Live Blog Discussion

They didn't "just" paint it. Looks like they are using it to expand Chickie’s & Pete’s.

http://cpfoodblog.com/cedar-point-chickies-petes-expands/

They did all this fantastic work to beautify the park in some of the older areas and then slapped a huge concrete water tower in between the view from Breakers and the park. I really hope something more comes of that, like bright paint or a cool mural.

Chickie and Petes is beyond mediocre. I'm not sure why it needs to be expanded other than for adding bathrooms (which you would expect at any restaurant). I went in there to try their crab fries (would much rather prefer the CP fresh cut fries). The place was old, dusty, grimy and dark... and that was the first year they opened. I would like to think there would be better things to add in the pirate ride building if not something to replace it. Oh well

The food I tried wasn't that great, I had a better cheesesteak at the Sky Ride refreshments. Chickie's & Pete's could have at least toasted the bun. When it was announced I was expecting something like a Buffalo Wild Wings, which has pretty good bar food, but the food wasn't up to par. I thought the Crab Fries were good, along with some excellent cheese sauce, but they need to offer a smaller size than just the big basket. Chickie's & Pete's needs a complete remodel, upgraded food and a full service bar rather than just beer and wine.

I hope valravn has a crew similar to Fury 325. I believe all rides that have a high potential capacity (the b&ms) get a crew and screen of shame like fury. I know a b&m at the other park in Ohio that could use it especially.

Tried Chickie's and Pete's for the first time at Carowinds and also found the cheese steak sandwich to be pretty mediocre. I like some onions and maybe peppers on there or at least some more cheese. Just seemed dry and the bun was just an ordinary mush bun. The fries were good and the cheese sauce is pretty addictive, but they are overpriced - something like $9-10 for just fries. Something half the size and half the price would be a lot more appealing to me.

I'm expecting Valravn to have some pretty long lines. Its capacity is similar or maybe just a hair better than Millennium Force, but will come in far below Raptor, Magnum, and Gatekeeper. It wlll be interesting to see if the smartphone app and interactive kiosks with wait times will spread lines out more evenly among popular rides.

Seems like this ride should be a dispatch monster. With only 24 seats in 3 rows, they will be sending them out very fast. Thank goodness for the no loose article policy. That could be a real capacity killer for a ride like this.

I'll tell you right now, don't expect to bring anything even into the queue.

On that fury screen of shame photo, it said they were hitting 35 dispatches per hour. Thats a capacity of around 1,100. Fury has a max capacity of 1,400. We all know fury's crew is crazy fast so 1,100 is really good. Valravn has a max capacity of 1,200 according to tony. They will probably have 6 operators in the station and one in the booth. 6 operators means 2 per row. So each ride op only checks 4 seats in the same row which takes max 45 seconds. Plus the addition of a screen of shame will have valravn having some of the best capacities in the park.

Jeff, are you saying there's no bins to place anything small, or as strict as say RipRideRockit/Dueling Dragons...errr Dragon Challenge that NOTHING is to be brought on board?

Are there shoe bins?

Would you be allowed to take your phone in a zipped cargo pocket?

I am surprised we haven't seen any pictures of the castle wall completed or what it looks like currently. I was also thinking about the splashdown and how they keep talking about the water table. Couldn't Cedar Point just put in an above ground "pool" similar to Shoot the Rapids to create the splashdown effect.

GigaG said:

Would you be allowed to take your phone in a zipped cargo pocket?

You're not even allowed to wear pants!

Get To The Point said:

I am surprised we haven't seen any pictures of the castle wall completed or what it looks like currently.

It's not complete, and I don't imagine that area was open to media guests.

It wasn't.

35 dispatches per hour for Fury sounds like what should be a bad hour. If they were hitting interval consistently, it should be close to 45. When I was there, they dispatched my train to the holding area in front of the station before the previous one even reached the top of the lift! I was surprised it was even possible to do that, but they built it with that extra holding spot out in front of the station so they're not waiting on the previous train to drop off the lift.

1200 riders per hour on Valravn would mean 50 dispatches per hour with every seat full (no coaster at Cedar point dispatches 50 times per hour although Gatekeeper and Raptor could probably be pretty close) - and that's to get to an hourly number that is equal to what Magnum, Raptor, or Gatekeeper get for a bad hour. Realistically, it will be 45 dispatches per hour with say two empty seats per train on average so that is only 990 per hour. It will actually be kind of a slow moving queue by B&M standards. I hate to say it, but it will move at about the same rate as Millennium Force and probably slightly better than Maverick, but it will never be a capacity king because of each train having only 24 seats.

I'm not very familiar with the screen of shame nor do I see a purpose other than it shows which seats haven't been secured? Shouldn't the staff already have their own procedure and know which seats aren't locked based on common sense? I guess it looks pretty cool to riders next in line but I'm not sure how it helps the operators.

PS does anyone know the queue secret?

Wow. Impressive.

The screen of shame increases guest awareness about the need for fast loading, and nothing helps more than the shame of everyone looking at you when your seat is the last one not green. This ride will have go-or-no-go-belts, so I would presume the screen is mostly for shaming purposes, compared to B&M hyers, where it can be illusive to find the offending seat. It is much faster for the crew to look at the screen after checking harnesses, rather than waiting for the operator to call out something like "check two four" (check row two seat four).

I hope the park adopts a no preferred seat approach like Fury 325. It makes the station experience much less hectic, and if the turnstile attendant is any good, the ride should average less than one empty seat per train.

BirdOfPrey00 said:

Jeff, are you saying there's no bins to place anything small, or as strict as say RipRideRockit/Dueling Dragons...errr Dragon Challenge that NOTHING is to be brought on board?

Valravn is listed in the loose articles policy as being the same as Rougarou and Gatekeeper. So there will probably be a bin for shoes only. It is very unlikely to be the "empty your pockets" policy that Universal enforces on some rides.