Opening Weekend - Hotel, Food, More. (Also Very Long)

The continuing adventures of Tank at Cedar Point on Opening Weekend.

FRIDAY EVENING

I suspect many a Cedar Point employee from just about every department will remember the 2006 opening Day for years to come. Not having ever been employed by CP, I can only imagine what behind-the-scenes drama takes place on any normal day, much less on Opening Day. However, one can’t help but notice when the drama spills over into the guests’ experience, as it most certainly did this year. A fair number of guests will also be talking about this Opening Day as the years pass.

For me, it began some weeks ago at the beginning of April, when I made my reservations for a package at the Breakers Express, for the opening weekend of Cedar Point’s 137th season. My wife, daughter and I would combine family visits and activities with the opening of the park. What a relaxing way to forget the stress of several consecutive weeks of long working hours, school activities and the stresses associated with living in early 21st century America!

In addition, messages on the PointBuzz forum were promising a nice picnic with PointBuzz regulars who were going to be at Cedar Point on Opening Day. It was building up to be a great weekend! Being a recently-minted enthusiast of the pleasures of coaster-riding, after a two-decade hiatus, I had made a small promise to myself, to attempt to be in the front seat, of the front car, of the first regular-guest train dispatched on the Magnum XL-200 for the 2006 season. No small ambition, but perhaps an attainable one.

Expecting a promised letter of confirmation for the reservation, I waited some weeks, and finally called CP Central Reservations to confirm the reservation, and request a 2nd confirmation letter. The operator who took my call mentioned that a letter had been sent, however, he would be happy to send another. Some days later, both letters showed up, with different postmarks, so the original was merely delayed some days on the journey from Sandusky to Sunbury, a distance of 80-odd miles. Ah, but I had both letters, so I had certainly confirmed my reservation. Delays can be common.

We checked into the without difficulty at the Breakers Express on Friday, May 5th at about 9:00pm. First day open for the hotel. We were greeted enthusiastically and sincerely by the front-desk staff. Dayna assisted us at check in. She was very efficient and polite, and explained all of the package elements to us. Having used this package two or three times in the past, I was very familiar with the material, however, I allowed her to complete her narration nonetheless. The young man on duty with her also welcomed us, was politely solicitous and bade us enjoy our stay at the Breakers Express and to have a great weekend at Cedar Point.

Unfortunately, our desk clerk Dayna directed me, on the map, to an entry door quite far from our room. After pointing out to her that our room was almost adjacent to an outside exit to the rear parking area, she informed us that those doors weren’t available to the guests as the card readers were not installed. So, when hauling our baggage in, we took the long way. After divesting ourselves of our baggage, I checked the nearby exit door, and found it fully functional. Needless to say, we moved the car.

As it happens, Walt Schmidt was about 5 minutes behind me checking in, although I did not know it was him next to me at the hotel desk at the time. I saw him in the hall the next morning, and my PointBuzz shirt caught his attention, and we had a nice meet-and-greet at that time.

We left our things and departed quickly to visit my brother, who lives in Sandusky. We did not return until nearly midnight. At that time, I wanted to check the weather for my visit to Cedar Pojnt the next day. I turned on the TV to find nothing but snow, on channel after channel. Some investigation revealed that the cable pigtail from the wall to the television was missing!

I called the desk, asking for more towels, which is automatic when you travel with two women, one of whom is a teenager! I also requested a 6:30am wakeup call and someone to perhaps bring me a cable for the TV. The desk told me they would inform the housekeeping manager on duty. Not too long after, Jovan showed up with my towels, but did not know about the cable. I described the situation, and said that if he would snag one from an empty room, I would be happy to connect it myself! Jovan said he would check, and he left. Returning about 10 minutes later, he regretfully informed me that he would be unable to get me a cable, and that an electrician would have to bring me one the next morning. He couldn’t even snag one from an empty room for me. Well, at midnight and after, there’s not much you can do about that, so you just smile, say thanks, and you don’t ruin Jovan’s night by being an idiot about things. Of course, I’m very happy that I set the alarm on the clock-radio, because I never received the wake-up call from the desk. Of course, I spent many years in the hotel business, and that kind of thing just happens. There’s not really much you can do but apologize to the guest.

In retrospect, I sure wish I had been able to see the Weather Channel. It would have helped me dress more comfortably for all the time I was destined to spend near the top of the Magnum lift hill the next morning…

SATURDAY MORNING

After the excitement of the Magnum walk-down and a little time chatting with Jerry, Randy, Crash & company, it was time to head for the front of the park for the PointBuzz picnic. I retrieved my daughter’s brownies, and set off toward the front, intending to go by way of the Hot Potato, to check out the perch on the way by. In front of the Gourmet Pretzel stand by the Sky Ride, I encountered my father, eating muffins and drinking juice, and feeding the birds on the midway. So, I sat with him for a while, relating the story of the Magnum walk-down for his entertainment. We talked trains and grandkids and Cedar Point, until it was time to move along and get the perch and go to the picnic. I told dad we would stop by on Sunday afternoon and I headed off toward the Oceana midway and the Hot Potato.

