It's so nice out shouldn't Cedar Point be open today?

DSShives said:
Give the park staff a break...the off season continues to get shorter and Im sure there is barely enough time to get all of the off season maintenance done as it is. I hear they start the winter maintenance within hours of the park shutting down in the fall and don't complete it until the final hours before the park opens.

I just have to say that that is just wrong. There are plenty of year round parks out there that don't close at all. So how do they get their "winter" maintenance done, they close a single ride for a couple of weeks (or months) and then reopen it. Yeah that means that not all the rides may be open at the same time, but at least you have something open.
I think the reason they are not open year round is weather, staffing, and market.

The reason why parks are open year round is because the weather is nice all year long. When they talk about winter maintenance for the rides there not talking about fixing them up and cleaning them, there talking about taking them away and protecting them from the brutal weather thats about to happen.

no kidding, i just came in from outside its like 65, perfect weather for riding.

Guess you guys should have joined us for Springtime in the Park at Hersheypark this past weekend. The turnout was pretty decent even though it never made it out of the 50's on that end of the state. Once again, another park that has an event in the off season that does very well. Hint hint, CP.

Was a nice time even though Fahrenheit isn't open yet. :(

CP made an attempt at a winter event. It was an unabashed failure. Now I suppose that since there are more winter visitors to Sandusky with the growth of the indoor waterpark market you can make a case for trying something again.

But, if I had my choice of going out on the Peninsula when it is 30 degrees and blowing or staying at the Kalahari, Great Bear Lodge, or Castaway in the 80 degree saunas then you can bet where I'll be staying.

cpfanatic2006 said:
The reason why parks are open year round is because the weather is nice all year long. When they talk about winter maintenance for the rides there not talking about fixing them up and cleaning them, there talking about taking them away and protecting them from the brutal weather thats about to happen.

While I agree that some parks can stay open all year because of favorable weather conditions, winter maintenance at CP is not simply about storage from the weather. The link below shows what happens to coaster trains during the off-season.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm?entry=c6450081-9960-408b-8f18-0b8729df986c

Sure looks to me like they are doing a lot more than storing them away from the weather, which brings up another point. How many times have we seen pictures of coaster trains either sitting on the track or in a parking lot, covered with snow and/or ice. I can recall quite a few...kinda like these of Millenium Force...

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm?entry=c6450081-9960-408b-8f18-0b8729df986c

If the park was open year around, or had a shorter off-season, some of the maintenance would have to be done while the park was open, which would result in ride closures for some rides.

Chief Wahoo said:
CP made an attempt at a winter event. It was an unabashed failure. Now I suppose that since there are more winter visitors to Sandusky with the growth of the indoor waterpark market you can make a case for trying something again.

But, if I had my choice of going out on the Peninsula when it is 30 degrees and blowing or staying at the Kalahari, Great Bear Lodge, or Castaway in the 80 degree saunas then you can bet where I'll be staying.

I don't think anything was mentioned about the park opening in the middle of winter here, Chief. I could be wrong though.

We'retalking about a weekend in April, where maybe 2/3 of the park is open.This gives maintenence the opportunity to have a few rides stilldown to work on for another month.

This has to be one of the dumbest threads this site has

ever seen.

where is that movie shot at anyway? does anyone know which park?

Can you imagine how refreshing the wind feels on the penisula during the winter? Nothing to block it! Add to that the freezing temperatures, I'm sure it would be wonderful to be there. 30 degrees with 50 MPH winds. Sign me up!

Parks that are open year-round are nice outdoor weather year-round toursist destinations. Sandusky is not, that's why there's so many of those indoor water park facilities popping up like weeds. If you ever visited Sandusky, or any town on Lake Erie for that matter during the winter, the wind chill makes it much colder even if it were 30 degrees.

i was just up there a few weeks ago to go to CB for a day. I went down 250 and half of the hotels are closed over the winter also. I didnt think they were closed in the off season.

Tennessee CP fan, You are correct about them doing more than storing them out of the weather. But what i was trying to say is that, even though they do go through a cleaning process and maintenance, its not going to take them all year long to do that to one ride. I dont believe those trains can handle the snow ice and cold weather all winter long. most of the times when the trains are sitting outside they are covered in shrink wrap to protect them from the snow and ice.

Weather is a big reason why the park remains closed, but it's not the only reason. Sandusky is a relatively small town that doesn't have a major college or university. Given the fact that CP requires that its ride operators be 18 or older, it needs to draw from further away. This why the park provides housing. The nearest towns of any size are an hour away (Toledo and Cleveland).

It's difficult enough for the park to remain staffed through Halloweekends, and that's after a majority of their staff is already fully trained and experienced. To open for early spring weekends would require them to start bringing in employees just for the weekend like they do in the fall, and attempting to get them trained in that amount of time. Given that dicey weather seems much more likely in the spring weekends than in the fall, it just doesn't seem to be worth it for the park. In a few weeks, colleges start letting out, and then they have their staffing full time.

They only get wrapped up once they have gone through the maintenance shed. So, if they don't get to that ride until mid-February, it is still sitting in snow and ice before finally getting looked at.

These rides can handle more than you think.

^Agreed. Sitting outside in the summer in the hot sun would seem more detrimental to the trains than snow and ice, especially plastic and foam pieces which tend to deteriorate or fade and become brittle from sun damage.

Tennessee_CP_Fan said:
^Agreed. Sitting outside in the summer in the hot sun would seem more detrimental to the trains than snow and ice, especially plastic and foam pieces which tend to deteriorate or fade and become brittle from sun damage.

What do you think happens when those pieces of foam get soaked with water and then freeze?

I think staffing would be the biggest obstacle CP would need to overcome to open up early. It could be done if they found the staff but I doubt that would happen unless they raise wages.

^ You have a point there with the rain and freezing. As far as raising wages...that dead horse has been beaten to a pulp several times around here, but in my opinion it will never be the sole answer to the staffing problem.

Tennessee_CP_Fan said:
^ You have a point there with the rain and freezing. As far as raising wages...that dead horse has been beaten to a pulp several times around here, but in my opinion it will never be the sole answer to the staffing problem.

Not for the summer, but if they want to get people to work outside of the normal season something would probably need to happen, kind of like the halloweekends bonus. I'm not saying it ever would, or even should, happen but just that it would be tough to do.

Maybe cause it's supposed to snow on Saturday!? Get your snow boots out!