I want a refund!

Ok why stay away from home, when you have hear that the entire midwest and east coast has lost power? Also what are you going to do? thats right just sit there. Im not going to sit at Cedar Point with no power, they couldnt go into the park, they couldnt get into their room, home is only 3 and a half hours away, yeah im going home too.

This family deserves a refund on their room, they paid big bucks to stay there, and the service they paid for was not given. Now the park tickets on the other hand should not be refunded, as they can be used again. A room reservation cant be reused.

This family did the right thing by leaving, they had no idea how long power would be out, but once we all heard how widespread it was we all expected it wasnt going to be fixed anytime soon. why stay at a place away from home when you have no guranntee you will be sleeping in a bed, when your home is a amtter of hours away.

LMAO!!! That's from my local paper! I just about died laughing (in the process of ripping the article out of the paper and throwing it in the trash). Why do dumb people get public attention?

Anyway, Sure, these people left Cedar Point because they had a blackout. I don't know how many of you on these boards know this, but Lansing (where these people are from) ALSO lost power. So they left a blackout at an amusement park, to risk driving through streets that did not have traffic signals and lights, to their home...which was in the dark as well. Seems like a risky trek. The safest thing to do is to stay where you are. Intersections during a blackout can be dangerous.

Personally, I think they should have stayed. I mean, if anything, they could have hung out in the hotel lobby. Or made use of the situation and camped from their car. Make use of the situation at hand.

I think that Cedar Point is being generous by giving away some sort of refund. The blackout wasn't their fault, so why should they have pay for it (through refunds).

Anyway, I wish I was there for the blackout. It would have been really cool. Just camp out of my car, play cards, talk with other people and just look at the totally dead park. :)

------------------
Metallica, Magnum and Mountain Dew, and finally turning 21...what could be better?

im pretty sure you can get into the rooms if the power fails.....

We didn't lose power in any of the Suburbs. Its possible this woman lived in one of them. It was really only the City of Lansing which had no power. The article does state Lansing, though, so I'll assume you're right Metallica Freak.

You are damn right they should have stayed. I don't understand the reasoning of why they went home. I'm sure there was a way for them to get into the room, hotel staff have special keys to override the electronic lock. On a multi-day vacation, I would have at least stayed until morning. As it turned out, the power was restored, they could have gone swimming in the pool, ate a late dinner, and the adults could have stayed up with some nice adult beverages. Doesn't sound too bad to me. These people in the article are just idiots.

------------------
I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

Whats the reasoning of going home? becasue they had NO IDEA when the power was coming back. They heard it was a big wide spread power outage all the way to New York, so logic says hmm this is big, probably not going to get poweer back any time soon ill go home where i can at least sleep in a bed. God that makes perfect sense to me. I'd rather go home knowing where i will be sleeping then take the chance of sleeping in my car for the night.

I highly doubt that anyone would have slept in a car. An article I read said the hotel staff was busy getting flash lights ready for the guests, the power came on before they could finish. Sounds like they did this to give guests some light in their rooms. And yes, people in the article had NO IDEA when the power was coming back. It could have been within seconds.

Logic does not dictate that a wide spread outage would mean a very long outage in any particular area. This wasn't a situation where you had to wait for line crews to put the wires back together. It was a matter of each utility company resetting their system and bringing power up in an organized way. Sure, some people were out for 12 or more hours (like my home), but Sandusky was only out for 4. They don't bring the power up all at once, some areas have to be first, resulting in a short outage in those areas. If I were at CP, logic would dictate that I grab some beers out of the cooler, go to a lounge chair on the beach, and enjoy the beer while looking at the spectacular night sky caused by the darkness.

If the power would have been out for a long time, there would probably have been some of the same camaraderie and good times that were had in the Cleveland hotels during the blackout. Some people though choose to bury their heads in the sand, rather than making the best out of a situation.

------------------
I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

It’s been quiet some time since I have posted so don’t flame me thinking I’m new. IMO the family should receive a refund for the rooms provided they were in fact told by CP accommodation staff they would get one. From reading the articles, I would have to say they probably were told a refund would be issued. Whether this family acted to quickly or made a poor decision is not relevant and could be debated till everyone is blue in the face. From what I can tell, they based their decision to leave on the belief they would receive a refund, bottom line.

