Opening day, 5/8, and 5/9

We arrived at the park around 10 am or so Saturday, we already had our season passes done through the mail, so no waiting was necessary. We started off with the first ride on Magnum, still rough. Then we worked our way to back of the park to Mean Streak, 3 trains running, no wait, trims on, as usual. After Mean Streak I had noticed there was a new Maxair Souvinear cup, we bought one right away, and the refills are only 1.89 PLUS tax, (I will talk about that later). Then proceeded to ride the train to the front, took a look at Maxair, the new gaming area, which did look very nice! We stayed in a cabin, so we went back in the afternoon to barbecue and all that.

We went back into the park Saturday around 6 or 7, still noticed Magnum did not have much of a line, so went on that real quick. Walked up by Dragster and it was down, so we kept going up to the front. Got a quick ride on Iron Dragon, went into the front of the park for a while looked around in the arcade. By this time it was getting late and it was dark. We then find a place to sit over by the new gaming area to watch the fireworks. I was quite impressed with the fireworks too. Got back in the cabin around 10:40 or so.

Sunday went into the park around 9:40 or so, I thought the gates didn't open till 9:30, but I guess they opened earlier. We went over to Millennium right away, cause Dragster wasn't ready yet, the line was already about 30-40 minutes long and it wasn't even 10 am yet! We waited anyway and got that over with. After that we went back towards Mean Streak and noticed it was stuck, so we came back to that later. While we were in the red train, we made it about half way out of the station, and the trained stopped! we sat there for about 5 minutes then the ride op came and undid our lapbar, I guess the green train got stuck on the midcourse break. We wern't gonna wait, cause I guess this is why it was broken earlier in the day. Took a quick spin on Gemini, then headed back to the cabin to get something to eat. We went back in the park around 5:30 or so, and it was emptying out. I took another quick ride on the Magnum, then went back to see if the Mean Streak was running, it was. But, when I got up there, they decided to take the gold train off cause of no line. So I waited about 10 minutes and eventually it opened back up, no line at all, got two quick rides. That was about it for the night.

Monday, Checked out at 9am, we asked what time the gates opened they said they were open right then, at 9, we get over there, they said they dont open till 9:30, so go figure. We waited about 20 minutes then they opened, got over to Dragster and it was open and ready! We were on the blue train, the first people train of the day. Took another quick ride on Dragster, there was no line. Then headed over to Millennium. Again, it had no line, except there were only two trains running, the yellow train had the water dummies still in, it was going around with them for a while. Got two quick rides on that in under 30 minutes. Then went back to mean streak, got two rides on that with two trains operating. By this time it was noon, went over to Magnum, got a ride in with two trains running. Then went back over to dragster, there was still no wait. Got on twice in about 20-25 minutes. After this we went walking around then we left around 2, and had a good meal over at famous Daves.

A few questions.
Did anyone notice how they charge tax on all the food, drinks now? It seems pretty stupid. An order of regular fries is 3.79, then with tax it comes out to 4.06. So then they have to count out 94 cents in change most of the time, cause not many people will bring change with them. Another thing that wondered me was we got the Maxair cup filled up at one place in the front and it cost 2.03, and another time it was 2.04. I am not going to ask how that happened, I dont know if sales tax is more in the front of the park than the back or what. I just don't understand why they have to charge Sales tax on food. I know last year the price of tax was already included on everything but this year its just getting crazy, they raised the price of most of the food items and add tax on top of it, the prices are getting really outrageous. But overall it was a good trip, with Monday being the empties for sure, ended up with 5 rides on Dragster total, and 3 on Millennium.

A word about sales tax at Cedar Point:

Cedar Point is located in Erie County which has a sales tax rate of 7% until July 1, 2005, when it is scheduled to drop to 6.5%. The 1 cent difference in the two locations was caused by the programming on the registers and the way that they round the decimals. Most commercially available cash registers have two settings for rounding decimals. I am not sure if this is the case at Cedar Point but I would guess it is. That is what it sounds like anyway, that some registers are on one setting and some are on another.

The first setting is 5/4 meaning that if it is over a cent by less than 1/4 of a cent it will round down, if over 1/4 of a cent it will round up. Other registers are just on the .5 cent rule which means that if it is under .5 of a cent it will round down, if at or over .5 of a cent it will round up.

Hopefully that 1 cent doesnt make a big difference in your budget, but I certainly understand how it can be frustrating to carry around 96 cents in change all day. I personally wish they would just round everything off like they used to. Maybe after it changes in July.

Another thing I was wondering, why don't they ask for the resort ID card when trying to get into the park early? For example, I went over to the gate Monday morning at 9:30 and they didn't even ask to see Joe Cool Club or anything. All of last year this happened, and we have never been questioned before. I mean why advertise why you can get in early with joe cool and if you stay at the resorts, and everyone else can get in too without being questioned. I did go in by Magnum, and was with someone with a wheelchair, and it was one of the managers that let us through the line, and we asked why don't you check to see if were resort members? He said we'll are you? We said yes, you want to see the card? He said no no, I believe you. So it goes to show that they dont even check. So I dont understand why they even offer it. All the other people that arn't resort members get in too, so it dont matter what time we try to go in.

They offer it to sell more rooms. Most people won't even try to get in early if they are not a resort guest.

I agree, this is a loophole that should be closed. As more people figure out that you can get into the park before the official opening time; I think it will be. CP just doesn't want to deal with that hassle right now.

But they will have to, eventually, I suspect.

MrScott
*** Edited 5/10/2005 9:44:38 PM UTC by MrScott***

And how hard was it to carry around the maXair cup all day while riding. We were going to buy one but was weary of trying to ride with it. Was it small enough to fit in a pocket?

No, it's pretty big, not as tall as the Dragster Cups, but much bigger around the middle. I ended up waisting 8 bucks on the stupid thing because the locker "dollar to coin" change thing wasn't working, so we couldn't put it back in the locker and ride rides. Since they have storage bins on Raptor, maXair, Wicked Twister, and other rides, I think they'll let you put them in there, but on ride they say no.

Tried to do that on Magnum, wouldn't let me put it on the other side of the station either. So I ended up waisting 8 bucks because I had nothing to do with it, and cash was low so we didn't bother renting one on the other side of the park. Next time I know that we will absolutely get a locker in the front of the park, not one where you have to pay $1 to open it ever time

</rant>

Only shoes (loose fitting ones) are allowed in station bins from now on. Anything else must stay out of the line.

I as well noticed that the totals for even just a pop came out to an odd amount . In the past it always came out to an even dollar or half dollar. Hopefully after the tax change things will even out. Losing change on a ride after getting a drink sucks. But then again who wants to carry around change?

When I get thoes big cup's, I wait till the end of the day. Or buy it and put it in a locker.