New this year

Putting up the TV is easy. Setting up a system that can display ride times, not too difficult. Gathering accurate data... probably not gonna happen.

If Josh had his way, This would be playing on every monitor in the park.

^^^^ Challenge park!!!!! lol

^^I work at at a pharmacy and they have a cd on repeat and that damn song comes on every 20 min lol

I wouldn't say Cedar Point is "technologically challenged" in the way that they couldn't do it. They surly have people that would know how to install and run a system that could do that. Its people at the top that are "technologically challenged" in their ways of wanting to do things to better the guest experience.

decil76 said:
Putting up the TV is easy. Setting up a system that can display ride times, not too difficult. Gathering accurate data... probably not gonna happen.

They already have that system; its just not on TVs scattered through the park. Is it 100% accurate? No, but it is pretty close.

Well yes and no. To have a fully integrated system park-wide that constantly updates (and it would have to be about every five minutes) with ride stats and wait-times, might be a little more difficult than you would think.

Cedar Point is not technologically challenged, it's the thinking of higher-ups that has had them stuck in the golden days for so long. They have access to tech, and the people to put it in, its the decision to move forward with that kind of investment that keeps the park from being up-to date.

But, I agree with the others who say that once they get this system running at the front gates, adding it in-park within a season or two shouldn't be a big stretch.

Then again, they have to keep the monitors running, and we all know how long-term maintenance goes. (excluding rides)

Not to hijack this thread.

The new things won't bring me back this year. Sorry CP. You didn't build cool enough crap for this year. Just my 2 cents....

But this last weekend I passed below 42 degrees latitude and something hit me. It was like a CP flu like bug. And I was like aye lets just hop on 80/90 East and go to CP.

I don't think the new attractions will bring me back. But I might end up having to go to CP in May for a 1 night / 2 day deal. Just because my girlfriend and I still enjoy going. We just are budgeting ourselves so we can go skiing out west this winter a couple times.

My latest estimates are something like $3000 for last years gasoline, platinum passes / platinum pass troubles, food, and so on.

If I had a helicopter or Cesna to cut the trip time down to an hour and a half.......that would rule.

I just get cranky when I drive 9 hours for a day trip to spend 10 hours standing in line.

Also CP has wait let me make this bigger CP HAS NO EXCUSE for not having a ride wait time system. If all the ski resorts can have billboards everywhere with what trails / lifts are open there is NO EXCUSE for CP to not have similar options.

Log on to most ski resorts websites with a cell phone and you go right to a mountain conditions / stats on what trails / lifts are operating.

They are just plain retarded (CP) for holding back on technology.

I want to log on to cp.com with my android and know what the ride wait times are and what rides are open. The sad thing is that CP has more employees operating a ride then a ski resort. One of them can surely phone in or type in the wait time every 15 minutes.....

You just see them sitting on their ass watching people smoking cigs.

SUCK IT UP CP. If a ski resort can have these installed at the top of all the lifts spanning thousands of vertical feet in temperatures / weather that are far worse then what Sandusky offers WHY CAN'T YOU GUYS DO IT?

Six Flag's even has a better ride system than you guys. That's sad.

Now more than ever we are voting with our dollars in this economy. You have to impress me. Or I will not go to Cedar Point. A few hours more in a vehicle and I can go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I am not handing over my cash to just anyone.

Cedar Point - quit around, seriously. Enough is enough. The fact you haven't redesigned all the bathrooms this year is disgusting enough.

Edit - Watch the language, cleverly disguised or not. First and last warning.

So... CP didn't build enough to bring you back this year, and yet you're going back this year. Umm... OK...?

And since you've not noticed (and yet like to bitch regardless), CP.com does list what rides are not operating. Learn before you whine.

Having monitors displaying whether a ride is operating or not (which is analogous to your horrendously off-base ski lift nonsense) is not necessary at CP - you can simply look at the ride and determine that.

^^your able to check online to see what rides are operating. Btw, that was the most pissing and moaning ive seen on this site.

dj,

It's a love hate thing.....

Honestly I make enough to go back, but my girlfriend at this time has a little debt to pay off. While I know CP is coaster king. I feel like expanding my horizons to other highly regarded parks. Hershey, Busch, even Dollywood.

It's just after riding the coasters so many times...you want something (another coaster) to bring you back, or at least improvements that are needed elsewhere. CP.com might list what isn't open. But as any true park goer would know...we already know what isn't running anyways.

I want to know ride wait times in a central location. Let me text CP's automated text reply system that sends the latest ride wait times back to me. I want an LED board or three displaying ride wait times so I know weather to go to Maverick or TTD.

