Opening Day Review: A Big Mess

I showed up at noon on Sunday and stayed until closing. I was very pleasantly surprised as to how well things went. Even Maverick stayed running the entire time I was in line which started in a small section of the original queue.
My only complaints are about the food. The chicken and mushroom dish at Panda Express was absolutely disgusting.
And while the Buffalo chicken fingers at the Frontier Inn were VERY good, I was very disappointed to see that they decided not to keep the salads at the Frontier Inn on the season food pass menu. This was the dish that made me decide to buy the pass in the first place. I guess I will have to get the fingers with the side salad and just peel the breading off of it.

Miss_Maverick07 said:

he looks RIGHT at her

It's possible he was looking in her direction but not necessarily at her. When I'm at work in the box office, the person having their picture taken with a Blue Man across the lobby may think I'm looking right at them when in fact -- if it's one of the three very sexy (one has an Australian accent -- *swoon*) guys that play Blue Men in Chicago I'm looking at.

Marcie916 said:

I think these are many of the same people that are the ones in the enthusiast clubs....

I've been a member of ACE since the mid-80s and I've seen very little of this going on at ACE events. I think it's not so much that there are a lot of entitled enthusiasts in the world as that there's just a segment of the population at large that feels entitled.

Anecdote: I was at work, the show was starting soon, people were picking up their tickets, and a woman just walked past the line to my window, pushed the woman at the window aside and said "I paid with American Express. I don't have to wait in this line, do I?" My response: stare of death, a monotone "Yes. You do." and when she finally arrived back at the window, considerable "difficulty" in finding her tickets.

A significant financial loss, yes, but I'd have made a critical decision to let all the vehicles pass at the toll booths without payment. Just let them in. And consequently all traffic for the remainder of the day. We weren't prepared, our bad. Let's not inconvenience these guests jammed on the water any longer. Unacceptable.

Zoug68 said:

I was very disappointed to see that they decided not to keep the salads at the Frontier Inn on the season food pass menu. This was the dish that made me decide to buy the pass in the first place. I guess I will have to get the fingers with the side salad and just peel the breading off of it.

You are in luck. Cedar Point has put back the specialty salad per the CP Food Blog and its back up on the dining plan options on CP's website.

They weren't even scanning platinum passes - at least not in the line I was in. So the reality is, they were pushing cars through faster than normal. And every single toll booth was open.

Didn't get my pass scanned either, just had to show it. Same procedure was in place at Carrowinds when I went to passholder preview night, but they didn't even bother stopping anyone they just waved you through instead of having to physically show a pass.

When I first started getting season passes to CP there was no such thing as perks for pass holders. If you wanted parking, you bought a separate season parking pass. No discounts, no early entry, no late night ERT, no passholder preview days. Just the ability to get into the park at a greatly discounted price if you attend frequently. People found lots of value in that and were satisfied. I'm shaking my head at this attitude that people have now that they should be special for no reason at all.

Augustmueller said:

A significant financial loss, yes, but I'd have made a critical decision to let all the vehicles pass at the toll booths without payment. Just let them in. And consequently all traffic for the remainder of the day. We weren't prepared, our bad. Let's not inconvenience these guests jammed on the water any longer. Unacceptable.

So you are saying every time there is a backup on the Causeway just to let everyone park for free? What about every busy day during the summer when cars are backed up out past Castaway Bay? Its just a fact of life that traffic will be backed up when the park is busy. Ive been caught past the Causeway waiting to get in the park numerous times. There's only so many people they can get in at a time.

Pete said:

When I first started getting season passes to CP there was no such thing as perks for pass holders. If you wanted parking, you bought a separate season parking pass.

I remember those days. Didn't the parking pass have to be fixed to one car only? I think I remember having to decide which car to put it on and make sure we always drove that car to the park.

Yes, and I hated having those damn stickers on my car. Legend has it that there were spectacular battles about this, with Dick Kinzel vs. everyone else. Kinzel was sure that not using the stickers would lead to fraud or less revenue or something.

I remember those stickers. And I remember having two on my car during the Geauga Lake years, one for CP and one for GL.

I also remember during the Worlds of Adventure era at GL purchasing a set number of parking tickets with the season pass. Use them all up? You had to buy more.

Pay to park serves two purposes for the business. Added revenue and perhaps crowd control. I've been going to the same large concert venue for years. Sometimes the cost of parking is included with the ticket. Yes an increased initial cost for everyone (non drivers included) but as a trade off absolutely no wait to get in. No siting on the exit ramp or on the side of the highway for hours. I would go on to argue that the folks stuck in traffic are also sacrificing precious money spending time! Get them in. Keep them happy and keep them spending!

Here's an idea. Hook up with easy pass and have several easy pass lanes. Problem solved. Everyone's happy.

It's not a bottleneck issue, it's a volume issue.

We didn't get to the park until after 6 on Saturday. There were things I didn't get to ride but I got in 6 coasters and Dodgems in less than 4 hours after 6 months of nothing so I'm happy. I only waited half an hour for Valravn and walked right up the steps and literally straight into the train for GateKeeper. My biggest problem was probably that my butt got bigger over winter but I can't think of any way to blame that on the park. I went home happy.

So, about that 100 deck off-site parking garage...

Augustmueller said:

... but I'd have made a critical decision to let all the vehicles pass at the toll booths without payment. Just let them in.

And while we're at it, let's make a critical decision to let people have their groceries for free when there are really long lines at the checkout lanes, and let people into football stadiums for free when there are really long lines at the ticket booths, and let people have their meals for free when there's a two-hour wait for a table at a restaurant.

I get it: the causeway "toll" is simply a profit point for Cedar Fair. But it's the price you have to pay for not taking the Chausee*. Waiting in lines comes with the territory when you visit an amusement park. It's 2016. We have the Internet. If you choose to go on a day that, historically, is going to be busy, well, that was your choice.

*Okay, I don't actually remember what the cost is at the Chausee gate, but I couldn't resist the rhyme :-)

Parking costs exactly the same regardless of which road you take.

Pete said:
When I first started getting season passes to CP there was no such thing as perks for pass holders. If you wanted parking, you bought a separate season parking pass. No discounts, no early entry, no late night ERT, no passholder preview days. Just the ability to get into the park at a greatly discounted price if you attend frequently. "...

...and WE LIKED IT!

I remember the year I blew a head gasket in my car and had to argue with them for the whole month of July because technically the sticker on the car was NOT the parking pass, the accompanying paperwork was. It said so right on the paperwork. The following year I wrecked my car and had to go through the same dance again. I paid extra for the Joe Cool Club specifically so that I didn't have to have that damn sticker; I don't think I used any of the other benefits.

At Kings Island's pass preview the toll booths were unmanned. But then, every person in the park was a pass holder, and at Kings Island every pass sold before Memorial Day is a "gold" pass which includes parking. Cedar Point doesn't have gold passes, and standard CP passes do not include parking.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.