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I experienced the best and worst of Cedar Point's inconsistent policy in the same night last Memorial Day. I rode Steel Vengeance and it had NO line (well... except for in the clusterf*ck tunnels after the lockers but we won't mention that) but they closed off the line at 7:25 with an 8pm close. I got off at 7:45, had time to get on the train, ride through Boneville, get off and walk over to the still open Millennium Force line at 7:57. It was a walk on, and as we came around the last overbank I saw people STILL getting into the line at 8:05. Back in the station they had popped open the magic gate and I got two more rides on it. The night before, as far as I could tell, they closed every line in the park by 7:50. It's a total crapshoot. Hopefully someday when staffing gets better (hahahahaha), Cedar Point will go back to their old policy of keeping almost every major ride's line open 5-10 minutes past park close. If the park is mobbed and you don't mind being there till 1am, you can get in line for something with a 3 hour line right at closing and no matter how long the line is, they'll get you on. I remember going to the park the year TTD opened and they were still running it at 4am one night. I'm sure we'll never see days like that again and it's understandable, but hopefully they'll at least get past the inconsistency of closing some lines 30+ minutes early while keeping other lines open 10+ minutes after closing and you pretty much have to cross your fingers that you're finishing your night at the correct ride.

Cedar Point is basically the only park in America without a consistent policy on this. If you're in line when they close the line, you can ride but they close the line whenever they feel like closing it. Some days they'll run it right until closing like they always did pre-Covid, other times they cut the Steel Vengeance line off 4 hours before the park closes. They will not advertise this or post in the app if the ride is closed even though the app claims that it will tell you this, you'll just have to walk all the way to the back of the park and figure it out. I wish I was kidding.

/checks weather uh… sending prayers I think?

Track still looks less f*cked up than Manhattan Express...salvageable for sure.

Lol

yup. . and the Governor has been on TV all day today (and most of yesterday) telling folks that if the GRID fails, and it WON'T. .he says. . . it's not his fault. because he's done NOTHING to prevent the same failures they had last year. . . other than block bills to fix issues at the plants. no really. he actually said "if you lose power, it might not be the grid..it might be a tree fell on a power line" really.

Where’s the lie?

Yo mama so dumb she thought Iron Rattler was kept in her bedside drawer.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/live-video CP getting hammered right now

Man, I wish I could have been a part of some of those 3 and 4 am Dragster waits. That's great. Riding it at 3am would be fun.

Remember when your mother used to say, "If you make that face too long, it'll freeze that way?" Let's just say the weather would prove her right.

I also have to jump in and say how awesome CP’s closing policy was pre-COVID (at least as a guest, I realize many employees were less enthused). I have so many great memories of hopping in line for one last ride 5 to 10 minutes after park close, and as a night owl, I loved it when the line was long. Now, until the park proves otherwise, I definitely recommend people ride everything they want to as early in the day as possible, since ride lines close unpredictably in the evenings—especially when the park is busy.

Ah yes, brings me back to the 3am Top Thrill Dragster ride I had long ago. Breakdown after breakdown after breakdown, but they still let you wait in line and never kicked anyone out despite it being 5 hours after closing time. The good old days. lol.

^ Herschend isn't part of this deal at all, in any way. The previous Sea World CEO came from HFE, but he's been gone a couple years now. No idea what you're talking about.

I've come to expect no better of him.

^ This is the sort of winter storm that causes Texans to go to Cancun, right?

TERRIBLE weather tonight and thru next few days. . not letting it stop them!

^ and ^^

I've worked for both companies for many years (not just a seasonal employee.) Busch USED to be amazing. When the Busch family owned the parks, there was a level and quality and service unmatched elsewhere. Once they sold to Blackstone, things went downhill fast. This past summer, Cedar Point celebrated its 150th with tons of show including a MASSIVE one with a cast of over 70 people. This past Christmas, Sea World could not be bothered to bring back "Oh Wondrous Night," their award winning Christmas show and instead got groups to fill in on weekends. It was lackluster and cheap and showed how different these two parks are in their commitment to entertainment. There is just no comparison between the companies and their two philosophies. Cedar Fair has been around for 150+ years and is an ENTERTAINMENT company. Sea World is owned by Blackstone, an investment firm. They just see the parks as money makers and way to make dividends off of their stocks. And until Sea World Orlando can retain a president for more than one year, they are in no business to be buying other properties.

