Opening Day 2018

I've said this before, probably many times on these boards, that they wouldn't have the problem if they hadn't pushed opening day up three weeks. Back in the day we didn't open until week before Memorial Day. As I recall that week was all short days until the Weekend. There was enough staff on hand to open everything , of course we had to work O-C until the middle of June.

CedarPointin2003 said:

As a former Ride Host (and especially as a former TL), you should know better than this.

They don't always know which rides will be down and when and to set an expectation that they will let every guest know prior to entering the park that any or all rides won't be open is asking for way more trouble than it's worth. They don't control the weather and, as you should know, they don't provide a refund for when rides are shut down in those scenarios. So why should it be any different for maintenance?

Actually Sparty once again I expected rides to be down however you act like it was all maintenance. Cedar Point knew before the day even started that these rides would be down due to staffing. When you have signs made you knew way before the guests even got there what was closing at 3pm. Also as a former employee what happened last Saturday was completely unacceptable.

I'm curious, which rides closed at 3 PM?

My family stayed the entire day Saturday and got rides on every FastLane Plus ride except Steel Vengeance (for obvious reasons), Top Thrill Dragster, and Valravn (those were more due to time than anything because they were up for the last 3-4 hours of the night).

I just don't think this ungodly expectation that everything runs smoothly on the first operating day of the year is fair. You don't expect the same out of professional sports teams do you? The better games are played at the end of the year (for the most part) because those teams are well-oiled machines.

It's not a perfect analogy, but I think it definitely fits when you're talking about a park that still isn't fully staffed due to the nature of where they're located. I'm thankful they were open at all given the fact that they didn't used to be open this early.

You got your admission money back. What else do you want? A cookie? I'm sure Sweet Shop has some for you.

Sparty42 said:

I just don't think this ungodly expectation that everything runs smoothly on the first operating day of the year is fair.

Strawman. From what I gather regarding opening day it's not that things weren't "smooth," it's that the park was selling full-priced admission for what was, by all accounts, a half-assed product.

I'm thankful they were open at all given the fact that they didn't used to be open this early.

First of all, I assume you're a passholder, so it doesn't come as a surprise that you have lower expectations as far as value.

Secondly, just because you have low standards does not mean others have to lower theirs.

None of this is to say that anything short of perfection is a tragedy, but if the park is charging full admission, they should be providing a full product. All of this could be solved by making that weekend a passholder-only soft opening preview weekend or whatever.

I like the idea of making that weekend a passholder only weekend.

The rides that were closed early and open late were mostly flat rides. Scrambler for example had a sign that it would open at 3:00pm, presumably so a ride operator from one of the early flat rides could close the early ride and come over to Scrambler to run it for the afternoon and evening. Not ideal by any means, but if you don't have the staff available at least guests had the opportunity to ride each ride at some point throughout the day.

Is it reasonable to believe that 80% of the people at opening day are passholders? I can't imagine someone going opening day and that being their only trip for 2018.

They should charge less for admission for these few weeks in May, but that opens up another problem. Suddenly everyone will want to go in May for the cheaper rate. Better to disappoint a few that paid full admission, than have Halloweekends sized crowds that paid $30 to get in.

Darien Lake makes it known all over their website that they will rotate ride ops & game hosts, and that some rides may not be open in May, September, and October due to staffing. Also Splashtown and Laserblast don’t open for the first few weeks of the season. It’s spelled out plain as day. But people are still complaining on Facebook that they paid full price (again, you’re doing it wrong) and all the rides weren’t open and the water park wasn’t open and there was no Laserblast at the end of the night...

We went to Darien Lake for opening weekend (camped overnight), knowing what to expect, and we had fun. But I really think the best thing for these parks may be to hold off and not open until the park is fully operational and fully staffed. Even if you tell people whats what they still don’t pay attention and get upset.

When the park couldn't even open major coasters because they weren't inspected, that is completely on them and it should have been made clear to paying customers prior to their entry into the park. They've likely known when opening weekend would be in 2018 for 3-5 years, maybe longer. And you're telling me they couldn't make the appropriate arrangements to get some of their most well known rides inspected? Someone straight up dropped the ball, then decided to sell a half-assed product at full price.

For the amount of times Cedar Point hasn't been able to operate all or most of their rides/attractions due to a fault of their own; it's borderline unethical business practice to me. As much as I love the place and other Cedar Fair parks, their leash for me is getting short so to speak. There may come a time when I choose not to renew my pass in the not so distant future if they continue the circus they've been running. I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels this way, and I bet the taste in the mouths of one day ticket customers is much worse.

^^^That's why you make it clear upfront that only a limited number of attractions and shops would be available. That might make people want to wait and pay more to get the full experience later.

Thabto- See the story about Darien Lake... They do make it known, people still get pissy.

Hmmm, after reading these past 7 pages, it sounds like that, aside from me not getting any ice cream on "Preview/Opening but Not Actually Ready Day/Weekend™, I'm the only person who had a good time in the park.

Guess I'm just easy to please...................

We had a good time opening day, but we arrived at 4:30 already knowing about the SV bump and ride closures. Being season passholders, it was easy to shy away from longer lines. We had to walk around a bit before finding a line we were willing to wait in, but in 5 hours we got on 7 coasters, ate dinner, shopped a little, and checked out the new concretewalk. And I wanted to eat in Fronteirtown anyway, so that worked out for me. It was a pleasant evening, but we went in with tempered expectations knowing we'd be back another time.

This is exactly why I'm heading out this Wednesday. The park has proven that it can't provide whats advertised the first weekend.

And if anyone thinks a beautiful weekend in October will be any better than years past is optimistic to be nice. However for all of us on here we don't have much to complain about. All of it was predictable.

But for the majority of folks that attended, the excuse of "You should have known" doesn't hold up.

I'll give the park this though, staffing a park this big in a town devoid of a large pool of employees has to be damn near impossible. Either pay more and add more incentives for employees or just be honest and let the people know you are rolling the dice coming during this time. Folks paid a lot more than me can put that in better words.

However I'm very much looking forward to a wonderful vacation and riding SV!

MichaelB said:
They've likely known when opening weekend would be in 2018 for 3-5 years, maybe longer. And you're telling me they couldn't make the appropriate arrangements to get some of their most well known rides inspected? Someone straight up dropped the ball, then decided to sell a half-assed product at full price.

Where exactly is it proven to be fact that rides we're not inspected? I think you are confusing speculation and hearsay by people who have no real knowledge as fact.

I would wager a hefty sum that they never make it a Season Pass holders weekend. It is now and I imagine will forever be a revenue weekend. Season Pass holders may get a yearly preview event in April again, in fact I would expect it as they try to expand the season more. I could see them trying to better use that for a training weekend, but a for profit company giving up money like that? Not going to happen.

Even the negative responses on Social Media will be forgotten by the time Memorial Day rolls around. Cedar point is a Summer and Fall place, while during spring people are still focused on end of school stuff (prom, sports, exams, etc).

Should they do better than they did for this opening weekend? Yes, x1000. Do I have answers for how they attract more staff that will start in April? No, not in the slightest. But they will never revert to opening later.