Starlight Experience

I miss it. A lot. It was there when I first started visiting the park and I got the 3d glasses for it which I still have. I could never find out anywhere why they got rid of it so I gave up. Now that I am a member here I thought I'd ask you guys. I know it was removed a long time ago but I just saw Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron again (one of my favorite animated movies ever since finding out where the Starlight music came from, go figure lol), so it reminded me about it again.

I really think starlight was one of the greatest parts of the park experience. Luminosity only lasts a half hour, it's only a show. Starlight was on after sunset and lasted even after park closed. The snoopy floats were okay, but I didn't really care about them. I just miss all the lights with the music. I miss how the lights "danced" with the music. I miss the whole atmosphere of it.

My mom and I would always go back through it after our last ride of the night instead of going towards the entrance, so we were one of the last ones out of the park. I enjoyed the quiet of the park after everyone left. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

I always heard that it was the squirrels and rodents chewing on the cords...I have NO idea if this was true or not. Just what I heard numerous times.

I always liked going through the Frontier Trail and the lights twinkling everywhere....was pretty neat when you got near the leather shop and it would be snowing! Was just a great atmosphere all through the trail.

Too expensive to maintain plus what budget it had went to Luminosity. Might have looked good but it wasn't the easiest to take care of.

99er said:

Too expensive to maintain plus what budget it had went to Luminosity. Might have looked good but it wasn't the easiest to take care of.

Yeah that makes sense. I recall watching a BTS video about it and they said that they used certain lights or something and it wasn't that expensive, but I guess over the years things change.

The lights themselves were inexpensive for the most part and nothing any more special than your household lights used at Christmas. The problem though is the amount they would have to replace due to Cedar Point leaving them up year round and letting them rot. The amount of labor needed to replace the lights every spring is what took its toll on the budget.

99er said:
The lights themselves were inexpensive for the most part and nothing any more special than your household lights used at Christmas. The problem though is the amount they would have to replace due to Cedar Point leaving them up year round and letting them rot. The amount of labor needed to replace the lights every spring is what took its toll on the budget.

Yeah, it would be a pain to take them all down and put them back up every year lol.

I miss it too. One year, I worked in the back of the park (2010). At night after my shift, I would walk the Trail, just for the lights.

Cedar Point Starlight Experience - Behind the Scenes Video

Photo Gallery

I'm of two minds about this.

On one hand, I loved it...minus the floats. Just the lights would have been just fine. If you never experienced it, this really was a great thing the park pulled off and executed well. I loved loved walking through the trail with the lights and music.

On the other hand, I also felt that having the lights up continuously in the trees took away from the ambiance of the Frontier Trail. Yes, this is nit-picky, but after awhile it felt like you were walking through the equivalent of that neighbor that never takes his Christmas lights down during the day. It wasn't exactly "pretty" or atmospheric on the trees.

Those lights were simply just there...all the time. It didn't look good at all during the day.

So, while I did enjoy it, I'm not sure it really fit for Cedar Point. You can't make it seasonal because it's not a seasonal park; and you couldn't just do Fall because it's one of the iconic fright zones.

It was neat, but I think it ran its course, and the park has done a good job (IMO) of coming up with other equally decent options.

Kevinj said:

Those lights were simply just there...all the time. It didn't look good at all during the day.

Agreed on that.

I don't see why they couldn't do a better version today, even if it were less ambitious or immersive. Use permanent RGB LED flood/spot/gobo/etc. lights pointing up into the trees and onto buildings throughout the Trail. Not only would those lights be aesthetically-superior, but they provide flexibility. Wine and gold lights in June if the Cavs are in the playoffs. Red, white and blue lights in early July. And of course they could be easily tailored for HW.

djDaemon said:

Kevinj said:

Those lights were simply just there...all the time. It didn't look good at all during the day.

Agreed on that.

