Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

I am going to CP for the first time this summer for two days. I am getting fast lane plus both days. Will i have any problems like the ones above?

 

If you go for 2 days and have Fastlane Plus both days you're going to have an awesome time. You have nothing to worry about. This change on Maverick is going to help a lot and none of the other rides really have any major problems to speak of unless the park is just insanely packed (like during October).

[Diamondbacker27]

Last time I went we purchased FastLane Plus, I felt bad when the people with regular FastLane, they were asking if they could go into Gatekeeper and TTD's FastLane.

[alilstronger]

I went 4th of July weekend this past summer and did not run into them problems. I was able to ride every coaster minus the runaway train several times. The only issues we ran into were they completely shut the coasters down in the littlest bit of rain and Maverick kept breaking down. Other than that their operations were awesome and the Fast Lane lines always went fast. I'll take a 15-20 minute wait over a 3 hour one anytime. When I went both MF and Gatekeepr had 3+ hour waits.

 

That person is knit picking the process/program. There is virtually no one to never wait in some sort of line unless you are the ONLY person that buys a Fast Lane the whole day. Their program is WAY BETTER than Six Flags program (in my opinion). If you hated this then I can imagine what you have to say about Six Flags and their Q-bot system. Not only do you have to wait in a separate line you have to come back at a specific time they specify. You waited an over an hour for a ride. How long was the stand by line? Probably a lot more, and if it was not then why didn't you just go get in the stand by line if it was going faster? I am sorry but if I wait an hour in a Fast Pass line and have that EXTRA 2 hours to ride another ride or two instead of waiting 3 hours in a stand by line. That right there makes it worth it!

 

I ran into this same issue at Six Flags La Ronde. When I was there with TPR we had the Q-Bots and got in line for their SLC. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to an hour and I was happy because the stand by line was 2+ hours. So right there I gained about an hour to ride another ride.

[Philrad71]

^^No reason to feel bad about someone that isn't smart enough to know what they are paying for on the front end. The signs all over the park and places where you buy the wristbands clearly tell you what you get with each pass.

 

On another note, great move by adding Maverick to FLP. I called that when we were at the park last year on a Friday evening and Gatekeeper was a walk-on and Maverick had a 1.5 hour wait.

[eddie200330]

I don't think it is fair to advertise skipping long lines when you are really just waiting in a separate, slightly shorter line.

 

But, the line was shorter.........not 3+ hours like it could've been.

 

To anyone who really wants to do CP, when I worked there, the month of May was the time to go. 90% of the weekdays hardly ever saw waits more than a train or 2. Yeah it is a littler cooler, but I would rather wear a jacket than fight monstrous crowds.

[Superbatboy]

Any trip advice? I plan to make my maiden voyage to CP finally this year, know nothing about the area or Ohio in general

[christianscoasters]

I've heard talk of a polar coaster because they said something about coasters being in their DNA at the winter chill out. I've heard Six Flags say that before, so I don't think the fact that a polar coaster sorta looks like DNA is hinting at that. Even though it could reclaim the height record from Kingda Ka, I dot see CP getting that until it's a proven success, if it ever is.

 

Agreed. Ish. It's really annoying seeing everyone say OMGGG ITZ A POLARR COASTERRR because they said the word "DNA". He said "coasters are in our DNA." He could have said "Coasters are what we specialize in" or "We're pretty good with adding coasters" and no one would have thought anything of it even though they mean the SAME THING. When he said it's in our DNA, he meant that CP will always be adding coasters. Everyone was looking into this WAY too much to think that because a Polar Coaster (which one hasn't even been built yet!) looks like DNA, it's coming to CP. Everyone needs to sit back and relax and let whatever happens, happens.

