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

I'm also looking forward to this BBQ shack, and the aforementioned Melt.

But I've been fooled before. I think the greatest disappointment in the past few seasons has been Chickie and Pete's. I had never heard of this chain before, but did hear how popular they are, and really looked forward to those fries and some of the food options.

Haven't been back since. I have no idea how the food is at the non-park C & P's around, but each and every option was cafeteria food, and not good kind.

This is probably why the best thing to happen in recent years have been the pop-up food trucks and the seasonal options that pop up (like at the beer fest, etc.). In those situations you have folks who actually 1) know how to cook, 2) genuinely want to impress with you with their food, and 3) offer a product that is worth the extra money that both parties know you are spending.

I forgot about the cafe popping up at Shores. What sort of options is it supposed to have?

The items are in the dining guide that you can download from the website. Some of the items are brisket, pulled pork, shrimp, salads, flat bread, hand breaded chicken and wraps.

No Cedar Fair compares to the food offerings at the SeaWorld/Busch parks. It's no contest. I might be a little biased, having worked for them, but I've felt that way for at least 17 years.

It occurs to me that one of the failings of Cedar Point food, and much of the chain, is that counter service in the broader sense is all too specialized. I can't go to one place and have enough choices to satisfy most of the family. For example, I can go to a counter service restaurant at WDW and get mac-n-cheese for my kid, Diana can get a salad or fried shrimp and I can get a chicken sandwich and fries. Those kinds of counter service menus don't exist as CP unless you go to a sitdown restaurant.

And maybe that's for the better... stands that sell one thing (I'm looking at you, fresh cut fries), can't handle any reasonable level of efficiency with just one item. Like I said, I think the change has to be dramatic and with someone who really gets how to do counter service. Start by watching Disney do it.

Nothing about thinking the food is amazing make me a fangirl. I am not a picky eater, and Cedar Point is the only amusement park I have ever been to in which I ate the food there. It is in no way "inedible".

That is like reading a book, then watching the movie of it after and saying the movie is a failure and is unwatchable. Others who have not read the book really enjoy the movie.

Here, you simply dislike the food because you have had better food elsewhere. But just because other food is better, does not mean Cedar Point's food sucks.

^Cedar Point's food does generally suck.

I get Cheese on a Stick for Diabeetus, but aside from that, I generally either eat small snacks through the day, or wait till the end of the day to eat off Point or drink away my day at Fridays with a steak. Aside from that, I have not once purchased a burger in the park or went to any of these other stops. The sit down places are just disappointing now. Chickies and Petes Crab Fries are good, but not spectacular. Their environment and other food items are actually pretty boring now.

I honestly am close to reverting back to driving down 250 to get Chet & Matts, Five Guys, or go off a pier and get Walleye. Seriously I still don't understand how CF hasn't tapped into the local fishery market really at all.

That's... whoa. A fantastic point. Unless the perch sandwich is locally sourced, there's no excuse to be ON THE LAKE and not have a knockout fresh fish option (that isn't super fancy, anyway).

How about supply chain and availability?

I've tried a fair amount of amusement park food at different parks. What I DO like at CP is Fresh Cut Fries, Spicy Polish Dog at Pink's, Frontier Inn's chicken tenders and side salad, Chuck Wagon's steak burrito, and I had, I think, a Philly cheese steak at Chickie and Pete's and thought it was half-way decent. Plus, say what you will, I get a taste for Cedar Fair pizza everyonce in a while. I like Bay Harbor Inn too, but haven't been there in about 3 years.

I really like the idea of a fish fry at CP. I picture a long stand with lots of windows where they crank out fish all day. That's it. Maybe some slaw and a roll. It works at countless county fairs and festivals and it's a hit. I don't know what the supply/demand situation is, but I do know perch and walleye have been a mainstay on Lake Erie menus for decades and decades. It's seasonal and it's local. There's no reason not to.
Kind of like when I go to a restaurant at the height of the summer to find the tomatoes on my salad are hard white disks and I've got 30 delicious home grown tomatoes on my kitchen table looking for something to do. Why? Whyyyyy?!?

I know something great came along to take its place, but I really miss the BBQ chicken stand. It was good (even though we called it seagull) and I wish that concept would make a comeback. Once again, it's currently working at a lot of places already.

These are some things I'd actually look forward to eating as part of my trip, not products from companies the park feels like partnering with.

