Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

And my dog should s**t nickels, but that’s not happening either.
Seriously, this is a problem. I guess we can complain and armchair manage, but this has been going on for years, it only seems to get worse, and the same discussion always ensues. They’re in a jam with this and there looks like there aren’t many solutions.

They’ve gotten too big for their location and for today’s employment environment.

Maybe they should farm that part of the business out to temp agencies or something. Just let it go. Not that day workers would be any better service-wise...

KI is bad about the drink stands in general as well but generally one doesn’t need to travel as far to find something open and I drink a lot of water. Partly due to a low carb diet and I also perspire more than average. I like ice and have two ice makers in my house and they can barely keep up in the summer. Lol.

However while cold drinks feel good I know what really counts is staying hydrated. I do enough hiking and outdoors activities in scouts to have gotten used to drinking warm water when necessary. (It does warm up to 98F fairly quickly once you ingest it anyway) So when it gets warm I carry two of those collapsible Mylar bag type water bottles with sport caps and fill them with cold water from the Freestyle machines when available. Use small carabiners to clip to my belt loops and then stuff them in my, wait for it.....cargo pockets when I ride. I also take a magnesium capsule in the morning and bought a bag of empty gel capsules to make sodium and potassium pills I can down every few hours when out in the heat. Just can’t rely on having access to Powerade Zero at the Freestyle machines. It makes a huge difference, at least for me.

So while the whole situation sucks and I sure wish they would close a few games and cross train the associates to run the drink stands, I just try and make the best of it and not let it ruin my day. It sure beats using a LifeStraw or other filtration methods out in the woods. :)

So again, another example:

My family was at CP Shores today and both lazy rivers were closed, the bucket area was closed, and the lily pad area closed. It’s Memorial Day. (For those smart alecs who want to debate when the holiday weekend started, it’s here. Just in case you weren’t aware)

At this point it’s just complacency. The park is already getting their millions why should they care? That’s embarsssing to have half your “new” water park closed.

It's really frustrating. I live in Buffalo NY and we don't see a lot of (if any) advertising for CP. I've been going since I was 6, my first trip was in August of 1991. Since 2003 when I turned 18, I've done trips with friends, SOs and, since 2008, my wife. Everyone who knows me knows about my love of Cedar Point. I've convinced several people who work for me and that I know outside of work to go as well, especially in recent years. I have, since 2016, started telling people only to visit in June, July or the first half of August. Like Pete said, that simply shouldn't be the case. I take a lot of pride in the park and I think my story and my passion for it are no greater than any of yours, the others members here. This staffing situation, which seems to be a huge and increasingly negative issue for the park's first month of operation and it's fall operations, is a real problem. Some of the stories in this thread are legitimately alarming. The parks business is sound, or at least seems so, but management must do more to address these staffing and availability issues. The economy and job market, plus government policy towards foreign workers are complex issues, but a huge corporation like cedar fair needs to be able to navigate them much better. The "every guest" moniker CANNOT apply only to those guests who visit during the park's 10 core weeks of operation. I know Tony is on here at times and I've always appreciated his insight and posts, as well as all he does to promote the park. We all love CP, I feel confident saying that. But I'm very concerned about this trend in the wrong direction.

It is really unfortunate that the staffing issues are appearing in CPS this year as well. $300 a night resort guests are going to be especially irritated with that.

Guarding a waterpark is a tough job and the required training is extensive. What really has me perplexed is the whole nod your head multiple times scanning thing that CF guards have to do. That just looks unnecessary and miserable and ripe for repetitive motion injuries, my eyes move just fine thank you. You don’t see that at Kalahari or Zoombezie Bay.

With both rivers closed I think I will wait for some positive trip reports before planning a visit to CPS and just plan on waterpark days going to KI. My boys are going to be really disappointed as they really prefer to hit the waterpark for a few hours before riding coasters and they really like the rivers. :(

Seeing the lazy rivers are closed, not going to CPS yet myself. Just not worth the time to me even as a platinum passholder to vist there right now.

