Water Main Break

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality

Open your eyes,look up to the skies and see

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

It's been difficult to find a place to chime in because of how ludicrous some of the posts have been (you know who you are).

Someday my daughter's children will walk into the town hall museum and stare at an article that discusses the "Water Main Break of 2014". A truly negative but significant point in park history. Has the park ever been forced to close like this (for such an extended period of time) due to an emergency of some kind? Not to my knowledge.

What is truly laughable is that some of you on here pretend to know 1) the ins and outs of the relationship that exists between the city of Sandusky and Cedar Point, 2) the extent of knowledge known about the water main that broke prior to the incident, 3) the park's complete repertoire of disaster-related decision making processes in place, and 4) the list goes on...

The park did what it could to insure the safety of everyone in the park, and has extended a gracious welcome back to everyone who was impacted. What more could you possibly ask?

But Kevinj, don't you get it? These people have a college degree in RCT.

^^ You've said it better than I could have. Things happen. They implemented emergency procedures as soon as they had information available to make a decision. They went the extra mile to give guests a day in the park in the future and to reopen ASAP. The welcome back promo is icing on the cake. Yes, things could have gone better. Under the circumstances, however, I'm impressed.

Let's all get over this and get back to enjoying the park we love.. starting with ERT at 9AM tomorrow. :)

And the strong majority of them weren't even at the park, so they're not impacted at all, unless they had planned on going to the park this weekend. I was at the park yesterday morning from Chicago with two friends, and we were very well compensated for the park closing early. My friends weren't upset at all, and we came home a day early. The park handled this as well as they could have, coming from someone who was directly impacted by the incident.

Just going over some stuff.

1. Pointguru is back, lols, can't wait to hear about rainchecks again :P

2. SteveH..just wow..not going into detail.

3. CP handled this very well, honestly the Hotel off point I booked through this weekend handled this worse than they did. I wish the park had an offer for passholders like myself and others who traveled in for this weekend, but we have a pass, they and I both know I'm back several more times a season. Stuff happens this was way out of their control. Also I don't get why people say the park needs to open up their own water treatment facility. The park isn't going to open a water treatment facility. If that's the case they'll install a power grid to fuel their power hungry rides too right, because that 2003 blackout and a few small power losses since warrant that. Might as well start the CPCG (Cedar Point Coast Guard) to protect His Majesty, Mr Ouimet on sovereign ground.

^ lol... and yes, it appears the "guru" has returned. :(

Regarding something for pass holders, I agree. Our plan was to stay the night after CoasterMania and come back for half a day or so on Saturday. Unfortunately, the water main broke. Would it be nice if they had given us something in lieu of this trip? Sure! Will we be back? Plenty of times. Is my platinum pass still worth it? You bet. Between KI and CP, we've had 7 days in the parks for a whole $25.71/day, parking inclusive. That's only going to continue to fall throughout the season.

Exactly, I'm more ticked the hotel I was staying at says they won't refund my Sunday stay when I decided to leave Saturday. Sending off an e-mail about that that's pretty lame IMO.

CP did what they could for us in the park Sat morning and again they didn't cause any of this, they can't be blamed for any of it. Besides, I'll be back, probably this weekend to make up for it, plus it's Gay Day here soon too, which is always a totally exciting day in the park.

ThePointGuru said:

Respectfully, this isn't just a theme park issue. Water main breaks effect communities every day including public schools, colleges and universities. They all have remained open in the past. School cafeterias still fed students, universities did not evacuate their dorms, and businesses still continued to operate without closing their doors.

Not where I live. Schools close with broken water mains. The Fire Department orders high rise buildings to empty without water in the sprinklers. Could you cite examples of any health departments allowing schools to remain open without water?

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=water+main+brea...8&oe=UTF-8

Edited to Add: My favorite starts out (bold mine) "Because of a water main break in the city, dozens of Philadelphia public schools closed at 11:30. (List updated, 12 p.m.)
"

Back in my middle school days, we had a sprinkler leak in one of the many building entrances just before the day began. Some of the drivers knew this before they even dropped kids off. Did parents get together and complain that the school should've handled it better, should've let them know sooner? No.. We just waited until the buses returned from elementary runs before they took us back home. They wouldn't even let us stay at school with the fire sprinklers out (I think water was still OK elsewhere).