I've written to the park about that exact idea more than once. I got a "thanks for your feedback", we truly appreciate it! I would like to think that those letters led to the "perch sandwiches" that popped up (gross)...but those less-than-desirable objects were not what I had in mind. :)

But it involves something Jeff alluded to; a new way of actually doing food at Cedar Point rather than just cut and pasting different food inside a system that is flawed.

And previously frozen.

I've actually always dreamt of two similar but different ideas; the fresh fish fry near the front of the park, and a constant, large, open-air grill stand serving fresh grilled meats and veggies of all kind in Frontier Town.

In the middle of the park, a large Festhaus-type food-stand with lots of choices and variety so that, as Jeff mentioned, I can go to one place and get something for everyone like you can do at Disney or the Busch parks.

To your point, ValravnCP, the reason this is a consistent topic of discussion is because it is a consistent whiff the park seems to manage season after season. It's the same reason we continue to harp on the fact that quality family rides are still lacking; there is so much that the park does great...literally the best in the world in some cases...it's a natural desire to see a place you love do better at things they pale in comparison to with regards to their "peers". Once you manage to branch out to a park like Dollywood, Busch Gardens WIlliamsburg, or Disney (and sample their food), you will be left with one question; "why the hell can't Cedar Point get this right"?

Who knows, maybe in our focus group on the 15th we'll get to talk about food.

^Now honest question. Yes CP is still a coaster park and high thrill park, that hasn't changed. However I do feel the family atmosphere since about 2013 forward has greatly improved IMO. Honestly as a person who does not have kids and enjoys several beers during a trip to the Point, I'm not well versed in this area at all. What is exactly lacking that we need more of? I definitely feel Camp Snoopy & Planet Snoopy need a sort of update as they're somewhat stagnant, but I wouldn't know what is really needed here. However I also see things like the Gemini Midway & other areas being slightly improved as alluding towards more family fun. What would you personally want to add to the lineup?

Maybe this could be a seperate topic since it's not about food. I agree they are trying more since 2013. As far as what CP lacks for families, it's rides/experiences that the entire family can do together. CP obviously has tons of rides for thrillseekers. For anyone taller than 48 inches that likes coasters, CP is great. CP also has ton of kiddie rides in Planet, Camp, and Kiddie Kingdom. What they do not have is many rides that a 2-3 year old kid,an 8-10 year old kid, and their parents can do all together.

I keep bringing up Busch Gardens, but my two year old rode the log flume there. It was allowed as long as she rode with an adult. She rode Teacup ride, the swinging pirate ship ride, another flyer like ride, etc. This is in addition to the kiddie coasters and rides. All of those things have much higher height requirements at CP.

Through the combination of ridiculously tiny seatbelts preventing parents from even doing a ride like Woodstock, higher than typical height requirements for many flats and small coasters (they raised Iron Dragon to 48, things like Ocean Motion and Monster are either 46 or 48, etc, and removal of things like White Water Landing, the number of things a family can do all together is slim. Parents are watching their kids while they stand around in a kiddie area or taking turns watching the kids while riding bigger rides by themselves without their significant other or the rest of their family. Dad and older son are splitting off to go ride big rides while mom and little one play in one of the children's areas. Stuff like this is what goes on on my visits to CP.

Things like a real log flume or a dark ride, would help fill this void. Getting to this point didn't happen overnight and it likely won't be fixed overnight. It's something they need to consider though.

Also, I couldn't agree more about a Festhous type of venue at CP. I thought for sure before they announced Valravn that they'd bulldoze Cedars and incorporate a big food/Live E venue in that area. Now that the big B&M is there and the new marina gate is done, I'm not sure it's really doable in that area. Maybe back in the area of P&D by RMC streak, but I'm not sure that's the best location for something like that since it's sort of at a dead end and not really the "hub" of the park.

Camp and Planet Snoopy are great as-is, I don't see any need for an update there. Heck Planet Snoopy debuted less than 10 years ago.

What do they need in the kids/families department? Copy the best parts of KI's award-winning Planet Snoopy. Clone Race for Your Life Charlie Brown, and add a dark ride, for starters. And they need a wild mouse or something that has a height requirement of no more than 44".

The area that is in desperate need of an update - and we've touched on this recently - is Kiddie Kingdom. Tear down that eyesore stadium and move KK's rides to incorporate them into PS.

Fortunately last year my youngest finally drank the Kool Aid and crossed over into the thrill ride category, but prior to that he was a "low key" ride kid, but to big for most kiddie rides. Traditional Log Flume, dark rides, something like Paddlewheel. IMO a dark ride doesn't need to be some 20-30M whiz-bang tech wonder, a couple simple old school rides could go a long way towards filling in some holes. Hence prior to 2016 most of our family time was spent in a water park. One of the few things I have done right as a parent is invest an enormous amount of time and treasure in training my boys to be fish.

