Save the date: March 16, 2013

Sorry folks, I'm solo with my boy tonight while my wife is out of town. I'm a little behind. Here are photos from the event:

http://pointbuzz.com/Photos/Gallery.aspx?id=740

SSL488 said:
Tony mentioned the media day started at 4am. How late does it go until? I have a final exam for one of my classes 8:30-10:30 so the earliest I could get to the park would be noon.

If you arrive at noon, you'll have plenty of time to ride. The schedule isn't finalized, but it will close for a little bit then reopen for evening news shows. You're welcome to stick around and ride some more!

I know a lot of you have questions - but we're working on details and we'll have more soon. Thanks for coming today. We also had a lot of fun having you!

Awesome thanks! Can't wait!

What a great tour. Thanks to all who took time to make it great. Especially Rob Decker for his background information.

Great pictures! Anyone have a trip report they'd like to share?

Absolutely - Yesterdays tour weather was very much like the closing day weather of last year. Windy, cold and rainy. It was GREAT! Very weird seeing the park empty though.

Can't wait to see finished results with the trains rolling overhead and the views from the queue line.

Was the announcement of the entrance plaza the big announcement or will it be something else?

Gatekeeper, re-read the past page or two of this thread (since yesterday afternoon) and Tony's comment above.

The big announcement was that members of coaster clubs will be able to attend GK Media Day if one so desires.

Are we able to bring a guest that isn't a member of a coaster club to media day?

Nope. Not likely.

I would like to say thanks to everyone who made the tour possible. Jeff, Walt, John, Brian, Tony, Rob, and everyone else that helped to put it together. It was a great event for a great cause.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this together as well as anyone who contributed to it being well organized and fun. Jeff, Walt, and anyone else from Cedar Point did a great job at pulling this awesome event off. And Tony, you were really funny during the Q&A session (and no, I wasn't not one of the people sitting in the back who kept asking questions. Hey, at least you got some exercise going back and forth :) )It was my first off season tour and it was amazing. I can't wait for more!

...And quite frankly, you probably wouldn't want to [bring a guest to media day] anyway.

For those of you who have not been to a media event, please be aware of what you're getting into. The media preview can be a lot of fun, but going to one is really something to be undertaken by the most hardcore fan. Why? Because you'll have to get there at an unreasonably early hour of the day, there will be only one ride available, and your riding opportunities on that one ride may be frustratingly limited, possibly by breakdowns, but definitely by the production requirements of the news outlets. Yes, they will hold trains so that they can accommodate satellite windows and live holes in news programming. Yes, they will grab a correspondent and put her on the train *ahead of you* so that they can meet a deadline. Yes, there will be delays as equipment gets shifted around on the ride and on the platform to accommodate the media. And yes, you will be able to get some rides (potentially lots of rides), and you will be expected to enjoy it. 8-)

That said, it's also an opportunity not only to be one of the very first "real people" to ride the new coaster, but also to very possibly have your reaction preserved for posterity and broadcast to some random television market somewhere in the country. You get a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with the opening and marketing of a new ride. And you get to walk the midway and ride the new coaster a few days early. You may even have to pretend that there is a yellow line to stand behind.

My advice? If you are able to make a casual visit to Cedar Point, it's a heck of an opportunity and you should certainly take advantage of it. But if going to Cedar Point is one of those rare opportunities for you and you're coming halfway across the country, bringing your coaster-loving friend who just wants to ride his brains out, wait until CoasterMania when the whole park will be open, and you can enjoy actual ERT on Gatekeeper.

Basically, if you are the sort of person who could justify attending the off-season tour yesterday and who could have a great time kicking around the park even though the place was closed, then you're a perfect candidate for media day. if you can't imagine why anyone would want to go up there and wander around in the wind and blowing sand to see a park that isn't even open, you might want to wait until after opening day.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Daniel T said:
Great pictures! Anyone have a trip report they'd like to share?

I posted one in the Trip Report section a little bit ago, if you want to check it out.

RideMan said:
...but also to very possibly have your reaction preserved for posterity and broadcast to some random television market somewhere in the country...

Or in my case (and a few others that don't post much anymore) a chance to have your face on a Wendy's cup and place mat. You see, I attended the media event for Delirium before it opened at Kings Island. I could only stomach the ride for 7 rides, which was a lot more than others who attended if I remember correctly. Dave's assesment of the media event was spot on. A lot of sitting around, but it was a great time with friends.

So how did I end up on a Wendy's cup? Wendy's in the Cincinnatti area was advertising the new ride at Kings Island. Promotional photos were taken of riders on Delirium and used in random stuff for advertising. One shot had me in it and was used on cups and placemats for Wendy's. A friend of mine recognized me on the cup and grabbed one to save for me. Sure enough it was me and a few friends in the picture and I looked like I was about to puke. I still have that cup 10 years later.

I'm thinking I might try go to this one, but only if I can get the day off of work and RGR doesn't tell on me.

~Rob

I too shall shell out the major kudos to Walt, Jeff, Brian, Tony, Annie, Rob Decker (for coming out on his day off), everyone else on the panel AND to the staff that catered the event. It was definitely an amazing event that helped out an amazing cause. It's great that we can do this kind of thing for GKTW without having to actually ride coaster. That being said, I'm looking forward to the craziness of this media day. I've been to some shoots at the park, but not a media day (almost did for STR....but that's a whole other story). I'm super stoked to be there at 4am and be excited for the park and this amazing ride. :)

Great post as usual Dave. I may use snippets of that when ever we end up sending out an e-mail to our members.

Yes they would be interesting do the media day at Cedar Point. After all Cedar Point is my top favorite park to go to. I just may take a vacation day to do media day. I know the media day is different from a normal day in the park. But I can handle it. This is the chance to test out the Gatekeeper. I like Cedar point so much that's why I come offen during theseason & doing the off season tour. Than again great job on putting this off season tour on.

On Media day are any other rides open???I have never had the chance to go before to one of these events.

Just GateKeeper is open, but read the post from "Rideman" a few posts above. He explains media day perfectly!