Whats with the lighting issue?

I got to visit the Point last week, had a great time, even met Kinzel on the boardwalk! But I have a question...

The park looked great, the landscaping was nice, the litter was under control, and smokers were pretty much staying in the smoking areas. But what is with the burnt out light bulbs, especially on rides? Most rides not only had burnt out bulbs, but many had whole sections of lights that seemed to just be unconnected.

The Giant Wheel in particular just looked plain ghetto!

Anyone know why they are letting this part of the park experience rot?

Cedar Fair is known for this. The Giant Wheel has been like that for a long time.

Just a total lack of attention to detail. They do not want/care to spend the money on upkeep on this part of the rides. This has bugged me for years that they don't do something so easy like changing a light bulb. Its not like this is a major investment.

^ - during the day it is.

You have to bring maintenance out, shut the ride down, climb up to wherever the light is (which may mean bringing out a crane) replace it and clear everything out before re-opening. Its something that is much easier to do after the park closes, which of course means that things may look a little crappy while the park is open.

Yes, but large quantities of lights should not remain burned out for multiple *seasons*.

Didn't there used to be a maintenance crew at CP whose primary job was to replace burned out light bulbs every night? Clearly either that crew is not doing its job, or that crew has been downsized out of existence.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^I'm going to say ''downsized out of existence''...

Can you say budget cuts?

^I can't blame them with the attendance somewhat down. Everyone is making way to big of a deal about light bulbs. It really is pathetic if you are worried about 5% of the light bulbs out on a ride. IT DOESN'T MATTER. At least there safety record is as close to 100% as any park out there. CP is not a Theme park, it is an amusement park, and lightbulbs or not it is #1 in the world, and will be for many years to come. They are cutting there budged in the only way the can.

haha once when i rode gemini, a light bulb from the station fell down and shattered right next to me. no one was hurt though.

^^Then next litter crews are reduced, then no rides get painted, then you wonder how far it will go before people really notice. It does matter. If it's one or two bulbs on a couple rides it isn't a huge deal, but when whole sections of the Giant Wheel are out and half of Millennium Force's lift hill is out it looks bad.

People start to notice when things like theming and lighting are in poor condition. The appeal starts to slowly erode.

TopThrillChris said:
^I can't blame them with the attendance somewhat down. Everyone is making way to big of a deal about light bulbs. It really is pathetic if you are worried about 5% of the light bulbs out on a ride. IT DOESN'T MATTER. At least there safety record is as close to 100% as any park out there. CP is not a Theme park, it is an amusement park, and lightbulbs or not it is #1 in the world, and will be for many years to come. They are cutting there budged in the only way the can.

Umm attendance isn't down. It's on par the in-park spending is down. Anyways if it was down, it would not mean a thing. Cedar Fair is been like this for a while. With Kinzel in charge, things like this they just don't give a damn.

^ Come on now. Previous posts said how an entire matinence staff was dedicated to light bulbs. My first point was that CP worries soooooo much about ride safety that i don't want them cutting corners with ride mechanics to staff "light bulb replacers." My second point was that if it were Disney World, or a Busch Gardens park(both theme parks), 1 light bulb looks horrible. They don't have near the amount of rides as CP, so simple things like this look bad. CP is an amusement park, not a theme park. It is know for its rides, not its light bulbs(referring to theming in general). I have been to the park this year with people who it is there first time and they said nothing about the lights. All i heard all day was comments on the great rides and how efficient the rides were compared to other parks. Also they commented on how fun the crews were.

Maybe they thought flourescent lights would look stupid? :)

It's not lack of attention to detail. Cedar Point is simply doing their part to save the planet...yes, CP is "going green" like the rest of corporate America. I applaud them for their 5% reduction in lighting ;)

Next time you're in the park, just start throwing rocks at the remaining lights. Surely, when unlit bulbs reach a critical mass, they'll get their due attention.

Don't get me wrong... I am certainly not a "lightbulb nazi", however I don't think it's bad for people to notice that lights are burning out and not being replaced. Just because CP is an "amusement" park, and not a "theme" park doesn't mean that they should just let the park's ambiance and, dare I say, "charm" fade away.

Sweet. All these people going green means I can turn down my air conditioning just a few more degrees and not have to feel guilty about it! :)

Seriously, is "Going Green" not like one of the biggest scams out there? I really thought it was funny how they've hyped Greensburg, KS as 'rebuilding green' - When I visited in May they had like.. a windmill and some greenhouse looking thing. Lot's of hype.

Is it bad that the company I'm working for is doing a "Go Green" campaign right now?

We are a payroll company, and we are going completely paperless... We have the commercials and all.

^ - see, that's the problem. Companies make a move (that makes sense more than just environmentally) but then they feel like they need the whole world to know about it. Why not just go paperless and leave it at that?