Soft Opening?

Has Steel Vengeance been operating ? Webcam view doesn't include it.

Was down today. In the afternoon, it was running with the water dummies.

No. It was closed but running empty cycles later in the day.

Steel Vengeance, Magnum, and Gemini are all closed right now. Apparently they haven’t been commissioned yet. It blows my mind that these popular 3 are not ready.

I can understand being disappointed, but does it really blow your mind?

Yeah, given the ongoing labor and supply chain disruptions, it's a minor miracle that those were the only major coasters not ready on day 1.

And despite the rough weather, the park opened a few coasters in the last hour of opening day, which is pretty impressive considering it would have been hard to blame them for throwing in the towel at that point. Good on the park for doing what they could to provide some rides that late in the day.

I was surprised Sunday to see cars from really far away and wondered to myself how disappointed will they be? do they have any clue that opening weekend for anything is less than stellar or are they just on their way through and decided to take a chance? Quite a few things were still closed Sunday but I assumed that would likely happen. I wasn't expecting the full experience. When I saw plates from Colorado I couldn't help but wonder what they were expecting.

They were likely expecting what CP was advertising.

I know it sucks, but again you can't control mother nature, she played a huge part in it I am sure. I was at opening day last year and the rides were all pretty much open, the one item that disappointed me last year was the food/drink lines sucked. But it was opening day and I am sure all the food peeps were nervous and adjusting to their new roles. It does get better as the weeks go on, it is a risk you take going this early in the season that's for sure. I'm going Friday and hope most rides are open!

Ride on!

Many CP visitors have Great Expectations, but it may turn into a Tale of Two Visits; It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

I feel like I've seen this discussed before, but the number of rides not ready for opening weekend makes me wonder if the off-season just isn't long enough for all the ride maintenance & refurbishment that needs to happen.

Maniaman said:

I feel like I've seen this discussed before, but the number of rides not ready for opening weekend makes me wonder if the off-season just isn't long enough for all the ride maintenance & refurbishment that needs to happen.

I honestly think it has to do with the workforce or lack there of. You notice slow ride ops early until the team get's in the groove.

Lately, no one wants to work and unlike KI, CP isn't easily accessible. Plus the fact college isn't out yet for everyone.

I think they have plenty of time but no one to operate the rides. Finding labor is tough anywhere right now and with that sex assult scandal, that certainty isn't helping matters.

IIRC, they had something like a soft opening the year Valravn opened. They called the weekend before a preview weekend and then the following Saturday was the advertised opening day.

On the topic of CP and seasonal staffing, anybody heard any updates on international workers? I feel like most travel restrictions are finally relaxed enough for them to even have international workers at all, but no clue if they've been recruiting or if the liftings of travel restrictions has been too recent for them to really get back on that.

The May 4th Cedar Fair earnings call stated that they are currently actively participating/recruiting with the J-1 visa program, but I do not know what the timeline between recruitment, employment, and start days would look like.

First, I'm pleased to report our recruiting and hiring of seasonal associates this year is improving when compared to the challenging labor market we faced during the 2021 season. [...] We are also, once again, fully participating in the J-1 Visa Exchange program, an avenue to supplement our domestic recruiting efforts that has proven to be very effective over the years.

Kevinj said:

I can understand being disappointed, but does it really blow your mind?

Disappointed isn’t the word I would use since it did not effect me in any way. But yes, my mind was blown that a ride such as Magnum (which is one of the first rides to start commissioning prior to opening day) and ensuring a ride such as Steel Vengeance was not higher on the priority list to be ready to go for opening day. So yes, my comment still stands. Don’t come for me, Kevin ;)

Don't underestimate how screwed up the global supply chain is right now.

Re: ops. We were there Sunday and they seemed basically fine to me for this point in the season across a bunch of rides. The exception was Blue Streak, where the ops were seriously better when I rode it Sunday than at any point when I rode it last year (which, admittedly, wasn't a huge number). Last year everyone there seemed to be moving like they were half asleep and Sunday things were quicker and smoother. Hopefully this is indicative of this season and not an outlier.

I stopped going on opening day years ago. Even before this global supply issue and covid 19 annoyance, nothing was EVER ready. I mean there are always popular rides that are not inspected yet by the dept. of agriculture and were sitting and not running. Also I gave up on the weather b/c May can be either 35 and snowing, 65 and drizzle, or 80 and sunny. The main thing was most the rides were never running and had maintenance issues or state inspection had not gone through. It's just too early IMO maybe memorial weekend should be the official opening...

Just because enthusiasts aren't able to power ride all of the coasters doesn't mean the park should push back their opening date. As others have said, there's value in ramping up employees' experience and being prepared so that when Memorial Day does arrive, they're ready to handle the bigger summer crowds. I think as long as you keep appropriate expectations on what to expect, you won't be that disappointed. And for locals who don't have to travel too far, it's still fun just to maybe grab a few rides, try out the new food, and walk the park.

Counterpoint: aside from maybe having more staff ready to go at the onset, is pushing the opening to Memorial Day really going to help things like getting new seasonal workers familiar with the rides or their duties, and just the inevitable teething issues that come with having a predominantly seasonal workforce?