Dragster Cam is Back... sorta.

Tony, as I'm sure you're aware, there are many webcams around the world that are a lot higher, in a lot more adverse conditions, and are a lot less accessible than the Dragster Cam, and they seem to work very reliably. May I suggest that rather than moving the camera, you instead move your business to a company that knows what they're doing. It IS the most fantastic view of the park (in fact, rather than moving it, why not mount TWO cameras there and show us both directions! You'd get some tremendous sunset views over Maverick/Mean Streak, no?)

Here's my selfish reason for the request: The Dragster cam allows my family (and probably many other season pass holders) to see the entire parking lot, which is the best way to gauge the crowd levels. The other cams only give a glimpse of a small area, and to be honest, if I can't see the parking lot, we don't make the trip from Cleveland... We DO visit a lot (sometimes even for just a couple hours) but with the price of gas we want to make sure we're not driving 110 miles only to find 1-2 hour waits for everything.

If Dragster cam won't work for budgetary (since I don't buy the "technical") reasons, my suggestion is to mount the camera on the top of Space Spiral cabin. That way you'll get some cool "panorama" shots as it revolves (including the occasional great view of the parking lot, which will satisfy my selfish request :-)

^ I don't think it has anything to do with budget and has everything to do with it's not working! I am sure they are working on figuring out how to fix it, just give them time!

Boy, look at that crowd today....

I find it staggering how everyone else knows better, and over something that frankly I'm surprised the park does at all given its complete lack of return on investment.

How is that surprising at all? Tony is in charge of marketing, how does that give him any qualification for setting up a webcam? Why wouldn't someone on this site know better?

Lack of return on investment? I hear tons of people talk about how they check the parking lot on the dragster cam before they come to the park. Operating a webcam isn't very expensive so it seems like it wouldn't be hard to get a return on investment from just a few extra people coming to the park.

What do you know about Tony's job? What do you know about the infrastructure in the park or how it's wired up Dragster's tower? What do you know about how going up that tower takes a maintenance guy off the midways fixing rides? There's a lot more to it than just making the camera work.

And frankly, if the cam causes people to not go to the park because it appears crowded, that sounds like negative ROI to me! Face it, stuff like that is for the people around here who are going to the park anyway.

^ Jeff, without the cameras we generally don't go. With the cameras we might (and that works out to maybe 20-30 times a year, not bad for a family of 4 Clevelanders making a 100+ mile round trip.) Don't rush to judgment that the camera is a negative ROI item. It's possible that it's actually a huge positive ROI (our family's extra trips alone might pay for the dumb thing) and it pays off on the days Cedar Point needs it most, when the park is empty. I'm sure we're not the only ones who use it in this manner. Take the cameras away and you probably lose 10-15 of our visits.

Maybe we're spoiled, but we really don't enjoy days at Cedar Point when lines are long. We've ridden everything dozens (if not hundreds) of times, so go only when we know we can get some some fast-paced fun on the "good coasters" and other popular rides. The Dragster cam is essential if we're considering a visit in the afternoon/evening.

Tony, my suggestion would be to find a sponsor for the Dragster cam (we all know you're looking for other in-park marketing opportunities.) Charge them enough for a quality camera and mount plus cover your annual maintenance costs. You have my permission to slap their name across the webcam page & give them banners on the site if that's what it takes, lol. I'd also move the Snake River Falls camera (the novelty of the rare splash shot wore off a long time for us) and put it somewhere else (anywhere else.) My choice would be somewhere high enough to get a view of a popular midway or parking lot while still providing a shot that someone visiting the Cedar Point website would find interesting. There are lots of possibilities which accomplish both goals.

Good points!

If you can't see a web cam image of the parking lot, you won't go to Cedar Point?

It's a wonder anybody ever came to the park before the 21st century . . .

^^ Walt, the answer to your question is a qualified "yes."

If we're going in the morning, we just plan the trip and go (no webcam necessary). We always take advantage of the early entry for platinum pass holders and we can always ride enough before noon to satisfy our urge, even if it turns out to be a very crowded day. However, when we're planning a quick trip in the afternoon or evening (just a couple hours), we won't go if we can't gauge the crowd (this is true for Jun-Jul-Aug dates, any weekend/holiday and any Halloweekends date.)

We get to the Point often enough that no trip is "essential," so it's not a big deal for us to stay home and do something else if we can't gauge the crowd. Better safe than sorry, especially with a 100+ mile round trip. Maybe we're spoiled by the enthusiast ERT's and other events where we ride a lot, but my kids aren't interested in going if we'll have to wait an hour for every "good" coaster.

Today is a good case in point. It's a holiday with beautiful weather, but is the park crowded? I've been there on holidays like July 4 & Labor Day when the crowds have been small. I've also been there on those days where the crowds were enormous. If we had the afternoon free (we didn't) I would have been checking the Dragster cam. If the crowd was small, we would have gone out for a few rides to end the holiday weekend. If not, we'd find something else to do.

Because of the number of times we attend and the distance we drive, we're probably not the typical family of passholders. However, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that many others use the cameras exactly as we do.

^I know exactly what you mean. I live even farther away from you and the camera really does help. When it is operating. An easier fix is, put webcams in the parking lot (like thats going to happen).

I find it amusing all the conspiracy theories as to why the camera has trouble working on the tower. My favorite response was to get a new company for the cameras since there are more reliable cameras at higher elevations...

Has anybody considered the overall adverse conditions of the tower itself? Sure any other tower that is normal and the camera would have no problems. I think people tend to forget their are some rather heavy trains launching up that tower at incredible forces (to the tower structure) that shake and vibrate that tower like crazy. If you watch that tower from the Soak City gate or Magnum exit it shakes and rocks a lot. I'm sure that tower is designed to give and take and withstand those massive forces and vibrations, the camera on the other hand is not. Those cameras are probably designed for standard installation. They maybe hefty rated for low temperatures and such, but I don't think any company designs cameras and connections to withstand the vibrations of 12 ton launched coaster trains every 30 seconds to 1 minute.....

I believe a camera was on top of Power tower at one point and had similar problems, but not as often. There are walkways up there.

MonsterMan said:
I find it amusing all the conspiracy theories as to why the camera has trouble working on the tower. My favorite response was to get a new company for the cameras since there are more reliable cameras at higher elevations...

I know go on over to Geauga Lake Today they had a forum just on this topic, claiming that it was due to low attendance. Then they come back and say that the attendance happens to be up just because all of the group outtings (even though Cedar Point is known for having those).

^The people on that site are over the top. Anyone who hasn't taken a gander over there before, you should go over and take a look. You will get a good laugh.

Maybe next year we'll get Millennium Cam.

The easy solution...leave a dummy camera up there, and then have random empty parking lot shots appear on the webcam application online. People like "TTD is sinking too!" see it and rush to the park, only to find the parking lot more full. They say, "Man, a lot of people must have looked at the cam, and did the same thing we did!" They stay anyway because they are already there, and since they are people and "people have to eat", they buy some food too! Eveyone is happy! ;)

^now thats what I like to hear.

I have a question for the parking lot diners out there. How do you keep the seagulls from being uninvited dinner guests? I can't walk in the parking lot without thode things buzzing by me, not to mention what they do to my car.

I just came up with a new revenue stream for CP. A car wash by the parking lot exit. That would increase the in parking lot per capita spending.

And how much is that gonna cost?