Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

 

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

 

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

I don't think the numbers have been released yet, but a different ride was the most ridden this year!

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

 

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

 

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

I don't think the numbers have been released yet, but a different ride was the most ridden this year!

Interesting . . . . my guess for #1 this year would be . . . . Millennium Force

And we all know SteVen will be #1 next year

And we all know SteVen will be #1 next year

Would you like to make a friendly wager on that?

And we all know SteVen will be #1 next year

 

Would you like to make a friendly wager on that?

I'm sure Vengeance will get decent numbers since they'll probably put a great crew on it, but it won't have extraordinary capacity like GateKeeper. Millennium doesn't even have exceptional capacity, it's just consistent when it's operating (meaning it doesn't take sprinting around the platform to get 1100/hour).

My my times have changed. We were expected to do 1,250 an hour on Blue Streak back in da day. I think they can do 800 now if they have to? Magnum was rated at 2,100/hr when new but not sure what they actually did back then. Magnum was a “girls ride.” Blue Streak, Wildcat, Mine ride and Sky Ride were guy rides. When they figured out a lot of the staff was gay, they started having coed crews. Great times working at the Point.

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

 

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

 

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

I don't think the numbers have been released yet, but a different ride was the most ridden this year!

Train has to be the most ridden. You can get, what, 300 people at a time on that thing? No one's afraid of a train, it has interesting scenery, and it saves a walk across half the park. If I had money on this, it would be on the train.

^But how many trains are there? How often does a train dispatch? It’s a long ride compared to a 2 minute coaster.

I know there are at least two. Might be three. But let's assume 300 people per train, two trains, and a 10 minute ride. That's 3600 people per hour. If there's a third train, that's 5400 people per hour. And you can probably get more than 300 into one of those trains if the demand is there.

No one's afraid of a train,

You rode the El through Kensington. Imagine that at night.

No one's afraid of a train,

 

You rode the El through Kensington. Imagine that at night.

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

 

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

 

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

I don't think the numbers have been released yet, but a different ride was the most ridden this year!

Train has to be the most ridden. You can get, what, 300 people at a time on that thing? No one's afraid of a train, it has interesting scenery, and it saves a walk across half the park. If I had money on this, it would be on the train.

Based on footage, it's 12.5 minutes between dispatches. Which is 4,032 rph with two trains. Which is nearly twice what their highest capacity coaster, Gemini, currently runs at.

No one's afraid of a train,

 

You rode the El through Kensington. Imagine that at night.

As someone who lives in Kensington, I'm offended

(but seriously, fuck Kensington, I woke up to find my car like this recently. This neighborhood sucks and there's zero reason to come here if you don't live here.)

No one's afraid of a train,

 

You rode the El through Kensington. Imagine that at night.

You win.

So with Cedar Point's 2017 season over (I know they're not doing Winterfest this year, maybe next year they will) . . . .

 

What was the most ridden coaster at the park this year? (and yes, I did try Googling 'Most ridden roller coaster at Cedar Point', but didn't find anything).

 

I think last year, Gatekeeper was the most ridden.

I don't think the numbers have been released yet, but a different ride was the most ridden this year!

Train has to be the most ridden. You can get, what, 300 people at a time on that thing? No one's afraid of a train, it has interesting scenery, and it saves a walk across half the park. If I had money on this, it would be on the train.

 

Based on footage, it's 12.5 minutes between dispatches. Which is 4,032 rph with two trains. Which is nearly twice what their highest capacity coaster, Gemini, currently runs at.

Ok, see, there's somebody with actual numbers. That's basically my point, that it can have way more riders than anything else. Ridership depends much more on demand than capacity for trains.

And demand for Kensington trains ought to be zero. I never want to see that f*cking place again.

No one's afraid of a train,

 

You rode the El through Kensington. Imagine that at night.

 

As someone who lives in Kensington, I'm offended

 

(but seriously, fudge Kensington, I woke up to find my car like this recently. This neighborhood sucks and there's zero reason to come here if you don't live here.)

Oh man. What part of Kensington are you in? Is it the kinda nice part right off of Fishtown/Nolibs or the truly scary area around Somerset/Allegheny?

Somewhat related true story (and total thread derailment): Years ago, my fiancee and I were once woken by her neighbor (this is in Northeast Philly - near Grant & Academy, relatively nice area) who had spotted a couple dudes removing the wheels off her car and called the cops who had arrived to chased them away mid-steal. These idiots had driven there and parked behind her car, and took off on foot when the cops showed. So the brilliant Philly cops let all the air out of their tires and told us to call if we saw these assh*les again. This was all at like 3am, and of course we couldn't fall back to sleep and sat up in the window, when about an hour later we spotted them walking up the street back to retrieve their car, so naturally we called the cops back who arrived almost immediately and were able to arrest both of them as they tried to run into the woods near her house. The cops had dogs and tasers and sh*t. It was totally epic. Moral of the story? It doesn't just happen in North Philly. And Philly cops are generally awesome.

