Fort Sandusky lookout?

When was the last time guests were allowed up in the lookout of Fort Sandusky? Unless I'm mixing up my childhood memories of Magic Kingdom's Fort Langhorn on Tom Sawyer Island I could have sworn that you could climb the steps to the lookout and "shoot" faux rifles. If you visit Fort Sandusky today you can see evidence of where the lowest set of steps (which have been long since removed) would connect with the floor. It would be neat to get back up there sometime.

Anybody else remember this? Or am I just confusing Fort Sandusky with the Tom Sawyer Island forts?

Nope.. you used to be able to go up to the top level.

Any idea on how long it's been closed off?

At least 10 yrs.

I wonder why they closed it off?

Cuz iTT wuz free!!!!111

They probably made some improvement to it that would have triggered ADA regulations, meaning they'd need to install an elevator.

Other than having the "fake snow" machine up there for the Sstarlight Experience, I woudl guess it's mostly used for storage now.

Jeff said:
They probably made some improvement to it that would have triggered ADA regulations, meaning they'd need to install an elevator.

That's a good point, although I'm not sure how Tom Sawyer Island's fort gets away with no having an elevator (although admittedly I haven't looked around enough there to find out if there is a lift somewhere in the fort).

My guess is that it was closed off at about the same time that the fort itself was turned into a retail store. Doesn't the balcony actually look down on the interior of the building as well as out onto the midway? That and the need to have a place to store merchandise probably led most directly to the closure.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Don't they use it as the 'control tower' for Fright Zone and Starlight Experience?

No, the lighting and sound control is upstairs from one of the shops directly across from there. See it in this video.

Great video. It really shows the hard work folks like Lance put into the attractions at Cedar Point when given the chance. Last season you'd see him and his crew running up and down the Trail taking care of the various elements that needed attention. I haven't seen him at all this year though. Is he still working at the park?

He does not. Cedar Fair fails to retain talent... again.

Probably making room for Dick's relatives. ;)

That's really unfortunate. From what I've seen through the behind-the-scenes videos and the work you'd see first-hand with the Starlight Experience he has a clear passion and the know-how for amusement/theme park stuffs. I hope he finds success elsewhere and ideally an organization that values his caliber of work.

I walked down the trail a few weeks ago and noticed sections of lights were not working. Figures that Lance is no longer with the park, I never saw outages like that last year.

Doesn't Lance work down in Florida now?

I've noticed the non-working sections this season as well. Perhaps Lance added a degree of quality control to the whole event.

Vince982 said:
Don't they use it as the 'control tower' for Fright Zone and Starlight Experience?

It used to be the control tower for FZ, but like Jeff said, it moved when the Starlight stuff got put in.