Regarding food, I have the same frustration as Jeff with the single themed food stands. My oldest is an extremely picky eater, wife is celiac and I am overweight and need to stem the onslaught of diabetes so most of the carb heavy meals at the park not really an option. Midway Market is the only thing in-park that (sort-of) works when the whole family goes, but it is usually just me and the 2 boys.

Been contemplating better ways to handle food this year and will likely attempt to train the boys in standing in their own line, but kids are clumsy, have smaller hands, can get pushed around by rude guests, the food trays are rather flimsy, there are no plastic trays that I can recall seeing, the park is crowded and carrying food takes defensive skills. I expect lots of accidents and tears with this route.

I hated the cooler in the trunk route as a kid, but I sometimes think my parents were much wiser than I.

I think what djDaemon said would be cool. If that were to happen though, what would they put where Kiddy Kingdom is NOW? They would have all of that empty land in front of Dodgems, Lost Persons Center and Maxair to work with.

Also on the subject of the Perch Sandwhiches, I have had one from Chickie's & Pete's and it was good. I can't comment on Lakeside Express though, as I have yet to try Perch Sandwhich from there. But my favorite food places at CP in no particular order are:
Pink's, Johnny Rocket's, Coasters, Famous Dave's, new Chuck Wagon (can't remember new name), Perkins, Tomo, Friday's, Quaker Steak & Lube, Chickie's & Pete's.

Not to sound mean, but you need to remember, that everyone like/dislikes different things. Again not to sound mean, but just because someone doesn't like the pizza, there are a ton of other options to choose from.

ValravnCP said:

Here, you simply dislike the food because you have had better food elsewhere. But just because other food is better, does not mean Cedar Point's food sucks.

Actually, that's exactly what it means, and it's not relative to just other parks, it's to food in general.

Jeff's post makes a great point. I don't know ValCP's age, but it appears to be younger from prior posts and that's not a negative comment about you. Put your food experiences as a whole compared to CP food, are the burgers you have at home/family grilling better than a $15 hamburger stand? Is the pizza you have at home/delivery better than a $15 two slice combo? Are the Subway $12 subs in the park better than the $5 footlong out of park? It goes on and on and on.

Also keep in mind that while teenagers and pre-teens are an important money demographic from the parks perspective, they are not THE Money Demographic. Teens may bring $50-100 to the park and think that's a lot. Families are multiples of that and the resort guests are even higher. Room rates starting at $350/night, sit down dining at TGIFridays meals start at $25 per person, Morning Starbucks and Surf Lounge wind down time, etc...
In July when I bring family to the park for 7 days: cabin + rv site, Passes, couple a night dinners at Bay Harbor & TGIF, drinks at Surf Lounge (too many nights 😁), other upcharge activities at the park, etc... it's between $7000-$9000 at CP (not spending in Sandusky trips to eat, drink, supplies, etc...) and that's just me not other adults and kids spending. Also the point made by DJ about the ridiculous limited options at the vast majority of locations. Children's menus are understandable, but that food shouldn't be the main staple across the entire park.

Which brings me to a point made above by MDOmnis about possible location of a Harmony Hall type addition by P&D, it does seem at first like a bad placement. However, with the vast majority of Hotel guests in such close proximity to it along with every on-point resort guests having to drive past it, it might be the perfect location. Again, resort guests are already inclined to spend more and have limited choices on-point for dining. And while the front of the park seems like a good idea, you'd miss out on much higher potential from resort guests, in place of P&D covers them while still being able to serve non-resort guests.

Oh in the younger years, the park got my Platinum Pass, that was about it. I maybe spent a tad on a drink/souviner cup or maybe quarters to soak people. Aside from that I didn't spend a dime.

Now, a 50+ dollar bill at TGIF is about normal...

So absolutely correct there!

^^ I was thinking while reading through this thread that a larger space could be used by taking out Coasters and putting in that Harmony Hall type restaurant at the point of the lagoon.

It's right between the Resort Gate and the Beach Gate, and a direct walk from the Marina Gate. They could take out the tables and chairs that seemingly rarely get used and build a state of the art building right smack dab in the middle of the park.

That's where you serve the different local delicacies like perch and walleye, along with other popular choices that cater to guests of differing tastes.

I like the idea of putting it back toward the back of the park too though.