Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

It's a bad early entry lineup for Cedar Point but it's not bad compared to most regional parks. You're never going to find me complaining about any ride lineup that includes Millennium Force.

[prozach626]

2 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

Still, I'll take it over the experience I had at BGT in December of 2021 when like two rides opened with the park at 10, a few more at 11, and the rest at noon.

Sounds like my Kennywood experience, years ago.

[coasternut]

20 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

They probably realized that the Boardwalk area wasn't enough for the early entry people to all be accommodated, since they give everyone and their grandmother early entry these days.

 

Now you've changed "your tune" on this. You "beat me up" when I complained about the early entry before. Not as good as before, but better. It's now worth it to come early.

[AmyUD06]

1 hour ago, coasternut said:

Now you've changed "your tune" on this. You "beat me up" when I complained about the early entry before. Not as good as before, but better. It's now worth it to come early.

No, I still think you were overreacting a few weeks ago.  I just posted a possible rationale for their decision to add another early entry ride to the lineup; I would have been perfectly fine had it remained just the Boardwalk.

We also clearly have different definitions of "beating up," but hey, it's cool.

[BitterOldHag]

Made a quick trip to CP this morning, mainly to grab a ride on the new Wild Mouse. And while I did get the credit, there were a lot of things that were rather un-Cedar Point like going on today. 
 

Got to the park around 9:15, grabbed my FastLane from the Park Plaza gift shop since the main FL stand was closed, and immediately hightailed it to The Boardwalk to ride Wild Mouse. I have to give the park credit for this new area as it is absolutely beautiful and they did an outstanding job with painting the rides to look brand new along with creating some awesome signage.  And the presence of the new Grand Pavilion is hard to ignore.  It really looks like it has always been there and is one of CP’s best looking buildings they have done in a long time (and that includes the Farmhouse Restaurant).  In any case, Wild Mouse.  Waited 15 minutes while listening to a rather “Looney Tunes”-esque jingle that plays on endless loop.  At first it was cute but it does become a bit grating.  I’d hate to be in line for over an hour and have to hear it over and over!  Got assigned to the pink car (Zaggy?) and was teamed up with a father and his two small children. They got the inside seats, the bigger folks got the outside which set us up for a pretty spin-free ride. The music continues on the lift and as you crest the top, a cat meow goes off and away you go. While it’s exceptionally smooth and actually kind of fun, I’d really like to get an off-balance ride to see what Wild Mouse is truly capable of.  I’ll be back this summer and fall, so I’ll try again.

Using FL+, Rode Valravn (front row, about 7 minutes in line), Gatekeeper (5 minute wait), Cadillac Cars (walk-on), Maverick (5 minute wait) and then hit Millennium Force (25 minute wait).  Yes, that was a FL wait time.  Not sure what was going on, but all three trains were running and I swear it was about a 3 minute wait between each dispatch.  This seemed to be the theme of the morning. Valravn’ s in-station monitor showing how long the train was taking to load was consistently 100-120+ seconds. Over at Gatekeeper, I sat on the brake run for 4 minutes before advancing to the station.  It just seemed like speed and urgency has been replaced with “relax, take your time”.  I understand that guests have gotten, well, less intelligent over the years, but Cedar Point used to pride themselves on how quickly their lines moved. Those days are long gone… 

I also rode Lake Erie Eagles (which I swear are fairly easy to bounce) and ended the visit with a ride on Cedar Downs.  The ride op at Eagles was rather snarky by asking how the ride was and when there was not much of a response, he came on and said in a very passive aggressive tone “yeahhhh!  That’s great!!!  Fantastic!”  After my ride came to an end, he asked how the ride was and I applauded and yelled loudly.  He just rolled his eyes.  Maybe they should move him to a different ride (although to be fair, he could have been assigned to Gemini or Magnum, both of which were down).  

Now I was only at the park for about 3 hours, so I’m sure some of these rides came online, but during the time I was there, the following rides were down: Windseeker, Iron Dragon, Steel Vengeance, Wave Swinger, Gemini, Magnum and Mine Ride. Thunder Canyon and Snake River Falls are also down till next weekend along with Snake River Expedition.  Also, Wild Mouse went down at 10:00 and came back up as I was leaving with a 45 minute posted wait.  Again, by CP standards, that’s a lot of down rides.  
 

The park did look great though, the restrooms by GateKeeper have been completely redone and even have fancy new faucets, and there is a ton of cool Wild Mouse merchandise.  I’m hoping my next visit is a little better in terms of operations.  Otherwise I’ll be making the 4 hour drive down I-71 to Kings Island more often!

[AmyUD06]

Thanks for the report @BitterOldHag.  Sounds like they still have a ways to go to be ready for summer operations.

