Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[operative_me]

I had a nice day at the park yesterday. Parked in the CPS lot and on my way back saw SV had two trains on the transfer track and no workers were in the station, so quickly abandoned my plans to head back there. Coming up to the gate the had a sign that said SV was closed and Magnum would be taking its place. Rode Magnum once and then went over to Millennium Force for some magic gate time. Got about 10 rides in before 10:30.

 

Tried the new BackBeatQue and had the brisket, it was pretty good and they have a few different types of BBQ sauce to drown it in. Later on in the day I tried the stromboli at Hugo's and it was pretty damn good. I saw others say on opening day their food was cold, here's to hoping that has been corrected and stays that way, but overall a much, much better experience than Midway Market.

 

They had employees at the RR gate by SV that it would open at noon. The line started at the RR crossing and when I got in line at 11:45 it was past Miss Keat's. At 12:15 the line started moving, but that was to just shift the line into the queue for Deprivation. The finally opened the ride a bit after 12:30, and I got a back seat ride after about a 40 minute wait. After that, it was time to head open to my favorite ride in at CP, the Surf Lounge, and it was empty. I mean the bartender was thankful to have someone show up. He said he was told that only 200 rooms were booked for the night, and with the lousy weather yesterday I can believe it.

 

I finished up the day with rides on the "mediocre" & "sleeper" Gatekeeper and Valravn. I guess I must be an idiot or just scared of the intense rides because I enjoy those coasters a lot.

 

If you are heading to the park over the next few weeks, you might want to have a back up plan for early entry, as it is clear that they have been planning late openings for Steel Vengeance. (Rumors at the park said that it was due to the cold temperatures in the morning, but I don't know what the source for that info is.) Looking at the wait times online it seems it has not opened today, so I guess it's going to be another noon opening. I doubt they would want to carry this into the busy weekend but just be aware that it is a possibility, so you don't sprint all the way to the back of the park and see them putting water dummies on the ride.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Thanks for the heads up. I usually do Millennium for early entry and it looks like that one opened with the park.

 

At least Maverick is next to Steel Vengeance for everyone who runs there.

[Izorro]

If you are heading to the park over the next few weeks, you might want to have a back up plan for early entry, as it is clear that they have been planning late openings for Steel Vengeance. (Rumors at the park said that it was due to the cold temperatures in the morning, but I don't know what the source for that info is.) Looking at the wait times online it seems it has not opened today, so I guess it's going to be another noon opening.

 

My first day there a few days ago, the ride attendant told us that SV has yet to open on time for the 2019 season, due to cold mornings. She said due to this, they had to run it a bunch of times in the morning to 'warm it up' before people could ride it.

[jcookeusa]

Hi All,

 

We're planning to head to CP today (after a long trip from Baltimore for Kings Island on Tuesday!) and wondering if you all think the weather will kill any good chance for coaster riding. Up until last night, I was most worried about rain and storms, but that has fizzled, with thunderstorms and rain ending this morning by ~10am.

 

Now, the wind may be an issue: they're expecting winds from the SW at ~23mph, shifting to the W at ~20mph by 3pm and fading to WNW at ~13mph by 8pm. I expect that at minimum, TTD will be down. What do any of you think for the rest? Is it likely most coasters will still be open?

 

Thanks!

Justin

[ytterbiumanalyst]

The weather forecast is very difficult to use in this particular way. Winds in Sandusky at ground level will be different from winds 200 feet up on a flat peninsula in the middle of Lake Erie.

 

If you've come all this way, go and enjoy it. Expect nothing to be running at all and every surprise will be pleasant!

[coasterbill]

They'll probably run everything except for Dragster, Raptor and Gatekeeper. If you see any of these rides running, ride them immediately and take the first available seat.

[Canobie Coaster]

It looks like winds will die as the day progresses. Cedar Point is the type of park that will open a ride for the first time all day an hour before close if the conditions allow it.

[Zand]

It looks like winds will die as the day progresses. Cedar Point is the type of park that will open a ride for the first time all day an hour before close if the conditions allow it.

 

On Monday (8pm closing) they started testing Raptor at 7:30 and had a small lineup of people when I walked by at 7:50. I asked the attendant if they were really opening it for 5-10 minutes and he said "That's the plan!" Pretty cool that they open things when they can no matter how long it'll last.

[coasterbill]

I just saw on my feed that Raptor opened today at 8:00. The park closes at 8:00. I just pulled up the webcam and they’re still cycling it and letting people into the queue. That’s pretty cool.