*Rant Warning

First off, i want to thank everyone who started singing Bohemian Rhapsody on here. This really lightens the mood. On other news, i was in the park that day. I walked from Iron Dragon to Magnum. I tried to stop and use the bathroom next to Magnum and a nice employee said that the bathrooms were out of order and that the problem was being worked on. No harm there at all, Was there? Then i waited for Magnum to open, then an employee said there was a water break in the park main and they were told to keep closed. I felt that the whole demeanor of all the employees was positive. Checking out later of the campground, i was told by a nice older gentlemen that we would be refunded for our stay and park visit. The park definitely cant stay open because of the fire, bathrooms, food prep, etc that has been stated before and has been shot down by idiots. Im just happy that i could ride Millennium Force and Iron Dragon. That was a plus to add to CoasterMania. I feel bad for everyone else but look at it this way. What if it had been a major T storm? The park would be open but nothing else. All rides and shows cant run. Then what? You would have wasted your ticket and not have even gotten a refund (DON'T GET STARTED ON RAIN CHECKS!!! WE ALL KNOW WHO I'M TALKING ABOUT!).

*Rant done.

rollerdog11 said:

First off, i want to thank everyone who started singing Bohemian Rhapsody on here. This really lightens the mood.

You're welcome. That was the intended purpose.

I was in the park at the time it happened, we entered at 9am for early entry. At 906 we were in line for gate keeper and an employee told another employee to conserve water because the main line to CP was broken and what they had in the coolers was it.

After we got off gate keeper about 9:20 we walked to Maverick, as we walked we noticed several people trying to go to the bathroom but being turned away, a few people were complaining because the employees could not tell them where in the park an open bathroom was...nobody had any answers.

Maverick was working but quickly shut down as soon as we got up there, of course. At first I assumed it was because of a ride issue, then i began to notice no stores or food areas were open and began to think water may be an issue for the rides.

After waiting until 9:50ish, we walked over to sky hawk and got on at 10, and then got MF and it was still running, so we got in line (fast pass) and were off by 10:25.

As soon as we got off MF, the ride shut down and announcement system told everyone in the park it was closing due to lack of water and safety issues that brought, they are able to reach their guests who are in the park. It was hard to hear for some I'm sure, none the less, they did have one in place for situations like this.

Cedar Point refunded us our money, and gave us some free extra tickets and a few extras beyond that. I think they handled the situation as best they could. Everyone needs to understand not everything is perfect and give the park a break, imagine being in managements shoes at the time. Its a tough call, no mater what the decision is.

Just a few undeniable truths that seem to keep being ignored by several other posters:

1) No one forced the park to close. Management made that decision on their own. The National Guard wasn't called in and SWAT teams did not storm the Cedar Fair offices and order the park closed.

2) Other businesses and even entire cities have still continued to function for days without a drinkable water supply. Yes, some businesses and schools have chose to close in similar circumstances but that is a choice.

3) The water main break was a foreseeable circumstance. If the park had any sort of disaster recovery plan to accommodate a lack of water to insure the park could still operate, it obviously wasn't followed. Well managed companies have policies that address similar situations. It may have been Sandusky's responsibility to maintain the water supply; but, it is the parks problem when it doesn't have water.

4) Turning away 10's of thousands of unhappy guest for 2 days during a busy weekend when you already have a limited operating schedule is not good for business no matter what kind of business you are in. Just because you were not effected; because you where not at the park that day, or you are satisfied by what the park has offered, or you are a platinum pass holder so you can go whenever you want, doesn't mean you are the center of the world and other people don't have a right to be upset over a poor management decision.

PS

Just for the record, I will give my opinion for the first time since I have yet to give one in any previous post. Park management panicked and closed the park unnecessarily when it realized it was unprepared to deal with avoidable problems associated with operating the park without the normal water supply. Someone in park operations needs to lose their job over this fiasco. It has hurt the parks reputation and cost the company millions.

That said, I give the park credit for admitting its mistake and refunding money to hotel customers and offering a special promotion. I also must give the park credit where credit is due. I believe the park has agreed to allow guest who bought tickets to return on another day during the year. Strange how that sounds suspiciously to me an awful lot like a RAINCHECK!!! Funny how I heard somewhere about how that could never be done.

This site really needs an ignore feature.

^^ I'm trying to ascertain a single accurate thing in that post, but.. trolls gonna troll.

^ Please, Jeff?

Pointguru....go home, you're drunk.

Additions to add to Pointbuzz 2.0 from this board.
1. Picture posting
2.likes
3. Ignore feature
4. No pointguru

On the topic of PG, don't feed the troll