As to Millennium's wait time with FL, that's actually kinda standard if the queue was back to the merge point.  I've experienced waits like that for the past several years at times, especially if waiting for the front.

I've also never experienced "urgency" of any kind by ride ops at Cedar Point (except maybe Steel Vengeance, but they have to do so to make up for the horrible locker situation) since I started park-traveling big time in 2017.  Not compared to Kings Island, at least.

[prozach626]

Yeah, outside of the new roller coasters where they probably put the best teams, I don't recall the urgency.

[JJLehto]

Yeah I am so glad I made the choice to skip CP this year, partly for $ partly for a break, but it seems like 2024 will be the year to go : D I am floored, I didnt wanna believe it and get hope up but it seems the spike/swing launch is actually happening.  

[CedarFlags]

On 5/19/2023 at 1:40 PM, BitterOldHag said:

Using FL+, Rode Valravn (front row, about 7 minutes in line), Gatekeeper (5 minute wait), Cadillac Cars (walk-on), Maverick (5 minute wait) and then hit Millennium Force (25 minute wait).  Yes, that was a FL wait time.  Not sure what was going on, but all three trains were running and I swear it was about a 3 minute wait between each dispatch.  This seemed to be the theme of the morning. Valravn’ s in-station monitor showing how long the train was taking to load was consistently 100-120+ seconds. Over at Gatekeeper, I sat on the brake run for 4 minutes before advancing to the station.  It just seemed like speed and urgency has been replaced with “relax, take your time”.  I understand that guests have gotten, well, less intelligent over the years, but Cedar Point used to pride themselves on how quickly their lines moved. Those days are long gone… 

 

Ya, the merge-point for Millennium Force is kind of infuriating.  I get it that FL doesn't promise no-wait, but it's expensive and you want to see the value.  I've been there twice where FL didn't save any time at all on MF because the merge point is so far back.

ElToroRyan did a whole video about how the capacity on MF specifically has gone down the tubes and it's also a hardware issue that the park appears to be unwilling to fix.  It's a damn shame.

[prozach626]

Lol infuriating? So you can't have just one great roller coaster at the park set up to where it's a little more even between non FL and FL?

Deep breath. It's fine.

[BitterOldHag]

I guess the thing that gets me about FL+ at CP is that lines can be 45 mins and up sometimes, usually for Maverick and Steel Vengeance.  I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful and I don’t expect the ride ops to personally clean my seat and call me sir with tears in their eyes, but when I compare it to Kings Island’s implementation where most rides dump you right into the station, CP’s sometimes doesn’t seem to be as good of a value, especially considering the price point (which I will argue could still be higher).  Even my visit to Canada’s Wonderland last summer seemed to have better FL+ usage… I just wish Wonder Mountain’s Guardian and Thunder Run were part of the FL+ lineup!  

I remember when FL first was introduced at CP, Millennium Force had it set up where you entered on the opposite end of the station near the front row. I believe it changed the following year to the end of the ramp, which made the wait much longer.  Again, I understand I am not waiting in the usual 1-2 hour line, so for that I am glad.  But when you pay a premium to “speed past the lines”, sometimes CP doesn’t seem to do that as well as their other parks.  Just my two cents and not trying to cause any trouble.  

[AmyUD06]

25 minutes ago, BitterOldHag said:

I guess the thing that gets me about FL+ at CP is that lines can be 45 mins and up sometimes, usually for Maverick and Steel Vengeance.  I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful and I don’t expect the ride ops to personally clean my seat and call me sir with tears in their eyes, but when I compare it to Kings Island’s implementation where most rides dump you right into the station, CP’s sometimes doesn’t seem to be as good of a value, especially considering the price point (which I will argue could still be higher).  Even my visit to Canada’s Wonderland last summer seemed to have better FL+ usage… I just wish Wonder Mountain’s Guardian and Thunder Run were part of the FL+ lineup!  

I remember when FL first was introduced at CP, Millennium Force had it set up where you entered on the opposite end of the station near the front row. I believe it changed the following year to the end of the ramp, which made the wait much longer.  Again, I understand I am not waiting in the usual 1-2 hour line, so for that I am glad.  But when you pay a premium to “speed past the lines”, sometimes CP doesn’t seem to do that as well as their other parks.  Just my two cents and not trying to cause any trouble.  

45 minutes is better than 3+ hours, and Maverick's FL line does dump you in station.

Kings Island's FL "implementation" is better for a variety of reasons - number of rides that dump you in the station, availability on pretty much every adult ride, cost.  But the fact that FL lines move quicker at KI can only be attributed to the fact that every line moves quicker at KI - they just put more emphasis on efficiency than they do at Cedar Point.

