Opening Day Review: A Big Mess

There should be NO COMPLAINING about anything at Cedar Point. There shouldn't be anywhere in this world today like your family and friends. Roller Coasters or any rides that Break Down won't be as hurt when a family or a close friend that gets sick or has passed away. Let everyone settle down with their problems.

Other than Mean Streak and the water rides all rides were open.

I was at Cedar Point the past 2 days and somehow did not witness the utter chaos, worst day ever mess that some here are describing.

The worst part of this weekend at the point occurred around 830 PM Saturday evening when our server at Famous Daves informed us that the taps were broken. It took everything I had to contain my rage for a few moments. Luckily, and with no time to spare our server arrived with an ice cold Killians and a very frosted over glass ( that I wanted but forgot to ask for). Mere seconds later order was restored.

This just in: An opening weekend with a new ride and good weather will be busy. And sometimes, the ride reliability and crew efficiency isn't what it is a few weeks in. You won't believe what happened next!

The funpix system is very broken. The photos you see and add to your pass on the kiosks arent what actually shows up. It comes up with a photo with a border that cropped me out 9/10 of my photos I added today. Only rougarou worked

Somehow the chaos and mess was overlooked by the happy faces walking the midways this weekend. All of the people enjoying themselves must not be nearly as intuitive and observant as some Point Buzzers.

Aside from losing my phone on one of the coasters and it breaking into a million pieces, I had a good time. The weather was good (Until the sun went down and the winds picked up) and the lines weren't too terribly long. Except Valravn... The queue was full and it went all the way around to the midway and beyond. I had a fast lane pass and it was still a 45 minute wait. The Season Pass place was chaos and the line was all the way out to the parking lot. I do think that they were on top of it and tried their best to make it go as fast as possible though.

I can see there is still lots of work to do this week while they are closed. The Valravn queue seemed like it needed some touch ups. the arched parts of the wall looked like it was intended for wall decor of some sort. Right now it's blank and just looks odd. Same for the 'mysterious' wall

Yes, after reading these comments I should have followed up that I did indeed still have a great time even with the small glitch of the season pass (updated pic) processing. The staff at the pass center was very accommodating in getting the problem fixed very quickly, so I should have mentioned that. I don't think I've had a bad day at the point for at least 25 years when I was there with an ex who passed out in the Mean Streak line after waiting 2+ hours in the blazing sun. Guess, that was a sign, huh? haha.

Anyhow, yes a bad day at the point is better than any good day at work, very true, and the problems that some of us might have experienced with this opening day will be long forgotten by our next visits. Good positive comments guys!!

Totally agree, I had a blast this weekend and thought it went amazingly smooth. My wife wanted to sign up for Funpix but I told her we should wait a few weeks because I assumed their would be some glitches. But all in all I had a fantastic time. I got to ride my favorite rides in the world, spent 3 days with my wife at our happy place, got my platinum pass processed so now i can spend my entire summer here, and got to stock up on some new merch.

The food lines were a bit slow but I went on Magnum right after and guess what...i was happy again! My wife even got pooped on by a seagull and the first question she asked when we left was "we are coming for opening day Friday right?" So this weekend and the park was awesome!

I went on both the First Rider Event and then today. I really had a great time just walking the park and looking at the changes. Got to ride everything I wanted (didnt care that Mean Streak was down). Passed on Valravn today since I rode it 9 times Thursday evening. Yes, there was some intermittent down time on some rides and staff are not operating a peak efficiency yet, but the overall experience was great. Didn't have any issues with my dining plan, all season drink or FunPix. Ever pic we had made showed up on the app and looked fine.

Not sure if I missed it somewhere, but Sky Hawk looks like its sporting new paint this year. And the marina entrance looks amazing. Walking the marina today makes me wish I had a bigger boat to dock there and party with Pete. Looking forward to spending next Friday-Sunday at Lighthouse Point with some family and friends.

We-o-we-oooo said:

If I'm to expect to not have the full park available to experience then why should said park expect people to pay the same price as any other day?

And if you go in August and a coaster's down as they wait on a part from the manufacturer? There's always going to be a risk that you're not going to have your "full park" experience.

The park expects people the same price on any given day because they're selling you access to the park and all operating rides and attractions.

Just my opinion, my opinion only. I think CP is losing sight of what really matters and used to set them apart from parks in the past. They've gotten into the all about the bottom dollar groove. It's just too bad.

