Suggestion for DQ at night

I dont have many bad experiences with Cedar Point over a twenty year period but something happened this weekend that I think can be easily fixed. Im not sure how much involvement CP has with the new DQ Grill & Chill and Im not sure if taking the issue to park ops would be appropriate (could someone help because I am more than willing to take this to park ops if appropriate). Anyhoo, after a long day in the park (actually doing coasting for the kids) my sister and I went to the drive through of DQ. It was about 10:50 on a Sunday and the line was long as expected. We waited about 20 minutes and when we got up to the drive through receiver, the worker informed us that the store was closed. I found this to be completely unacceptable and its a pretty easy fix by just having one worker close down the drive through by putting a traffic cone to block it from further cars. Like I said I dont have many bad experiences and if anyone could help me out with where to direct this comment (park ops, DQ corporate?) it would be much appreciated.

WOW, I think CP has a big hand in that place if I remember correctly. From my experience at the park, I can't imagine them closing early when there is money to be made. I know in the park, nothing closes in foods towards the front of the park till the line, and the guests are gone period! My only guess is the soft serve machine was run dry, and there was no ice cream to be had. I'm sure the manager was doing what they are trained to do, have just enough product to finish the night.Probably was running on one machine, with the others being cleaned already. Again, just a guess. But I'm sure they stress labor during closing just as much as any other place.

I believe CP has more than just a hand in running the place, they do run the place. I've always suspected that staying open only an hour past closing was leaving money on the table (East of Chicago did the same thing when they were there). That said, you can always send a complaint through food services (or leave a comment card at park ops or guest services) and see if it goes anywhere.

901liveson said:
I can't imagine them closing early when there is money to be made.

I can. Nearly every business in Sandusky does this. Seriously, go down 250 an hour after the park closes and try to find somewhere to eat. By this time, most drive through places are either closed or closing. Your only sit down options at that point are Dianna's, Steak n Shake, and on a good night, maybe Bdubs. All 3 will likely have a line out the door of people waiting for a table, and are just as likely to be horrifically understaffed.

Ralph, I agree about 250 and the table thing. But back to DQ. The difference I was pointing out if CP is running it, I would think the foods office would run it like the rest of the park. I'm pretty sure East of Chicago wasn't run by CP. On the main midway nothing closes until there is no one in line. PLUS, there doesn't look to be any more traffic. And only then will the area manager give the signal 8 (closing call).I would think DQ would be an extension of sorts of the main midway.

So my logic is that most of the people visiting would be ordering ice cream. Which would be easy to keep making car after car (granted I'm not taking into account the cheaper than park pricing). The only wild card I guess is if people are ordering food. I guess that would clog things up and make a quick close harder to save on labor costs with all the additional variables involved. I'd put a sign up, Ice cream only at that point in the night and make the $$$. By the way, the DQ's with food by my house do the same thing after 10pm. NO FOOD! Granted without the signs.

On a side note, has anyone eaten at the cove at louie's yet? All I've seen is bar stuff highlighted on their FB page. But nothing about food. Maybe another option???

My sister swears that the door said that the drive through was open until 12 and it was right around 11 when I entered the drive through. That would make the situation even more inexcusible but I cannot verify it myself. If when I pulled up they said we ran out of fill in the blank I would have accepted that. I was not given the choice to purchase anything at the store and was told they were closed.

I just received a survey from Cedar Point Resorts that listed DQ as an option to discuss which I did. I will also check out park ops in two weeks when Im back again. Thanks for your help!!

The dining room is open until the time CP closes and the drive thru is open 1 hour after park close every night. Hope that helps a little. As Ralph stated, it is fully run and owned by CP, although it is a franchise.

901liveson said:
On the main midway nothing closes until there is no one in line. PLUS, there doesn't look to be any more traffic.

I think that's been slipping a bit in recent years. I can recall at least twice last year seeing people still in line get turned away because the stand was shutting down.

On a side note, has anyone eaten at the cove at louie's yet? All I've seen is bar stuff highlighted on their FB page. But nothing about food. Maybe another option???

As far as I know, the food thing never materialized. As of the last time I stopped in, which was about a month ago, they still didn't have food. I haven't heard anyone I know who goes regularly say anything about food being added since then.

What I know (second hand but a VERY good second hand) is that they are still waiting to finish the renovations to their kitchen. I will talk to my source today and see if he would be willing to share more information :)

Morté615 said:
What I know (second hand but a VERY good second hand) is that they are still waiting to finish the renovations to their kitchen. I will talk to my source today and see if he would be willing to share more information :)

Kitchen renovations?? it's brand new...

Ralph Wiggum said:

I can. Nearly every business in Sandusky does this. Seriously, go down 250 an hour after the park closes and try to find somewhere to eat. By this time, most drive through places are either closed or closing. Your only sit down options at that point are Dianna's, Steak n Shake, and on a good night, maybe Bdubs. All 3 will likely have a line out the door of people waiting for a table, and are just as likely to be horrifically understaffed.

