Media Day and Opening Day live coverage

Video from yesterday's media day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRZYDCsg1Q4

As well as a few photos:

http://pointbuzz.com/Photos/Gallery.aspx?id=752

I concur. This was my first event like this, and I was truly surprised and disappointed by many of the entitled comments I heard from people.

We are ENTITLED to what we PAY for. We paid NOTHING for the free media event of rides and food,therefore we were ENTITLED to NOTHING. If you(the complainers) had a 'for profit' business,how much material and services would you be giving away FREE.
Much appreciation goes to CP(and Cedar Fair) for Media Days and Coastermania!!!

No one has answered the important question... can you snap the flyers?

If i would have kept going at it, i might have been able to. I did get high enough to hit some branches pretty hard in the back of the ride. Thats what made me let up on it. It felt like if i would have pushed it, i might have been able to actually twist the cables and point the opposite direction, is that even possible?

I didn't want to do anything crazy looking on media day. It was a weird feeling since this was my first ever ride on a flyers type ride. I have seen the "snapping" on youtube at Knoebels.

So, as someone who has never ridden a Flying Eagle-type ride, any tips on how to do this?

kevkevdel said:

Shades said:
I see crappy frozen Or-I-Da fries with some spices sprinkled on top of them. Am I missing something?

Those are Idaho potatoes specially cut for Chickie's and Pete's with a proprietary seasoning that took years to perfect.

Don't make these fries sound more majestic than they are. They are fries shaken with Old Bay. Granted they are still good ($8.99 if you're curious). It doesn't look like you can buy then anywhere but the restaurant or at their bar to take out. It's really strange there is no stand somewhere selling them.

As for the entitlement. The line did not finish until 4:30 letting the clubs in. That's a whole 1.5 hours from open. Yes it was free, but c'mon. That's a bit off-putting when it's 94 degrees out. Yes, it was 94 degrees out.

Oh, one more thing. Both eagles and pipe scream were better than I thought they'd be.

Scottyf said:

As for the entitlement. The line did not finish until 4:30 letting the clubs in. That's a whole 1.5 hours from open. Yes it was free, but c'mon. That's a bit off-putting when it's 94 degrees out. Yes, it was 94 degrees out.

I don't normally reply to threads like these, but I'm going to, since I'm the one who organized and managed the event, and I like to keep it real with all of you.

We started late. We said 3, but we started late and had some finishing touches to take care of before we let anyone in. So we started letting people in around 3:30.

The line was long. Yes. But it was also a working media event - an event, for all intents and purposes, to debut our new attractions to the media. So, they were let in first (knowing we were already running late) so they could start working on their stories.

Then, we gave people souvenirs right away, so they didn't have to worry about them later. This included the media. Oh, and we let people pick their sizes, which took a little extra time.

At one point, I made the executive decision to just let people in with their cards and let them pick their gift up later just so everyone could at least start enjoying the new rides, the food and the midway.

I apologize for the delay. But I also sincerely appreciate everyone who was able to come. We love sharing these events with not only the media, but our close park friends and fans.

And for those of you who worry about "one person spoiling it for everyone," don't. We love you guys and know you really appreciate how much fun it is for US to let YOU have a little fun before the general public. These events will go on.

We officially open tomorrow and I hope you'll join us. And I'll have free stuff, so you should be there anyway. :)

See you on the midways.

Don't take my post as criticism Tony. I was mostly making an observation. Once people got past the baking (seriously, who was expecting 94), everyone was having a great time. Next time just maybe throw a few extra bodies at the bottleneck. I bet you'd get a slew of free labor volunteers if you asked.

Now if you want a criticism though, raising the brat/hot dog cart combo to $9.99 and no free platinum dog. Ugh.

Tony, I just want to take the opportunity to personally thank you for an awesome event. I totally get that things come up and y'all wanted to get everything just right for us. We still were provided with 3.5-4 hours in the park with early access to new rides (a lot of fun). Millennium and Blue Streak opening up was a nice touch. All of the extras are very much appreciated, even allowing us to choose sizes (I'm small..). You really don't have to go the extra mile for us, so when you do, let's make sure you know it's appreciated.

TL;DR: Thanks, Tony! :)

"I'm not complaining, except when I am."

I just really appreciate the opportunity to attend events like this that CP puts on and allowed enthusiasts to attend. Having basically full access to the park with all the free food and extra rides opening is just amazing. Between three off season events and media day, we get access to the park that 99% of the population don't have or know about. The new Gemini Midway looks amazing. Saw the lighting last night and love it.

And who else saw the craft beer and local wine bar on the Frontier Trail???

I would say a nice thank you to CP is appropriate.

I was on the last ride of Flying Eagles at the press event. Several former ride ops were also on that cycle. They were able to snap the flyers rather well. Each got multiple snaps in the single cycle.

Ride On!

Would love to see pictures of Hotel Breakers if possible, Walt. Thank you PointBuzz for keeping us updated!

Hotel Breakers is really starting to shape up. All of the roof details that were in the concept art are being installed and the new colors look really nice and beach like. It is really nice to see them spend money on aesthetics, it is an intangible that adds a lot to the enjoyment of something.

Walt - thanks so much for posting all of the photos. I was curious how Wilderness Run and Woodstock's Air Mail turned out.

For some reason, I've been obsessed with the renovations this year. I like that Cedar Fair is giving many areas in each park some TLC and increasing the quality level of the aesthetics.

I'm looking forward to my little boy enjoying the new additions - especially the petting zoo, which I unfortunately forgot about last year.

I'm not sure if this was announced, but the petting zoo also go a renovation this year. Not a major change, just enough to be noticeable.

I simply must ask, are the Crab Fries actually made of crabs and such, or is that just their fancy name that really means nothing?

Probably a stupid question.