Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

On a negative note, they’ve demolished the trees around Red Garter Saloon and Panda Express and it has absolutely ruined the area. Does anyone know when this happened and/or why?

 

The trees weren't wearing their masks.

[AmyUD06]

On a negative note, they’ve demolished the trees around Red Garter Saloon and Panda Express and it has absolutely ruined the area. Does anyone know when this happened and/or why?

 

The trees weren't wearing their masks.

 

[tndank]

My day at CP today.

 

Had 11am reservations. Arrived at 10:30. Entered the park about 10 minutes later and went straight to SV. Got 2 passes (me and wife). Went to Maverick and we both were able to get a pair of tickets. They were asking to see people and not just handing out whatever people asked for.

 

Went straight back to MF. It was late opening. We got 2 access passes and then joined the line waiting for it to open. They said first 300 or so would be let in now, then cards start. So, we got a 'free' ride on MF to start. MF opened about 1130 I'd say.

 

After that, we hit up Backbeat. Good lunch. Went to Magnum. Line took about an hour. It was about 2:30 now so we went to MF for our 3pm access card. They let us enter the line and it took about 40 minutes. Good work at MF.

 

4pm access card for Maverick so we went back there. They let us enter when we got there about 3:30. Line was around an hour an a half.

 

Dinner at Chick Fil A. Short line.

 

6pm card for SV..showed up a few minutes early and got in line. Got off at 7:25. Ran across to Maverick and the girl let me in with my extra pair of passes from earlier in the day. Got on the next to last train.

 

I felt we got lucky to get 6 rides in today. It's better than being at home but I'm also glad this wasn't my first and only visit for awhile.

 

We'll see how they do tomorrow.

[Taeshan]

Seemed a massive expletive show today. Corkscrew did open so got that, waited in line for 20 minutes and Raptor went down. Got in Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and the open big three of MF, MAverick and Steve.

 

TTD, Wicked Twister, Rougarou and Gemini had no signs of life.

 

Tomorrow is our second and last day so I guess I clean up Raptor, Valravn, Gatekeeper, Magnum, and Iron Dragon. And maybe the bigger kiddie. Hoping Sunday is less busy than today was but Queue times seems to disagree.

[dlasflyer]

Is the Skyride open?

[SharkTums]

Is the park that busy that the wait times are so long even with access cards? Or is it just everything running at super low capacity?

[DBru]

^Friday didn’t seem that busy but the coasters were still pulling long lines. Today, even the midways were packed. 10,500 guests really isn’t a busy day for Cedar Point, but with half the rides closed and no indoor entertainment, there’s not enough going on to spread out the crowds.

 

Today was especially rough because Steel Vengeance didn’t open with the park, Raptor had a fairly major issue and had to evac guests from the brake run around 1pm, Valravn was being temperamental and had only given 400 rides by 2pm, and Gatekeeper kept going down for wind. The red and blue Intamins, however? Running flawlessly.

 

I left a little after 2 so I can’t comment on how things went after that.

 

Each coaster is skipping every other row except for Gatekeeper (all seats available), Valravn (3 center seats unavailable in each row) and Raptor, which is doing the weird alternating 2 inside-2 outside seating like on Orion. Not sure why they’re not loading every row with a full party like Banshee.

 

Again, I think the park is doing a relatively great job with Covid procedures and the employees I encountered were all friendly and efficient. The coasters that are open are top-notch. But things are quite the shit show right now. I still had fun, but it’s certainly not the ideal experience.

[805Andrew]

I can't exactly do that with my car keys...

 

I use a magnetic hide a key under my car with the key.

 

Lol, the things people would do to save $2. Risk that your car may get stolen so you don't have to buy a locker. I'll bring a backpack with some waters and a reusable drink cup and the amount I'll save on drinks will be more than the amount I'd spend on ride lockers.

[Pedrinho]

I can't exactly do that with my car keys...

 

I use a magnetic hide a key under my car with the key.

 

Lol, the things people would do to save $2. Risk that your car may get stolen so you don't have to buy a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo. I'll bring a backpack with some waters and a reusable drink cup and the amount I'll save on drinks will be more than the amount I'd spend on ride fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo.

So.. Each to his own, doing waht they prefer, I guess?

[garminkid]

Here's a question for anyone who can answer it. I'm heading to Cedar Point for my first visit of the season next weekend (I'm a Platinum Passholder), and I'm wondering what does a 10am reservation means when the park says it's opening at 11? Does the park allow you to get access passes during that hour time slot, does the rides open, or is everyone held at a point before 11? I do have a 10am reservation already so that's not an issue.