Let me try to explain. Season pass holders used to be treated "special", i.e. Season pass holder preview night. Some pass holder preview night when you let the entire OSU alums in there as well and the park was a freakin mess. How about lettin OSU as big as they are rent the park out for a day like others do, i.e. Honda. Let the season pass holders who support the park by paying good money for perks enjoy a decent evening with others who paid to enjoy the same perks. Another example the new app doesn't give ride times unless your IN the park. As a season pass holder I some times make my decision to go when it's not super busy so I can get ample ride time in. Now they want me to come regards less so they can lure me to spend money or at least try to get me to spend money. Last ride nights used to be special but now it's always seems to be open to not only platinum pass holder but season pass holder and bring a friend nights. Used to be able to get tons a rides in on the one hour slot now your lucky to get a couple!

I feel for the people who spend good money and pay full price to get in and then get a handful of rides. I'd be pissed if I paid $65 to get innandninky got to ride a few good rides. I really think CP is pricing themselves out of the market if their not careful. They need to take an approach like Busch Gardens and limit the number of guests allowed in during a day to make it enjoyable for everyone. Yes it's had to turn people away but it is what it is, plan ahead. When people leave let more in. It works for Busch Gardens.

Just my thoughts. Stop trying to cram as many people in the park as you can to make a ton of money and ruin it it for the hard working paying guests.

I know I'll get slammed for this. But again my opinion. I know my family and I are second guessing passes for next year and we've had them for ten years strong now and the specialness of them just isn't there anymore.

I had a fantastic time Friday and Saturday! Friday, I arrived at 5:30 and headed to the marina gate. I waited until the gate opened, only to find a 3 hour line for Valravn. I decided to skip Valravn and walked right on Gatekeeper, Raptor, and MF. I took the rest of the night to take pics. I got some great night shots of Valravn, and headed back to Breakers Express to call it a night. On Saturday, I tried to go to the Marina gate around 8:30 and it was blocked off. I headed to the front gate where the line was already forming. I wasn't too far from the front, by 8:45 the line was well into the parking lot. I purchased Fast Lane plus at Breakers that morning, I went CP shop when the park opened to get our wristbands but the system was down, so I was told to go to guest services. There was a long line of others with the same issue. Kudos to the associates at guest services for getting to everyone as quick as possible, it took about 10 minuets to get through the line. After I got our Fast lane wristbands, I headed to Valravn and waited for it to open. There was already an anticipated 3 hour wait for the regular line, but I waited only 15 minuets to get my first ride on Valravn! I got a lot of rides on MF, Raptor, TTD, Rougarou, Maverick, PT, and Gatekeeper. The only other problem I ran into was with the all day dining plan. It took almost 15 minutes to try to process my plan, one of the food services managers said that there was a problem with the system. A few places didn't even bother to scan my wristband. I saw a few people take advantage of the system being down, they got meals without waiting the 90 minutes. Other than those small hiccups, the rest of the day was smooth sailing. I got some amazing front row rides on Valravn before it went down. I Had dinner at Frontier Inn and was really impressed, the chicken is amazing!!! After dinner, my last coaster of the night was Raptor. After Raptor, I raced on Cedar Downs, took an evening cruise on Cadillac Cars, took a spin on Mattahorn, and then headed back to Breakers Express for the night. Overall it was a great weekend at Cedar Point!

There was another incident that is worth mentioning, while the employees at the marina gate were busy scanning passes on Friday, some kids entered the park without paying. They walked into the park through the marina gate exit. I know the Marina gate is small, but with Valravn drawing more attention to that entrance, they may want to have an employee man that exit to keep people from entering the park without paying.

Staaber said:

They've gotten into the all about the bottom dollar groove.

They've always been "all about the bottom dollar groove." That's why there's a park for you to go in 2016.

Let the season pass holders who support the park by paying good money for perks enjoy a decent evening with others who paid to enjoy the same perks.

So the people who pay full price for admission, while season pass holders (depending on the frequency of SPH visits) are enjoying individual visits at a fraction of the gate price, aren't supporting the park by paying good money? There's a whole lot more of them than there are of folks like you.

Stop trying to cram as many people in the park as you can to make a ton of money and ruin it it for the hard working paying guests.

But all the many people crammed into the park are hard working paying guests.