Hindsight is always 20/20. Some people are using hindsight to make an argument that the hotel guests left "too early" b/c the outage was only 5 hours.

If 5 hours is "too early", then at what point does departure become appropriate? 10 hours? 24 hours? 100 hours? (hindsight: some people waited 24 hours for power, others 48, and some even much longer than 48). Regardless of how long YOU would have waited, others chose to leave (with the promise of a refund).

Some people didn't even have enough gas in their cars to get home. Those who did were the lucky ones. The Cleveland Plain Dealer had a picture of stranded motorists (many CP refugees) sitting around the Shell station on Rye Beach Rd. Some of them even slept in their cars--imagine that!

The time frame of the power outage is irrelevant to the fact that the hotel guests were promised something they did not receive--a refund.

------------------
2003 stats: (as of 8/30/03)
Magnum - 1,732
Everything else - 89

At what point does a promise become appropriate? A blue tag? A front desk employee? A bellhop?

I didn't see that picture of the Shell station on Rye Beach Rd, but the area had power by 9:30pm. Why would the refugees be sleeping in their cars?

------------------
Walt Schmidt
Virtual Midway
*** This post was edited by Gemini 8/30/2003 3:03:12 PM ***

I'm certain it was earlier than that. I saw the first new Web cam shots earlier than that, because it was still dusk.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I think it was earlier than that at the park (did I see mention somewhere that it was 8:00pm?). Since the reference was that particular Shell, I mentioned 9:30. My parents told me they had their power back on sometime after 9:00pm and they live right around the corner off Rye Beach.

------------------
Walt Schmidt
Virtual Midway

It is irrelevent if they lived 5 minutes away, or 25 hours away. The situation is that a person these people believed to be of 'authority' told them if they left they would get a refund. Granted this person did not have clearance to do that, however Cedar Point needs to value that promise, and then seek disciplanary action against the individual. Perhaps a civil suit could be in question. Sure they only lived 3 hours away, sure new yorkers took it in stride, sure the power came on in 4 hours, but that's not what matters. What matters is a promise was made and broken by Cedar Point. It will be expensive for the park to 'correct' the problem, however the damage to the general public's image of the park will be far more severe.

------------------
ONE freeway stamp a day... ONE

The promise was made by someone who did not want to have an argument with a guest about the money they were out.

"A person is smart, and people are panicky and dumb"

------------------
http://said.uc.edu/students/oakleysd/cp/CP.jpg
Now tell me Cedar Point is running out of space.

Since when are these people refugees? It's not like a nuclear war broke out...
------------------
Everything that has a beginning, has an end. 11.05

Power was on in sandusky @ 8:58

Plain an simple:

I guess you had to be there to truly understand the situation.

However; If the person has it in writing that they were going to get a refund, and then Cedar Point refuses to follow through ... off to court they should go. If the person was just told verbally that they would get a refund...they probably wouldn't win the case..

------------------
Let's play "Find the one-legged seagull"

If they have it in writing they don't have to go to court. Am I the only one here who has ever disputed a charge on their credit card?

And just out of curiosity, does anyone every return merchandise to a store without getting a credit receipt? How does someone's word mean anything to the bank? I'm sorry, but that's just the most braindead thing I've ever heard. I returned a DVD at Best Buy the other day because I picked up the lame full-screen version when I wanted the wide-screen. A stupid $15 DVD and I was still smart enough to get a receipt indicating the credit. In fact, they even had to swipe my credit card for it!

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Verbal agreements are perfectly lawfull up to a certain $ amount I believe. I sure wouldn't recommend making many deals or agreements using that method. Since power was out, I don't think they could issue a receipt indicating the credit (what would have been wrong with writting it?) Poor decisions on both sides of this one. Very poor on CPs part by promising the refund. And if you go by the article in the very first post of this thread, you will see they were indeed promised a refund.

See Jeff, that was my first thought - Why didn't these people just dispute the charge? While thankfully I haven't ever had to do it, I know its an option.