[AmyUD06]

This experience is from Kings Island, so your mileage may vary.

 

You can come in the parking booths as soon as they're open regardless of your reservation time.

You can go through the temperature screening and security check regardless of your reservation time.

You will NOT be let through the pass/ticket checkers until your reservation time.

If you are let in before 11, you are free to walk around, but nothing will be open until 11. This includes food service unfortunately.

 

No idea on the boarding passes release time or if people are held at a certain location at CP, but at KI the normal "rope-drop" areas were not there and you could wander the entire park once you got in.

[garminkid]

This experience is from Kings Island, so your mileage may vary.

 

You can come in the parking booths as soon as they're open regardless of your reservation time.

You can go through the temperature screening and security check regardless of your reservation time.

You will NOT be let through the pass/ticket checkers until your reservation time.

If you are let in before 11, you are free to walk around, but nothing will be open until 11. This includes food service unfortunately.

 

No idea on the boarding passes release time or if people are held at a certain location at CP, but at KI the normal "rope-drop" areas were not there and you could wander the entire park once you got in.

It probably works similar to CP, and I’m going to KI in two weeks so that helps a lot! That probably tells me that I should get to Cedar Point a good amount of time before my 10am reservation. Thanks for the help!

[prozach626]

I can't exactly do that with my car keys...

 

I use a magnetic hide a key under my car with the key.

 

Lol, the things people would do to save $2. Risk that your car may get stolen so you don't have to buy a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo. I'll bring a backpack with some waters and a reusable drink cup and the amount I'll save on drinks will be more than the amount I'd spend on ride fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo.

So.. Each to his own, doing waht they prefer, I guess?

 

It's not exactly the greatest idea.

[AmyUD06]

It probably works similar to CP, and I’m going to KI in two weeks so that helps a lot! That probably tells me that I should get to Cedar Point a good amount of time before my 10am reservation. Thanks for the help!

 

Just be warned that you may be sitting in your car on the entry road for quite some time. KI didn't open their parking booths until 10:15, 15 minutes before their earliest reservation.

[dankeykang]

^ I was at the park on Friday, and the opening sequence was slightly different from what I experienced at Kings Island a few days prior.

 

My reservation for Cedar Point was for 10:00. I arrived at the park right at 9 AM and was allowed to enter the parking lot without issue. The lady at the parking booth informed me to wait in my car until 10 minutes before my reservation time. There is a large tent area you will have to pass through to take the temperature check before heading to the front entrance. Once parked, I waited in my car for a little while, but I noticed some people walking over to the tent as early as 9:15 AM, so I decided to head that way as well. The staff there had no problem allowing me to enter the tent area where I was one of the first few guests in line for the temperature check. They started the checks around 9:45 and opened the front gates right at 10:00.

 

I headed straight for Steel Vengeance at this point, which was not opened until 11:00. I'm guessing the other rides weren't opened until 11 as well. There was a staff member at the access pass booth for SV when I initially got to the ride shortly after 10, but I simply entered the general line first thing and did not get an access pass until finishing my first ride shortly after 11 (probably should have asked for one at first passing, in hindsight).

[tndank]

Fast Lane was back to normal today. It was nice to have Maverick and SV be compete walk ons all day.

[cdnsn]

Went straight back to MF. It was late opening. We got 2 access passes and then joined the line waiting for it to open. They said first 300 or so would be let in now, then cards start. So, we got a 'free' ride on MF to start. MF opened about 1130 I'd say.

 

There was a staff member at the access pass booth for SV when I initially got to the ride shortly after 10, but I simply entered the general line first thing and did not get an access pass until finishing my first ride shortly after 11 (probably should have asked for one at first passing, in hindsight).

 

So basically you just need to be really close to the front of the line before the ride opens, and you can snag a ride before the access passes are required? Sounds good! Does anybody know if this is the case at Maverick as well? Also, is it anything like Orion where they will let you in the line at the end of the day without an access pass if the queue is short enough?

 

Thank you!

