CP Blog Post: The Numbers

*Please let me know if this should have been posted elsewhere.*

In case any of you haven't read the latest blog post: https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/The-Numbers

I am referring to the table for number of rides in 2013.I was surprised by some of the numbers. Gemini and Iron Dragon giving more rides than TTD. It goes to show that the ability to pump people through can be deceptive.

It also shows that Gemini and Iron Dragon are not going anywhere anytime soon.

I am curious what Mean Streak's and Blue Streak's numbers are.

A while back Cedar Point used to have the ridership numbers (past and present) for a good amount of their rides on their website. Sometime around 2008 they took them down, but before then I compiled them into a spread sheet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkaxYBnFQvu2cEp5MmhDZ0...sp=sharing

This should be formatted easily enough where you can see (and export data and graph) the trends... unfortunately it won't be too helpful for the 5 years where there isn't any data - but it's better than nothing!

Gatekeeper SERIOUSLY ate through people this year. Impressive. The only competition capacity wise seems to be Gemini pre-2003.

I cant remember, but is that the first time another ride has out performed the CP&LE RR? I always thought that was the mother load in terms of ridership.

^ I thought that too Mike. I was always pretty sure nothing beat out the railroad in terms of numbers.

What really surprised me is Skyride. As easily as that ride closes when there's a breeze, 1.4 million is pretty crazy. At that rate, I'm sure it could easily beat CPLERR if they had the same amount of uptime.

A more visual representation I did a while ago.
http://rollercoasterfreak.com/Cedar_Point/Ridership.bmp

Ralph Wiggum said:What really surprised me is Skyride. As easily as that ride closes when there's a breeze, 1.4 million is pretty crazy. At that rate, I'm sure it could easily beat CPLERR if they had the same amount of uptime.

We just had to make the best out of the time that we were open. :)

Many of these numbers are down significantly from a decade ago. Raptor was always around 2 million up through at least 2004. I wonder why they didn't list Magnum? That's another one that used to be a perennial 2 million ride, but probably is down somewhere near Raptor now. Iron Dragon also lost a train and is way down from what I recall. Corkscrew has also been neutered operationally in the last several years.

Bins and rain policies have certainly had a big effect. Standing on dots and not grouping riders also has had an effect to some degree. Gemini often gets a line when it never used to. Magnum has a line outside the station until very late at night. When I worked there, we used to get a report every few weeks with numbers for each ride for that season and the prior season. It was always a big deal to be ahead of last year and ahead of your rival rides. I don't know if they do that anymore.

On the positive side, Gatekeeper was great this year. Very reliable ride and a crew that seemed interested in keeping things moving. They might even be able to beat that number next year since they will know what works best right from the beginning of the season.

I am extremely happy that Gatekeeper is hitting such high capacity. They really run the ride very well (and the fact it is a B&M and very reliable helps as well). I hope Cedar Point goes back to B&M for the next *steel* attraction they plan as well (dive machine? flyer?). Although I hope GCI makes its presence in the park soon.

But I just love the fact even on busy Saturdays in July/August you can ride Gatekeeper with minimal waits in the last hour or two the park is open. That whole front-of-the-park location, I suppose.

Numbers down for attractions due to the wait at Panda Express