Based on footage, it's 12.5 minutes between dispatches. Which is 4,032 rph with two trains. Which is nearly twice what their highest capacity coaster, Gemini, currently runs at.

Yes but they don't always run both trains (at least I don't think they do) and more importantly they don't fill them. How often do you see people get turned away when the train arrives because there's no room on it? Basically never...

Last year the top 5 were

5. Raptor: 1,494,938

4. Magnum XL-200: 1,518,

3. Valravn: 1,599,105

2. Millennium Force: 1,726,772

1. GateKeeper : 1,923,420

The train finished at #7. I have no idea what #6 was. I'm guessing Gemini. If it filled it's trains and always ran both sides it would crush the competition but those two things rarely happen. Rougarou could be up there too if it had the demand but I don't really think it does. Iron Dragon probably would have had an outside shot too if it weren't for VR. It did have Early Entry last season but it came off this year.

In the end, Millennium Force is hard to beat. It has 3 36 passenger trains which are always full, relatively high up-time and Early Entry which gives it an extra hour of operation per day. Gatekeeper is right up there with it since it also has early entry, it has 32 passenger trains, it loads very quickly and it almost always fills it's trains (though it's popularity probably drops a little each year and it does send out a ton of empties during Early Entry and late at night which Millennium Force never, ever does. Gatekeeper also goes down quite a bit for wind. I feel like Millennium Force will get back ahead of Gatekeeper soon once Gatekeeper's popularity drops a little more. I also wouldn't be shocked if it comes off of Early Entry soon. Millennium Force will never come off of Early Entry, always fills its trains and generally has to cycle through a giant line that can exceed an hour long after park close.

I feel like Gatekeeper will almost definitely do more riders than Steel Vengeance next year as long as they leave it on Early Entry (and probably even if they don't). Millennium Force would pretty much have to fall into the lake not to do more riders than an RMC running 24 passenger trains regardless of it's popularity.

^Not to mention that every RMC I've ridden in opening season experiences severe growing pains and lots of down time. Plus, there are lots of...."fluffy"...people who get turned away and slow down dispatching.

True, and RMC dispatches are naturally slow to begin with. Just a "feature" of the restraints. "Seat belts first, and don't pull down the restraints until we tell you. Seat belts first, don't forget your seat belts." And even with that spiel, there's always someone who pulls down their restraint immediately and doesn't wear the seat belt....

^ I have to confess that on Goliath at SFGam this past visit we buckled up and instinctively pulled our lap bars down, only to be instantly berated by the staff... #sixflagsday

Granted, it was right at opening and we walked right on. It was well before the constant barrage of "Seat belt's first, DO NOT pull down your lap bars." We got on the ride so quickly I'm not even sure they made an announcement.

Yeah that sounds like Six Flags. SDC starts their spiel as the air gates open.

Are ridership counts totally based on turnstile clicks, or are there additional counting methods? It strikes me how impressive it is that they collect such precise numbers, but I'd guess that's pretty much all there is to it.

^ and then there's always the kid that decides to start flinging the turnstile around (literally) 100+ times while they stand in line, skewing the numbers... but yeah. Most parks will record turnstile clicks often (every hour). I can't remember Cedar Point specifically but a lot of coasters now-a-days are counted by whomever is in controls instead of relying on turnstiles. Just count the number of empty seats when it's busy or count the number of seats that are full when it's light and then calculate from there.

There's the turnstile at the station for most rides, along with alternate access counts which are collected by a ride host when they are loaded on the train (since they don't go through the turnstile). For the most part, it's very accurate. There are some rides, such as Valravn, that guests think the turnstile is meant to be left untouched and as a result the "official" numbers are much lower than reality. Millennium's is very accurate though.

True, and RMC dispatches are naturally slow to begin with. Just a "feature" of the restraints. "Seat belts first, and don't pull down the restraints until we tell you. Seat belts first, don't forget your seat belts." And even with that spiel, there's always someone who pulls down their restraint immediately and doesn't wear the seat belt....

Correct me if I am wrong, but we have yet to see a park with consistently great operations run an RMC. I'm sure CP will speed up the whole restraint checking process compared to what we have seen at Six Flags and elsewhere..

True, and RMC dispatches are naturally slow to begin with. Just a "feature" of the restraints. "Seat belts first, and don't pull down the restraints until we tell you. Seat belts first, don't forget your seat belts." And even with that spiel, there's always someone who pulls down their restraint immediately and doesn't wear the seat belt....

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but we have yet to see a park with consistently great operations run an RMC.

Silver Dollar City has an RMC.