What's New for the 2011 Season?

Did anyone else notice the Parade route striping was gone. It looks like it was blasted with a power washer. I recall the striping being there in during the summer before. I'm wondering if they just want to redo the striping or maybe the parade is gone.

I was pretty sure they took the parade lines off during the main season every year and put them back for halloweekends

Shades said:

On topic - I noticed signs on Wildcat and Mine Ride that said they do not open until 11:00. I don't remember that last year.

I can tell you that Mine Ride did open at 11a last year. Wildcat opening at 11a this year is new.

Disaster and mean streak also do not open till 11 am. Add in the fact that millennium force and maverick don't open on time eather, they should just open the park at 11am.

On sunday, none of the early entry rides even opened untill noon. Millennium force never did open.

People were lined up for both maverick and millennium for the morning ride time, only to watch them test the ride a few times and nothing else. People had no clue if or when the ride was going to open because there was no entrance person.

I waited in line Sunday for 3 hours to get on Maverick. Got to watch a mechanic replace part of a drive wheel motor on the brake run and do testing. Finally got on the ride around noon. I was 5th in line and pretty sure everyone in front of me was a pointbuzz member. Finally decided to leave the park shortly after that as the weather showed no sign of improving and most of the rides were closed.

The park has really done quite a bit of work this past off season refurbishing things. Now if they would just fix the lights on their rides...

Mean Streak was my biggest improvement. It was actually fun.

Ocean Motion was still being worked on and had a crane on it on opening night.

crazy horse said:
Disaster and mean streak also do not open till 11 am. Add in the fact that millennium force and maverick don't open on time eather, they should just open the park at 11am.

On sunday, none of the early entry rides even opened untill noon. Millennium force never did open.

People were lined up for both maverick and millennium for the morning ride time, only to watch them test the ride a few times and nothing else. People had no clue if or when the ride was going to open because there was no entrance person.

If the weather was better I think you'd have a better argument. But the weather was absolutely atrocious yesterday. Trust me. I was itching to get my ride up and running but there was just no way it was going to happen.

DBCP said:
Millennium's seatbelts are only 2" longer because they are new. They're always longer when they're new. As they get wet and dry out in the sun, they shrink, which will eventually lead to many of them being the same length as the old ones over the course of the season, and into next season.

Millennium also received a new lift cable and catch car.

Word is that ride entrance positions were cut across the company, not just Cedar Point. I think over time, this is going to severely impact guest experience/service and operations; specifically on rides where no loose articles are allowed, like Millennium and Dragster. Guests do not read signs, and thus, will bring their loose articles and short children in line and assume they can ride with them. Anyone who was in the park yesterday (Saturday) and waited for Millennium saw the huge number of guests employees were trying to catch before they reached the platform that had loose articles. Not catching them at the entrance just makes it harder to catch before they reach the platform, and guests more upset that they weren't told prior to getting in line. On some attractions, you also have the children who wait in line and are too short, only to get turned down after waiting an hour in line... ending in an upset parent and child. Both slow operations. And there are more issues that should be, or can be more easily resolved at the ride's entrance, like special access times, guests with prosthetics, general questions about the ride, assisting with test seats, updating wait times, and more.

Dealing with these issues (those that apply) at the ride platform or while boarding will slow down capacity in ways that can be easily avoided if they're addressed at the entrance. Yes, perhaps not every ride warrants having entrance, however, I think anyone who regularly visits the park, and pays attention to operations closely will see the negative impact.

Iron Dragon has only two trains on; the third is sitting in the Mean Streak maintenance area. I'm very interested to see if they get it this season, or if the ride permanently loses it, much like Mantis, Corkscrew, Gemini, Mine Ride and Mean Streak all have.