[djcoastermark]

^ yep, that's Cedar Point. We were told by some CP employees at 9:50 pm, when we finally saw TTD cycling on a lone ride with 2 employees on Gemini. We said aw, too bad they tested TTD so late at night and we can't get on. They looked at us and said, "this is Cedar Point, if it's testing, it will be up soon, get in line". We did and got 2 rides in by 10:15. Thought that was it for the night, bit on a lark, ran back around to the entrance and they were still letting people in, barely, they closed the line just after at 10:20. We were in about a 15 minute line. Waited and were 2 trains away from riding when , of course, it broke down. The Ops said it was temporary and if it comes back up, everyone in line will get to ride. What the heck, we were there, didn't have to go anywhere later as we were staying at the Breakers, we'll wait. A half hour later, TTD roared back to life and loading began. Loading for just 2 trains over an hour fifteen after the park closed. Amazing. But hey,that's Cedar Point for ya !

[anonymouscactus]

That's awesome that they still do things like this. Many years ago I was in line for TTD until after 1am (on a 10p close)... lol good times. It kept breaking down but sure enough I got my ride!

[Pedrinho]

I just saw on my feed that Raptor opened today at 8:00. The park closes at 8:00. I just pulled up the webcam and they’re still cycling it and letting people into the queue. That’s pretty cool.

Yep, that's pretty much the same case we had with TTD. CP is awesome with that. We even had the feeling every ride OP was glad to get the ride open ten minutes before closing and noone had a problem cycling trains way after park closing.

[TurnOfTheCentury]

Have the dispatches significantly improved on Steel Vengeance with 3-train operation.

I was (pathetically) staring at the webcam on Sunday, and it still looked like 1:50 to 2:00-ish dispatches?

That seems un-Cedar Point like?

[Zand]

Have the dispatches significantly improved on Steel Vengeance with 3-train operation.

I was (pathetically) staring at the webcam on Sunday, and it still looked like 1:50 to 2:00-ish dispatches?

That seems un-Cedar Point like?

 

2 train op Sunday and Tuesday...I'm sure it was Monday as well. Not sure if they've gone back up to 3 since then.

 

For the record on Tuesday I stood in line for an hour and made it through the last section of switchbacks to the very beginning of the tunnel. Probably would've been close to 2 hours if I didn't hop out.

[DaMarkSta]

On the days I've been there they've been running 3 trains but the dispatches are still slower and they were stacking every time, so they might as well been running 2 trains. I'm not sure if the cell phone, metal detector process has been the main cause of this slow down. It doesn't appear like it takes that long for the guests to put their items in the pouches but they are consistently 50-60 seconds above the count down timer which starts when the lap bars unlock which I believe is 45 seconds. So we're looking at on average 100 second dispatchers.

[rjr19]

Have the dispatches significantly improved on Steel Vengeance with 3-train operation.

I was (pathetically) staring at the webcam on Sunday, and it still looked like 1:50 to 2:00-ish dispatches?

That seems un-Cedar Point like?

 

2 train op Sunday and Tuesday...I'm sure it was Monday as well. Not sure if they've gone back up to 3 since then.

 

For the record on Tuesday I stood in line for an hour and made it through the last section of switchbacks to the very beginning of the tunnel. Probably would've been close to 2 hours if I didn't hop out.

 

Last weekend I was at the park Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was running all 3 trains each day and the dispatches were impressively fast. The line moved much quicker than the posted wait time in most cases too.

[Canobie Coaster]

Steel Vengeance was double stacking in the afternoon, but the crew now is hauling!

[AndrewA86]

Something I have noticed this season so far is that the park is not honoring row requests as much and they are assigning rows on almost everything except Millennium Force and Blue Streak. I got assigned a row on Iron freaking Dragon!

 

 

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[Canobie Coaster]

The only ride where I was assigned a seat yesterday and couldn't have a request taken was Valravn. I had no issues with anything else.

[christianscoasters]

Yeah I've only been assigned a row on Valravn and Steel Vengeance this year. Even then, they seemed to honor requests when people asked. Hmm

[AndrewA86]

Must be bad luck on my part or they were training new employees. Glad to hear it’s not happening to everybody.

 

 

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[prozach626]

Emily and I just got an email from CP asking us if we wanted to upgrade our Breakers room from a regular tiny double queen room by paying an extra $60 per night for a lake view suite with a balcony.

 

Yes.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Sweet, man, enjoy that!

[CoasterInk]

Something I have noticed this season so far is that the park is not honoring row requests as much and they are assigning rows on almost everything except Millennium Force and Blue Streak. I got assigned a row on Iron freaking Dragon!

 

 

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I’ve noticed this too. IMO I really like it. Makes the station far less crowded and it efficiently allocates people to each seat while still allowing those that really want a certain spot to get it (cause you can just ask for it). Wait times I would presume are reduced as a result.

[3Mutts]

Something I have noticed this season so far is that the park is not honoring row requests as much and they are assigning rows on almost everything except Millennium Force and Blue Streak. I got assigned a row on Iron freaking Dragon!

 

 

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Oh boy I hate to think getting assigned one of the dreaded box seats on Magnum. Personally I hate these assigned seats policies, I can understand why they are needed some times (for example a very compact station like Wicked Cyclones) but for most rides it's just a pain and not needed.