Several rides down, then opening late?

Had a very full day at Cedar Point on Sunday after cashing in my renewal FL Plus and bring a friend ticket. I've noticed during the Halloweekend days I've been there, Sky Ride, Power Tower and Windseeker have not been running at all. I was beginning to think perhaps they decided not to run those for Halloweekends this year. Then around 8 o'clock or so Sunday evening with a light drizzle starting, all 3 of those rides started testing. We were puzzled why they were doing this so late and don't know if they actually opened to the public because we headed out just after 9 PM. And speaking of bewildering decisions, we stopped at Raptor on the way out for a ride since it was near walk on but someone made the brainiac decision that it was time to take one of the trains off the track a mere hour before the park was closing. So as we are rushing to leave to get one of the children home who had a curfew, someone thinks it's a good time to remove a train and we're stuck in the increasing rain wondering if they are even going to keep the ride going because of the rain. We got our frustrating ride and left, but at least we were able to give the young kid his first ride on Raptor. Between that and the spontaneous last hour reactivation of rides that had been down all day, I have to wonder who the heck is behind some of these decisions.

I just noticed today that Kings Island has added an All Season FL Plus for $499. I expect something like that will hit CP in the next year or two, though I think I'm at the age that I will not see as much benefit in it as I would have a couple of years ago. I wonder if it's going to backfire with FL lines being longer than regular lines? I'm surprised to see how many people seem to have disposable income for FL as it is, unless they are just racking up the credit card debt and dealing with it later. I'm off to Kings Island this coming weekend for my first Haunt experience there. Looking forward to seeing how it compares.

Coasters like Magnum, Raptor, etc. are not permitted to run 3 trains in the rain since Magnum blew through rain-soaked trim brakes and rear-ended a train on the holding brakes years ago. I believe it is a corporate-wide policy now, thus why the Raptor train was removed to go down to 2 trains.

With a kid and a curfew, hope you didn't run into any exit traffic after that frustrating last Raptor ride! Did you make it home in time?

Did you ever stop and think that perhaps there was a maintenance issue with one of the trains and those darn brainiacs took the train off so the other two could continue to cycle and keep the ride open? Or perhaps the brainiacs were following protocol and taking the ride down to two trains so it could stay open in the rain so you could get your frustrating ride?

I'm just surprised you made the bewildering decision to renew your pass again, what with all the boneheads and morons that work there. You asked who the heck is behind these decisions? I don't know either, but at least you helped contribute to their salaries for another year so you can bitch about them again come spring.

(edited as my autocorrect turned "brainiac" into "braniac" - which is something that could be helpful for those who need a help getting things moving early in the morning)

Siouxsie said:

I just noticed today that Kings Island has added an All Season FL Plus for $499. I expect something like that will hit CP in the next year or two, though I think I'm at the age that I will not see as much benefit in it as I would have a couple of years ago.

Perhaps they will offer All Season Valet Parking plans, seems like you'd benefit from that.

I too have wondered why the park will open a ride such as WindSeeker or Skyride, that was closed all day for weather (wind), one hour before the park closes when the wind finally dies down. We saw this on the last Sunday in September. In situations like this do the ride operators stay at home just waiting for the call to come to work? Or do they report to work just like normal and are given different assignments for the day until their ride opens?

BayernKurve said:

Coasters like Magnum, Raptor, etc. are not permitted to run 3 trains in the rain since Magnum blew through rain-soaked trim brakes and rear-ended a train on the holding brakes years ago. I believe it is a corporate-wide policy now, thus why the Raptor train was removed to go down to 2 trains.

That's good to know. I wasn't aware of that. At least it was for a legit reason then.

And yes, we got the boy home 15 minutes before curfew. He said he had a great time, especially through the various haunted houses.

Sky Ride and Windseeker seem to be staffing cuts at this point. On Saturday it's clear that they never would have been able to operate due to wind, but on Sunday they would likely have been able to run all day. Maybe more staff just became available at 8pm for some reason? I honestly have no idea. I know Sky Ride was closed for staffing last year during Halloweekends. At least year it's run a little bit I guess.

