Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

WolfBobs said:
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.

This is the sole reason I bought the season long drink plan last summer. Repeatedly asking for 3 or 4 of the shooter size cups of water with every meal had gotten old. To the point I didn’t mind paying $30 for season long, normal sized cups of water. Less hassle, or so I thought.

The issues that then came up were what’s being discussed in this thread. Finding stands that are open so I could get a cup of water, extremely slow service, etc. All of which made the drink plan, and all season dining plan as well, no longer worth it to me.

I did not purchase either plan this year.

Why is it that the complainers always go to CP during May and early June when they know the park isn't a full staff?

redsfan said:
The holiday weekend just started about an hour ago.

Or if you have a real job. It started 25 hours ago.

A real job would be be working the weekend. Unless you had seniority to have the weekend off.

Bluestreaker said:
Why is it that the complainers always go to CP during May and early June when they know the park isn't a full staff?

Guests shouldn't have to worry about park staffing when they make plans to go. It's CPs job to deliver the same experience in May as they do in July, especially for guests who maybe only go one day per summer. It must certainly be a very hard job to get the park fully staffed, but it should not fall on paying customers to predict staffing levels at the park.

Spot on Pete. I love the park and truly think its the best park in the world for what I want from a park. But the CP apologists have to get over it already, its way past time for these kind of issues at a Billion-dollar company. its not like they are a 2 park franchise anymore with valley-fair.

people rightfully expect better, even "seasoned enthusiasts"

“Every guest. Every day. Every time.” That’s one of the park’s own mottos.

If you start having to plan to not attend in May and June because of bad staffing, and we already know September and October are bad, then you’re just left with July and August. Having your guests plan to avoid 4 of the 6 operating months due to bad staffing should not be the business model.

Oh, I don't really consider extruding dog/cat food a hobby. We work on fridays.

To clarify, I'm not a complainer. I just want to be able get drink of water the park. My family must not have thought it was too bad though because half of them are back at the park again this weekend. I decided to stay home and now even with the problems, I wish I didn't! Even at it's worst, I still love having a good time with my family at CP.

Mr. Potato said:
“Every guest. Every day. Every time.” That’s one of the park’s own mottos.

If you start having to plan to not attend in May and June because of bad staffing, and we already know September and October are bad, then you’re just left with July and August. Having your guests plan to avoid 4 of the 6 operating months due to bad staffing should not be the business model.

Well said

Pete said:

Bluestreaker said:
Why is it that the complainers always go to CP during May and early June when they know the park isn't a full staff?

Guests shouldn't have to worry about park staffing when they make plans to go. It's CPs job to deliver the same experience in May as they do in July, especially for guests who maybe only go one day per summer. It must certainly be a very hard job to get the park fully staffed, but it should not fall on paying customers to predict staffing levels at the park.

Spot on Pete, for Pete’s sake! Lol!!!

Bluestreaker said:

Why is it that the complainers always go to CP during May and early June when they know the park isn't a full staff?

I pay for a season pass to be able to go May through October and receive a "Best Day" experience at "A Place Like No Other." If I pay for a meal plan I would like to have all options on said meal plan available to me. If I pay for a drink plan I would like to find a drink stand open to us it at, especially without a 15+ minute wait. I don't think waiting longer for food than rides on a May Tuesday is acceptable.

Like Pete said a passholder or any guest shouldn't have to limit their trips to July or August to be able to have a decent experience. Either the park needs to come up with more creative staffing solutions or they need to adjust their operating calendar accordingly or advertise "soft openings" with limited operation.

I was at the park today and they still have several food trucks up near the front of the park. There are still quite a few stands that are closed and still have the signs posted to please visit another location. It looked like more of the drink refill locations were open from my visit last week though.

I also noticed the portable food/drink stands, such as the Funnel Cake fries, Bavarian nuts, and all those stands still have not even made it to the midway yet this year. Wonder if they will even bring them out this year.

Sandusky isn’t exactly the most populous location. The available workforce is already limited.
CP imports a good number of their seasonals.. but didn’t the current US administration cancel/void/ null the international workforce program?

Not making excuses, just saying. CF needs to up their compensation game and accept tattoos, piercings, and facial hair no matter how ridiculous they may look.

My first and only operating day this season so far was my visit on the first Monday. I have the season meal deal and any place I thought I might like that was open had a line down the street.
So far the score is Mac: 0 \ CP: 1
I went in town and got something to eat on the way home. I realized when I went that I was early in the season and I was also aware of closings. I get it. But to call me a complainer who chose a wrong day to go isn’t right, either.

Maybe next season I’ll sent a tiny message and not pick up the dining/drink plan. It works well at other CF parks I visit, though.

I just got done walking around the park and the lines were manageable . Several drink stands had little to no wait . Walked right in to Chickie 's and Pete's and got a table . Several other food stands had manageable wait but Panda's line was long . Still a lot of places closed but if you look, you can avoid a long wait.

MAC, I'd never consider you a complainer. I have learned a lot from reading your posts and agree with you most of the time. The complainers rarely add anything positive to the discussion. They know who they are and they have been pretty quiet lately.

I'd evaluate staffing models before compensation. They already offer that $1 per hour bonus in May. The problem with evaluating staffing models is that being more flexible with hours means they need even more staff. I don't think they currently have enough housing to accommodate more staff. Plus, idle employees are probably more likely to cause damage to the dorms. So then do you require a minimum number of hours per week to live in the dorms? And with that, how do you get locals to work there, instead of any of the hundreds of other businesses that need summer help with more flexible scheduling? It's not an easy problem to solve.

^ A $1.00 per hour bonus is not a suitable incentive in my opinion. Work 10 hours or so in a day and that $10,00 bucks barely is enough to buy a slice of that delicious "Specialty Pizza" in Frontier Town.

I fully agree. We were there this past Wed/Thu and it was quite warm. I do not drink soda (and you should not on hot days anyway) and trying to find an open drink stand or restaurant was impossible. VERY few places open and then those open were packed due to it. Then ask for water at a drink station and they say NO. Absolutely rude. Told to go to a restaurant where yes we get the dixie cup. Told the one guy nope. I want a real drink cup and demanded and got it. Absolutely rude by park to disallow this and force to a baby cup. I will stand there for 10 min to get a refill again and again..... It was May 23/24th they should be very close to having the full park open.