Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[Stealth1]

You lost me at deep fried. 15-year-old me would love Melt. 31-year-old me would not.

 

Also, there's no Marina.

 

No Marina but there is A/C which is needed on those hot days. They do have other sandwiches, the Philly Cheese steak one is really good too.

[Ape]

Also 32 year old me loves Melt. That Cuban is amazing

[operative_me]

I've never understood the love for Melt. Around these parts it seems to fall into the old "If you are from Cleveland, and you don't love everything that is from Cleveland, you are anti-Cleveland and the hell with you" mindset. And yes that is a real thing, and I'm totally susceptible to it, and I still don't get Melt.

 

But to each their own, the location is cool, and they look to have a good selection of beer.

[Stealth1]

I've never understood the love for Melt. Around these parts it seems to fall into the old "If you are from Cleveland, and you don't love everything that is from Cleveland, you are anti-Cleveland and the hell with you" mindset. And yes that is a real thing, and I'm totally susceptible to it, and I still don't get Melt.

 

But to each their own, the location is cool, and they look to have a good selection of beer.

 

I love it but mostly cause it's one of the better options for good food in the park. Give me Melt over Chick-fil-A or Panda Express. The best part is there never is much of a wait unlike most of the quick service places.

[WolfBobs]

Also don't get the love for Melt. Sadly I think it's starting to fall into the over expanded and quality suffers category. When it was 1 or 2 locations it was kinda a must go to local place. Small, intimate with good food. Now it's expanded and the food just seems blah to meh now. Same thing seems to be happening to Barrio, they've expanded so much lately I've been disappointed the last few times I've gone.

 

B&M bbq is terrible, never go there.

 

With all that said, I wouldn't mind seeing a few more local places take over the chains in CP. Tony Packo's from Toledo to replace Pink's for example. Start to highlight the entire region of northern Ohio and not just Cleveland.

Edited July 10, 2019 by WolfBobs

[teacherkim]

Well I'm from STL but have never been a huge bbq fan. And I have never understood the love for Chik Fil A......I saw people standing in line for an hour at KI for it On the other hand I can't wait to try Melt, it wasn't open yet when we were there last year but the employees were getting trained and testing the food. Forget watching MF, I leaned against the window and watched Melt!

 

On the other other hand.....we should roll in late afternoon on Sat, what's Valravn's status?

[cloudeleven]

If you were making your first trip to CP, and you lived 850 miles away, would you go this summer or wait for the 150th anniversary next summer? Is there going to be some great new coaster next year?

[ytterbiumanalyst]

If you want to buy a cool 150th anniversary T-shirt then wait. Otherwise just go this year. There is absolutely no way Cedar Point would do something so stupid as to build a very expensive, highly marketable ride on a year that is already highly marketable.

[coasterbill]

Go next year so you can ride Kings Island's new giga coaster and then go to Cedar Point and buy a 150th anniversary T-shirt or whatever.

[Nrthwnd]

....and eat at MELT and Famous Dave's.

[operative_me]

New for 2020: a fully staffed park!

[Nrthwnd]

^

[WolfBobs]

New for 2020: a fully staffed park!

 

Your unrealistic enthusiast expectations are getting outta hand!

 

I personally would wait for 2020. There probably won't be anything GIGAntic going in for the 150th. Especially with KI opening their new B&M. But as was mentioned above you could combine KI and CP into one trip and get that really nice 150th Anniversary T-shirt!

[Zand]

I don't want anyone to think that I'm talking up Famous Dave's because the food is "OMFG Amazing", but it's good and if I went to a random strip mall and paid the same price it would be "fine". We love Famous Dave's for the location and because Cedar Point's food in the park is all sh*t expect for Panda Express which always has a stupid long line and (maybe) BackBeatQue. Melt is probably good but I could never eat that and not regret it a few hours later.

 

Ironically, the one time I ever had Famous Dave's I regretted it for way more than a few hours lol. But I love Melt and actually it sat well the rest of the day (which is rare for me). My guilty pleasure at CP is Chickie's and Pete's. Last time I was there my wife and I had some crab fries and a few Cedar Point Shores Shandys and then for whatever reason had a stupid fun time lapping freaking Blue Streak for a half hour. Who needs Raptor and Valravn right next door when you can get a buzz on and lap Blue Streak?

[Stealth1]

 

Ironically, the one time I ever had Famous Dave's I regretted it for way more than a few hours lol. But I love Melt and actually it sat well the rest of the day (which is rare for me). My guilty pleasure at CP is Chickie's and Pete's. Last time I was there my wife and I had some crab fries and a few Cedar Point Shores Shandys and then for whatever reason had a stupid fun time lapping freaking Blue Streak for a half hour. Who needs Raptor and Valravn right next door when you can get a buzz on and lap Blue Streak?

 

I have never experienced any food not sitting well at Cedar Point. I am surprised Melt doesn't sit well will so many of you. I am 40 and not much bothers my stomach.

[coasterbill]

I have never experienced any food not sitting well at Cedar Point.

 

So you’ve never been to Coasters Drive In?

[rjr19]

To be honest, my experiences with CP’s food options have been the worst of any park i’ve visited.