[Haymaker]

Trying to determine if we should get access passes for MF, Maverick and then try and ride SteVe without one or just get all 3 and go from there

[IntaminLove]

I went to the park on Saturday with my sister and had a good time despite the heat and operations. My reservation was at 10am and got in the park around 10:30am. We walked to Steel Vengeance right away hoping to avoid a long wait. I didn't know boarding passes were required so I must have missed that info prior to going. Two employees were handing out boarding passes so I got two for 4pm-5 pm and my sister got two for 5pm-6pm. We got lucky getting two time frames that were back to back. Then we got 1pm-2pm for Maverick and 2pm-3pm for Millennium Force. Our first ride was Magnum and it ran great. I was surprised that the trims were on since the trains were half full. After Magnum we did some shopping and got lunch. We got to Maverick around 1:20pm and it was down. It opened around 2pm and we got off around 3:30pm. We missed our time for Millennium and were told we could still ride later. The Steel Vengeance rides were amazing and I still can't believe this monster exists. While in line for our second ride we talked with one of the ride ops cleaning the hand rails. He said Dragster wasn't down due to the wind, but for mechanical reasons. He added that it could be down for a while still. Obviously take that with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's right. Next we went to Millennium to see if the boarding passes would be honored and they were. After that we rode Valravn and wanted to finish the day with Raptor. We got to Raptor around 7:30pm and the line was closed for capacity reasons. The ride op said all rides were closing early, but we decided to see if Gatekeeper was still allowing riders. We were able to ride and the line was open until a little after 8pm.

 

It may have been a less than ideal day at the Point, but it is what it is. It's much better than not being able to go at all. I got on more rides than I thought I would at the start of the day so I'm pretty happy. Plus I got the last row or near the back on everything, but Gatekeeper. The employees put in a good effort and were cheerful as usual. Unless you're dying to get on some rides then I suggest waiting a few weeks to visit. Operations should be improved by then and hopefully a few more rides will be open.

[tndank]

Access passes have changed day to day. On Sunday they did them hourly. People formed a big line about 1:15. Then at 1:45 they would give out the 3-4 cards. Repeat each hour. Makes for a weird dynamic in that section. It'll be empty, then 25 minutes later a couple hundred people have a line formed waiting on cards.

 

SV had pretty short lines when you used your pass. Maverick was still a 30-90 minute wait most of the time.

 

MF probably has the most tickets and they last the longest. I was not around that area much yesterday so I'm not sure if lines formed there every hour. Queue there seemed to be 30-45 minutes when you use used your pass.

[AmyUD06]

Well, at CP now for Day 1, and though it started out looking to be an unmitigated disaster, things keep getting better.

 

Also, unpopular opinion: Steel Vengance isn't the best coaster at this park. Or even in the top 3. Fight me.

[prozach626]

^and me

[bert425]

chiming in as well.

 

it BARELY makes my top 5:

 

MF

Maverick

TTD

Gemini

SV

[dlasflyer]

Is the Skyride open?

 

Sorry to double post but I am really curious about whether the Skyride is open. Can anyone help me out? Busch Gardens has theirs closed due to social distancing.

[AmyUD06]

Whew, at least I'm not alone in my SV thoughts. To that last guy, yes the Sky Ride is open - one group allowed per car.

 

Anyway, here's the day one report!

Cedar Point Day 1 – July 13, 2020

 

Warning: Very Long (that’s what she said)

 

TL;DR – Day started out kinda shitty, LOTS of food closed, too many people, day got better, still left after only 3 rides with plans to come back the next two days.

 

We begin this journey at four o’clock in the morning in Mason OH…to make it to Cedar Point for opening, I’d need to be on the road at 6:00, so that’s what happened. After three and a half hours of half highways, half country roads, I had arrived at Cedar Point at around 9:15. My reservation for today wasn’t until 10:30, so I decided to take a drive around the island to see if non-hotel guests would be allowed to use the resort gate; we were not. So, back to the front, sun-tan lotion’d up, and made my way to the substantial health screening line at 9:50. Note that they were selling "face coverings" outside from a little booth for $2.00; I didn't see anyone buy one so I'm not sure what type they were.

 

Different than what was done at Kings Island, the health screening here first had you walk a zig-zag through the tents with colossal fans blowing on you, I guess to try to keep your body temp down to an acceptable level. At the end of the tent, there was a thermal scanner set up, but it wasn’t a continuous stream of people…the attendant called us forward one by one to stand in front of the camera for a half-second, before waving us through. After the temp check, I breezed through security (same old metal detectors) and then camped out waiting for my reservation time.

 

Except, I figured I’d try to sneak in early, so after the gates opened and the crowd had died down some, I walked up to the ticket checker and provided my pass, which was scanned and I was waved on through. Perhaps they’re more lenient here than at KI? Either way, we all know about the “access pass” situation for Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millennium Force. What they were doing today was allowing an hours-worth of people to wait in the standby line, and then lining people up to get access passes when the ride opened.