Trust me, I am generally a "must have the skip the line pass or I'm not going to a park" kind of person, and spend the requisite funds to do so and expect a result.  For the past several years I dropped over $1,300 for the Cedar Fair Platinum Pass plus the All-Season, All-Park FL Option.  However, I expect the result that is offered...not the result that I feel I "deserve" for whatever twisted reason.  In Cedar Point's case, the result that is offered is "shorter lines than the standby," and in that regard it delivers.

Whatever was done in the past is irrelevant.

[CedarFlags]

2 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Lol infuriating? So you can't have just one great roller coaster at the park set up to where it's a little more even between non FL and FL?

Deep breath. It's fine.

By "infuritating" I do mean "moderately annoying".

[gardyloo!]

13 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

the fact that every line moves quicker at KI - they just put more emphasis on efficiency than they do at Cedar Point.

Which is a shame because Cedar Point used to be known for their stellar operations. I also feel like their iROC is slowing things down significantly. However, KI also has to implement it and they seem to been doing better regardless... 

The FastLane discussion has been a thing at cedar point for many years, with Steel vengeance's FL line being the most egregious example. With so many people using it, you don't get as much of a 'bang for your buck' as say at KI or most six flags parks. Still, like others have said, Maverick dumps you right in the station and that's usually the longest line most days.  

[prozach626]

tf is "iROC?"

 

  

12 hours ago, CedarFlags said:

By "infuritating" I do mean "moderately annoying".

I get it. That's a lot more reasonable. 

[CoasterNerd87]

22 hours ago, prozach626 said:

tf is "iROC"?

Google is a powerful tool.

https://ridetraining.com/iroc/

[AmyUD06]

1 hour ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

Google is a powerful tool.

So is the courtesy of explaining little-known acronyms in conversation.

[prozach626]

1 hour ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

Google is a powerful tool.

https://ridetraining.com/iroc/

Google SF, CF, i-rat, SteVen, RMC, WoF, SFFT, I-box, LSM, OTSR, FL+. There are endless acronyms and abbreviations used on this site and in this hobby that probably won't come up on Google. Sorry if I just thought this was another one of those.

 

Sometimes it's easy to tell who has never been punched in the face.

[DoinItForTheFame]

On 5/17/2023 at 2:00 PM, coasterbill said:

It's a bad early entry lineup for Cedar Point but it's not bad compared to most regional parks. You're never going to find me complaining about any ride lineup that includes Millennium Force.

Wait!! People still care about early entry at CP?? Weird 

[CedarFlags]

8 hours ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

Google is a powerful tool.

https://ridetraining.com/iroc/

You obviously didn't try Googling "iroc" before you said this because the ride training is the THIRTHY SIXTH result.

[BitterOldHag]

6 hours ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

Wait!! People still care about early entry at CP?? Weird 

I stopped by Cedar Point this morning for a few quick rides, and yes, people do still care about early entry as Wild Mouse had a 45 minute posted wait at 9:15.  I ended up getting on in 35 minutes, but still, seems like people do like the benefit of riding early.  Millennium Force had a 1 hour posted wait when I walked past around 9:55.  Just my observation.  

After my ride today, I have to say that Wild Mouse is amazing. If you are lucky to get an off-balance car as I did today (I was riding on board “Chase”, the red car), you will get some serious spinning.  The ride is silky smooth and features decent transitions, which is really surprising given Zamperla’s prior works.  It did break down again just as the park officially opened at 10, so it seems they haven’t worked out all the kinks yet.  

Steel Vengeance was open today and had a 90-minute posted wait (it took me 20 with FastLane+). Trains were being sent out consistently with several empty seats including one train that had guests in the first 2 cars and the rest of the train was empty.  . Once I cleared the locker/metal detector checkpoint (which with the caged queue and militaristic employees seems like you are being led into prison), it was a walk on.  While I understand the no loose items policy, it seems like the park could do a better job in filling trains, especially when the line is as long as it was. 

And I will apologize for not previously acknowledging Maverick’s FL+ entrance as it does dump you right into the station.  The posted wait here was also 90 minutes and with FL+, it was a 2 train wait. Can’t complain about that now, can I?  Best ride in the park as far as I’m concerned… 

Also rode Gatekeeper in the front row (walk-on, and I know it’s not a popular opinion, but I really enjoy this coaster), Lake Erie Eagles (one cycle wait), Magnum (one train wait), Cedar Downs (one cycle wait, ride was almost a full load which is something I haven’t seen in a while), and took a spin on Pipe Scream as I haven’t been on it since it debuted in 2014. It’s strange that I really enjoyed it and it did not make me nauseous, but put me on a standard Disk-o such as Waldameer’s or Seabreeze and I’ll be heading to the nearest trash can right afterwards!  

