No, qnzzvg, I DON'T want fries with that!!

I can't be the only person who feels this way...

The park looks to have a whole bunch of exciting new food offers this season. Lots of new sandwiches and other items that look like they could be really delicious. But if you go to the stands where these items are on offer, you learn that they are only offered as a $15 combo that includes fries or sometimes some other option (fruit cup, small salad).

Of these new options, only the new Famous Dave's grab joint was open. They lost a sale or two because of the combo-only pricing. We asked about getting just a sandwich and were told that it is only available in the combo.

Well, I know why they do that. Pile on a bunch of limp, cold, crappy food-service fries and it looks like a meal, and it doesn't feel like such a rip-off to charge $15 for it. And if it's going to be a dining plan option, so much the better...there's your $15 meal value.

But here's the trick: There are at least six different kinds of fries available at Cedar Point, perhaps four of which are fit to eat, and only one of which that I would actually want to buy. The ones that come with the sandwich are (typically) the inedible food service ones. If I want fries, I am going to go to the fry joint and get a basket of really good fries. I don't want the crummy food-service fries at the sandwich joint, I just want the qnza sandwich. And I don't care how good that sandwich is, it's not going to be worth $15 unless I can feed the entire family with it. And if it's that big, I don't want it...I'm not that hungry!

Am I way out in left field here? Sure, it's great to have a combo option available. But I can't be the only one who would prefer to 'graze' through the park. A brisket sandwich here, park signature fries there, a hot caramel apple with frozen custard* over there...

But if the park is going to force me to buy an entire meal when all I want is a sandwich, my general reaction is to simply not buy anything. I can stop at a restaurant on my way home and get better food, better service, and a much better price. Does it not occur to them that they are chasing money away?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

That is disappointing as they always had sandwhich only pricing in the past even though the menu boards only showed the combo.

Fit to eat, you say? I have never had a CP gull turn down a fry.

Have you asked the cashier if they offer the sandwich only? I get why they only put the signs up as people will generally just order from what they see.

I prefer the separate sandwich option also, not that I usually buy any food in the park. French fries are a cheap way of making anything into a meal. It's a high profit item anywhere and even more so at CP. It's filler to get more money out of you.

Why do you gotta call out qnzzvg by name? Seems like a dick move.

I don't know, I love the fries there. They aren't the nasty, drowned in grease crap you find at mcdonalds or carnivals. Also not all the combos are $15 dollars, and not all the food is only offered with a side.

They should just give it up and serve the good fries at every stand. Those things rock id be happy to just eat those each visit.

I don't find the fries so bad either, the are ok for fast food fries. The Boardwalk Fries at Coasters are very good and the other standard fries are at least average. Of course it would be awesome if the fresh cut fries were served with each combo, but that won't happen.

No, it won't. I can't imagine from a commissary/ordering standpoint that there's not a standard fry served everywhere but who knows?

And excuse me, but did someone here say McDonald's fries are crap? No sir, they are not. Best in the business (while they're still hot, anyway).

KI makes you take fries with the Skyline 3-way meal deal combo. Who would want that? I can see it with the coneys, maybe, but not on a plate of skettie. I usually just say "no thanks, keep em".

Yes, love McDonald's fries. Those are the benchmark of good fast food fries.

Fries are pretty much the only thing at McDonald's that interests me. I'm kinda bummed that Burger King by Rye Beach Rd. closed. In the park we occasionally get the chili cheese bacon heart attack in a box fries near Maverick. I like those but honestly if they took the fries out and just filled the basket with bacon topped chili I'm not sure I would miss the fries.

XS NightClub said:
Have you asked the cashier if they offer the sandwich only? I get why they only put the signs up as people will generally just order from what they see.

That was the basis of my complaint. At the one place where I could ask, I was told there was no sandwich-only option.

As for pricing, every sandwich combo is priced at between $14.75 and $14.99. I noticed this "standardized" pricing appeared at the same time as the dining plan. Basically, in order to make the dining plan look like a better deal, those of us who don't have it get shafted.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So many variables with fries. What shape and size are they? Were they frozen going in? Did they have a chance to thaw? How hot is the grease? How old is the grease? Is the restaurant busy today or slow? Does anyone working there actually care? And last but not least, how long have they been sitting there?
That's why french fries from the same place can be good one day and not so good the next. And maybe amusement park fries have a few things on that list automatically going against them.

The three biggest things the fries at almost any joint at Cedar Point have going against them are Mr. Potato, Happy Friar and Hot Potato.

Then there are the Boardwalk Fries at the cart under the Corkscrew, the Crab Fries at Chickie & Pete's, and I think there is a place to get potato wedges. That's four different types of fries I can think of off-hand, which are not served at most food joints that serve other stuff. That leaves the food service fries that they want to include with every entree. Okay, so that's convenient...but why would you eat those fries if you have four or five other options that are better?

Oh, earlier, I forgot my footnote.

* Er, yeah, that was last year's big mistake...none of the locations that have caramel apples have frozen custard...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Pete said:

Yes, love McDonald's fries. Those are the benchmark of good fast food fries.

Gross. The only thing McDonald's is a benchmark for is how to not make food.

All this thread reminds me of is why we (as a family) would 1) never consider a dining pass for any reason, 2) spend very little money on food at CP, and 3) why daddy will happily drive off-point to bring food back to Breakers after (or during) a day at the park.

That said, I love the actually good Cedar Point fries and many of the items offered at the food stands that have popped up over the recent years; we just simply don't eat meals at Cedar Point. I'm not sure when or why it happened, but this thread is probably an example of the how.

I'm totally with Dave on this. Cedar Point actually does have some really fun, delicious, tasty, mouth-watering things to offer, but there is one thing I will never look for (or pay for) at Cedar Point (in the park itself); and that is a meal.

A snack? Of course. A beer? Make it two. But a meal? Gross. Sorry, that ship has sailed, and I honestly wish the park would put more focus on what works (i.e., better service/quality on some of there really good stand-alone options).

Let me put it this way; the word "dining" is not part of Cedar Point's DNA.

I remember snacks in the park as a kid, fried cheese and ice cream, but mealtime always consisted of going back to the car and breaking open the big blue Coleman chest cooler full of salami sandwiches, Lays chips, fruit snacks, and colorful assorted cans of Scot-Lad pop.

Pete said:

Yes, love McDonald's fries. Those are the benchmark of good fast food fries.

False, either Five Guys Cajun Fries, or Penn Station Fries

...wait, does Five Guys count? I never really thought of them as fast food, being a better breed of burger joint. Same with Smashburger, who ALSO has wonderful fries (shoestring cut, with olive oil and rosemary. Yummmmm.)