[ajfelice]

Agreed. Ish. It's really annoying seeing everyone say OMGGG ITZ A POLARR COASTERRR because they said the word "DNA". He said "coasters are in our DNA." He could have said "Coasters are what we specialize in" or "We're pretty good with adding coasters" and no one would have thought anything of it even though they mean the SAME THING. When he said it's in our DNA, he meant that CP will always be adding coasters. Everyone was looking into this WAY too much to think that because a Polar Coaster (which one hasn't even been built yet!) looks like DNA, it's coming to CP. Everyone needs to sit back and relax and let whatever happens, happens.

 

Amen! Amen! Amen! When I first read the "DNA" statement, all I took it was that Cedar Point is still committed to being a roller coaster capital, and that it's obvious that new coasters are a part of their future. Yes, they might be taking a short break from major coasters right now, but they also did from 2007-2012. Who knows when, where, or what type of coaster is next. We can speculate all we want, but can we at least save the heavy speculation for when a real hint comes out (a.k.a. what Knoebels did)?

Edited March 10, 2014 by ajfelice

[eddie200330]

Any trip advice? I plan to make my maiden voyage to CP finally this year, know nothing about the area or Ohio in general

 

The outlying area around CP is blah...Cleveland isn't too far away and there is lots to see and do there.

[Password121]

Back to what I said about Fast Lane, I didn't mean to criticize CP and complain about the system. I was trying to state my opinion, and I am fine if you all have different opinions. It's an opinion- just from my experience for one day, and I said what I thought about it. I am we'll aware that you can never really "skip lines" at Cedar Point in July, however, I feel that if I am paying $80 to wait in a shorter line, the line should be considerably shorter. Im not saying it should be a 5 minute wait when the standby is 3 hours, but i dont think its fair to walk up to a full Fast Lane queue after paying that much. That is what I think, if you think differently, I have no problem with that, and I appreciate your input so I can better plan if I ever get to Cedar Point again.

 

As for the Flash Pass, I've never used it myself, nut I plan to at Six Flags Great Adventure this July. I'll probably get gold, which is close in cost to regular Fast Lane, so I'll make my opinion from that, this summer.

 

Back to coasters...

2015- Dark Ride

2016- Coaster of some sort

 

I feel like we just had this conversation a few pages back...

 

I was talking more about the coaster type, not CP's two year plan. But okay, I was just trying to move the conversation forward.

[Kenny B]

---"We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to an hour and I was happy because the stand by line was 2+ hours. So right there I gained about an hour to ride another ride."---

 

This is why I dislike these line cutting "Deals".... have they not been available, the line would have been around an hour and a half. Also, I think people would be more selective of the times they chose to ride the ride of their choice, as in walking further back to maybe Gemini and spreading the people out a bit more. Isn't it funny how everyone seems to go to the same rides at the same time? Like Spaceship Earth at Epcot for example. The ride is the first thing you see, and the first attraction people pass - so in the morning it has a 45 minute-hour long wait. Come back a few hours later, or anytime in the day and the ride is practically a walk on.

 

In short, I don't like these line cutting option, it lines the pockets of the fat cats for doing nothing, and - I believe - is a rather overpriced way to "ride the rides" of your choice. I've never bought one, and no matter how crowded the park is - I manage to get on all the rides/attractions/roller coasters I wanted to..... This involves ZERO planning. You must be attentive, ready to go on to the next ride, do extra walking, not making plans - like "first Raptor, Cedar Downs, and Gatekeeper. I really want to ride the FARCE and Top Thrill. So we need to do those as fast as possible". Take a ride of the car rides, go on Snake River Falls, the Carousel, the Ferris wheel.

 

A day at all parks (especially The Point) requires balance of the force(attractions). If a ride has a wait of over an hour, move on. By 9 PM you should find yourself back on the main midway. Where Raptor, Mantis, Blue Streak, Iron Dragon (not gatekeeper) will have lines around twenty minutes. The key is to not move on the same path as the majority of the guests. I think "line cutting" adds to more people, just running to the premier rides in the same order as all the other guests, adding up to magnificently long lines for both the up-cost riders, and the average Jose's. It also seems this "line cutting" feature has been taking off in popularity - equaling less value for that product, and longer lines in standby. Everybody should lay off the excess and go back to good old standby rides. It may require more thinking, but I think It allows you to take in the park as it's meant to be. You're not supposed to ride E ticket after E ticket, there should be a flow to the day, not a crazy coaster every 15 minutes to satisfy your cravings.