I don't see why they couldn't do a better version today, even if it were less ambitious or immersive. Use permanent RGB LED flood/spot/gobo/etc. lights pointing up into the trees and onto buildings throughout the Trail. Not only would those lights be aesthetically-superior, but they provide flexibility. Wine and gold lights in June if the Cavs are in the playoffs. Red, white and blue lights in early July. And of course they could be easily tailored for HW.

They have lights under the trees pointing up but it is not that pretty and there is no music. Also, cameras only pick up the very bottom of the trees.

I only ever saw starlight one time but i liked it. They did a pretty good job of lighting the main midway now using those spotlights and other LEDs. Always a good view from the sky ride ramp.

djDaemon said:
I don't see why they couldn't do a better version today, even if it were less ambitious or immersive. Use permanent RGB LED flood/spot/gobo/etc. lights pointing up into the trees and onto buildings throughout the Trail.

The cost of an outdoor fixture like that would be way too high for what Live E would pay to just light up the trees. The other strike would be the labor to maintain those fixtures all season long. The park hates labor and will do anything they can do keep it at a minimum, even if the operation suffers from it. This was one of the reasons Starlight was scrapped because it took two Techs a night to get the show operational and then another once a week for maintenance. Not to mention the 6 weeks in the spring for overall rehab.

I am in the boat that thinks the trail should just be dark and left the way it is. Id rather see what buildings are still on the Main Midway be decked out with better lighting than the cheap Christmas lights that are on them now.

An oldie but goodie (with video):

https://pointbuzz.com/content/starlightexperience

I don't think they hate labor. Look at what the Mean Streak maintenance crew had to do every single day. How about all the Halloween decorations, like those pumpkins lol.

Two tech guys a night to get starlight going? Oh my, that's a lot! I can't imagine how many people it takes to run Luminosity every night!

Cost benefit analysis: if it took 2 people to run Christmas lights I'd cut the show too

Interestingly, Lance went on after that to run the Osborne Family show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and I'm pretty sure he had a bigger staff. He's at Kings Island now.

I think it'll be very interesting to see what Mr. Ouimet does with live e. They've come along way from where they were. CF seems to have put a lot more emphasis on it lately, I'd imagine disney roots have a lot to do with that. And it's a great positive for the parks.

ValravnCP said:

I don't think they hate labor.

When it comes to seasonal staff they really do try to keep it at a minimum in most departments, even if it means being less efficent or lumping the work onto someone else . Most of the shows run with one Tech, having the Cast do tech work backstage between/during songs instead of just hiring the crew required to run the show. Luminosity doesn't have that large of a crew, something around 7 I believe. Starlight was doomed from the start because of not using the labor required to keep the show operational which I am certain the park didn't think about since they were just installing "Christmas lights". The park would leave up the lights all year instead of striking and installing each season. This resulted in broken lights throughout the season each year and bad patchwork to keep it going.

Jeff said:

Interestingly, Lance went on after that to run the Osborne Family show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and I'm pretty sure he had a bigger staff. He's at Kings Island now.

He went over to the Tech Team after American Idol closed and I believe spent two seasons with Osborne. The install crew for Osborne was around 25 seasonal Techs from the union hall. The show itself ran with around 5 if I am remembering correctly.

XS NightClub said:

...I'd imagine disney roots have a lot to do with that. And it's a great positive for the parks.

The great part here is he really only gave the department the green light to start spending on shows again. Kinzel would rather replace labor with technology. Thus the reason you saw musicians disappear in favor of a CD player. Shows like Luminosity, bringing back atmosphere entertainment, and musicians were all ideas Live E wanted every season. It just took someone with an understanding of how important entertainment was to allow the department to spend again.

Ignorance is bliss, never thought it took that much to pull Starlight off. Maybe with technology always advancing we will see something like this again. It was truly a beautiful walk at the end of the night after Maverick.

I wonder how many "Dead Heads" got lost and never were seen again because of Starlight ;)