Hildebrandt to speak!

I saw the title of this thread and thought, "Gosh, I've talked to John countless times, and I've never found him incapable of speaking."

I didn't think he was incapable of speaking (didn't he used to be the park's chief official mouthpiece?), but I was starting to wonder, because all this season it seemed that all the official-sounding communications in the Register were apparently coming from Kinzel. I thought it might actually be refreshing to hear from somebody who actually works for the park for a change! Of course then I wasn't able to listen to the interview, but still... :)

(Yeah, in the end, it's just another poke at the park's "shadow GM"...by which I don't mean the man who holds the title...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It is strange, now that you mention it. And that's a bummer, because as you point out, he used to be director of marketing. And frankly, I think he's the absolute best man for the job too. The guy has Cedar Point in his blood.

There is a hell of a team in place at Cedar Point. I only know a few of them, but I recognize that they've got some incredible talent. For the most part they do a really good job. But the more I learn and the more I see, the more I wonder how incredible it might be if they were all given the authority to just do what they do best. What is already an amazing operation would be downright unstoppable...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Rideman...I've been trying to make that point for years. There ARE good people at the Point. Unfortunately, many other good people are gone and that is largely due to one man. I whole heartedly believe that Cedar Point continues to do well in spite of Kinzel's meddling...not because of it. It is the truest testament to the leadership team that operates behind the curtain.

I also believe that while the economy in the midwest has hurt Cedar Point I think that many poor decisions that led to questionable customer service caught up with them as well. You can't bend people over a chair for a couple of decades and expect them to keep coming back to the chair, no matter how comfy the chair looks.

(The same can be said for the employee experience. Without the BUNAC program I don't know what the park would do for staffing. Kinzel has never adequately addressed the season workforce experience and instead has been fortunate to keep staffing the park with foreigners. I don't know how long it will be before that well runs dry.)