LeBron James Day Issues

Took the kids on a spur-of-the-moment trip to CP this past Tuesday, staying at Breakers Express which we haven't for years. Normally we stay at the RV campground, but there were no openings.

We arrived at the park at about noon on Tuesday to a completely full parking lot. The gate attendant told us it was our lucky day, Lebron James was supposed to be there. Oh yay. I could care less, I can't stand the guy, even while admitting his brilliance on the basketball court.

We went back to Cedar Point Shores immediately and upon entering and walking the entire park, were unable to find a single beach chair anywhere in the park, and I mean ANYWHERE. Most had towel on them (and no person), or a single flip-flop, or a hat, or something else indicating the chair was taken. Disappointing, but no big deal. We tried getting on a few slides but quickly realized the park was just way too crowded for our liking. So we packed up and headed to the beach, where we had a fantastic time swimming, playing games, enjoying the live music, and a couple cocktails. Fortunately we are pretty good at turning lemons into lemonade, and made our own fun.

Here's where the disappointments of the trip came into play:

1. When we checked into breakers express, I was very pleased with the remodel, but disgusted by the cleanliness (or lack of) in my room. Long dark hairs everywhere (especially in the corners), dirty toilet, shower, etc. It clearly had not been cleaned and they just changed sheets. Even the ice bucket had leftover ice and water in it. I took pictures of all this and will be contacting the hotel management to see what their response is. I don't want money back, I just don't want that to ever happen to someone else. Disgusting.

2. Upon entering the park around 5, we noticed the hoards of people wearing the yellow "We are Family" t-shirts for the Lebron James Foundation. Ok, so there's some charity thing there today. Cool. But wow is it busy. We found ourselves relegated to what I call mostly "B-rides" which include Rougarou, Blue Streak, Gemini, etc. But I was absolutely APPALLED at the behavior of many of these yellow t-shirt kids. The language and rudeness they displayed was unlike anything I've ever seen at CP in over 40 years of going there. I had my young children with me on these rides and it was very uncomfortable waiting in the que, and on the rides themselves. Now I'm no choir boy, nor am I oversensitive to the occasional bad work even including F-bombs. But what I heard coming out of these kids mouths (10 year olds BTW) was the worst of the worst swear words. Words my kids have NEVER heard. It was really quite shameful. There was a lot of pushing, shoving, cutting, and general rude behavior that accompanied it as well. Of course, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch, and perhaps we were just really unlucky in the groups we happened to be surrounded with, but it was awful.

We decided to see the "Fire and Ice" show at 8:30 and planned our activities around that, only to discover that even as platinum pass members, we were not allowed to enter. It was only for the yellow t-shirt people that day. An announcement of that fact somewhere in the park would have been nice, my kids were disappointed.

We finally left around 9:30pm as the flow of gnats became to much to bear. Not the parks fault obviously, but never really seen anything like that either in all my years there.

3. Ride capacity sucked most of the two days we were there. Most major rides were only running two trains (and yes I'm giving a pass to MF and SV for obvious reasons) but it sure seemed like they weren't trying very hard to keep the lines moving, with some exceptions of course. You can tell late season fatigue is kicking in. Only one side operating on Skyhawk, Thunder Canyon had a long line due to 5 boats operating (while 10 sat idle).

4. I liked that they are actively seeking screamsters for HW this early. There were signs near Blood by the Bayou along with actors in costume, soliciting new workers. Great idea!

5. This is a random one-off thing but I've seen it happen quite a bit over the years. The guy spieling on Witches Wheel (his name was Mahmoud), was super nice, but entirely unintelligible over the speaker. His accent was so thick nobody could understand what he was saying. I mean, not a single word. This seems like it'd be a safety issue to me. When patrons can't understand the safety spiel, it seems to me that should be an issue.

So the question is, what could the park have done differently Tuesday? Maybe nothing. Or maybe they could have made mention of the charity event on their website. When we got back to the hotel tuesday night, I googled the Lebron event and the headlines read "LeBron James rents out entire amusement park for his charity". Now clearly that was an exaggeration (fake news?) but it would have been nice to know, we would have adjusted our dates by a day or two.

In short, we had a great trip even with some of these hiccups. There's always room for improvement though. I don't care what I do or don't get in a particular trip. I've seen/done it all over the years. I only get irritated when my kids are disappointed. I think it bothers me more than it does them, when they don't get to do something they were looking forward to.

Not sure it makes sense from a business standpoint for them to advertise when large groups will be at the park. Happens so often, they would risk having a half empty park on those days.