See, that *see bolded text* is what I am curious about. My father is handicaped and uses a motorized cart to get around the park and he has gotten the special access pass each year where he takes the pass to the ride entrance, the employee assigns us our ride time (which is the current time + whatever the wait time listed on the queue sign) and he and I then go to the ride exit/special access entrance (different for some rides) and get on at the assigned time.
Soooooo....who will be assigning our ride time now? Do we just go in the exit and have one of those employees do it? Thats ok for some ride, but on rides like Millenium Force, it takes 2-3 train unloads for Dad to make it up the exit ramp (which is the special access entrance on MF) due to the people exiting not being able to fit while he is driving up the ramp/the steepness of the ramp slowing him down, etc...
This all doesnt make sense when you are looking at the WHOLE picture.
Between special access folks like my Dad, seat test-fitting, bags/stuffed animals/etc etc at rides like TTD, it seems like that employee at the gate is QUITE needed...

On sunday, none of the early entry rides even opened untill noon. Millennium force never did open.

Did you not learn anything from Devarious? Come on. It's a no big deal. Get over it. [sarcasm implied]

Any updates on Ocean Motion's status? First trip weather-delayed until Wednesday-Thursday, and the 3-year old is super excited to ride it for the first time!

Any updates on Ocean Motion's status? First trip weather-delayed until Wednesday-Thursday, and the 3-year old is super excited to ride it for the first time!

The ride was not opened at all as of Sunday. There were a couple of construction workers in the water area doing a little work in the morning. By mid afternoon there were a couple of ride ops doing some cleaning of the ship, but the ride never opened or tested at all. The theme of the area looks great.

Ocean Motion is quite clearly not done yet. That said, I think it is closer to being ready to run than Windseeker is.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

myxmastrmike said:

Do we just go in the exit and have one of those employees do it? Thats ok for some ride, but on rides like Millenium Force, it takes 2-3 train unloads for Dad to make it up the exit ramp (which is the special access entrance on MF) due to the people exiting not being able to fit while he is driving up the ramp/the steepness of the ramp slowing him down, etc...

What would work best is if your Dad stayed on the midway while you went up the exit to get a time. If there will no longer be a person working the ride entrance, that's the fastest way.

This all doesnt make sense when you are looking at the WHOLE picture.
Between special access folks like my Dad, seat test-fitting, bags/stuffed animals/etc etc at rides like TTD, it seems like that employee at the gate is QUITE needed...

Exactly! It really makes you wonder what the motivation was behind this. They aren't saving costs since the position wasn't eliminated but rather just relocated to somewhere in the queues. It seems that it only negatively impacts both the ride crews and the guests.

What is with all the whiners on this site? I see no problem with re-rides in situations where the seat would otherwise be empty, and no other guests would be denied a ride or forced to wait any longer. As for DORs, when have they ever been accurate? Not everyone that goes through the turnstile actually rides, and not everyone that rides gets accurately counted. I like what they do at the former Paramount parks, counting riders from the booth using the ride's plc.

As to the actual topic here, I did notice the new Canada's Wonderland style of ID and Nametag being used this year. I also noticed that Foods now actually cares about food safety. When I bought Dippin' Dots, the girl at the stand actually changed her gloves before scooping the ice cream. Last time I purchased food at the park (2008), this was not the case!

I spoke with a MICROS employee there about the new POS system. Nice to see the park now allowing a cash-less type system with room charges and gift cards. This should help prevent erosion in per-cap spending due to the poor economy and perceived lack of value for various in-park purchases. Luckily, when it comes to value, it seems the park has also adjusted pricing on various things, from what I have been told. That, combined with higher quality food, should really help add value to their products, and either maintain, or maybe even increase, per-cap spending.

-Sam

I don't think anyone has a problem with re-rides if everyone is given the chance to re-ride. Currently it seems as if only a select few individuals get that chance.

Yeah, that's the issue in a nutshell.

^^Who were all those people walking around opening day with "Micro" printed on their jackets?

I think they were from the company that installed the new POS system in the park.

^Thats correct. All the new registers and other POS machines were labeled MICROS, so it's safe to say that they were making sure everything was running smoothly with the launch of their new system.

I got re-rides last night on corkscrew, but it was probably because the park was empty. As for the turnstile issue, they simply counted the people that were re-riding and turned the turnstile themselves.

Some good opening day photos got posted over on Coasterbuzz. Looks like Ocean Motion is going to have a retractable platform of some sort.