There was no line at the window, and I stepped up to order. The perch was not bad at all. It was CP-priced, of course. After some questioning back and forth, it was determined that you have to push the “perch sandwich” button on the register for a perch-only order The combo was perch & fries for 7.49, but, as I was on my way to the picnic, I only wanted perch. So, for 4.95 I got my perch fillet. Yup, that's singular. It was not a tiny fillet, I will admit it was a fairly large piece of fish, but it was all alone in that paper boat. It was nicely done, crunchy on the outside, and the perch inside was cooked completely, but was not overcooked. Doubtless an IQF product, but a fairly high-end product, not lame at all.

For finally being able to munch a perch fillet and look out on Lake Erie from the concrete of a CP midway, I'd give it about a 7 out of 10. Now, if they can do that in mid-July when the line is 30 people deep and the oil keeps cooling down and taking longer to cycle, remains to be seen. But, this time around it was good, and I enjoyed it as I walked along the beach midway, and then through kiddie land toward the picnic areas at the front of the park.

After dodging the OSU Spring Marching Band at the front gate, I came out of the park and went over to the picnic area on the lake side of the entrance. There was a nice group of PointBuzz people already there, and a really pretty cake with coasters on it. I introduced myself to a variety of people, and the picnic was a great time. My wife and daughter joined me, and we chatted and ate chili dogs and just generally enjoyed ourselves. My daughter’s brownies were met with their usual acclaim. This time around they had white chocolate chips in them.

After the picnic, following which I got to keep the yummy New Castle hot dog chili sauce that Coaster King & Coaster Queen had brought, my family and I headed out of the park, to do some other local activitites, notable among them: visiting a few wineries! After a Magnum walk-down, a glass of wine sounded pretty darn good! Thus followed a visit to two wineries and Cheesehaven, and the home of some area friends. After this excursion which we retired to our room at the Breakers Express, enjoyed our wine and cheese, and settled into our comfortable beds. There we were, snug and safe after our exciting day. Nothing amiss to disturb our restful slumber.

Well, nothing amiss until 3:03am, when the fire alarm at the Breakers Express was triggered. Normally a fire alarm will shut off after a few seconds, indicating perhaps a false alarm, or some employee intervention. Not this one. It continued, and we began to hear the sounds of doors closing and people moving after a few seconds. We checked the door without opening it. No heat, no smoke underneath. So we have a few seconds to gather things. We grab the irreplaceable items, take a few seconds to put shoes on and we are ready to leave the room in probably less than two minutes from the time the alarm sounded. I open the door, and see people evacuating the hotel in a fairly orderly fashion, in a hurry, but not panicking, and mostly at the other end of the hall, near the elevator lobby. Our end, near the rear parking area was fairly quiet. Leaving only bulk items like the cooler and suitcases with clothing, we left the room and exited to the parking lot.

Once outside, we looked around but were unable to detect any secondary indications of fire. Shortly after exiting the building, the alarm sound stopped, but the emergency strobes continued. People took to their cars, and the tour busses fired up, and the passengers started to load onto them. There we sat for fifteen or twenty minutes. There were a number of speculative conversations. Once we heard a siren, but it didn’t seem like it came close to our hotel. After a time, a girl wearing a sweatpants outfit with the name PINK emblazoned down the side came by, and mentioned in passing that “somebody up by the front door said it was OK to go back inside”. She then entered the building.

On that note, a number of people started to return to the building. We hung out for a few minutes, watching people enter the building. After seeing numerous people enter, and no one leaving in panic, we decided it was probably safe to re-enter the building. Not once during this affair did we see either a representative of the hotel, or a fire department official. That was somewhat disconcerting. Needless to say, it was getting on toward 4:30am by the time I felt like I could sleep comfortably. I didn’t like it.

After all of that excitement, and no TV cable at check-in and just everything about this weekend, you would think that nothing else could happen that would be able to mar the great time I was having at Cedar Point. You’d be wrong.

SUNDAY

You see, while I was off “conquering” Magnum the hard way, my wife was in the room, working on her lap top. At intervals, she would connect to the Internet to check her work email. Short bursts, 15, maybe 25 minutes at a time. After all, it was just a 26 kbps dialup connection. She was connecting to Earthlink on a Huron, Ohio number, dialing through the local exchange, to a 567 area code. Apparently, however, no one ever told their PBX system about the 567 area code being local, because our friendly little 5:00am letter, in addition to having no manner of explanation about the previous night’s excitement, showed a balance due of about $92.00 for long-distance phone charges.