That said, the week or two before school is back is generally the busiest time of year. Adding 8k people to an already jammed park will diminish the experience for these kids and everyone else. Might make sense for them to usher the large groups to late June, but you can't force everyone to schedule these dates.

I agree 100% though, should have been some communication about the show being reserved, especially since It's advertised all over the place there is an 8:30 show. Not hard to do these days. I think most would be pretty understanding if upfront since it was for the foundation .

We usually go next week, when the hours are reduced and crowds are less (along with operating hours). But last few years, staffing was such an issue rides were either closed or at low capacity, which is why we tried this week, this year.

I figured since Cleveland schools were back in, there wouldn't be an issue. But when you pull 8k kids out of school (plus a lot of their parents) it totally changes the story.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting I've not been made whole. ;) I just think they could add special partial buyouts like this one to the events page, so the industrious among us know what we are in for, and can make a choice from there.

It seems to me that a lot of your issues have NOTHING to do with the actual event going on, and more to do with daily operation issues. I will say, I would’ve been disgusted as well if my hotel room was dirty like that.

It is no secrecy that CP employs international workers. English is not their first language. Their spieling has been a topic of discussion for years.

What could they do differently to make your day more enjoyable? Treat their employees with some respect to ensure they return the following season so the park can finally be staffed the way it used to be. Promote work at CP as a summer job to young adults and older in areas more than just Michigan and Ohio. Advertise housing too! A lot of people say “I’d love to work at CP but I live 5 hours away”. They are unaware of employee housing. A lot of this stuff seems like lack of staffing to get things running how it should (including security to enforce language and offensive attire). I don’t know, that’s just my rant.

I completely understood what he would've liked to see the park do differently and also do in the future.

It was horrible, I was there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

I stayed at Hotel Breakers.

When my family and I arrived on Monday, there were some of the Lebron Foundation people staying at the hotel. I mistakenly thought that these folks were administrators of the "I Promise School"

They were not, when I asked some of the folks what they were there for, they told me the Lebron Foundation and I asked them what was there affiliation with the school, I got answers back like I am Lebron's DJ.

This is total sham, I thought this whole event was for the betterment of the kids and family of the "I Promise School", turns out it wasn't like that at all for some. Total rip off for the fine folks and companies like Chase, Goodyear, First Energy, Cedar Point, Folks That Went To The First Riders Auction all of whose money was supposed to go to the kids in need and their families.

NOT NEPOTISM for Lebron's close friends, but that it was. Cedar Point should look into that, they won't, reason being, Cedar Point raises $ 60,000 + with First Riders Auction, gives it to "The Lebron James Foundation" they in turn spend what $ 500,000 {That is a guess} pretty much all of which is donated by Goodyear, First Energy, And Chase.

I was at the Breakers Hotel pool and there was a 5 year old little girl holding her 3 year old little sister in the hot tub, no parents were anywhere around, they were associated with the Lebron Foundation. I wanted to leave, but couldn't because I was afraid something was going to happen, if the older sister would have dropped the little girl in the hot tub, then that little girl could of drowned. Being a parent of 2 children myself, I could not leave until I knew a parent or guardian was there.

That only took about 20 minutes, this is totally unacceptable, there was no adult supervision of these children, no Cedar Point staff watching over the situation. The only situation Cedar Point was watching over was Lebron James getting onto stage.

Some other little girl came right over to me at the pool and told me that she was there that day to ride the rides for free.

When I went into the park, I was pushed out of the way very rudely by multiple people because they wanted to see Lebron James up close. It was rude, disgusting and downright reprehensible. My son and I went on our way to go ride coasters, we didn't any of this drama.

Unfortunately the Lebron James Foundation day brings lots of money into the park, money speaks volumes, especially to management, so they pretty much will kiss the foundations deerie eerie because a boat load of money comes into the park, and look the other way to the issues that are going on in the park.

Well it turns a lot of people off, me included. I spent a lot of money to enjoy a wonderful time with my family at a hotel and I had to spend 20 minutes of it baby sitting someone's kid because they were too busy enjoying the free ride vacation day they were on.

Tony Clark, I hope you read this and pass it along to others, it was disgusting.

The only people I feel sorry for here are those that didn’t know to avoid a day, or an event, that would be full of people they find offensive.

what an ignorant statement. But you know someone would go there.

Money talks... and well, you know what walks. Cedar Fair is in it for the almighty dollar, even at the expensive of their regular customer base. One of these days their antics will catch up to them and the shareholders will not be happy.

