Ride cleanliness TONY PLEASE READ! :)

I never meant to bash the park or anything like that. I agree that there is always room for improvement and with something that is such a simple fix, I thought why not pass the suggestion to Tony. I detail cars on the side and pretty much use Magic Erasers for everything.

JasonH said:

I personally would not be deterred by the general dirty appearance of the foam restraints. While some of it may clean up, the majority of it is strictly from the thousands of people wearing it down day after day.

I got some news for you. The black you see on restraints and such is not just "wearing down." That's dirt, grime, sweat, cosmetics, lotions, body oils and bacteria. Yum.

Yes, and they smell like sweat and body odor. They need to not only use Magic Eraser but wipe them down daily with some type of disinfecting cleaner.

I'm not a germaphobe or a neat freak but some things in the park do look kind of gross occasionally. While it's not gross I'm wondering why there was sand and dirt all over the floor of Dogems last Sunday? I don't remember the floor ever being like that before it was always shiny. Have they not finished cleaning from construction or is crud blowing in off the beach or what?

Dodgem floor was indeed kind of dry and not too slick on Sunday, however as of Friday evening it was nice and slippery. Perhaps it becomes slippery from tire wear, I don't know. For the clean freaks, be prepared to get your hands dirty on Dodgem as the steering wheels tend to have rust dust on them.

Troika must have had the cars painted, they were cleaner looking than ever. We were first riders last Wednesday. As we were loading we noticed a fresh glob of bird doo in the car, went to the next car which was doodoo clear. Too late to warn the high school girls that hopped into the other car. Yuk. I don't see why a quick wipe down of the seats on a ride like Troika couldn't have been done.

Prior to us loading on Cedar Downs the sole operator told us there would be a delay as a previous rider had told her there was dried blood on a horse. It took about 3 minutes for a worker to show up with a bucket and a dirty rag. He filled the bucket with water at the food stand next door, along with a squirt of what looked like dish soap. He wiped down the horse and the floor around it. Total down time 12 minutes or so. FYI: don't sit on the brown horse on the inside row. (they never win anyway)

I didn't see (notice) anything weird about Dodgem's floor on Thursday, but it's a sure thing that sand at Cedar Point has a way of seeping into places you wouldn't think. It's new near-beach location will be different for sure.
What I did notice was how dark the concrete at the exit was, from graphite covered shoes no doubt. And just over a week later! They did a good job with the ride, though, and it looks like it's been there it's whole life. The big Dodgem sign is preserved nicely, although a large tree kind of blocks it.

As for Tiki Twirl, it's a good enough remodel I suppose. I was hoping for a really great re-do like the park gave to Monster. It looks like they just moved the ride as is, put some paint on it, changed a couple of hand rails and the sign. The cars are the exact same colors as before and they don't seem as bright as the rest of the ride. The finish on them is quite worn in places and it would have been nice if they had just taken the extra step to re-do the tubs too. Performance of that ride had declined over the years, usually with one (or more) of the sweeps failing to twirl as fast as the others. That's still the case- the yellow cars are really slow to start up and there's still a balance issue.
Oh, and the music hasn't changed, either, it's still steel drum Calypso. Tiki would be Polynesian or Hawaiian, right?

Mr. Ouimet cam from Disney and he understands the power of a "BRAND". Since coming to Cedar Fair, it appears he is building their brand with refreshed midways, new but similar front gates at Cedar Point and Carowinds. I have seen improvements to the parks. Customer service has improved. Entertainers and bands on the midways were hired to improve the guest experience. Not to mention the refreshed Hotel Breakers.

That being said there are nicks in the brand. The nicks come from dirty stations, burned out lights, apathetic employees, etc.. To rectify these "nicks" you need to promote brand awareness amongst all of your employees. From the top down these "nicks" should be addressed, given a estimated time of completion, and follow up to ensure completion. There is nothing written that guests can't report any "nicks" directly to Cedar Point.

Give them time to build and improve that brand. A brand does not happen overnight.

I think you've read too many marketing blogs.

Scottyf said:
That's dirt, grime, sweat, cosmetics, lotions, body oils and bacteria. Yum.

That's just a year-round Halloweekends attraction. But seriously, those seats in the ride vehicles should get just as much attention as clean restrooms.

Oh. Well, THAT explains it.
:-)