Aside from the Steel Vengeance dispatches, things seemed to be running better today than my visit 10 days ago, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come for the remainder of the summer.  

[Haymaker]

On 5/29/2023 at 6:21 AM, CoasterNerd87 said:

Google is a powerful tool.

https://ridetraining.com/iroc/

And you're just a tool.

IROC is an 80's era Chevy Camaro (a.k.a. I Reek of Cologne) or a racing series for a lot of people. 

[prozach626]

^First thing I thought about, too. lol

 

  

21 hours ago, CedarFlags said:

You obviously didn't try Googling "iroc" before you said this because the ride training is the THIRTHY SIXTH result.

So he wasn't talking about the International Race of Champions?

 

  

On 5/29/2023 at 8:38 AM, DoinItForTheFame said:

Wait!! People still care about early entry at CP?? Weird 

Sometimes it's nice just to walk around the park with your coffee. That, and you can snag one of the first few trains of the day one of the coasters that opens with the park.

[MartinU]

My wife and I just got back from a 2 day trip to Cedar Point (Wednesday and Thursday). 

We have gold passes, and we were at the front gate around 9:15. We were "close" to the front, but by 9:50 when they started letting us in, the line stretched almost all the way back to the metal detectors. We made our way to Millennium Force. Even with the park open to resort guess and platinum passholders, the line was only at the base of the ramp. We rode it twice and then grabbed some Panda Express using the all-day meal pass. 

Side note- my wife and I buy one all-day meal pass and split a meal every 90 minutes (or so). It's a good way to keep going through the day and it pays for itself in 2 meals. In total we used it 9 times over the 2 days we were there. The new Grand Pavilion has some AMAZING food, like Funnel cake shrimp, and Turkey Pesto sandwiches. Backbeat BBQ is always good. Miss Keat's Cookout (CP's Chipotle knockoff) was really disappointing this year. Not bad, but just not great (I know, I know, what do I expect for CP food?"). All in all, food was really good and never had to wait more than 10 minutes at any location. 

Back to rides- 

Operations on MF was slow all day. SV was killing it, with the team sprinting to "push up push up on those lap bars." In the morning it had a 45min wait. The highest I saw it get was 90. But, both nights, the last 2 hours the line was less than 30 minutes, as the line was past the merge point! 

We experienced breakdowns on Maverick, and MF. We sat down on MF, got the "all clear" but then we had to exit the ride. They brought the jump packs to get us off. They cycled the lift a few times with no train, then cycled all three trains around 4 times each. We got the announcement they were reopening, opened the silver handrails, sat down, checked, "All clear" and again it broke down. This time they closed the ride and security cleared the queue and the station. 

I was a little upset at the way management handled this. Because of the brake down, one train was left on the final brake run full of rides. They evac-ed them. As they were doing this management was talking to a ride host right beside us, and handed the host a stack of "skip the line" pass for those being evac-ed. 60 minutes later, when we (who had sat down twice) were being escorted out by security, were given nothing. The couple in line beside us became irritated and asked the host if WE would get passes. Nope. The host went into the booth, came back and said they didn't have any, and that we could go to guest services and give them a report... All in all, not thrilled. 

Dollywood and BG Williamsburg were a much better experience. DW gave everyone in the station skip the line, and getting stuck at BGW we got skip the line and meal passes. I know they are different parks and companies. I would have been more pleased if the management/team lead could have talked to us and not just dismissed. Not acting entitled, but asking for respect. 
 

The rest of the park was nice. Things are still opening up, and a few food options were still not open. 

Something we tried on the second day... We used the right side of the parking booth, that put us in the lot near Gatekeeper. We then walked the boardwalk, which is LOVELY that early in the morning. Joggers, moms with strollers, people with Starbucks... lovely. We walked all the way down to Magnum and then made our way to the CP Shores waterpark gate. We walked up, scanned our Gold pass at 9:40 and were in! No "rope drop" no mad rush, we were in. It was so nice to head to the back of the park that way and to be in earlier than the mass run from the front gate. We will have to try this again. 

Last thing, I know it's early June, but some of the ride ops already seem "done" with their jobs. haha. "How was your ride" CHEERS "great..." bored and unenthused. Again, shout out to the SV, Maverick, Raptor, Gemini and Rougarou teams for just being great! They kept things moving and looked like they were having fun. 

We'll be back in August. 

[MartinU]

I was also happy the smoke from the Canadian forrest fires never interfered with our trip. The winds pushed it southwest of us, so we were good. A little hazy, but you never smelled smoke or noticed anything.