News: Cedar Point unveils plans for fun-filled summer

Thabto said:

A good chunk of CP's market is from Michigan and I think they don't start school until after Labor Day...

This is correct at least for a lot of schools in the Metro Detroit area.

I live in the Ann Arbor area and yes, some schools go back the day after Labor Day, but some also go back the week before. Depends on the district.

I also thought I read on here once that there's a law in Michigan that forces schools to start after Labor Day. I may be mistaken though or it could have been city specific and not statewide.

That was the law until about 2 or 3 years ago.

Edit: it is still technically a law. however, counties can apply for a waiver. More and more schools are.

It's strange that their opening day is a Friday?

Happy to see 10pm closing times for what appears to be all of July. I look forward to being able to get to the park after work on some week days.

According to Governor DeWine, if Ohio falls to an infection rate of 50 per 100,000 residents, and stays there for 2 weeks, he will drop ALL the mandates. So that would mean no masks, no distancing, and the rides could run at full capacity.

I would be very happy if that happened. I only went to CP once last year because A. the mask did get hot and uncomfortable after about 3 hours, B. lowered ride capacity meant a LONG wait for just about all the rides, including a 1 1/2 hour wait to ride the train! I walked instead, and C. the mask compliance was scattershot. At the front of the park it was strictly enforced, but I saw many, many people on Frontier Trail with the mask down, or off, and none of the employees were correcting them. It seemed the deeper you went into the park, the less the staff cared whether you were complying or not.

SarahB1863 said:

...the less the staff cared whether you were complying or not.

I'm sure they cared and wanted to say something but after being yelled at and told to go to hell time after time, at some point it's not worth the $8 bucks an hour you're making.

The question is, if the State drops restrictions, will the park do the same?

Today’s State coronavirus report kind of shocked me. I’m fairly certain there’s some kind of reporting anomaly: 502 confirmed cases is the lowest number reported since June 17, 2020. While the numbers have been falling steadily, today’s numbers are *well* below the curve. A linear analysis puts the zero crossing *tantalizingly close*. Not that we will actually get there (I fully expect the case counts to go asymptotic). The point is, the Governor’s target is achievable, possibly sooner than any of us expects (including me).

If COVID restrictions were difficult to enforce last season, how difficult will it be if the Governor ends the public health emergency? Or will the park decide that if the State is okay with dropping restrictions, they can as well?

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

In our session at WCO, Jason made it clear he REALLY wants to have 2019 operations this season, not 2020 (his wording). They have to want the big $$$ from daily fastlane, but they can't sell them if its half capacity trains and 30 minute interval clean and send empty like last year. They'd still need access passes for the big 4 as well. I think they want to load trains and queues with no distancing signage and sell daily fastlane, but it's still too early to tell. Then the mask question... I think they're going to have high demand either way, especially with a MUCH shorter May and August calendar.

If Ohio drops all restrictions, I feel Cedar Fair will keep most requirements in place until they can be changed at all its properties. I know the Corp. I work for has the same requirements at all sites. we have multiple sites in Ohio, but we will not change anything until it can be changed company Wide.

I say this as far as the operating side... not sure about customer side.

Imadj I think you may have laid out the most realistic point here. I think what we could see is CP/KI (if Ohio drops their mandates) "reverting" the guest experience to a 2019esque, no access passes, social distancing, mask requirements, and most importantly full capacity rides; although I think the health screening may stick around, minor inconvenience but helps the liability I imagine.

To James' point, in our session as well Jason expressed extensively how he wants the guest experience to be back to what it normally is. I definitely see the goal at the park and the possibility in that line. Additionally to Dave's point I question how feasible it would be to enforce policies that are not enforced outside of the park, yes it is technically a business's right to make those policies in their property and by all means can CF/CP continue them, but also knowing the general population I can see a lot of people making a stink about it if they do, so will Cedar Fair decide that that is a worthwhile battle or not is really the question. I think Jason may have already answered that for us as well.

As for the employees though I could definitely see them continuing said policies until they can make changes chain wide. At the same time though the parks do run rather independently from what I understand so if they are given the opportunity I could certainly see it going either way.

I think this conversation and everything that is going on right now is precisely why they don't have anything officially set in stone in regards to access passes, fast lane, riding capacity, etc etc. Jason made it very clear at winter chill out in our session that they have made no official decisions and are waiting to see what the climate at the time of opening allows and will announce it closer to that time.

Does anyone here think that Jason would actually state that he prefers 2020’s operations? What’s he supposed to say?

I don't think it's so much about if he liked 2020, for what was going on I think they did an amazing job in 2020 and still had a relatively successful season and could absolutely have touted that and how they can continue to work with that as needed.

It sounds like in many of the presentations, he has adamantly stated a want to give the guests a historically more traditional experience (and let's be real here, more profit for the park) in a way that any continued operations from 2020 is not really geared towards. What stands out to me in that is what goals that outlines for them and the fact that they have indicated they are going to let it get down to the wire of what the operating season is going to be if that means they can approach things much differently than 2020. The parks public stated goals at this point are not just continued operations from last year, but getting as close as possible to traditional operations as fast as possible.

I would think the wanting to get back to 2019 operations is genuine whether they think it will actually happen or not. It has to be hard to make money with things running like they did in 2020. I went a few times and since I have a pass and only a one hour drive ditching out as soon as things become unpleasant isn't that huge of a deal but if I actually had to buy a ticket to get in I can't say the 2020 experience would have been worth it for me. I got what I could out of it and that was better than nothing but it was certainly not "best day ever" and I'm sure they would rather be marketing "best day ever" experiences instead of "better than nothing".

I think a lot will probably ride on two factors: vaccine accessibility (is it available to everyone in general) and when DeWine decides to lift all health orders. As far as the virus itself I’m not sure this is as much of a deciding factor like it was last year only because of the fact that it’s widely circulating and has become a part of everyday life. Whether or not everyone can get vaccinated by summer and/or there are restrictions still in place I think will decide how the park operates.

How widely circulating is this virus?
Today your odds of meeting an Ohioan who is contagious with the virus, based on an intentionally pessimistic assumption, are about 1:318 (0.3143%). On December 12, those odds were more like 1:39 (2.5559%).

By comparison, your odds today of meeting an Ohioan who is fully vaccinated are more like 1:9 (10.8802%; my percentage differs from the State's official number because I rounded population to 11M).

It's not over yet. But the numbers are moving in the right direction.

--Dave Althoff, Jr. (really just wanted to show off my latest numbers)

Update to the operating calendar, no 10pm closings on weekends until late June.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/calendar-and-hours

Reduced calendar in the face of huge demand = major staffing concerns. Ugh.