While the majority of their revenue comes from the folks making a trip once, maybe twice a year, passholders still make up a sizeable amount of their cash flow. The biggest threat to the company's profitability isn't in the passholders themselves, more so their regular presence and voice. Aside from the usual people who haven't been to the park for two decades complaining about prices(when in fact they're cheaper accounting for inflation), passholders blowing poor experiences out of proportion on social media deter the regular crowd from showing up. From understaffing leading to rides and other parts of the experience being shuttered to large crowds such as the one at the epicenter of discussion in this thread, they're all things that paint a bad image to the general public.

RCMAC said:
The only people I feel sorry for here are those that didn’t know to avoid a day, or an event, that would be full of people they find offensive.

I don’t even know how to respond to this. Because there isn’t a button for me to click titled “most ignorant post ever”.

Seriously dude. Toddlers potentially drowning in hot tubs? And this is your response?

But yeah, we are intolerant. I get it. Our bad.

Bottom line to all this is people vote with their wallets. There are things the park has done exceptionally well at this year (beach atmosphere among them) and things they’ve done poorly. Will we renew our platinum passes? Likely not. We aren’t wealthy and the $800 for our family (plus the expensive lodging) could be used on other things. The issue is, at almost every turn, we feel like nobody cares about us as customers. Some will call that entitlement, which is totally incorrect. We have limited recreational dollars to spend and as such, are always evaluating where we will spend them. This year, cedar fair did not impress (in aggregate). It makes me sad, because we love the place so much. Many of my great memories in life are at the point. But I cannot let nostalgia override obvious issues which could (for the most part) be easily addressed.

Oh, XSNightClub, sweetie. I’m not ignorant. In fact, I’m quite woke.
I don’t know the guys who posted these complaints, so it’s not personal. But I read and re-read all of this earlier and again just now, and it still rings of racism, culturalism, and I don’t have a clue-ism. I honestly feel from comments here that no one was offended by 10,000 people because they showed up in yellow shirts. Oh, no.

I’m a supporter or the Foundation. On First Rider Night I took the time to meet and talk to participants. (No, not the enthisiasts who were in their own little world over a new ride). I met kids, moms, and grandmas. How many dads? If you say none you’re close. The point is the Foundation serves the underserved from Akron- which can’t be a good situation for anyone there. It seems that because of that some of you were met this week by people that don’t act up to your high standards.
The little girl who exclaimed that she’s there “for the free rides” is right. She was. She’s a child and was happy and proud. Maybe it’s her only outing of that kind the entire year. And I’m sorry if twenty minutes of anyone’s vacation was spent looking after a girl and her sibling. The sad fact, likely, is that the child looks after the other like that every day of her life. And there was a parent who either didn’t know or didn’t care. We just can’t imagine that, can we? Cedar Point should definitely do something about it though, right? The young man who said he was LeBron’s DJ was acting bigger than he was, because he knows no better. He was having a big day, was full of himself, and that’s where that comes from. Those of you who have kids should know that.

Cedar Point and the Foundation have formed a tight partnership. That’s not going away due to your inconvenience, and I doubt you’ll be able to convince the company to put them aside to their own buy-out day so they can burn the place down and you don’t have to see it. That’s not how that works. The day is about opportunity and inclusion. I also have a feeling that your complaints will fall on deaf ears, anyway. As far as they’re concerned it’s mission accomplished.
And how anyone here can possibly understand the financial flow between the two is beyond me. It’s inconceivable that the park looks at it as a money grab. More like a service to the community I reckon.

A dirty hotel room? Ok, I’d give you that one. Go ahead and sound off, like I once had to. (It was so bad that I don’t even want to tell you.) And my sad conclusion was that seasonal hotels are operated by seasonal employees and they care about other things over the value for our money.

And yes, Cedar Point hires foreign students out of necessity. Remember the staffing issues regular park goers (us) complain about? Here’s your solution. And those students often speak in a “thick accent”. (Not to them, by the way. They’re doing their best). So should those students just be relegated to the laundry, the dishes, the hotel rooms and be taken off of the mic? That’s not going to happen either. So those that can’t deal with a communication barrier and fear for their safety have the right to demand to speak to someone who’s English is acceptable to them and ask if it’s ok to stand up before the ride comes to a complete stop. (Try “Can I get someone who speaks REAL English over here, please?)

Lastly, let’s remember that many, many times during the season crowds are an issue for whatever and various reasons. People in the know (like us, especially) should try to be aware of what days to avoid. The next time you plan a trip call ahead, check the calendar, google events, and do what you can to see if there will be a crowd that you should avoid, whether it’s because of sheer number or the type of crowd that may be present. Don’t expect Cedar Point to handle your “issues” about it after the fact, or worse yet, expect them to control how their customers present themselves on any given day.

