was ok. It is simply easier to overlook an ahole then it is to have them unlock the row, make you get out and redo your harness.

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 2300 :)

I truly don't see a problem with anyone re riding if there is no one waiting. Our group got to re ride 2 weeks ago on CCMR. Busch Gardens has a pretty good rule in place; as long as there isn't anyone waiting for your row, they will let you stay on the ride for 1 additional cycle.

JuggaLotus said:

So in other words, be an ***hole to the other park guests, because as long as you're "polite" to the ride ops, it's ok.

Dude, what's your deal? You've been all over me in the last couple posts I've made. I'm not talking about line jumping or taking seats from other guests. I'm talking about getting in a seat just after the gates have closed which would otherwise have gone empty. What is the harm in that?

Anyone who saw me wearing the Single Rider Jeff shirt this weekend will tell you I am not some rude, line jumping spaz that you are making me out to be. In fact I had several people tell me it was refreshing to see a guy with a single rider shirt who wasn't out there running people over and taking cuts. To which I responded, I agree, but SRB is the other exception to that rule. Other than myself and Bob, I've been less-than-impressed with the behavior of the single rider folks. Chris (orange shirt) being the worst, by far.

For the record, I got offered (and declined) a re-ride on Ocean Motion Sunday for answering a trivia question about Blue Streak correctly. The rest of the boat however did ride again without getting out of their seats.

I guess it depends on whether or not the ride op got his or her chops busted that morning.

So long as it doesn't interfere with any other guest's experience, or with the overall length of the line, I couldn't care less what people do in terms of rerides.

One funny thing that happened this past Friday was that there were two guys in front of us in line for Maverick who clearly came to the park together and knew each other. Still, they both dashed off for the single rider line when we arrived at it. I mentioned to my friend that they would probably wait just as long, and couldn't ride together.

Sure enough, when we got to the top of the line, they were still there, and one one of them said something like, "We were in front of those guys" to the operator. My friend and I just brushed past them. They ended up directly in line behind us for the front seat. There was some smug satisfaction to that, I'll admit.

Maverick's single rider line is a joke. Unless the guy at the top of the stairs is REALLY on his game, it's usually not advantageous to go in that line. Towards the end of the season the guys at the top of the stairs weren't even asking people how many in their group anymore, which means the single rider line never, ever moves. Ridiculous.

Now Diamondback at KI, that's how a single rider line should be....

LuvRaptor said:

Ensign Smith said:
Which is why I prefer parks that aren't quite so anal as CP, and actually permit you to stay on a coaster train in the absence of waiting guests.

Even KI will let you reride if there's no one waiting for your row. It has been awesome being able to reride the Beast after years and years of having to wait on a huge long and slow line.

This is merely a remnant from Paramount... And to boot, their ridership count is not based on turnstyles as Cedar Point's is, but rather by ride cycles minus empty seats.