Staaber said:

Another example the new app doesn't give ride times unless your IN the park. As a season pass holder I some times make my decision to go when it's not super busy so I can get ample ride time in. Now they want me to come regards less so they can lure me to spend money or at least try to get me to spend money.

The app has literally be active for 3 days now. You said you have been a season pass holder for 10 years so therefore the past 10 years you have managed to set up the days to come without the need of an app to tell you wait times to determine it was busy. Also the park has LIVE webcams on its website, simply go to the website, look at the cams and you will be able to tell if it is busy or not.

I just dont see how an app not letting you see wait times is some big scam to make you come when you maneuvered without the app for the past decade.

I've never seen CP look better than it did this weekend. The last several years that started by fixing up the Lake side with GK, Breakers, and the new Lakeside Pavillion were an incredible improvement. The new Gemini Midway, Rougarou transformation, and now Valravn and the new Marina entrance are once again well executed improvements.

Theres also the new paint on TTD and Raptor, Beach Blast, Brew and BBQ... And I'm sure there's much more I didn't mention.

If this is what losing sight of what matters looks like, please bring more of it. If this is what only caring about the bottom line looks like, once again please continue doing just that.

My pass lets me into CP everyday I want to go there, everything else is simply an added bonus. Ride nights don't mean much of anything to me as my experience with them thus far hasn't been the best. That isn't because of the park, but rather the entitled pass holders who act more like immature teens than an adult. There's nothing more cool than a 50 year old guy pushing in front of my 8 year old son on MF to get an extra ride on the 55 year old entitled tween he's "competing" against...

I would just like to point out the hard work CP has put in to not only commission rides prior to opening, but staff locations during this month. It's very hard, and employees have worked their butts off to make the park as beautiful as it does right now. So for that, thank you all associates at CP for trying to deliver the Best Day experience to your guests even though I'm sure it's tough right now. Everybody has started this season off with such a positive attitude from my experience

I didn't make it to the park until Sunday afternoon. I would have been earlier except for the half hour waiting for trains (yes, plural) to clear the crossing at Siam...

Anyway, "big mess" is how I would describe the Go Kart track and Shoot the Rapids. Otherwise...not so much.

In fact, what I did notice is that while Raptor and Dragster got the obvious attention, EVERY coaster car I rode in today looked like it was in nearly new condition. Many were freshly painted (Iron Dragon even got a new airbrush treatment on the lead cars), most of the seat belts were new, and all the s at cushions were clean.

Of course all of this is even more noticeable because of another park I visited recently where all the trains look like they weren't even dusted off after last season...no, I'm not naming names, but I will say it's only a 3.5 hour drive from Cedar Point...

There were a couple of issues. Two of us got trapped on the Blue Streak because the inboard seat belt ends are too damn short, and an employee at the former Hot Potato was very friendly, but glacially slow and glaringly incompetent. Up on Valravn the number of empty seats dispatched served to add evidence to my hypothesis that assigning seats actually *reduces* capacity. But in general, the park seemed much more ready for action today than it did last year. Now last year's opening weekend...THAT was a big mess!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(Edit: Named the wrong fry joint.)

This looks different:

MaXair's restraints have been refreshed. The upper portion is black now.

The new Valravn microbrew was delicious. Had a glass at Surf Lounge.

People complaining about it being busy on Friday night are a bit ridiculous. I rode Magnum twice, Mine Ride, ate chicken, walked the whole park, spending a bunch of time just watching Valravn, ran into old friends, rode Corkscrew, etc. Gatekeeper and Raptor had relatively short waits so I probably could have done them too. Oh and I didn't get in until 7:45 because of our own slowness. Not a bad three and a half hours in the park. I don't feel like they screwed me over as a season pass holder by letting a group pay big bucks to rent the place one day earlier than they let me in or that they even owed me being there on Friday night in the first place. If they start making opening weekend the beginning of June and closing completely the last week of August, then I'll complain or re-evaluate my pass purchase. Until then, I'll find plenty of less busy times to visit the park.

