Opening coverage: live.pointbuzz.com

Yes, the inevitable Butt-Hurt Enthusiasts vs. Cedar Point Apologists octagon of futility matches are entertaining.... for awhile.

"they didn't put the wheels on correctly" sure is an interesting and new conspiracy theory.

Somebody sure has their tinfoil hat on today. Just Coasting, do you know anything about how a rollercoaster operates? Because if you did, you would know that windy, chilly weather conditions can and will cause rollercoasters to valley. Just Trolling sounds like a more appropriate name for you. Now run along to guest services.....

So many experts here who know why a ride is down. It's amazing.

Witch's Wheel was down all day! (Also, I miss Pete.)

Just Coasting said:

Why would a coaster valley, hmm, someone did not put the wheels on correctly. That is unacceptable...

This may be the single dumbest statement I have ever read on ANY enthusiast forum.. ever. And I have been involved in the online community since 1999. Bravo.

Rides valley for a multitude of reasons, especially on cold, wet, and very windy days. Not because a wheel was on incorrectly. lol damn...

Anyways, I stopped in today from 3-9p. Mostly to grab a few rides on what I could and try the new food.

Only coaster I never actually saw run with guests on it was TTD. But they were trying to cycle it, just kept getting rollbacks.

Everything else was business as usual, rides were open, then may close due to something mechanical and they would reopen. Honestly, it was one of the better opening days from an operations stand point in my opinion. Most issues just seemed to stem from lack of staff.

I hope by June when I visit they got the wheels on right. By then it shouldn't be an issue.

DRE420 said:

Somebody sure has their a** hat on today.

Fixed that for you.

Issues on opening day? That's weird. So glad so many people are foolish enough to go there and deal with all of the issues that in a couple of weeks, when I am smart enough to wait to go, will usually be fixed by. Usually went on Mother's Day but, now that it's on opening weekend, CP has ruined that idea for those of us who knew Mother's Day was dead AND it was after breaking in weekend. Sad!

My experience of opening day:

The season pass center was a bit of a wait to pay for the renewal. But it wasn’t a big deal as I understand opening day bugs need worked out and the employees are new and still learning.

Once we got inside the park, I had mentioned to my friends that out of all of the days I visited last year, yesterday was busier than any of those days. I missed opening day last year, but my thought was that perhaps the many promotions offered in terms of admission this year is a good thing for the park.

TTD was running with only 3 rows opened when we arrived so we opted to skip it. As we walked back to SV, we noticed that Millennium’s red train was stopped on the middle of the lift and realized it didn’t run much until later that day.

Once we got to SV, they just keep running cycles with water dummies. We waited for a bit, but then eventually left the line and walked the Frontier Trail.

This is the first time I actually took the time to check out the shops on the trail. It’s a really cool set up, and I’m kind of mad at myself for not checking them out before. Especially the candy shop.

Every food place inside the park was very busy, so we decided to hit up Famous Dave’s. No wait. Awesome as always. As we were eating, I saw Millennium was back up and running. Dragster was testing but kept doing rollbacks and everything else was up and running to full capacity or at least 2 trains (Skyhawk with only 1 swing).

We decided to take our usual trip out to the Toft’s parlor because we didn’t see the Toft’s inside the park open. Once we came back, we parked in CPS parking lot and went straight to Magnum. I’ll tell you what, I sat in car 2 row 2 and that was the best ride I’ve ever had on Magnum. I take back any negative thing I’ve said about the ride. Not to mention, the extra yellow padding was very helpful for my quads on the return bunny hills. The effects were on and working inside the tunnel. LED lights flashing and some kind of cool sound effect. My only suggestion with it is: perhaps have the sound effects turn on as the train is entering the tunnel and not halfway through. You can still hear them going as you’re sitting on the safety brakes outside of the tunnel. Awesome addition though and very nice to see some love being given to Magnum.

Finally we went to SV and waited 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad considering the crowd. Amazing as always. I absolutely love this ride as always. Sat in the back and the crew is working diligently to make sure they’re dispatching as quickly as possible. These pouches REALLY slow down operations. The ride isn’t dispatched until the final train has finished the course. That’s how long loading takes with the pouches. I’m still all aboard having metal detectors at the entrance and free storage bins/lockers before entering the line. Just my opinion.

Gemini was rocking it yesterday with both sides racing. I always love this classic.

My final conclusion on opening day is this: it was a bit rocky at first in terms of what was open, but eventually by time we left, every single ride in the park was up and running. Shoutout to the maintenance team for keeping everybody safe on all rides, yet working efficiently to get them up and running as soon as possible.