 

Again, these "pay to play" thing-a-ma-bobs I think are stifling the days of more guests than of ones it's improving. To pay extra to wait in a one hour line ---- in which if the system never existed it would be thirty minutes longer --- and the fact it encourages people to ignore wait times just because "its shorter then standby" ------..... The situation is dire, and when the start selling "second tier" brand fast passes, it'll only get worse.

 

I'm glad you guys enjoy buying insurance when you attend your favorite theme park ----- I'd rather not have the burden on my wallet, and just use my noggin as I always have to navigate the crowds and lines, and hit up the lesser known/non big name rides and really stretch my dollar, while avoiding the crowds and doing the park right!

 

Disney had it right with their first generation fast passes.

[coasterfreak101]

This is why I dislike these line cutting "Deals".... have they not been available, the line would have been around an hour and a half.

 

Says...you? If anything, the people in line might have waited an extra ten minutes at most. You're just exaggerating to fuel your argument.

[Password121]

^^For the most part I completely agree with your argument. If Fast Lanes did not exist, the "stand by" lines would in theory be somewhat shorter. However, using myself as an example, I don't have the freedom to make a trip to Cedar Point when I'm in the mood for it, or just on your average weekend. I live about 1000 miles from the park, and had one day, actually, only 9 'til 4:30 or so because I had to make the trip back to the east coast that night. SO, I had only about 7 hours to experience the "Best Amusement Park In the World." Had I been able to stay until closing (which I really wanted to do) or come back next week or even next month, I would have no problems at all. But unfortunately I couldn't. I've never bought a Flash Pass to SFA (granted the lines are nothing like CP) because I don't feel the need to get as many rides as I can whenever I go, and feel that way even more so having a season pass this year. I also generally agree with what you said about not having a set plan. When I went, the only "plans" I had were for the first hour for early entry, and it went smoothly. I quickly got on GateKeeper, then Millennium, then got in line for Dragster at 10. After that, I knew what I wanted to ride, but also got in some rides in shorter lines, like Blue Streak and Windseeker.

The only reason I bought the Pass was because I knew that I didn't have all day, especially at night when the lines are shorter, and wouldn't be back for quite a while, if ever. If I went on a May weekday, I probably wouldn't have bought it, but Independence day Saturday was my only option. In cases like this, the Fast Lane can be helpful. I just think it could have been more helpful given what it costs.

[christianscoasters]

To those who think that standby lines are greatly impacted by any sort of "line cutting "pass, remember that the people who are "line cutting" would be in the standby line IF there were no "line cutting" passes, thus making the standby wait longer. Soooo....

[Password121]

Well, it varies for different rides. If their are dual loading stations and many trains operating (Dragster and Maverick), it shouldn't influence wait times too much. If FL was removed, wait times would decrease for these rides, but more so for rides like Raptor. Merging at entrance point and giving FL users priority GREATLY increases wait times for standby. Say standby riders are passing FL users at merge point half the time, that means for those behind the merge point, the line is 100% longer than without the FL line, as the line moves at half the pace it would without FL.

[thrillrider]

To those who think that standby lines are greatly impacted by any sort of "line cutting "pass, remember that the people who are "line cutting" would be in the standby line IF there were no "line cutting" passes, thus making the standby wait longer. Soooo....

 

 

That all depends......

 

Would they want to wait in the line if they did not have the pass to begin with? It also depends on how many people with passes that the ride crew lets in at a time and/or how many people the system lets reserve the ride at one time. A good example would be toy story mania at Disneyworld. The line was only about half full, but yet we still waited almost 2 hours. Why?....Because they were letting in 10 fast pass people for every one stand by guest. Watching people cut in front of you just pisses people off regardless of what the reason is. I think that a way to fix part of this problem is to limit how many times you can reserve the larger rides per day.

