Winter Chill Out 2018

^^ There you have it, a good explanation as to why this event is limited and sold out quickly. I'm sure some of you won't be made "whole" again. But the park goes through alot to put this on and it costs them alot of money.

And I disagree about this being the year to miss the event although the new ride construction is complete. We will likely get a close up view that you can't get normally while the ride is in operation. And I have no doubt there will be some good surprises shown at the event such as announcements and first looks at some things.

djDaemon said:

I'm pointing out that they went out of their way to put them on sale at midnight. There's obviously a reason they chose midnight. I'm speculating about the reason. Sure, I could be way off base. But why else would they go to such lengths to put them on sale at such an odd hour? That's not a rhetorical question. If you have a better explanation, I'm all ears.

Because midnight is the start of the day, it is not an odd hour. If they would not be available at midnight you would have people complaining and moaning at 12:01AM that "you said tickets would be available on Tuesday and they were not". Not any more complicated than that, I certainly don't believe that it was done because CP wanted some extremely enthusiastic elites who give up sleep to buy tickets. If they put tickets on sale at a time other than midnight, they would have to include the time in addition to the day, like they do with concerts or opening day Indians tickets. "Tickets for Winter Chill Out will go on sale at NOON Tuesday January 22nd. 2019."

Yes, they could have chosen to put them on sale at noon that day. Or 9AM. Or 4PM. And all they would have had to do was include the sale time when they announced the sale date.

They chose midnight, which is an inconvenience for them compared to almost any other time of day. That it was an inconvenience suggests they had a purpose for choosing that time.

Of course they had a purpose, and I gave you my opinion of what the purpose was. Midnight is the start of the day so they won't get complaints that the tickets were not available.

Right, but as you point out, they could have done what the Indians do with tickets and announced a date and time. Including a few extra characters in the announcement would have been decidedly less inconvenient than dealing with the hassle of a midnight sale.

Tony, thanks for your explanation of the event, the process and sharing the experience on the other side of the ticket store.

Looking forward to the event!

That is true Brandon, but I don't understand why the park would purposefully try to shut out certain people by making an inconvenient time. That's not how they operate. Especially since the most "dedicated" guests who spend the most time there typically tend to spend the least amount of money.

coast said:

I feel entitled to an invitation to media day. I feel all enthusiasts are entitled to that since we will create a solid buzz on social media.

I'm just going to interject here because of how insanely ridiculous and wrong this is. Enthusiasts contribute less than 1% to any hype or excitement value to the park. The other 3.5 million+ people who visit the park annually are the people who set in stone the "vacation DNA" to their families and make visits to the park a tradition.

My understanding of this is the reason that they've been inviting me back for 20 years, at which time I ask what I can do for them to reach their goals.

^I recognize we're not entitled... but that doesn't mean a huge business can't put on events. The fact that enthusiasts contribute a small amount of money to the park doesn't stop some smaller parks with less resources from treating enthusiasts extremely well (some would say more than we deserve sometimes... although I don't want to sound like I'm actively telling parks to take away events, because I'm not.)

Take Holiday World. It's a rather small park in terms of pure ride count, but their enthusiast events are so good that their primary one, HoliWood Nights, often draws people *away* from CM (I know several CP regulars, including myself, who went last year, and some who plan to go this year despite SV opening, although I'm going to CM.) Official no trims on Voyage, a lot of openness with enthusiasts, and theming for the event (they changed the music in the park to Jurassic Park to go with the theme last year), and allowing rerides if there are empty seats (which are sometimes allowed at CM and never at CoasterStock) are a few things people like about it.

HW probably sacrifices a fair bit more relative to their full income on enthusiast events given that they put on a Coastermania - caliber event despite being a much smaller park, so that's kind of why I think CP could afford to bring back stuff like Media Day.

Even in the CF chain at larger parks, CoasterStock had some backstage tours and stuff that seem like they've drifted out of CM (although Coaster Cruise is a damn good replacement.)

And yes, I know a few people won't appreciate it. A few people who are annoyed at something and decide to be rude to employees at the event (like the aforementioned Pipe Scream media day) shouldn't spoil it for everybody. While that event wasn't quite as amazing as GK Media Day, it was still a very special experience, and the fact that it was not as memorable to me was just because it wasn't a thrill ride's preview. For children of enthusiasts, I'm sure they loved it even more than I did.

I know! Arrange for all paid Coasterbuzz members to attend! We’ll dress right, we’ll act right, and we’ll stay on social media all day long with glowing reports!
😁

Tony Clark is good at his job. After giving it some time and thought (and under direction, likely) he responded to what participants here and other places see as a situation. Notice not once did he apologize or make promises, but explained in a calm and clear manner the course of events, adding that the event is considered by all involved to be a grand success and awesome for the charity. Which, by the way, it is and there’s no two ways about it. He said what needed to be said and the message is clear. So good for him.

I’m confident this thread will continue, however, with umpteen hundred more pages of complaints, arguements, and justifications. So shame on those folks.

Thank you for communicating, Tony! Yeah, I don't think it was mishandled, just a lot of demand. It's a charity event in the middle of winter, I'm sure it's a bit hard to organize extra staff to lead more tour groups even if they wanted to increase capacity

We're busy finalizing additional event details for Steel Vengeance. Those will come soon!

Cannot wait to hear what's in store, glad to hear that there's more stuff yet to be announced!

I'll add that all of the self-righteous entitlement is also a poor showing of humanity since we're talking about a charity event. If you're always asking, "What's in it for me?" when talking about charity, you're doing life wrong.

I stand by my idea that it would be to Cedar Point’s benefit to invite PointBuzzers to the media event. It’s a very kind gesture to throw a bone to those who are park fanatics. Other parks do it, why not Cedar Point? I’m not saying we are a huge group financially, and since we’re a small and fanatic group, all the more reason to invite us!

So please, someone ask about enthusiast invites during the Q&A at WCO. Or maybe Tony, can you elaborate on the plans? Please invite us.

Thank you!

The only answer I can think of to this last one is "lol, seriously?!?!?"

Just curious, why do you want to be invited to a media event so badly that your are groveling on a forum?

There are other forums and pages that are park fanatics should they be invited too just based on that fact?

The thing is that it's mainly for media as stated at least 234234 times here. Can we just stick to talking about WCO?

Pointbuzz isn't really an organized enthusiast group, we probably wouldn't get invited as a group. Which is good - the coaster club system from GK day was just fine!

Have you ever thought about using those coaster club forums for complaining about or trying to rally support for your media day dream?

Pete - No reason to insult me. I’m asking for you to attend, too! I’m certainly not groveling, just requesting the Park shows us kindness like they have in the past with the GK media day. I’ve been fortunate to visit three media days at Cedar Point, all of them super fun! Of course I’d like that experience with SteVen.

Jeff said:

My understanding of this is the reason that they've been inviting me back for 20 years, at which time I ask what I can do for them to reach their goals.

I’m sure running a popular fan site for 20 years is the main reason you’re invited. Share the love. There’s plenty to go around.