I have always wondered why there are only two 24-hour places, and only one or two others that stay open "late". There is a lot of money to be made at least two hours after park closing, and why many places close before then, I have no idea. If I were ever to invest in something, it would be a late night dining establishment on 250... Steak n Shake gets very crowded as it is not very big - as does Dianna's, both which can have awful service when this happens. Between large CP crews and groups of hungry guests, Bdubs can be a nightmare on some nights, especially Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dairy Queen should be no exception - the park owns it even. Having been a past employee, I know that after a moderate to busy day, you will see significant traffic heading south for a good two hours after closing. I think especially since Dairy Queen has a drive-thru option (unlike the old pizza buffet), staying open later than one hour after the park should be more closely considered. If anything, keep the usual posted hours on the door, but maybe have a more flexible drive-thru closing time keeping it open later if there is more demand some nights. They can even change that nice LED sign out front to let people know if it is open late or not.

If I were looking to get into the restaurant business, I'd plop down a 24 hour joint right next to either Steak n Shake or Dianna's. It would include a huge seating area and keep plenty of staff on hand between 9 PM and 3-4 AM.

I'm really surprised an IHOP or Denny's (or even Waffle House) hasn't set up shop somewhere on 250. Maybe the traffic isn't there to support a 24 hour operation during the off-season, but I've got to believe you could adjust staffing accordingly to make the business you'd do in the summer worth it.

Ralph Wiggum said:
If I were looking to get into the restaurant business, I'd plop down a 24 hour joint right next to either Steak n Shake or Dianna's. It would include a huge seating area and keep plenty of staff on hand between 9 PM and 3-4 AM.

I'm really surprised an IHOP or Denny's (or even Waffle House) hasn't set up shop somewhere on 250. Maybe the traffic isn't there to support a 24 hour operation during the off-season, but I've got to believe you could adjust staffing accordingly to make the business you'd do in the summer worth it.

If you were going to open up a 24 hour joint I would put it closer to CP so that people didnt have a chance to make it close to Dianna's or Steak n Shake.
During the off season Sandusky is pretty quiet, but getting more attention because of Kalahari and Castway Bay.

That's a good point. The Cleveland Rd. area at the end of the Causeway really needs some sprucing up. It's pretty dumpy right now.

I would think that it would be good for CP to encourage some sprucing up of that area. I know 250 isn't exactly attractive, but is pretty typical of what you find around large tourist areas. However, once you get off of the Butler Rd. ramp, it really looks deplorable. That big, sometimes open sometimes not hotel right there at the corner of Cleveland and Butler is really the anchor of the whole junky stretch in front of the Causeway, I think. Even the newish exterior work at the Quality Inn/Thirsty Pony is really rather crappy. Local-needs business really have no use there, so I've wondered at the few that have hung in there instead of moving towards 250 or in the direction of downtown. Maybe if a wealthy developer were to make some waves and put some money into it, that might encourage some CP-run improvements for things to do after the park closes, or for those who don't stay in the park until closing, and possibly give people a reason to stay another day.

I think what may have happened here is that you misread the closing time. Somehow I don't think they would stay open til 12:00am on a Sunday. I think it's possible that the 12:00am closing time was for Saturdays. But it doesn't seem likely to me that they would keep the DQ open two hours past park closing time. I could be wrong, of course. I've never been to that DQ. I would just think they would have it only open an hour past park closing time. In that case, they were justified in closing.

I have always thought that Cleveland Road to 1st Street has a lot of potential for development, especially considering that Cedar Fair owns nearly all of that land. Unfortunately, they put employee housing in the worst possible location that they could - right where guests drive by. It looks awful and prison-like with the barbed wire and institutional gray buildings. It should have been set back more near 5th street where the warehouse is or somewhere back where the large housing parking lot is on the other side.

Dairy Queen is a great start, but I think the area could support some waterfront restaurants on the side of the road near Castaway/McDonald's or even some kind of shops. Some kind of area people could stop to after the park or while they are staying at Breakers Express or Castaway Bay. Not sure about right now, but sometime in the future the area could maybe support another Cedar Fair hotel - just something a bit better than Breakers Express though.

One last area I have always wondered about is the old warehouse property that is for sale next to Lyman's on First Street. This is waterfront property overlooking the bay/park, which could be great for a hotel. Unfortunately, the surrounding neighborhood doesn't look the best, but at least they would have the route 4/6 traffic going by it. Yet, unfortunately, the economy probably wouldn't support such a development right now. Just a few thoughts.

three7five said:

One last area I have always wondered about is the old warehouse property that is for sale next to Lyman's on First Street.

If I were hypothetically running the show, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy up that property and relocate employee housing there so that it is off the main path, but still close by. You could put in a fairly decent 5-6 story college style dorm building that would probably have all the space they need. Although I suspect that expense alone would shoot down the whole project.

Then use what is currently Commons and/or Bayside for an upscale hotel that the area is badly lacking. It wouldn't have to have 1,000 rooms, but I imagine there's got to be enough of a market for 150 rooms or so when the only upscale choice in the area currently is Kalahari. Maybe put in a couple of shops and restaurants and turn the whole area into a sort of a mini Downtown Disney sort of thing.

Just my two cents.