 

Now with that being said, I do make use of the pass myself, but can totally understand where people are coming from that are in the stand by line as I have been there myself many times.

[DougMJr]

Ok, here is my humble $0.02.

 

Fast Lane is a luxury, a luxury I often choose to buy. When I choose not to purchase it, and consequently wait in lines, do I get angry with those who did purchase fast lane?

 

Of course not! I get mad at MYSELF for not forking up the money!

 

Fast Lane, Fast Pass, Quick Queue, ect are great products, plus they are money makers for the parks. I hope I'm not surprising anyone with the fact that businesses exist to make a profit.

 

Feel free to disagree with me, but I love Fast Lane and similar products.

[coastercoaster5]

^I completely agree. I feel it is an awesome feature for a park to have. When people go on trips and may only visit a park once, it is good to have fast lane, fast passes etc. so you can experiance everything you want while your there. And i do not get mad at fast pass people, they did pay extra for it after all.

[thrillrider]

That's great if you have the money, but a lot of people don't. Some people save up for years to go on vacation unlike us themepark geeks that go just about every weekend or more. And with the economy the way it is, even more familys are pinching pennies or cutting vacations out all together. That would be an extra $200 or more for a family of 4 just to not have to wait in some lines.

 

Again, I use the passes myself because I am able to, but I can see how it pisses people off when they see a bunch of people cutting in front of them regardless of the reason.

 

I also understand that it makes parks more money, but when you go to parks like Disney and it's free, and then go to a cedar fair park and have to fork out $50 or more per person....well you figure it out. I understand that you pay top dollar to get into Disney, but I think it has a lot to do with perceived value as well. If you do the math, it's $50 to get into cedarpoint for the day and another $50 or more for a fast pass, your paying more than a day at Disney.

 

I typically do not get a fast pass at parks I have been to several times, or parks that I frequent a lot. The parks that I do not get to that often, or parks I have never been to before are the parks that I pull the wallet out for the fast pass.

[Kenny B]

I agree, it's nice to have the option of this "premium experience" if you're on limited time.

 

My main point to this is " these "pay to play" thing-a-ma-bobs I think are stifling the days of more guests than of ones it's improving." ---- Everyone is all about improving the overall guest experience, and I think this does the opposite in the larger picture.

 

And the argument that people would not wait in long standby lines --- as I also wrote before, this would spread out the park population, theoretically shrinking the super long popular attractions lines, and slightly raising the wait times of the less popular ones.

 

Or "-- To those who think that standby lines are greatly impacted by any sort of "line cutting "pass, remember that the people who are "line cutting" would be in the standby line IF there were no "line cutting" passes, thus making the standby wait longer. Soooo...." --- Two points: from one perspective, if the same amount of people of both lines were combines, they'd technically be the same length, not longer. The other side, is that it could possibly be even shorter then that using that logic, because, give or take some, but you would be ahead of 50% of the people that would ride in front of you in the line cuting lane, making the line even quicker.

 

This also plays into the whole "Disney is gouging, and belittling its clientele". Yes, each situation is quite different. But it "rides" the same area of

"segregating" people with money, too those with far less - and giving a poorer product to the unable.

 

Thoughts?

 

And yes I'm new, I was hardcore coaster nerd from 8-18 years old(a rather quiet one, I can be a coaster boy when called upon. But I always kept my fandom in the background until the car ride/road trip started. I started attending less parks once I was 20. About two years ago my love of theme parks reemerged with the experience of X-Flight at my local SFGAm park. Though not the best ride, I credit a new B&M model for getting me back in the game. I missed out on B&M becoming a (nearly)mass produced, (nearly)(generally) neutered, faceless company -- cool rides like El Toro, Behemoth, Cheetah Run, Diamondback, and many many more. - It looks like the consistently "wow" inducing B&M products are exclusively hypercoasters recently('specaily in the US of A. I hope Banshee turns that around

 

I've been lurking for about three months, so it's about damn time I joined up, And yeah. I rant to much. But I won't say your wrong. I'll respond, and try to be slanderous and humorous while acknowledging your lacking view and opinions, and then I'll give you mine. i try to have real arguments, leading to a real discussion. I also type long things like this and rarely re-read. i like my stream of consciousness writing better than my though out rebuttals, I feel(even though I may repeat myself) I get out a lot more useful thoughts and opinions.