Corkscrew and Magnum were the big hits yesterday. The padded lap bars on Magnum along with the lighting, sound, and smoke in the tunnel made the ending to the ride awesome.

Rode 2nd car front row on Corkscrew and got -Zero- headbanging and the paint job made the coaster feel brand new, 1976 style!

"Octagon of Futility"...

A Description Like No Other!

That would be a great username!!!

Just Coasting said:

Rode 2nd car front row on Corkscrew and got -Zero- headbanging and the paint job made the coaster feel brand new, 1976 style!

Plus, I heard they put the wheels on correctly.

Just Coasting said:
I've seen Cedar Fair's profit summary, they can certainly afford to pay little more money to have all these issues resolved before opening day.

Entitled much? Seems like you over simplify the dynamics of corporate finance and amusement ride maintenance.

Had a couple of tech issues, so kept it simple this year. Check out PointBuzz on Facebook for opening day stuff.

^ Walt, we appreciate your continued coverage for over 20 years!!!

We've been going to opening weekend ever since getting our Platinum passes in 2013 and I have to say, this was the busiest I've seen it along with the craziest weather we've experienced.

That created a perfect storm where we had no idea what to ride due to wait times and just general indecisiveness from my group of 5 (plus 1 year old).

That being said, we had a great time. Our 1 year old took his first turn on the old Hamptons by himself and we had to practically drag him away from the rides. He pointed at and watched just about every coaster train that rolled by, which is a pretty decent indicator that he'll be just like his parents in that regard.

Anyway, by the end of the weekend, we rode everything that we wanted to ride (I don't know how other parents do this without Parent swap though), including Steel Vengeance after only an hour and a half wait, and experienced everything we could experience given this weekend was pretty much a soft opening.

I will never understand the complaining that goes on about this weekend. It's a regional park with the most rides on the planet that has a difficult time hiring until later in May. They're working out kinks. Deal with it or just don't go. Pretty simple.

TwistedWicker77 said:

Finally we went to SV and waited 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad considering the crowd. Amazing as always. I absolutely love this ride as always. Sat in the back and the crew is working diligently to make sure they’re dispatching as quickly as possible. These pouches REALLY slow down operations. The ride isn’t dispatched until the final train has finished the course. That’s how long loading takes with the pouches. I’m still all aboard having metal detectors at the entrance and free storage bins/lockers before entering the line. Just my opinion.

How sensitive did the metal detectors before the station seem? I have no problem putting my phone and keys in the pouch, but my insulin pump doesn't come off, and has been known to occasionally set off an overly sensitive detector. Just wondering if I'm going to need to jump through hoops at Guest Relations before heading into the park...

It's not as if guests are being frisked as potential threats to the safety of others. Yes, a quick visit to guest relations would be advised, as well as staying patient.

Hoops suck....but remember, you only have your fellow ass-hat humans to thank for these being needed in the first place.

Be better than an ass-hat.

TwistedWicker77 said:

Finally we went to SV and waited 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad considering the crowd. Amazing as always. I absolutely love this ride as always. Sat in the back and the crew is working diligently to make sure they’re dispatching as quickly as possible. These pouches REALLY slow down operations. The ride isn’t dispatched until the final train has finished the course. That’s how long loading takes with the pouches. I’m still all aboard having metal detectors at the entrance and free storage bins/lockers before entering the line. Just my opinion.

Shocker, I tell you!

The pouches are just dumb. A bad idea that should have never left the “I have an idea!” stage, IMO.

What makes SV so special that it requires all this intense focus on loose articles? Why does not Raptor, Gatekeeper, Dragster, or other ‘large attractions’ have this strict policy enforcement (outside of the sign saying so)…? All of those rides can easily throw cell phones out towards people below, causing injury. I don’t get it. A cell phone was no more likely coming out of my pocket on SV as it was any other coaster. A cell phone flying through the air and hitting me in the face while riding will be no worse on SV than most of the other coasters at CP.

Cell phones are an issue, I get that. Why not keep in simple? Make lockers FREE while in line if requiring the use of them for all loose articles (keys, phones, whatever). Do a quick metal detector check as people get in line and be done with it. Capacity goes up and lines are shorter. People will still be pissed they can’t have their cell phone, but at least the lockers are free and people won’t feel like they are being taken advantage of. Throw a DJ back in he queue lines for some entertainment while people wait, as well. (Miss those days!)

I'd rather wait 1.5hr without a cellphone than 2.5hrs with one.

Or is that just me?