Opening Day Review: A Big Mess

JUnderhill said:

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.

Indeed; we had the same issue. There's no excuse for this. They had plenty of time to prepare for this weekend and everyone knows they have a crystal ball that predicts breakdowns.

And to top it off, they didn't have Newcastle in bottles even though it was on the beer list!

Bait and switch money grubbing pigs!

Bret said:

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.

I got nailed there too. There were very small signs right up front on the posts of temporary line makers, or what ever they are called. Impossible to see if you weren't close to the front. I wonder why they didn't have the big sign above they entrance lit up with the arrows like I've seen them do in the past?

Compared to what I've been reading on here about Friday and Saturday, yesterday was actually a decent day. I didn't notice many glitches. I'm having a Funpix issue, but I've emailed them and hopefully they can get it resolved soon. And there wasn't a whole lot of downtime yesterday. Maverick went down while I was waiting, I bailed but saw it running again a few minutes later. And Valravn went down due to illness, but I saw it running most of the time yesterday. Last year's opening day and preview night made me not want to attend any future ones. Day 2 was night and day difference last year and looks like that was the case again this year, I'll probably stick with Day 2 in the future.

Yes in the past they've used the big marquee sign to point that out. I just made the assumption that since it wasn't up there that they had changed it from past years. I never did see a sign on any of the posts like you mentioned but there were so many people crowded around that it was impossible to see them anyway. I'm not really sure why they would limit the lines to one side with a large crowd anyway, or for that matter, why even differentiate at the main gate. The check points were already set up in the normal locations so it seems it would just be easier to just let everyone in thru the gate and then enforce early entry at the check point.

I was there Friday and Saturday. I had a good time both days. Things weren't perfect, but still a good time.

The good:

Valravn is excellent. The coaster and all of the improvements that came with it. The new Dodgems cars are really nice. The lights on them are cool and so are the colors.

The not so good:

I noticed parking went from $15 Friday to $18 Saturday. Not an issue for us with a Platinum Pass.

Went to the Midway Market Saturday soon after it opened. The line was not that long and the place was nearly empty, yet it took almost 30 minutes to get in. They had two registers open. The one cashier probably never worked a register before. She kept messing up and as a result she didn't move many customers through. Wristbands were not scanning properly either. Also, they ran out of silverware and plates when the room wasn't even 25% full. People standing around waiting for plates. One of the coke machines didn't work either. To top it off the men's room was a mess. Wet floors and counters and paper towels everywhere. It looked as if the towel bins had not been emptied after Halloweekends they were that full so soon after the place opened. I expect glitches on the first day, but they were not ready to open.

In other places in the park there were issues with the registers almost everywhere I tried to make a purchase. I had to wait until the cashier got things to work.

The line at Midway Market always tends to move slowly. How was it this year? We were disappointing last year. After virtually the same menu for 15+ years, we noticed a lack of some of our favorites last year, and some of the quality wasn't there.

Unfortunately Cartwright this year is the same as last. I wish they would bring back the pizza, hamburgers, and taco bar.

I was there all three days and had a good time. Friday was definitely more crowded than I anticipated, but the park seemed considerably more prepared than last year for the opening. I really enjoyed the whole Valravn experience, from the scenery to the ride itself, the park got it right with this addition. I already miss Chick-Fil-A in the back of the park but Famous Dave's has always been my favorite spot for food. In spite of the crowds and other minor issues, I got to ride Valravn in the front row, got a tweetup coin from Tony on Saturday, and a rollback on TTD Sunday morning. Sounds like a good weekend to me.

I prefer the old burgers and tacos too, but what they have now is OK. As I recall they changed the choices from time to time last year.

Don't get me wrong I love cedar point always will. Things have just changed and I think they are getting to big for their britches. Ever since Dick Kinzel left it seems things have been changing. I remember it being busy up there in the past but never ever like it's been recently. Just my observations. Crucify me if you want, just stating what I'm seeing.

Things have indeed been changing recently, but to me it is for the better. I'd say with the numbers Cedar Fair is reporting on the financial end that we can expect what has occurred over the past several years to continue as well.

Yea, I would agree that there has been change and for the better. I'd be curious to see if Kinzel would try to implement the kinds of changes we've seen in the past 4 years. My gut says no.

No way he would. There is a reason why the types of changes we have seen are different than those that happened under the Kinzel era.

Shades said:

Unfortunately Cartwright this year is the same as last. I wish they would bring back the pizza, hamburgers, and taco bar.

The pizza, burgers and taco bar are literally the three reasons we loved it so much and were bummed out last year. To new food adventures!

We skipped Friday night. However, we thought Saturday was a thousand times better than last year's opening day. Last year, we waited almost 4 hours for food between lunch and dinner, most of the rides were down, and it just seemed like chaos. Nothing was even close to that, this year. This year, especially considering it was a preview weekend, everything ran very smoothly. Most of the rides were running and loading at a good pace. The food stands with the dining plans and the all season bottles worked well. The new app looks very promising and we enjoyed the free ice cream on Saturday. Hotel Breakers was nice as usual, and Sunday was a very good day with most waits well under an hour. Our only negative was that Frontier Inn was inconsistent from Saturday to Sunday and they already are eliminating the specialty salads from the plan.

I just think their trying to cram too many people in to often. I just remember when it was crowded it was manageable. Yeah the rides were crowded but you could enjoy people watching on the midways. Now when it's crowded on a bad day you can't even enjoy that anymore. It's just miserable. I never remember it being backed up 2 miles on old cedar point road or even onto rye beach road.

I remember on the busiest days Gemini (my favorite ride still) only had a 10-15 min wait. That's when I set my own personal record of 42 times in a row. However they had three (3) of each train going at that time to. Wish they'd bring that back!

Just wish they'd find a way to limit the crowds. Make it somewhat more enjoyable from every aspect. Give everyone a chance to ride everything on a given day.

Cedar Point is still the best hands down, I just hope they don't price themselves out of business one day. They certainly know how to hit home runs time and time again that's for certain.

Cedar Point rules, Ride On!

I don't understand how you complain that the place is too crowded and then worry they are going to price themselves out of business in the same post.

While I don't have attendance figures, to me the crowds are pretty much spot on year after year. If you know when to go you can have a great experience. If you go on a summer weekend, an October Saturday, or Opening Day with great weather it is going to be busy. Those trends haven't changed in decades.

Cartwright said:

While I don't have attendance figures, to me the crowds are pretty much spot on year after year. If you know when to go you can have a great experience. If you go on a summer weekend, an October Saturday, or Opening Day with great weather it is going to be busy. Those trends haven't changed in decades.

Yes they have. Back in the 90's the crowds weren't half as bad. Sorry you are wrong.

Staaber said:

Ever since Dick Kinzel left it seems things have been changing.

That was kinda-sorta the idea.

Kevinj said:

Staaber said:

Ever since Dick Kinzel left it seems things have been changing.

That was kinda-sorta the idea.

Not necessarily for the worse though!