Virus Impact on CP

Dvo said:

Rumors on another website are saying that there's a chance that all Cedar Fair parks will be closing after Labor day. The coaster fan in me would be sad about it, since I was considering a fall trip. But I'm sure the business is hurting, even with the gates open right now.

I haven't seen this yet, but I'd get it. I could also see Worlds of Fun and Dorney doing this with how low attendance has been, with KI & CP perhaps holding on with a few "fall weekends" in September to capitalize on a few more nice weather weekends, but not trying to stretch it out to Halloween.

I'm hoping there are at least some fall weekends once the weather cools down I might be able to tolerate the mask slightly better or at least I'm hoping I will at least as far as overheating goes. So far the longest I've tolerated one under any circumstance was a bit over 4 hours at Cedar Point so it's likely going to take me until fall to get each of my favorite rides in at least once.

Not having an entire post-Labor Day Fall season at CP would be significantly more disappointing than losing May and June was. Fall and Cedar Point are synonymous to me, and despite the extreme crowds in the last several years my absolute favorite time of year is the 6-7 weeks of Fall season at Cedar Point.

I spent a day at CP yesterday. I can’t imagine at the rate they’re going that fall will even be an option. I knew what to expect and didn’t have any complaints, but from what I witnessed it has to be costing them more than what they’re bringing in.
If it were me I’d pull the plug and keep the lights off til next season, in hopes that everything is closer to normal by that time.

^Yep, I totally agree. I have to believe that a strong majority of the attendance they've seen this season is comprised of season pass holders, who are going to spend significantly less money on a visit than a single-day or weekend guest.

Yep, there’s that. I was in early, ahead of park opening, and every single person through the gate was a passholder. I dropped some coin while I was there, and at every cash register the customers were all pulling out their gold/whatever passes for their 10%.
I ate a snack, mini corn dogs, and took advantage of my drink plan. I bought the book and a couple of those vintage-looking tees. I hope my 100+$ is helping.

Well they did attempt to make everyone a passholder as part of their strategy by selling them cheap, so that everyone has a pass is not surprising to me. That was going to be the case regardless this year and maybe forever or until the strategy fails and they attempt to bring back pricing integrity. On one hand, those gold passes set them up with cash to burn to remain solvent for longer while they weren't bringing in much revenue. On the other hand, they might never bring in the same revenue they did when they had a fairly priced ticket and pass.

With the closed rides, capacity limitations, distancing on rides, letting people off 2 at a time, sanitizing every 30 minutes, masks, heat, etc, it just doesn't seem the same to me. Now that it looks like they have more open, I might give it a shot toward the end of the month, but I've not been real eager to get down there this year. I can't imagine a full blown Halloweekends experience. I suspect they'll close the smaller parks and attempt to consolidate their efforts on the larger parks like CP, KI, Canada's Wonderland, etc. I'd say Knotts, but I don't think they've even been allowed to open at all yet.

I was at the park today for the afternoon and I agree with RCMAC. The way operations (rides and food/drink stands) are being run with the sanitizing and social distancing would make an interesting, perhaps even unpleasant experience for the fall. Granted, I enjoyed myself because I was back for the first time since October of last year and got on a few rides. I had lowered my expectations based on some of my friends visits and people on here with their reports. But the park just seems like it was lacking its normal vibe. Even with the majority of rides testing, the park sounded empty. People are on rides, but you aren't hearing the normal thrills and screams. So add in a 75 degree on a Saturday in October, and things will get interesting to say the least. They would definitely have to go back to the reservation system if they stay open past Labor Day just to cover themselves in case people do the impulse visit. The park would have a difficult time managing those crowds to say the least.

Knotts did a dining event called "A Taste of Calico" last month. It was essentially what they do for the annual Boysenberry Festival, just confined to Ghost Town. No rides operating, with a set number of reservations on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The initial offerings sold out within hours, at $25 a head, and two more weekends were added. They now have extended a larger version called "A Taste of Knotts" https://www.knotts.com/play/events/taste-of-knotts

I work at the park, and we were told that if we wanted hours after labor day, to find another job. Not in those words exactly, but it is definitely what they were implying.

^thats nothing new though. In most departments at that time of year, there aren't hours available when the park isn't open.

Perhaps. But I would think there’s more meaning to that this year. Again, I don’t see their flagship park up and closing at the end of August. But then again, there’s absolutely nothing normal or predictable about this year. I’m sure we will hear more details from the park in the next two weeks or so.

samosuband said:

^thats nothing new though. In most departments at that time of year, there aren't hours available when the park isn't open.

Plenty of hours in my department when the park isnt open. And yes that is something new because the park wouldn't be telling employees to seek other employment after Labor Day, if they were intending to stay open. Normally they would be going around asking people if they want to stay past their contracts, but that hasn't happened yet. Most departments right now are running on skeleton crews as it is, and I cant see the staffing being available at all to be able to do anything on weekends past Labor Day.

Woohoo! The bot had fun at CP!

What?

A bot had posted here with a link and a generic message stating they had fun. It's gone now.

Also, CP looks to still be advertising for open positions on social media. Hope for a fall season?

I saw the hiring post and thought the same thing. There really aren't many operating days left between now and Labor Day to be bringing on and training new staff.

It's either "that bad" and they still need to onboard new hires to even get to Labor Day. Or they do have plans for some kind of post-Labor Day operations.

I still say they may have some success with Saturdays & Sundays. Open 12-9 on Saturdays and 12-6 on Sundays. Sell some kind of overpriced Breakers Fall package. Put out some pumpkins. People love them some Fall. Maybe you just do September or go through Columbus Day weekend. I don't think you have to go all the way to November 1, especially with the risk of a weather wash out increasing each weekend. But I think they could make a go of it if they can staff it and if they aren't already losing more each day by being open rather than just closing until next year.

I highly doubt they would go through the full hiring process this late in the season just to make it through the upcoming weekend operations, I'd say its much more likely that there are plans to operate past labor day but they are trying to contend with most of the current employment is likely leaving for college in the near future.

Currently according to their tweets they will be guaranteeing a $1 bonus per hour worked for anyone hiring on (although if I'm reading that right it applies to everyone currently working). I don't think they would go through the financial drain of that just for a couple of weekend runs, there has to be plans for longer to make something like that worth their while. It doesn't seem like a short term type move to me, that screams long term.

I tend to agree. Hiring and training is not exactly a non-time-and-money-consuming process. If you were just going to shut down in a few weeks, hiring new people now makes little sense.