I’ll save some of you the trouble. Call me an ass over this if you want. My deerie eerie doesn’t care.

TwistedWicker77 said:

It is no secrecy that CP employs international workers. English is not their first language. Their spieling has been a topic of discussion for years.

I think the international program is a fantastic and clever way to help solve the staffing issue as well as to introduce some diversity into the CP workforce. My kids really enjoyed the name placards indicating where ride ops came from. I think it’s awesome!

Until you can’t understand their safety spiel. That was the whole point. They may have just as well done it in their native tongue. It was totally unintelligible. That should change, and that was my point. Nothing more.

RCMAC said:
I don’t know the guys who posted these complaints, so it’s not personal. But I read and re-read all of this earlier and again just now, and it still rings of racism, culturalism, and I don’t have a clue-ism.

...and there’s what’s wrong with America. Nowhere, anywhere in this thread was race mentioned, or in any way even eluded to (except by you). And yet you’ve brought it into the conversation. Shame on you, sir.

But now, understanding your system of beliefs, I know exactly what your response will look like. So perhaps keep it to yourself, to slow the spread of racism. Thanks.

Followed up by an even more ignorant post outlining your assumptions of the people posting, their feelings, their intents in their posts, and all the while finishing with a holier than thou I don’t care what you think.

Maybe if you read the posts as I did without your clouded vision you’d see people that actually care about others children, their own families, the general public and the park in general. But some people choose to live with filtered lenses viewing the world in a twisted way. It’s truly sad.

When in doubt, pull the race card. Honestly, we were talking about the lack of communication here, were we not?

Kyle, don’t bring common sense into the equation, apparently it’s not welcome here. It’s all about race, isn’t it? I mean what else would we be talking about?

Seems like this "family reunion day" grows in scale every year. I wonder how far they are from just being able to buy out the park on one of the weekends in September.

That’s ok.
All I can determine here is someone sees a crowd of yellow shirts and complains about their behavior, especially that of the kids, and how the “regular” folks there were put out about it. What was under those shirts? Racism hides, and this is definitely a form of it, by mere association if nothing else. I’m sorry if any of you feel wrongly singled out. The o.p. stated right in the title, “Issues”. I couldn’t wait to read and find out if it was about parking or long food lines. Whoops, no. It was about the group’s behavior.

And you’re right. This is how America is. Racism is rampant here, no matter what veil well-meaning people cover it with. Those people that ruined your day were Black. Tell me they weren’t. As a minority myself, my vision is far from clouded in this matter.

But all right. I’ll back down. Can we agree this is less about racism than it is culture? Or economics? When I raised kids we were many times in situations where people acted or looked differently from us. I never once covered their ears, but took the opportunity to explain why, culturally, this was happening and to count it as one of the many real world situations they will encounter in their lives.
And I think this is what happened to you all at Cedar Point that day. You got there and things were far from what you expected because of a certain crowd who, like it or not, we’re acting how they act every day. I’m still not sure that CP should’ve issued a warning about it, because you know,... racism.

And hey now. In no way would I advocate that anyone should leave a youngster alone in a pool. But the sad fact is there are people that think it’s ok. You did the right thing by making sure that child didn’t drown, and if I could give you your 20 minutes back I would. Can’t you view it as a good deed done for someone and not as some kind of inconvenience caused by someone who probably doesn’t know any better? Or trusts a sibling to be responsible? Or especially something that Cedar Point should be keeping their ever-watchful eye over? All I hear is that you were forced into doing something that should be someone else’s responsibility.
Btw, I’m not blind to the irony of that situation. Sometimes for a game we wait to see who can score the first park reprimand for doing something small. This indeed could’ve been a tragedy. The best thing, and maybe you’ve already done this, is to let operations know that having no life guards isn’t the best idea. That would be an example of complaining to the right party.

I know I’m not winning any friends here with my opinions, but once again, I don’t care. Call me holier or whatever, but know that I will never feel shame for calling out a situation that’s more real than it looks.

And as for you, XSNightClub, I’d think that from where you sit you should know better. But you’ve proven to me before that your overall sense of enlightenment isn’t what I would expect it to be, and I’ve never understood that. (I only say this because you came after me. If you have something constructive to say on topic go ahead, but so far I’m only reading your usual reactionary bull)

You are a sad old fool. You refuse to see the light in the generations after you.