Golden Ticket Awards: How Cedar Point can improve

They could strive to be more like Europa Park. That might help...

There is no doubt Europa Park is amazing. I have never even been there, but I have read your trip reports, and I'm in love.

That said, I have little doubt that if Ouimet was willing to cut a big enough check, Cedar Point would find itself on top.

Then again, you have that pesky 99.99% of humans who have no clue (or care) about what the "Golden Ticket" awards are. If there ever was an industry-insider-only party, this is it.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet that these awards have never swayed one dollar of any human beings' discretionary income. They've certainly stroked egos, but not wallets.

These awards, quite frankly, are as legit as the Grammys, or Emmys, or Oscars. Did Cedar Point being #1 or 2 or 65th ever affect whether you went? No, it didn't.

But the value of these awards? It can help a park market themselves, that is it. Never been to Europa Park, heard awesome things about the park from people and I'm sure it's great. But forget rankings. I loved Avalanche Run and that is long gone ;).

As legit as the Grammys, Emmys, or Oscars -- and let's add the Tonys there. I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. I don't take the Billboard Awards or the People's Choice Awards (are those even still on the air?) seriously. Most of the award shows these days are fluff, designed to give the network a promotable event.

I don't think a Golden Ticket sells additional tickets to a park. By your own description, your interest in visiting Europa Park is based on what people have told you about the park.

RCMAC said:
They could strive to be more like Europa Park. That might help...

Perhaps Disney could try to be more like Europa Park, Since their parks rarely win any GTAs.
But something tells me the house the mouse built couldn't give a rats ass. (And neither should CF)

noggin said:

As legit as the Grammys, Emmys, or Oscars -- and let's add the Tonys there. I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. I don't take the Billboard Awards or the People's Choice Awards (are those even still on the air?) seriously. Most of the award shows these days are fluff, designed to give the network a promotable event.

I always forget that people think those awards are legit, and that my opinion that they are nonsense, and self-congratulatory pat on the back for Hollywood when they mostly are re-hashing old films, is in the minority. I should have not used that example.;)

^^ Well they both already have EPCOT balls.

XS NightClub said:

But something tells me the house the mouse built couldn't give a rats ass. (And neither should CF)

Shouldn't it be a mouses ass? ;)

In my opinion, I think CP needs to focus on operations standpoint. This whole IROC thing is an absolute joke and slows down operation.

I also think the maintenance team needs a very long training on how to fix rides and inspect them. The amount of downtime TTD received this year is outrageous.

Lastly, the staffing has gone down drastically at CP over the years. I'm not sure how they find the people they do for the summer, but I can say from experience, they really don't do much to keep employees there for the whole season. Maybe work on the employee experience (and start with the living conditions), THEN maybe people will return for a second, third, even fourth season.

I love CP and all of the great aesthetic changes that have happened within the past few years. However, management is not doing anything to benefit the employees, which in turn, benefits the guests.

It's funny and misguided how some people think maintenance is at fault if (insert favorite ride) experiences downtime. It is just the nature of the beast that as rides have gotten more sophisticated and complex that more downtime will occur. CP maintenance is top notch from what I've seen.

Exactly. That CP's most complex coaster experiences the most downtime suggests the issue is the ride rather than personnel.

Is it a widely known fact that these awards go to the highest bidder? Or is that just the perception? If so, why would Cedar Point bother bidding for 2nd place? if you're going to spend that much, just pay enough for 1st place.

Trade rags all do this as some kind of unspoken agreement. They have some kind of awards and then they fill an issue with ads of everyone congratulating each other while the companies all get something new to market to their customers. Sure, bona fide coaster nerds might get to vote on it, but if you really want to have some kind of integrity, don't take the ad money. Then I'll consider your awards legit.

As a superyacht enthusiast, I pick up a copy of Boat International's The Superyachts every year. A very hefty, glossy tome with in depth walkthroughs of the latest and greatest superyachts for that year, replete with stunning full page photograhs and in depth technical and artistic insights, plus a list of the top 100 superyachts by length/displacement.

The other half of the book is endless adverts for yards and fitters, plus a classifieds' section. Many of the adverts are of the circle jerk congratulatory variety, which annoys me as the book costs £100 (not sure on the exchange rate now; I remember when that was $200). A complete library of every issue since #1 costs more than an executive car.

The trade mags indeed all follow the same schtick.

All award events in every industry are simply a bunch of folks dislocating their shoulders patting themselves on the back. Virtually all are bought & paid for advertising. I ignore them all.

Conclusion:
Cedar Point chose to spend their money elsewhere.

But... banners....

You brought her, you banner...

....sorry, I've spent too much time at Sidetrack....

Banner...

Crazy how close the top 4 wooden coasters were.

TwistedWicker77 said:

In my opinion, I think CP needs to focus on operations standpoint. This whole IROC thing is an absolute joke and slows down operation.

I also think the maintenance team needs a very long training on how to fix rides and inspect them. The amount of downtime TTD received this year is outrageous.

Lastly, the staffing has gone down drastically at CP over the years. I'm not sure how they find the people they do for the summer, but I can say from experience, they really don't do much to keep employees there for the whole season. Maybe work on the employee experience (and start with the living conditions), THEN maybe people will return for a second, third, even fourth season.

I love CP and all of the great aesthetic changes that have happened within the past few years. However, management is not doing anything to benefit the employees, which in turn, benefits the guests.

Agreed on IROC and stuff like that.

Europa Park has ridiculously fast dispatches. Although I've never been there, I've heard good things about it. Even with bins, they apparently get fast dispatches. How? From what I've read, they rarely physically check restraints, rather they do a visual check. (Think how Disaster Transport used to work.) This being in Germany, where the regulations, I've heard, are quite strict.

Unfortunately, most rides at CP have seatbelts that must be checked physically. Still, you still have extra airgates, special ride op locations, etc. that slow down operations.

To see how CP used to do things, I think this video sums it up quite well. Video is by RideMan Dave.

https://vimeo.com/57728739