I’m hearing the issue at CP Shores today was due to an inordinate amount of associates calling off. One heck of a party last night maybe? I don’t know.

mgou58 said:

At this point it’s just complacency. The park is already getting their millions why should they care?

I don't know any business manager that likes being understaffed. Not having enough staff is leaving money on the floor that could end up on the bottom line instead. It's incredibly frustrating.

Mr. Potato said:
I’m hearing the issue at CP Shores today was due to an inordinate amount of associates calling off. One heck of a party last night maybe? I don’t know.

Not anywhere close to an excuse. Not if you manage both your business and your employees correctly.

How many employees are you responsible for?

Interestingly they were not revalidating Shores tickets like they were the park today. If anyone deserved compensation today it was anyone who bought this tickets to Shores.

When my company has sick outs the leads, supervisors, and managers fill in the gaps. additional staffing from the afternoon shift is called in. I have personally seen General Managers and Project Leaders fill in. My company will not let a 24/7/365 operation to fail.
I'm not sure if CP is doing this, but it makes a huge difference in the operation and employee morale.

Since you asked though I have no idea where you’d be going with this: I’m responsible for about 150 employees at any given time. And, unlike Cedar Point, we have a system in place for call offs.

Cedar Point, obviously, doesn't have adequate staff for normal operations. How would you expect them to handle call offs? It's not like they have hundreds of idle employees to choose from.

If enough staff has called off to cause the shutdown of over half your water park, you know, the one you spent millions renovating, then the onus is entirely on Cedar Point and if you think otherwise you clearly have never managed anyone or run a business before.

There are no excuses. Cedar Point is more than capable of figuring it out. The question is at what point will they get it right or will they ever? I’m sure they’ll be fully operational come Fourth of July but realistically if you’re going to offer half a product then at least advertise it as such and not “a place like no other”

It goes the same for inside the park. Again, as a season pass holder I’m not really impacted. But as I’ve said before: I’m. Not. The. Primary. Demographic.

Why some of you don’t get that is migraine inducing.

As someone who is responsible for hiring and managing staffing, I know what the available workforce looks like. If it comes across as apologetic on behalf of the park, that's only because I know exactly what it's like when you're trying to scramble to get enough staff for proper operations.

At this point, I feel like the park has about 70% of the minimum staff for full operations, and probably 50% of the ideal staff for heavy traffic days. Hiring a couple hundred people won't even make a noticeable difference yet.

I've already expressed my concern for the staffing model they use. It just amazes me that anyone thinks the park management is happy about operating below ideal staff levels. But throwing more money at the problem is not a good solution, either.

We were at CPS on Sunday and they were sending down two riders on a raft on Storm Surge. Not as an isolated incident...it was repeatedly. My wife and I played a fun game where we guessed which foreign country prince must have been on the raft, to be granted such a privilege. It took about an hour to get a ride in, when we started waiting about halfway up the stairs.

That is nothing new they have been doing that for at least 2 years. There was a time when waterparks used to fill those rafts completely full if possible but I noticed a change about 5-6 years ago and now they will let 2 tweens take up a whole raft. SF does this as well. That is why they waits are nearly an hour becuase they run them at nearly half capacity.

Cargo Shorts said:

What really has me perplexed is the whole nod your head multiple times scanning thing that CF guards have to do. That just looks unnecessary and miserable and ripe for repetitive motion injuries, my eyes move just fine thank you. You don’t see that at Kalahari or Zoombezie Bay.

Cedar Fair uses Ellis & Associates as their training program for lifeguarding. This type of scanning is required by them so when lifeguards are being audited by E&A the auditor can clearly see they are scanning their zone. Of course someone can scan without moving their head but no one would really know what you were looking at from behind your sunglasses. Auditors will typically be a good distance away watching with cameras so if a guard is not scanning, it is very obvious and will be called out once the audit is done.

You won't see this at Kalahari because they do not use this program. However, if you don't see this happening at Zoombezie Bay, its because a guard isn't following the correct protocol as this park does use E&A.

On a positive note, I am noticing a lot more drink stands open today compared to last Thursday.