 

Last month, at Roundup, the stand sort of near SV, I had to wait 30 minutes for them to bring change over to fill up the cash register, then I finally get the chicken fingers and they were small and horribly overcooked. Tasted like just burnt nastiness.

 

At Melt last week, after almost an hour, our food was finally done, but they gave it away to the wrong table and they started eating it, refused to even give us a discount for over an hour and still no food. Ended up leaving and going to ......wait for it......Famous Dave’s, which is okay but better than anything in the park.

 

Honestly SF Darien Lake has much better food and service than anything I’ve had at CP...and that’s really saying something since their food and service is pretty awful.

 

It’s an area all amusement parks need to step up a bit on, but especially CP, it just doesn’t quite meet the standard for what one would expect from the park.

[SbSteveZ]

As someone who isn’t a local, but visits the Cleveland area multiple times a year with different people almost every time (whether it be for a concert or Cedar Point etc) I have routinely made it a mission to go to Melt at least once per trip and I’ve never had anyone be disappointed in anything other than having to pay for parking at the downtown locations.

 

I found the one in Avon is really nice and there was one a little farther south that I also enjoyed. Even going to the one inside of Cedar Point during haunt last year my group really enjoyed the place. And I’ve been going for several years now - at least a couple years before Cedar Point opened theirs.

 

Either I’m just really lucky, or folks are really over-exaggerating the lack of quality. It’s ridiculous gourmet grilled cheese. That’s the whole point. Or am I missing something?

[prozach626]

People are comparing Melt to other restaurants like you can afford to be that picky in a park. It's really good quality food for being located where it is. This isn't downtown Cleveland where you have an abundance of choices. I probably wouldn't choose Melt above other restaurants in Cleveland, but when you're in a corporate park like Cedar Point it's definitely something to be thankful for. That's why 'I get' Melt. I'm not sure how anyone could be very judgmental of a full service non-chain trendy restaurant sandwiched in between a chicken fingers shack and a pretzel stand. If any other less than perfect above average restaurants want to open in Cedar Point I won't complain.

[Nrthwnd]

^^ No, you're not missing anything. You're just really lucky.

[prozach626]

Last month, at Roundup, the stand sort of near SV, I had to wait 30 minutes for them to bring change over to fill up the cash register, then I finally get the chicken fingers and they were small and horribly overcooked. Tasted like just burnt nastiness.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't believe the line was at a dead standstill for 30 minutes waiting for someone to get change for the cash register, while you and other customers just stood there. If that actually did happen and you stayed there for 30 minutes then that sounds like a ridiculous decision. Credit card? And who the hell over 15 years old actually expects any theme park chicken strip to be good?

 

 

Honestly SF Darien Lake has much better food and service than anything I’ve had at CP.

 

Of course they do. They serve 20 people per day.

 

It’s an area all amusement parks need to step up a bit on, but especially CP, it just doesn’t quite meet the standard for what one would expect from the park.

Unless you're new to going to amusement parks I don't know what type of standard you would expect? Disney?

 

At Cedar Point you have the already discussed options of Famous Dave's, Melt, Chickies and Petes, and Pinks, none of which are bad. You can also go in Breakers where there's a hibachi grill, Perkins, and a TGI Fridays. The park has 2 Starbucks!!! What 'standard' are you looking for? Maybe I'm so confused because I'm trying to figure out these supposed low standards coming from a guy who decided to pass up all of the aforementioned choices to stand in line 30 minutes for burnt chicken strips.

[Pedrinho]

What I'm loving about this thread is, that we'rd dicussing one of the world's best amusement park with the perhaps coaster line-up ever seen, some crazy non-coaster rides, a ridiculously awesome SkyRide, one of their marquee attractions down mechanical because two trains collided and presumedly damaged the station - and all we're doing is discussing good Barbecues in the US and why we eat things in parks we wouldn't accept downtown in our local city/mall in restaurants we wouldn't bother to visit downtown in our local city/mall.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm truly loving this. If not, I wouldn't read this now and I wouldn't have reread the whole thread over the last months.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^ Nah, man, I get it, and I agree with you. The thing about Cedar Point is that it's totally awesome and you're going to have a good time no matter what--except for one aspect, and that's food. All the rides are great; you really can't go wrong with any of them. There are no bad decisions there. The quality of food though, is highly variable. There are some really good places and there are some downright awful places. So it may seem like a silly discussion, but this is an important aspect to plan for. You eat at Famous Dave's or Melt or Chickie's and Pete's, you're going to have a good time. You eat at Coasters Drive-In or any of the chicken strip places, less fun will result.

[CoasterNerd87]

It’s an area all amusement parks need to step up a bit on, but especially CP, it just doesn’t quite meet the standard for what one would expect from the park.

 

I agree! How is it that across the parks, they do these brews and food events that have some pretty amazing food being sold from temporary kitchens? Then you look at their permanant park restaurants that are serving three chicken tenders and a handful of fries that have been sitting under a heat lamp for an hour for $15. What is the disconnect here?

[KI Kidd]

I don't know that there is a disconnect necessarily. As long as they can get away with it, they will sell the cheapest product at the biggest mark-up they can. If they are making a profit on it what incentive do they have to change it?