I really feel like all-season dining plans are going to become a thing of the past across the board… Oh crap, I just thought of one more thing in the SeaWorld win column: They’re the only chain where a pass gets you a discount on booze! Catch that L, Cedar Fair people.

After they turn this down, I guess next up will be a $2.8 billion offer from Parques Reunidos in 3 years...

What are they going to do? Sabotage the park by opening it like 6 months later in the year than the Busch park down the road and remove their most popular coaster and replace it with nothing? That would be ridicu.... oh

Knott's did almost 900k more guests than SeaWorld San Diego in 2019 so they would probably close Knott's and go balls-deep in the orca park... (Nothing, it would mean nothing)

Wasn't SeaWorld having trouble paying their vendors last year? I seem to remember an article about some of the ride companies filing liens against them. I find it hard to believe they now have the funds to take over Cedar Fair.

We went to the park on Sunday and Montezooma, Xcelerator and Supreme Scream were all open! (the website said Xcelerator and Supreme Scream would be closed). Xcelerator only had one train onsite (thought it had two at one point?) and Supreme Scream only had one tower operating so Fast Lane was a lifesaver. The log ride was still closed for refurb. Quick thoughts from a first time visitor: - Loved the charm of this park....definitely better atmosphere than some of the other smaller cedar fair parks. I loved how there seemed to be coaster track everywhere interacting with the paths. - Park was packed! Lines for food seemed to be pretty painful all day and looked like all the ride queues seemed to be an hour+. I'd probably even get Fast Lane on a slower day here since most of the coasters seem to be pretty low capacity and the loading procedures seem to skew towards FL. Loved that there was that TGIF's right out front that was basically empty and much easier to get beers lol. - Coasters: Hangtime - 3x - Surprise of the day. Much better than I was expecting, probably my favorite in the park! 8.5/10 Ghostrider - 3x - Great traditional woodie. I feel like these are becoming rarer and rarer with all the RMC-ing and gimmicks going on with older woodies. Still riding very smooth after the retrack. Only slight disappointment is I thought there would be more airtime. 8/10 Xcelerator - 2x - Probably the best launch I've ever ridden and actual airtime going over the tophat! Easily put this above Kindga Ka and TTD. Length is the only issue with these rides. 8/10 Silver Bullet - 3x - I was expecting this to be at the bottom of my B&M inverts list and...... it didn't disappoint in that regard. That's not saying its a bad ride by any means but it just doesn't seem to do much. I understand why that first drop has to be so shallow but man what a terrible way to start lol 7/10 MR - 1x - happy I got to ride this in its original form before the refurb. The standby line seemed pretty brutal as half of the seats were roped off and they reserved every 3rd train for FL. 6.5/10 Sierra Sidewinder - 1x - went on this one after a few beers which was not the best idea. I think this might have been the only spinner I've been on so not sure how it compares to the Gerstlauer ones. Seemed like a pretty solid intermediate coaster. 5.5/10 Had a great time. Pretty easy trip from San Diego so hopefully will be back next year for the giga!

That's a lot of snow! Bill would still ride the flume.

While in line for Ice Breaker on Friday some random people walked by and said, "Oh, Darien Lake has this same coaster". I am still desperately trying to figure out what they could have confused Ice Breaker with at Darien Lake!?!??! LOL!!!