Valravn not taking its first passengers on Saturday until 9:58 AM was a disappointment and I'm not really sure what the deal was. Heard the line was back to Magnum by the time they took their first guest. I observed them doing what appeared a block check at about 9:15 which is after they were supposed to be open. Water dummies were present until at least 9:30 or 9:45. Not sure if it was a staffing issue (I know they had a late night on Friday, but you have to be ready for opening day) or if the ride was being temperamental. I do think getting rides ready to go on time in the morning has become an issue that needs to be addressed. I don't think I am entitled to 2 hours of ERT because of a $185 card (even though it says PLATINUM) I bought that gives me entry for the entire season while people that pay $300 and up per night at Breakers should only get one hour. I just think they should deliver what they advertise to both groups.

Did get to finally ride Valravn right around 11 and the ride itself is great. The view and the pause at the top of the first dive are amazing and the rest of it is better than I expected it to be. Hoping they can get the capacity up a bit because I'd estimate they weren't exceeding 700 per hour.

As the day unfolded, lines on rides not named Valravn were not that terrible. I saw some other rides down intermittently (Mean Streak wasn't ready or wasn't staffed, but no big loss), but on the whole, the park seemed better prepared for opening day than the last few years.

There do seem to be some issues with Funpix that I hope they can iron out. Magnum was only capturing half of the train or something and we had a couple pics we probably lost due to a supposed wifi issue. I do like the photo spots they've added throughout the park and adding it to Wilderness Run was a great idea for kids.

Our family was there Sunday and had a great day. Pretty much rode everything we wanted to except for Maverick. I'd say the park was a little busier than what we've come to expect on Mothers Day, but that's to be expected with the hype up for Valravn. Here are my likes/dislikes:

Likes:

-Valravn. Great new coaster. I love the way it interacts with the midway, and the new midway is a wonderful and long overdue refresh to that corner of the park. It's a great smooth ride, and the view is unprecedented in the park IMO. For me, it would still rank behind Millennium and GK, but that's splitting hairs.

-Aesthetic improvements. New marina gate, new larger patio area at Trail Tavern, new paint jobs, just everything looking better all around. The park just looked brighter, cleaner, fresher, etc. to me.

-Lockers at Magnum. Not that I ever need to use a locker, but this is a nice addition with the no loose articles policy. Now, if we could just convince them to do the same thing at Maverick. lol

-New app. For the most part, I found the wait times to be close enough. It was very quick to update when a ride went down, and when it came back up.

-Employees were all smiling and friendly. Special shout out to the young man working the antique cars who was making a special effort to wish every mom a happy mother's day. Contrast this to our trip to Kings Island a couple weeks ago where half the staff really didn't look like they could give a crap about doing their jobs well. This never seems to be the case at CP.

Dislikes (and these are nitpicking because we had a wonderful day):

-Beginning of the day entry at the main entrance. In short, it was one gigantic cluster----. We had intented to go in thru the Marina gate, but while my wife and son were walking down to it as I got my daughter ready, they passed a bunch of people heading back and were told that the Marina gate was only letting in boat owners from the Marina. Instead of going down to check themselves, they came back and we went in the main gate. We ended up on the farthest right hand side of lines going in. At about two minutes to 9:00, a supervisor came out and told us that the line we were in would not be open for early entry, and was kind of nasty about telling us that we "ignored" the signs stating that only the left side was open. In short, there were no signs. Couple that with there seeming to be a lot of problems with passes and tickets scanning, getting thru the gate was quite an adventure.

-Fast Lane merge point for Valravn. It's the same as Maverick. Fast Lane merges right at the top of the stairs for the station. This has the potential to really bog down the normal line. We got in line about 10 till 5 and the line was moving along pretty good. Probably would've been an hour wait at that point. There was a protein spill when we were about 2 turns from the stairs, and it shut it down for about 15 minutes. After the ride came back up, they were doing about 50/50 filling the trains with Fast Lanes. I'm sure there are bugs to be worked out but I'm wondering how this line will move when we get into the summer. Just my opinion, but I think the lines flow better when you have merge points away from the station like GK and MF.

-A lot of ride downtime, but hey, its opening weekend. No big deal. I'll be back up. LOL

-Chickies and Petes. Had lunch there, and service was iffy to say the least. The rest of my family got cheesesteaks and I got a burger. I had finished my burger before they even got their food. The excuse we got was because the cheesesteak is the one item on the dining plan, they were backed up on them. So, is there only one person cooking cheesesteaks?

All in all, it was a great day at the park, and my wife couldn't have asked for a better way to spend her Mother's Day. As multiple folks said above, even a "bad" day at CP is much better than most other good days.