I just like to compare to the ski industry since the ski industry seems to take in more money in less time than CP, and the competition is fierce so places can't afford to slack.

CP hasn't felt enough pressure from Six Flags lately. The park is getting a little too rustic in too many locations, and not the good kind of rustic.

It's like if you can't build a new coaster, at least get like HGTV to come in and "flip your amusement parks bathroom system" or some

They got this retarded idea to have lights in the sky, and we all seen how popular the fireworks show is. Not very. They can't maintain enough park features as it is. Why are they adding to the collection of they can't maintain?

I don't want to see CP get any closer to being "Six Flags", and by being Six Flag's I mean a bunch of lame rides, and a park not maintained well enough.
When I say cleanliness in general I really mean the rides themselves and some areas of the park.

Bathrooms, food, ride wait system, cleanliness in general, the rides fading colors, Hotel Breakers still sucks for the price if you ask me. Least what you got for $200 and under a night.

Oh yeah. How about their ID card system that sucked also? Last year I lose my MIA platinum pass and CP can't even read the passes to begin with to know if they are legit (other than looking at them and visually inspecting for a fradulant looking card). So I had no season pass. CP couldn't tell if I was telling the truth or what. You can go back in trip reports and read about it.

It sucked though. I was a season pass member and their system was not (and last I knew) still not running with paramounts system or whatever.

How ghetto is that? Half the parks running on an ID system the flagship park doesn't even recognize.

Honestly it is retarded because even with a low end ink jet printer you could make yourself a Michigan Adventure platinum pass that someone in admissions would probably accept.

Makes no sense.

Go ahead CP...continue to not do anything.

Yeah I haven't had my coffee this morning, and I felt like poking at CP... a lot.

I spent a lot of money there and I was hoping I would get more return on my money in the park. I spend money a park for not only that days experience, but for future improvements. I feel like I am not getting a good return here, and if I was a stockholder I sure as heck would be pissed. I just know not to own FUN or SIX because they are not worth a crap.

factory81 said:

It's just after riding the coasters so many times...you want something (another coaster) to bring you back, or at least improvements that are needed elsewhere.

But they are adding stuff to bring people back, and I'm guessing that CP doesn't concern themselves with bringing DINK's back to the park, when they could have comparatively high-rolling families instead. And even more, when they do add something, you bitch about it because its not a coaster:

They got this retarded idea to have lights in the sky...

Some people can't be pleased, I guess.

CP.com might list what isn't open. But as any true park goer would know...we already know what isn't running anyways.

OK, so what's your point? If you know what is and is not running because you're an enthusiast, then you're probably astute enough to figure out approximate wait times, are you not?

Its not that I disagree with the desire for wait time info, but honestly, that's your only legitimate gripe, so far as I can tell. And if their not having that is enough to keep you away this season, then so be it. Speak with your wallet - which, not coincidentally, is infinitely more effective than whining on a forum.

Bathrooms, food, ride wait system, cleanliness in general, the rides fading colors, Hotel Breakers still sucks for the price if you ask me. Least what you got for $200 and under a night.

OK, so I don't disagree about CP's lackluster lodging, but its hard to argue with their success. And yes, their food is atrocious. So, do what I do - vote with your wallet. I don't find their food to be a good value, so I don't buy it. If you don't find the park to be a good value, don't go. It really is that simple.

How ghetto is that? Half the parks running on an ID system the flagship park doesn't even recognize.

Yeah, how "ghetto" that for a mere $150 you can have access to so many parks! As for your lost pass situation - its not entirely fair to condemn the entire operation because you lost your pass. Should they have handled it better? Of course, but again, if you're that upset about your experience, don't give them more money.

I spent a lot of money there and I was hoping I would get more return on my money in the park. I spend money a park for not only that days experience, but for future improvements.

No personal offense, but that's easily the most ridiculous/retarded/ghetto spending point of view I've ever heard in my life. Honestly. If you're not impressed by your new Nike shoes, do you buy more in the hope that they'll make a better shoe next time? Or when they under cook your food at a nice restaurant, do you give them double the total on your bill so that they can hire better cooks?

You can brag about how much money you spend in the park, but when you backdrop that with your obvious disappointment in the value, you sound like you have absolutely no grasp on commerce.

I spent a lot of money there and I was hoping I would get more return on my money in the park

By the way you structure your posts, your money would be better spent at a local community college studying English and basic grammar.

Thanks for sharing your inflated sense of entitlement with all of us.

I don't go to see Fast and the Furious with the mindset that I'm hoping Universal Studios invests my $9 for their next release. I go to enjoy that movie.

