Starlight Experience

that was a good one, but this one has always been a favorite of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK90Ys2LhSo&feature=related

Of course, I'm partial to TSO! I love their music.

I thought it was well done. You start at SRF with pastel colors and a "float" featuring the Easter Beagle special, next is summer with fireworks and a Charlie Brown baseball float, continue to fall with lots of orange and the Great Pumpkin float, finally winter with blue and white and Snoopys doghouse decorated for Christmas float with Christmas and occaisional snow from Fort Sandusky.

They sell 3D glasses for $1.00. Usually this stuff doesn't work. However, I bought a pair for my son and must recommend that you DO BUY them. Wearing them reveals stars next to to the lights. The far away lights have bigger stars and the closer ones have smaller stars. As you approach the lights you're looking at the stars get smaller and move slightly. If you move you head slightly they move around. Those light "panels" near the ground are not strobes. The reveal large stars through the 3D glasses. Without the glasses they are just lights.

I like Starlight Experience very much. It's not a flashy big bang extravaganza, which is fine. It's just a nice way to finish you day at Cedar Point.

Did anyone experience the half hour closure of the Trail prior to the show? Did that cause any major confusion?

I experienced the closure of the trail yesterday. We were walking to go to Millennium Force when we discovered the trail was closed. Two security guards and two park workers were standing at the start of the main bridge (next to Maverick's water bombs) to the Frontier Trail redirecting all the park guests.

While they did a good job making sure no one entered the Frontier Trail, they did not do a very good job explaining why it was closed. All they said is that it was closed for the Starlight Experience. The average guest may not even know what that is, nor why the Frontier Trail is closed for it. I also found it wierd that they didn't suggest for guests to take the train; rather, they told us we had to just turn around and follow the Gemini Midway to the front of the park.

It was already closed when we got there at 8:50, and they said it would remain closed until 9:30. It appears it will take longer than 30 minutes to set up.

While we did not mind redirecting our path, it was evident some people did. Many people became disgruntled at the sudden closure and were confused as to what was going on.

Are they closing it every night? That would be cosmically stupid, especially when it's busy.

8:50-9:30 Thats a 40 minute set up time for something they have never done before. I'm sure as the season progresses they will shave a lot of time off of that. The biggest problem is probably getting people out of the shops on the Trail....or getting slow walkers to actually clear the Trail.

I think the shops on the trail close at 8pm. Though Friday one of them was still open at 8:30, we were the last people in there before it closed.

What is there to set up? It's not like they're stringing up the trees every day.

^Not much at all.

From what I could see from a distance, they were using trucks to move the floats from behind Pet Farm into place on the trail. That's the only reason I can see for needing to close the trail. Not sure why it would take 30-40 minutes though. I did see several people become very agitated when they were told they needed to either walk all the way around or wait for 30 minutes. I can see that being a problem in the busy months.

AndyG said:
Does it seem that any of the additions/lights may be used in some way for the Fright Zone?

Why do people keep wanting these new lights to mess with Fright Zone? How would LED Christmas lights could possibly improve a scare zone?

Yeah, the more I hear, the more this sounds like a great idea gone horribly awry. The lights sound appealing, but the seasonal progression sounds rather forced, as if they were trying to think of a theme. Why a theme of "let's make this look nice" wasn't sufficient enough is beyond me.

And if its the floats that are causing the nightly closure, then its obvious they should go. Or why not simply leave them in one place? As has been pointed out, the negative impact of nightly 30+ minute closure seems to outweigh any potential positive impact.

To be the devil's advocate in regards to the closure of the Trail for a half hour, most people will be told to go around, be upset for a little bit, and then completely forget about it by the next day. It's not really a major thing, I would believe; it's not like the G.P. is going to be upset for several days afterward. The enthusiast community on the other hand....

I disagree. Closing the trail down for that long, during the extremely busy parts of the season is asking for a lot of trouble.

Now knowning that the reason for the closure is to move some floats around and nothing more, they seriously need to re-think this. I'm sure there are ways to place these floats semi-permanently..

Do the floats interfere at all with the trail itself, would it be a big deal if they were there all the time?

Unless the off-season will bring a new path or trail, the currently nightly closing is not going to go over very well, since being "redirected" literally forces you to walk the other side of the park and back around.

I'm not sure how they close the trail, but if they put a big sign in the area of Coaster's Diner advising people that the trail is closed, it would minimize any extra walking distance to get to Frontier Town.

I walked through the trail area and saw the lights. I thought they were cool, especially the blue and white winter section! I got off maverick and went over to them, so I didn't see how they closed the midway for the lights. I'm sure it's for something involving a safety issue that only CP understands.

I was at the park Sunday & everyone seemed to be enjoying the lights. I sat on a bench listening to peoples reactions and everyone seemed to be impressed (Especially the "fake" snow). I think they did a great job. I liked the fireworks in the trees (my boyfriend pointed that out), the fading of lights, the intensity of color, and the floats. Some people were climbing on the floats to take pictures on them (I didn't like that). Overall I liked the starlight experience a lot. I am glad that it will be gone in time for halloweekends though it would really ruin the scare factor if the lights remained. But I think it is great to have some kind of attraction until then (( :

Are the lights an eye sore during the day?

The common reaction so far seems to be "no".

Is it in full swing now? Just curious if someone feels like getting a video together ;)

Magnum "Candy" Man said:
that was a good one, but this one has always been a favorite of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK90Ys2LhSo&feature=related

Of course, I'm partial to TSO! I love their music.

A better example yet! Still excited to see Starlight in its current form, but I think a non-themed dancing light set up would have been even more of a crowd-pleaser, no closure required.

Were people laughing and confused that entered from the Christmas side of Frontier Trail, saying "Uhhhh why does CP have Christmas lights and displays up? Man, it's getting earlier every year..."

CPboy77 said:
Are the lights an eye sore during the day?

Not at all. I thought they would stick out more but they blend in quite well. Of course though, I went in looking for them.