 

So, sorry for the belated hello. Hello!

[Superbatboy]

Any trip advice? I plan to make my maiden voyage to CP finally this year, know nothing about the area or Ohio in general

 

The outlying area around CP is blah...Cleveland isn't too far away and there is lots to see and do there.

 

Thank you! Looks like that's the place to fly into as well

[coasterbill]

I love Skip-The-Line systems because they make park trips possible that wouldn't be worth the time and money otherwise. I know a lot of people say "Don't go to parks on Saturdays in October or during the summer" which is a great plan, but for people like me it's unrealistic. When you only get 2 weeks vacation and you want to do day trips to parks you're going to end up going to a lot of parks on Saturdays.

 

For example, we have Cedar Fair Platinum Passes and every year we like to go to Kings Dominion which is about 6 hours from our house. Because of I305's closure this year we weren't planning to go, but them when we heard it would be open for the Haunt event we decided to make the trip.

 

The only way to go to the park without taking a day off was to leave from work on Friday, drive to the hotel near the park and get there around 11pm, spend Saturday at the park and drive home Sunday. If it weren't for Fastlane we would never have gone because going to a park on a Saturday in October is usually a terrible idea. Every ride had an hour plus wait, Volcano had a 3 hour wait, the place was a mob scene... but we got like 20+ rides on I305, 10+ rides on Volcano and tons of rides on the other major rides too. In total we probably had over 50-60 rides that day.

 

If it weren't for Fastlane that day would have been a disaster, but because of Fastlane we had an awesome day, an awesome weekend and we didn't even have to take time off from work.

[rcjp]

^I completely agree. I feel it is an awesome feature for a park to have. When people go on trips and may only visit a park once, it is good to have fast lane, fast passes etc. so you can experiance everything you want while your there. And i do not get mad at fast pass people, they did pay extra for it after all.

Obviously nobody likes to see people skipping lines and I admit that may make me slightly annoyed when I am in the "regular line" although I understand why that's happening and won't complain. I also agree that it is great when you're travelling only once to a park, especially when you've come a long way. Last summer I went to the US JUST to go to a few parks and did by the thingy for the busiest ones. In fact, I paid 214 dollars for me and my dad's platinum flash pass at SFGAdv and I think it was worth it given that I had crosses the Atlantic and already spent thousands of dollars.

[alilstronger]

The line skippers are a luxury, its really that simple.

 

They have come in handy for me several times. I do not live near any major parks. So when I go I only get a day or two because I have to fly, get a hotel and get a rental car. It adds up so I get the line skipper because I want to ride every coaster several times plus enjoy the flats, shows, water rides, water parks, and other various attractions. You could argue I could leave the flats and water rides out. I could but why when I get enjoyment out of them. To each their own, that is how I look at it.

 

At Cedar Fair parks I do not think the stand by lines are as impacted as say a Six Flags park. All of the CF parks I have used FL at has a separate line that takes you right into the station. Does this hinder the SB line at all? Potentially. However, I do not think its a lot.

 

Now at SF the two lines have crossing points where an employee stands there and lets both lines go through at separate times. I think this adds to the SB line a lot more or at least adds a feeling of a longer line mentally because you see all of these people going ahead.

 

If there were no such things as line skippers I believe the lines would still be long especially at parks like CP, SF Great Adventure, Disney, etc. These are popular parks and people love to go to them.

 

Now this is just my opinion.

[Diamondbacker27]

Couldn't have said it better