If you don't think you are going to enjoy the day at the park, don't go to the park.

I'm a big critic of the park (constructively speaking) and in my last two visits I could not find fault with cleanliness, paint jobs, etc.

Sounds like YOUR loss of YOUR season pass factory put a bug up your butt and everything about the place is now fair game. Here is crazy thought:

Don't lose your pass.

I'm fine with criticizing the park about ride selection and if you want to complain about the $1 million light show be my guest. I don't think it is a bad idea. It will be cheaper than nightly fireworks and will bring an interesting atmosphere to the trail at night. Why not give it a try? The Osborne Christmas lights at Disney Studios is a HUGE draw over year and if this takes on similar chracteristics then great. And, riders should be thrilled if it eats some folks out of lines at the end of the day.

factory81 said:

Cedar Point - quit around, seriously. Enough is enough. The fact you haven't redesigned all the bathrooms this year is disgusting enough.

I can't believe Cedar Point didn't re-design those flippin bathrooms!

I'm definitely going somewhere else from now on, I want my bathrooms to be in pristine condition, and clearly CP doesn't want my business bad enough to meet my bathroom stall standards.

Seriously though, you must have had a few too many, because what you wrote was so far from constructive or reality based criticism that everything you wrote has been reduced to ridiculous whining. Especially when referencing something like Six Flags as a same comparison argument.

And if you've noticed, it's upper management that has old-school thinking, which is why it's taken them this long to get this far (tech wise). Be glad for what they're doing this year, it's certainly a forward jump from previous seasons.

I appreciate the fact this this thread exists. I worked at the Point in 07 and all the talk was about wait times. We did our best at attraction entrances to let the guests know how long they would wait. I worked for the Mouse this past year and yes the system is nice, but being automated doesn't exactly always work. It's hard to come up with a system that makes it able to tell wait times accurately. There were 2 different styles that they used in the parks. One was the cards. the person at the entrance scans a card and hands it to a guest, once they get to the ride vehicle, the card is scanned again and a wait time is composed. The problem with it is that sometimes lines get longer and shorter, and it's from that person's perspective of just how long the line is. Sometime the cards are lost or damaged and it makes it harder. Plus, putting the wait time accuracy on the guests makes it difficult as well. It's hard to ask people to do something they don't understand. The other system that was being tried out when i left was a camera system which split the lines into zones. If a guest waited for a specific length of time in a certain zone, the wait time would be changed. it's smart but expensive and hard to handle on some attractions with wacky que lines. I do agree that CP should add in some screens for wait times to display to the guests. but where would be accurate locations for them? I'm thinking that one could be placed in front of the Sky Ride South, then another by the Split between Main Midway and towards MF. another could be placed back in Frontiertown. I think the smartest thing that could be done would to make a system just like Univeral has at IOA. once u walk into the park you walk through the usual gift shop area then get to the lagoon. To the right is one land, and the left another. There are 2 LED signs that point which direction an attraction is located along with the current wait time. This would not only help out for those who don't seem to pick up a park map, but also for those who know exactly what they are there to accomplish. I like the idea of the Wait Time Screens, and i hope they come soon enough.

I guess i should mention, that i'm a BIG fan of the light trail for this summer. I think it will be a lot of fun for families with kids, but also it can be something romantic. How often do you see a couple holding hands and enjoying something other than standing in line at CP? This evening light show will reall be something romantic and also fun for the kids. Let's just hope that the smell of the petting zoo doesn't get too crazy around the evening time. But i like that and i like celebrating Magnum's Brithday. just like Disney's been asking lately.. What will YOU CELEBRATE?

I'm very excited about seeing the LED display myself...this is exactly the type of thing many of us have wanted at CP in terms of additions for some time (I cant count the number of times I have said "please take a couple years off of big rides and just add some improvements/family-oriented things for a couple years).

Does anyone have a picture or video of something that may be similar to the LED display CP is getting? By the description alone it is difficult to get a realistic idea. Perhaps there is even some conception art somewhere? Just curious.

Can you help Tony? (if you're listening).

I am not a literary artist. I was on a rambling rant while at work.

But seriously. CP cannot maintain certain aspects of the park as it is. Yet they want to do some LED crap.

No matter how big or small the customer, CP needs all the guests they can. And their region has been hit the hardest by the economy.

Comparing ski resort mountain operations to CP is rediculous. Totally different animal. Ski down a run to a closed lift at some ski resorts and you are stuck with no way out. I've never known anyone to not find there way out of, let's say, Dragster's line if the ride shuts down.