 

I first thought about hopping in the SV standby line, but decided instead to wait for an access pass – I was probably 50 people from the front. By the time I left the line, noon-1:00 pass in hand, it extended all the way back to the train crossing – absolutely huge. The Maverick access pass line was almost as long, and not yet moving, so I decided to head to MF to grab the access pass for that then head back for Maverick’s, which would put me almost at the right time frame for my ride on SV. Arrived at the back of the MF line right as it started to move, and a few minutes later I had my pass for that ride (also noon-1:00). Note that I did ask to get a later time, but they were not handing out later times until the earlier ones were gone.

 

On my way back to the Maverick line, I swung into Panda Express – one of the food locations that was open – to grab an all-day-dining wristband. I tried to cash in my first meal at Wagon Wheel Pizza, but they were not yet open despite a sign indicating that they should have opened a half hour prior. The only two food locations open at this time (around 11:30) in Frontier Town were Panda Express and Hate Chicken, so I was out of options. Made it to Maverick, grabbed my pass (2:00-3:00), and by then it was 11:45 so I dumped 90% of what I had on me in a locker and plopped down in the developing line for noon access pass holders for SV.

 

After a brief delay due to my not quite understanding the loose article policy (apparently, glasses without a strap are not even allowed in the queue even if you possess numerous zippered pockets to put them in when riding, despite the fact that everyone needs to wear a mask…whatever I’m still bitter), I make my way up to the station after about 15 minutes and find myself at the head of a grouping, so hooray for front row. I think.

 

Steel Vengeance Review: Put simply, I was not impressed. Yes, it was a great coaster with high speeds, some airtime, plenty of twists and turns…but something was just meh about it. Is this a ride that’s only “OMFG-amazeballs!!!!1!” in the back? Don’t get me wrong, I liked the ride, and liked it a lot…it’s not that it’s “too intense” (my all-time #1 favorite is Maverick)…I don’t know how to describe it. I have to say that, for me, it’s not even a top 3 coaster at Cedar Point (those honors go to Maverick, Millie, and Raptor, in that order). Sure, SV is a very close 4th, but honestly I think Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion is a better RMC. When I go back tomorrow I’m going to try to get the back row to see if it’s a night-and-day difference, but I’m not holding my breath. Maybe I just hyped it up so much in my head? Oh well, at least it was coaster #150.

 

After riding SV, I quickly stopped in to the now-open Wagon Wheel Pizza for a slice on my meal plan. MUCH better pizza than that at Kings Island, that’s for sure, but until it was my turn they only had one window open and the line was four groups deep and barely moving. This will be a recurring theme for the day.

 

I made my way down to Millennium Force, and was l0cker-in to l0cker-out in 47 minutes. Note that I entered the queue at around 12:42, so towards the end of my “group” of access passes. Somehow I lucked out and got the front row, my preferred seat, on this too.

 

By this time, my second meal was about due, so I began searching. I’m not going to list them all out, but believe me when I tell you that more places that accept the meal plan were closed than were open. At this I was incensed, so to Guest Relations I go to try to get a partial refund on the dining plan since had I known that more than 50% of the available locations wouldn’t be open, I wouldn’t have bought one. While walking up there, I see that Cedar Downs Derby was closed – this ride takes ONE employee to run (I’ve seen it in the past), maybe two if you want a second one on cleaning duty.

 

Anyway, upon arrival at GR, I of course find a huge line, but I grab an employee walking out just to ask if it was even possible to get a refund to see if it was worth waiting in the line. She, Stephanie, apparently #4 of the park (by her radio callsign of simply “four”) didn’t know, so immediately radios “six”, presumably the director of food service, to ask what’s up. One phone call later, and she’s walking me to the nearest restaurant that takes the plan to process my refund. That is what I call customer service. After it was done, we chatted a bit about what I saw wrong at the park (way too many people there, no Fast Lane available at any price, lack of dining options) and my entirely positive experiences at Kings Island in the prior days. We both lamented the lack of internationals and said she would bring up my concerns at a staff meeting later that day. I left the encounter feeling validated, and now in a much better mood.

 

By now, it was just after 2:00 and time for Maverick. Made my way in and all the way to the bottom of the stairs before encountering any other people, and a few brief minutes later was up at the grouper. Rows 3 and 6 of the second train remained vacant, so I asked if I could go to the back row (the best spot on this coaster), but the employee was initially like “no” and “we can’t take requests.” So, I relented and walked up to row 3, while row 6 behind me remained vacant. I looked over at the grouper, who kind of nodded his head in the direction to signal I could move, so I thanked him. Apparently the next group was more than 2 and didn’t want to split up. Thank you very much to them.

