The Wayback Machine

So I don't know if everyone has heard of it, but it's basically a library of websites and you can navigate sites even from the 90s.

Recently I've been exploring the many different versions of Cedarpoint.com, with the oldest being from 1996.

1996 link here:

https://web.archive.org/web/19961227171824/https://www.cedarpoint.com/

(By the way, check out the hotel and admission prices from 1996. Oh my gosh they were so cheap!)

It's cool to see all the little advertisements for the new things added to the park as well all the minor things such as news and even the calendar lol. My favorite part is viewing the snapshots of the webcams. It feels like going back in time. Not all pages were captured all the time and some images are gone, but you can still navigate the sites very well.

While looking at the 2007 site, I saw they still had the online shop as well as puzzles and downloadable screensavers. Unfortunately, the puzzles do not work, at least in the snapshots I viewed. Out of curiosity though I clicked download on one of the screensavers and it actually downloaded!! My antivirus protested of course because it wasn't a very popular file, but I mean that's pretty obvious so I saved it anyway. In all honesty, I didn't expect it to work, but lo and behold my screen was covered by this when I tested it:

And unlike the image shown above, the center part is LIVE! Trains move on the tracks, lights flash, Millennium Force and Power Tower change colors. My mind was so blown, and I'm still so amazed right now. This is the coolest thing ever! I now have an awesome screensaver which I set to turn on after only 1 minute because I love it so much.

I've actually heard of the wayback machine through a Vsauce video, and that's actually pretty cool. I'm messing with the site right now. XD

And I thought I didn't have anything to do on a Friday night...

I graduated in 96. Minimum wage was $4.25. You could get a cheeseburger at McDonalds for $0.59 and pack of Basics for a $1. A lot has changed in 22 years. If the price for the Breakers went up 4x it wouldn't faze me. The product is also getting better every year.

Oh then I guess the $5/hour wage wasn't all that bad then lol

Really interesting. One thing that was striking to me was the season/combo pass prices. Looks like in 1997 a Combo pass that was good for Cedar Point and Soak City was $149.99, and an all-season parking pass was $40. I'm pretty sure that I paid $189 when I renewed my Platinum pass (which includes parking) this year - so pretty much the exact same price 20 years later.

Plus that looks to be only CP, not sure of the chain size back then. I really groused about the Platinum pass price when I moved here from STL after paying $50 for SIX Gold passes. Soon realized it has more than 20X the value however, at least living in Cbus.

About the only thing I question is the value of the Platinum Season Dinning Plan for my kids. I wish there was more flexibility as many times they don’t need a full meal and would prefer a pretzel or something.

I submitted a 1997 job application, I’m seeing if I get a response, the website forwarded my application to 2012 Cedar Point. I hope I can still work wildcat!

Someone may want to submit a warning about the impending Shoot the Rapids accident.

I’m trying to reserve a sandcastle suite and renew my pass in 2013 now too

Oh. My. Gosh. My mind is blown yet again. My screensaver changed automatically to a daytime version! I never thought I'd ever get so excited about a screensaver haha. What's next, will it rain in the animation when it does in real life? This is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I feel like such a noob to computers all of a sudden. Lol, I always thought of animated screensavers as just extended gifs but clearly, they are way more awesome than that!

For the record, I do have a life, so don't judge XD

I remember when the Cedar Point website had that animated scene of the park. I was disappointed when the website was updated and it wasn’t included.

I've looked at that before. Awesome stuff!

I also noticed a peak season, full hookups campsite was available for $39/nt.... compared to the current rate of $120/nt, or even more for HW. That's only a 4% or so increase annually, but damn is it getting expensive to stay on point in a camper!

Still, all sites sell out for HW so I guess it's not high enough.

Yeah, that animated skyline was pretty cool. ;)

ValravnCP, this is actually something I’ve been curious about (the old CP website) and I’m completely mind blown that this website exists. Thanks for posting!

Fun fact: Sliced bread was invented in 1928.

Update: After exploring the website a little, I’m looking at the webcams of Maverick’s construction! This is so cool!

skydivingjeff said:

Yeah, that animated skyline was pretty cool. ;)

Possibly the coolest :)

CPVet said:

I remember when the Cedar Point website had that animated scene of the park. I was disappointed when the website was updated and it wasn’t included.

It'd be really cool if someone recreated that skyline animation, but with all of the rides that have been added since then (GateKeeper, Valravn, Steel Vengeance, etc.). Heck, maybe do it for all of the other CF parks.

I'd do it myself, but I can't draw to save my life. :P

Wait, ValravnCP, do you have a link to the changing CP screensaver? that would be so cool.

Yep here they are:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070726145906/http://www.cedarpoint.co.../index.cfm

Also, I found this interesting:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070726152546/http://www.cedarpoint.co.../index.cfm

There are many wallpapers you can download here, along with the Millennium Force station music and some Millennium Force preview thing for MySpace XD

I loved being able to go back and check out the ridership of all of the rides. I wish they still did that on the website.

When I was looking at the webcams of Maverick’s construction I noticed you can still see the heartline roll. Very cool.

So I did some inflation calculating to find out how much prices have truly changed since 1996

One day admission
1996: $47.53 (from $29.95)
2018: $55 online $72 at Gate.
A change from between $7.47 and $24.47

Two day admission
1996: $74.51 (from $46.95)
2018: $75 online $99 at Gate
A change between 49 cents and $24.49

One park season pass
1996: $142.75 (from $89.95)
2018: $144 (and even cheaper in October)
Only a change of $1.25

Basically a platinum pass
1996: $301.44 (from $189.95) (includes parking, CP, and Soak City)
2018: $216 (about $189 if bought in October)
This one is so much cheaper now. $85.44 cheaper, plus you get so many more benefits and more parks now.

Ripcord/Frontier Fling price
1996: $39.59(from $24.95)
2018: $25
A difference of $14.59, but the listed price has remained static.

I can’t seem to find how much parking was then so I can’t do that.

It’s really fascinating to see how little the prices truly have changed, and now the park offers so much more than it did (Millennium Force, Dragster, Maverick, Steel Vengeance, GateKeeper, etc.) Right now, the value of the park has increased exponentially to me, even though so many people bitch and moan about “how expensive it has gotten”

I’m not gonna do hotels and stuff because that’s really complicated and too much to do at 4 am.