Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

Since they can’t find enough people to sell the drinks at the Point of Sale, they could work in price into the gate and go with self-service. Then only staff then needed is to maintain the dispensers and stock cups. At all the Food stands there can self-service too which would free up the workers there to concentrate on food (Many are like this already) The way they have been pushing Ride and Refresh deals and Season Pass drink plans, they are halfway there anyway.

But chalk that up as something we will likely never see due to the per cap risk

Was there today 5/25/18 and very disappointed. Nightmarish levels is an understatement. I’m not joking when I say more than half of the refreshment stands we’re closed and it was 85 outside. No joke more than half. The main drink station under the sky ride by corkscrew was closed! This is a main hub! I can say this if cedar point isn’t ready to open with staff then don’t open and make it miserable for us paying customers. It’s a holiday weekend for Pete’s sake.

Half or lower tower was running, gatekeeper was down, Gemini was down. They still haven’t fixed SV. Just shocked that no one was even working on it. Shame on them having months of testing and having this happen. I would think they’d make it a priority to get the ride fixed by now. Especially that we’re in summer.

The ride was incredible thank god for early entry.

Just disappointed with no drink stands open. The one that was open we waited 20 minutes for a drink. That’s ridiculous. And my daughter and others who have the drink pass we’re told when trying to use them “you’re not in the park, no one scanned you in”. Seriously! She’s RIGHT THERE.

Again they need to notnopen if their not ready. Don’t make us suffer so you can make a buck.

They will be getting an email from me with pictures of all the drink and food stations closed. That as a season pass holder is unacceptable on a holiday weekend.

Staaber said:
...It’s a holiday weekend for Pete’s sake.

Pete hasn’t done anything to warrant this, Staaber!

TwistedWicker77 said:

Staaber said:
...It’s a holiday weekend for Pete’s sake.

Pete hasn’t done anything to warrant this, Staaber!

Lmao! Was wondering who would be the first to say that!

Staaber said:

They will be getting an email from me with pictures of all the drink and food stations closed. That as a season pass holder is unacceptable on a holiday weekend.

No offense, but I doubt it will do you any good.

Park management is either completely incompetent, or they just don't give a flip.

Best thing you can do is warn others, and go to the park with very low expectations. They've had since last Fall to straighten this mess out, and it's as bad as ever. Just wait until 2/3 of Cedar Shores is open and understaffed.

Oy vey.

I don't usually get annoyed by things, but the drink thing was really ridiculous last weekend too. We have a drink pass on one card and also had a refillable bottle and had to wander around to find somewhere to actually get a drink at. Then wait for 10 minutes to actually get through the line. It is ridiculous, especially when it's hot out! Hydration is important. Food, sure, we can pack snacks or go out to the car for a meal, but we aren't going to go all the way to the car for a cool-ish drink every time we are thirsty. It seems like one of the first things to staff.
We also had crazy wait time at Melt. The manager did apologize, which was nice. But they also brought out half of our order (it was exactly their 2 meals even down to the correct side items), left it at the table, we ate a few of the chips, and then the wait staff came back and took the food, apologizing that it was for another table. So then they brought the plates that we ate off of to the other table! Good thing the people in my party hadn't started on the sandwich yet. And I almost dipped my finger in the sandwich sauce to try it before they took it! Glad I didn't for the other table's sake. Ick.

Maybe they can add some drink and food stands to Fast Lane Plus. Hopefully the ones that are open.

Ha, like a VIP pass that you get at festivals with special access to bathrooms and food stands. The sad thing is, it might be worth it this year!

Well Cedar Point did respond and made me happy. They do give a flip!

Again I’m not complaining about the rides, it was busy and not much one can do. I was more ticked off about the lack of drink/food options. Very limited. And it was HOT!

What quite annoys me is that game stands are more reliable to find throughout the park then drink stands. I understand that the game stands (I am guessing) bring in more money. Having drink stands open would most certainly make for the better guest experience though.

In HOT weather you should drink water and there are free drinking fountains all over the park.

I actually prefer water, but not two sips of luke warm water from a drinking fountain, which I find gross in general.

I agree. Maybe it’s just me and the generation I’m in, but warm water from a public drinking fountain grosses me out. Especially in Ohio when a lot of those older and weathered pipes give off a more irony/rusty taste. Definitely not my cup of tea (or water)

ImpulsivePhoenix said:

What quite annoys me is that game stands are more reliable to find throughout the park then drink stands. I understand that the game stands (I am guessing) bring in more money. Having drink stands open would most certainly make for the better guest experience though.

Games also require significantly less training than anything in food service. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Food is the least requested job position by applicants. Would it be possible to train people across job duties, probably. But with thousands of employees, I can imagine that keeping job positions separate simplifies things a bit.

I like what KI has with the refilling station fountains, I trust them to be a lot more sanitary. All I need is a cup of ice and I get several refreshing cups to go through before the ice melts.

Half the time I use my drink plan to get a bigger cup for ice water. I know that sounds like a waste of money but I do get soda or powerade or some other options the other half. I just prefer the bigger cups over the free ones.

But it's very annoying to throw the money out for the drink plans and meal plans and have 1/3 or less of the stands available due to staffing issues. I wish they would just change the meal plan to any 1 entree and any 1 side at any food stand in the park twice a day. sigh...

I'm sure the park and company knows they're losing money and not offering the best experience and they're doing everything they can to staff the park. I would never think they're doing in on purpose to be cheap or cheat their customer base. I just hope they can figure this out.

I figured a couple weeks in and at least some of these issues would have been ironed out....nope. Went tonight and once again, like many others pointed out, over half of the food stands and a significant majority of drink places closed. Over ten minutes to get a simple order from Chick Fil A which I didn’t think was possible to screw up. It’s a holiday weekend and you’d think we were still in April. Most big coasters still only at 50-75% capacity which is an improvement, but with the water park opening tomorrow, I’m not confident they are ready to go either. Thankfully I don’t live far from the park and still get my money’s worth out of the pass but this trend is now starting to sour even on me. I truly hope they figure it out. Or just stop expanding into new attractions because they can barely staff the ones they have now. /sarcasm because that’ll never happen.

The holiday weekend just started about an hour ago.

I’m sure they’ll figure it out it’s just disappointing. I figure as much in the first couple weeks but by Memorial Day weekend I certainly thought they’d be on the A game already.

Another suggestion maybe they take the first two weeks of the season and dedicate those weeks to the school trips. Yesterday there were tons of buses. If you allow schools to make their trips the first two weeks only that might ease up some of the larger crowds over Memorial Day. Man I wish I could’ve gone to Cedar Point for a school trip when I was in school! Our day at the point was called the day AFTER prom not during the week!