... wow, I missed some really stupid sh*t in the last few days. lol

they're gonna Patina the gold as well. . to make it look kinda rusty!

oh. . I mentioned Dr Diabolical's Cliffhanger construction tour and didn't supply pics? ah.. you want those? ok. . . they have already started construction, and the maintenance / transfer track is already starting to go in place.

in the park yesterday for an event - where many parks presented their 2022 plans (and beyond) which was a lot of fun, and I'll get up a report on that at some point (hopefully). . . .tho we did manage to get two walk on rides to Iron Rattler Back Seat, Superman, and a walk on to DareDevilDive (which broke down for 10 minutes as we were about to get on it. . . .but once reset, we got a ride, and it *IS* now going back up to the top of the tower before it starts flipping the planes so yay for that). Guess it paid to go to the park on a cold and overcast day - and everything was operating despite the weather and the light crowds, *except* for Poltergeist. we were inside Zaragoza theater almost the entire operating day tho. . so didn't get to get into the park itself until ~4pm when it closed at 6. . and take out for the time watching the Parade (which was full on and fun, even with the light crowd due to weather), and a backstage tour of construction on Dr. Diabolical Cliffhanger. So that's not a bad ride count considering we really only spent ~1 hour available to do "rides". . . . We got an hour after close to ride WonderWoman tho and taste lots of the MardiGras food offerings. but. . what I think is some of the bigger news? Skyscreamer is still offering the "Harness" option. (it was supposed to only run for 3 weeks and be gone as of 1/6/22). I asked a few of the Mgmt folks on the construction tour, as I noticed the harnesses on it. Most of them were cagey about it. . . "yeah, we're still offering it until we dont". . . but i did get someone to kind of admit that (and take this with a grain of salt, but it's from a horse's mouth, if not THE horse's mouth (ie: not from Park President): "it will continue running for free as an option thru the end of this week" (which I guess means today), "and then will be offered as a pay option" no idea how much it will cost, but I guess they have the infrastructure in place to support it as a paid option (separate line for it, and area to get in the harness). . i I suspect this will be a true statement. so there ya go . and to give you an idea of how crowds were yesterday ~4:30 pm: post parade bert: (and no you dirty minds. . I didn't have to show anything to get all these beads - it was too cold to anyways - but if you want lots of beads? catch the parade on a day without much crowd. . every float will have folks tossing beads to you) and can't post pics from SFFT without including the incredible Park President: Mr. Jeffrey Siebert

Just because you don’t think it is good, it doesn’t mean the rest of the visiting majority agrees with your opinion. But I guess that’s the beauty of numbers... Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the numbers will speak for the masses, vocal or not as they may be.

I think “terrible” is a matter of perspective. Also understand that the person you’re debating this with has a long-proven admiration of Epcot in its classic form... Just look up Epcot’s 25th anniversary for my credentials. Here’s the thing... Classic attractions like Horizons and the original Journey into Imagination were amazing. But by the end of their lifespans they struggled to attract riders. The same is true with both Universe of Energy versions, World of Motion, El Rio del Tiempo and The Seacabs in The Living Seas. These attractions need consistent ridership to justify operation. There are no theme parks (past or present) that have been able to justify operating major attractions (at major expense) without ridership value to offset the cost. Attractions that fall into this rut are either retired, rethemed or removed outright. It isn’t a question of quality—it is a question of appeal. Timeless attractions maintain their appeal—the majority of the attractions in Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frontierland at Disneyland Park and the Magic Kingdom have not been replaced, only plussed because of that enduring appeal. It is easy to gripe or idealize what audiences should want to experience or consume but the proof is always in the numbers. When the appeal has worn off, choices have to be made. Fans may not always like that expansion space and existing attractions are turned over for IP-based projects, but that is what gets guests through the turnstiles these days. The old edutainment approach on its own stopped succeeding in the 90’s... It had to be supplemented with IP and thrill to get guests to come to the park. The things you like about current Epcot couldn’t exist if the popular attractions you call “terrible” hadn’t been added to the park when they were. It was those “terrible” attractions that evidenced a need for more characters, more thrill and more for families... Without those, that park would continue to struggle until more drastic decisions might have needed to be made.

EPCOT is about one thing: making money for Disney. Does Guardians make money? *Glances at box office returns* Why, yes. Yes it does. Case closed.