Soft Opening?

So, the park opened today at 10:00 a.m. It is now almost a quarter after 11:00 a.m. and not one ride has run...nothing. What time do the rides actually begin to run?

I saw Skyhawk running.

Check out the waves next to Gatekeeper. I'm not surprised that not much is open.

The gails of November came early

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Opening this early is ludicrous. Back in the 1970's they had enough problems opening the week before Memorial Day. Between the uncertain weather conditions and the inability of having enough staff on hand it costs more to open than what they take in.

I'm actually at the park right now. I can definitely confirm only a few rides are open. So far, the only ones I've seen are Blue Streak, Power Tower, and Skyhawk. The problem is the two flats are running at half capacity and have long wait times for those rides. Lastly time I checked, Power Tower had a wait of 30-40 minutes for the drop side.

Maybe it's time they use May as a true soft opening. No rides, only food/merch/games, free to get in and stroll around, limited hours. Then make June 1st the real opening day that is celebrated each summer.

Are rides like Super Himalaya and Matterhorn not open? That certainly is not a wind thing.

Dude, I 100% agree with you. May is still a little windy/rainy sometimes, and opening there can be something of a gamble because of the weather. Right now the wind here is the envy of sailors everywhere. Of course staffing can be a contributing factor as some of the employees are college students. Depending on the classes they're taking and the college itself they probably won't be done until as late as the second week of May. I can speak from experience, college can take a bit to go through. But I have a couple questions for some of the older members of the site: Did they ever do soft openings at one point? When did the park start opening in May?Also, Valravn looks like it's testing....

I can only vouch for the mid 1970's, and RCMAC can chime in as he was working there about the same time. For the most part, you didn't see any seasonal employees until about the second week in May. There were a few colleges that got out that early, and the park recruited them heavily. As far as a soft opening, not really. The Friday before Memorial Day weekend was CKLW Day. The station would give away and also sell deeply discounted tickets for the day. Access by chartered buses only, you couldn't drive to the park your self as I recall. That was our "soft" opening. The regular season followed the next day.

It's bad luck with the regional weather/staffing that daily operation in September would never be a thing. September weather is usually so pleasant. Early May is so iffy.

This coming week is 70’s and sunny.
Why would you stay closed the entire month on account of one crappy weekend?

If I recall correctly, in the early 2000s they always used to open the first weekend of May. But I think it's been 10-15 years they've been opening the second weekend of May.

And I agree with what RCMAC said. I've seen snow and sleet at Halloweekends, doesn't mean they should wrap up the season at the end of September.

I rode Corkscrew and Blue Streak in the snow closing day last year. The employees need some time to get good at what they're doing and if opening day is pushed to the end of May then people on Memorial Day weekend vacations will show up to a park with inexperienced staff. Opening weekend is sketchy but worth it. Some years it's beautiful others not so much. We can have awful weather any time of year in northern Ohio. I'll be heading to the park later today knowing that it's opening weekend and whatever happens, happens. If I only get a few smaller rides in, and look at the new merch and the lake I'll be good.

I went on opening day (yesterday) but didn't stay long, got my 10k steps, had lunch, and left around 1.
It was too windy, so most rides were closed. No coasters ran while I was there.
Still felt good just to be back at the park and take in the changes.

^I think only five rides were open at most. I tried to stay all day and ended up going to Bay Harbor at the end of my night. But compared to yesterday with the wind being a sailor's dream, today is a lot better and more rides are open. The biggest wait I've had to put up with today was 45 minutes compared to 2 hours yesterday.

That does suck but it is mother nature, she always wins....it will only get better each week!

I have my events calendar from 1978. That year, the park opened on May 13, which was the second Saturday of the month. Most employees started a bit earlier. I think I was there a couple weeks early. I visited for orientation and stayed there, whereas my roommate went back to Cleveland until he was required to be there. That week gave me a bit of time to learn a bit about the park.

I used to drive up from Ohio State to work weekends in May. Don’t really have memories of what was happening on the Midway since I was mostly cooking in the Main Kitchen.

"Soft open, what's a soft open? When they opened The Flamingo in Vegas, one day it was closed, the next it was open. End of story. I know, I was there." - Saul Bloom, Oceans 13.