BayernKurve said:

Coasters like Magnum, Raptor, etc. are not permitted to run 3 trains in the rain since Magnum blew through rain-soaked trim brakes and rear-ended a train on the holding brakes years ago. I believe it is a corporate-wide policy now, thus why the Raptor train was removed to go down to 2 trains.

Yeah, it's not. The rain policy varies widely from park-to-park. Carowinds and Kings Dominion will happily run every single ride unit on every coaster in the park (aside from the mice) in a monsoon all day long. Meanwhile parks like Cedar Point and Dorney come to a screeching halt in the rain.

SkyRide and Windseeker have been down for "high wind" which this time of year can translate to lack of staff. The park uses the crews for those attractions to send breaks for the other nearby attractions. Once breaks are done in the evening, the other rides no longer need the person in the break position and can send those people back to Sky Ride and Windseeker.

The whole rain thing about Magnum, I've heard, is more of an excuse and the real reason was a techincal failure. Although nobody knows except CP, and they aren't telling obviously.

I do think CP's rain policy is a bit draconian. As in, they take a train off in a slight drizzle, and often run Magnum with one train (not even two) in rain. But it's better than not running stuff at all, obviously.

I’m glad to see humor still alive on this site.

So as we are rushing to leave

See, this seems like a poor time to make a decision to get in line for any ride. Any number of things can cause delays or worse, have you stuck on the ride for some reason. If it’s time to leave, and you are fighting a curfew, why risk it?

Poor planning on Siouxsie's part immediately becomes the fault of Cedar Point and all of us fanboy defenders.

Another Cedar Point policy that seems to get missed is that if they can have a ride staffed and running safely, they will no matter the time.

What I don't understand is that removing a train at a time of night where it might be best to go down to 2 trains due to queue length or for safety reasons is a complete inconvenience only because a certain person might be in line. I promise you that the Supervisors don't sit there and look for specific people coming up the queue and decide to close down to take off a train just so you can be late for a curfew.

Taking things like this personally has to be an exhausting way to live.

Just imagine what happens when the parking attendant directing traffic thinks when they see certain cars.

Wow, this has gone from moderately amusing to truly pathetic. I mean I've seen forums full of losers before but this one takes the cake. To those that offered a proper response, thank you. To those who are still going on and on and making little adolescent digs about a post from months ago, do you realize how tragically pathetic you are? I mean, you are total losers clearly with no life and no one in your life if the highlight of your day is trying to dredge up your (psychologically concerning) issue with a post made months ago. Extinguish your pointless torches and grow up. I mean seriously, the pack mentality from the little Pointbuzz loser clique here is beyond juvenile. Let it go, move on and get a life. You people are nothing but bullies but I haven't backed down from a bully since the age of 15. Go back to school, get a career, take up a productive hobby before you snap, take it out on a group of people (beyond your current forum antics) and end up in prison. I hope none of you is planning a trip to Vegas anytime soon because that's the kind of downward spiral mentality you are exhibiting.

^You think WE need to relax after your traffic tirade and now this? Woah...I think you need to look in a bit there man...

Also, people mess around with people here, it's part of how it works. I mean hell I got my balls busted a few times by people here too, it's whatever, life moves on. However, you went off on a ridiculously crazy tangent about something well out of the parks control in most scenarios, and then decided to follow up like that...

Sorry man, but now you've got no sympathy from me..and now expect the trolling from others to come out full force

My traffic tirade? That is exactly my point, a message that you losers continue to dredge up at any of the very few posts I've made. I've gotten over it. Why can't you?

"and now expect the trolling from others to come out full force". So what you are saying is that you proudly approve and encourage bullying. That right there is probably the most worrisome comment I've seen posted here. Good luck with that. The attacks and bullying threats here are no different than bigoted racism. Now there's something to be proud of, especially because it's a group of you. Put on your white hoods.

Siouxsie said:
Let it go, move on and get a life.

Folks posted jokes; you posted a diatribe.

Pot, meet kettle.

Siouxsie said:

I hope none of you is planning a trip to Vegas anytime soon because that's the kind of downward spiral mentality you are exhibiting.

I'm sorry, but this comment was out of line.

Jokes? Really? Poking with a stick and now saying it's just for fun is no defense. The attack mentality here is reprehensible. The comments are smarmy little jabs meant to shun and shame, not lighthearted jokes, so spare me.