 

Awesome ride as always, still my Number One, and to make it even better, it suffered a breakdown as we pulled into the brake run. Apparently the two trains prior to mine didn’t want to dispatch. So, as we waited for maintenance to come out and do their thing, I kept silently begging for an evacuation. Being evac’d from my favorite coaster would be something. Sadly, no evac, but we were given exit passes that say “good any day” for our trouble of sitting in the sun for 15 minutes.

 

After this (just before 3:00), it was time for some more food, so I made my way to Melt (along the way noting in the app wait times of 45-90s minutes for Magnum, Valravn, Raptor, and Gatekeeper – the only other coasters operating (Iron Dragon had been running but was currently broken down). Had their basic grilled cheese (of course) with a side of mac & cheese, and a delicious if not mixed strong enough Jack & Coke. You guys were not kidding about the portion size here – wow. Not quite enough for two, but definitely filling.

 

After Melt, I decided to check out SV and Maverick to see if I could grab another access pass (I was initially told at both locations that they would give out another bunch at 3:30), but no dice at either ride. Having been up since way-too-early-for-vacation and feeling a bit tired, I decided to call it a day and head to my hotel (Econo Lodge North) and check in. Took a cool shower, unpacked, and sat down to type this up.

All in all, a day that started out not so great turned out to be pretty good, despite only getting on three rides. The way I see it, I’ve got two more days to try to hit everything I want to.

 

Some additional thoughts:

 

About Closures: As is now common knowledge, the follow major rides were closed with signs on them indicating that they had no intention of opening for the day: Corkscrew, Gemini, Wicked Twister, Windseeker, Rougarou, Power Tower, Top Thrill Dragster, the entirety of Planet Snoopy. What may not be common knowledge is how much food service was closed: Everything in Frontier Town except for Panda Express, Klansman’s Fried Chicken, and Wagon Wheel Pizza; the mac & cheese place at the front, every Auntie Anne’s I saw, the entire food plaza under the Sky Ride, Dragon’s Inn, and almost every push-cart type stand. You know what I didn’t see closed? Almost all of the games, which I saw no one playing (as usual) and souvenir shops. Which brings me to my next point…

About Staffing: Listen, I get it…employee X is assigned to the Y department. But desperate times call for desperate measures – it’s time for them to tell these kids that, provided they’re old enough, they’re reassigned to rides or food. I used to work at a park, I know how much training employees get – one can certify on several smaller rides in one day, a coaster a day, and it doesn’t take a lot of training to run a deep fryer or grille or even a cash register at a restaurant. That, or start paying better (they’re already at $12 an hour minimum, which seems ridiculous to someone who started at Six Flags Great Adventure making $5.35) so that people will come off the unemployment gravy train. Or maybe offer major bonuses to out-of-work employees from Michigan's Adventure, Knott's, Carowinds, and any other CF park that's still closed to come fill in the gaps. They have the housing, they could do it.

 

At Millennium Force, in addition to all of the normal staff, they had two additional employees in the queue for the sole purpose of enforcing social distancing (not needed, everyone was well behaved) and mask wearing (I saw him yell at a few), and one employee just sitting at the bottom of the exit with no apparent function. In a park with half of the rides closed, this seems excessive. Surely these guys are trained on other things. Also of amusement with staffing decisions was the entire crew of normal rides employees at Dragster, standing around while maintenance workers were testing it (it lives!), despite their statements that they had no intention of opening the ride today (I asked later).

 

About COVID Procedures: About the same as I saw at Kings Island…90% wearing a mask properly, 10% only covering their mouth or down below their chin. Masks still suck in the heat but aren’t causing me any breathing problems. Notably I only saw one person all day with no mask anywhere in sight. Social distancing was well respected in queues, but not so much in the lines to get access passes for the big three or generally walking around. Staff were addressing mask deficiencies as they saw them. That said, I really think they need to cut the amount of reservations they allow each day by half, or make resort guests have to take up a reservation "slot." Today felt like a normal summertime Monday in terms of crowds, which with half of the rides closed, half the food stands closed (no, the food trucks don't make up for it), no major shows, and no Fast Lane available...it becomes a complete disaster.

 

Anyway, that’s my two cents…I’m sure many will disagree. Yes, I’m glad parks are open. Yes, I understand that CP is in a very unique staffing situation with so few locals available. Yes, I’m overjoyed that I was able to get rides in on two of my top 10 steel coasters during all of this chaos. That said, they have a lot of room to improve.

 

More to come on days two and three.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Mike240SX