Imagine my surprise! Their system had charged me a variety of obnoxious long-distance rates depending on time of connection, duration, etc. I was certainly aware that 567 was a local area code for Sandusky. I had seen several numbers in the area using the area code, and had also verified the location online when I was doing the lookup for Earthlink connection numbers to use if I didn’t have broadband handy. I knew that the 567 number I used was local. There were also some 419 area code calls, charged at normal local call rates. Seventy five cents, a buck. That kind of thing. I didn’t know they charged for local calls, but I wasn’t worried about a couple of bucks. Ninety-two dollars, however, is another matter.

The blue tag to whom I spoke first listened to my reasoning, and consulted her manager. I do not know if Christie is the General Manager of the Breakers Express, or a Manager-On-Duty. In any event, she ruled that the 419 calls were local, and they would adjust those off the bill as a courtesy, but the 567 calls were long distance, and I had to pay the charges. So they knocked a couple of bucks off my bill, and I ended up paying the 90-odd dollars for phone charges. I did request the manager’s business card, and I did inform the blue tag in a very polite and respectful tone that I would be contacting Cedar Point management by other methods. I also told her that I felt this was no fault of hers, and I certainly wasn’t holding her responsible for the situation. I put the charges on the AMEX and left.

After departure, we make the aforementioned visit to my dad’s house. He’s giving me some model trains and stuff he wanted me to have. While we’re doing that I’m telling him the sad tale of the fire alarm and the 92.00 in phone charges, with full orchestration, and five-part harmony. Then I said I needed to look up some local numbers with the 567 area code, so I could prove to the people at Cedar Point that they actually charged me long distance charges for local calls.

I had him Google these terms: Area Code 567 Huron Ohio. There near the top of the list was a link to a press-release by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the PUCO, dated year 2000, explaining the 567 local area code overlay on area code 419. In other words, 567 was paired up with 419 in this area for local calls. Another link led to a lovely color-keyed map of Ohio, showing the complete breakdown of the state by area code. We printed these pages, and after leaving dad’s place we went back to the Breakers Express.

The same blue tag was working the desk. Her name was Maria. I asked if the manager, Christie was there, but was told that she had gone over to the Hotel Breakers. She asked if she could help me. We quickly revisited the long distance call discussion, and I politely showed her the PUCO release, and the Ohio map. As I am finishing my explanation with words to the effect of “so, you see, that makes the 567 calls local…” one of her desk clerks comes around the corner, hears me say it, and says to Maria, “567, that’s my phone. That’s Nextel around here” Maria asks where she lives, and the desk clerk says “just right around the corner”.

At that point, I mentioned that what I was looking for was someone with the authority to adjust those long distance charges off my card. She said she could do that, and based on the material I provided to her, she would do so. I thanked her very kindly, and also left the PUCO materials with her. I suggested that she might like to post them for everyone to see, so this doesn’t happen again. I also suggested that she call IT and have someone come and tell their PBX that 567 calls are local. I thanked her again, and we were on our way.

After the Breakers Express we went to Port Clinton to the Coffee Express shoppe, for a yummy latte, and then to the in-laws home. My wife and daughter attended the mother-daughter banquet at her mom’s church, where her dad has recently retired from as pastor. Which left me on my own again.

I had originally planned to use this time to go back to Cedar Point, and get additional Magnum ride time for the weekend. However, I felt that I had experienced enough of Cedar Point and the Cedar Point Resorts for one weekend. Looking for quieter surroundings, I took the laptop to East Harbor. As this is paragraph is being written, I am sitting near the beach at East Harbor State Park on Marblehead. It’s a quiet Sunday evening. Only the sounds of the wind and the lake and the seagulls can be heard. The sun is dropping low in the west. I typed the first few paragraphs of this report, then went for chili dogs at RJ’s Twists and More, a locally-owned and operated refreshment stand shaped like an ice-cream sundae, and located just a stone’s throw from the East Harbor entrance

After munching the dogs while watching the rollers on Lake Erie, I walked on the beach and checked out the washed up shells and polished rocks at the water line. The beach was flat and deserted, the setting sun was still warm. The waves of Lake Erie made the tops of my canvas Chuck Taylors wet. I liked it.

No Monday?

As a long time fan of cedar point, i have never had a problem
at a cedar point resort. I would hope the problems you
experienced were not just because the express is a value
resort. I am staying there may 21-23rd and when i return
home, i will give my trip report. The only problem i ever
had with a hotel was a hampton inn. They charged my credit
card $33 for nothing. This was done on my second day there
and i did not find out until i returned home. I complained
and had the charge removed. I will not stay there again.