Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[anonymouscactus]

SUPER QUICK OVERVIEW:

Had A GREAT day today!!! You would think it was a completely different park from opening weekend.

Got in the park "late" at 1030am, immediately got through security and picked up our FL+ wristbands with no wait.

Went on the rides in the following order: Valravn was 10ish min, Magnum was 1 train wait (both FL and regular line, they were actually using 3 trains), one side running on Gemini 5 min FL, Dragster took about 20 min since they opened late and when it first starts running it's much lower capacity since they only load a couple rows. Maverick took about 20 min, steel Vengeance took about 10 min (!!!!), Millennium force about 20 min, raptor was a 1 train wait with FL, Gatekeeper was closed due to chain snap yesterday.

All the food stands for frontier festival had no lines and many opened before 2, all the drink places were open so I could actually use my all season drink thing without waiting, pretty much all the food places were open. No complaints honestly it was a great day and a huge change of pace from opening weekend. Got everything we wanted done + multiple food places with our tickets in 5.5 hours!

The regular lines were probably a minimum 1 hour for all the bigger rides judging by eye. The FL+ *really* helped. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

I have a 4 hour drive each way so if I can blast through the park it makes my life easy driving, even before the sun goes down. Next time we get a hotel I will go for the multiple rerides but seriously it was a great day (minus the fact it was HOOOTTT) and I'm burned lol

edit: oh I forgot to mention the asshole bird that DIVE BOMBED FULL SPEED INTO MY HEAD near Maverick. wtf!? *SQUAWK*

[Mike240SX]

42 minutes ago, anonymouscactus said:

edit: oh I forgot to mention the asshole bird that DIVE BOMBED FULL SPEED INTO MY HEAD near Maverick. wtf!? *SQUAWK*

I got attacked by no less than 3 birds over the course of my two days at the park at the end of May.  I think they might have been nesting in the bushes and we just got too close.

[TopThrill182]

@anonymouscactusHow’d you manage to get on SV in 10 minutes?! Has the park figured out how to reduce the FLP line for that ride, or did you just luck out somehow?

[MrFurious]

I think that if you use FL+, you should experience lower waits on SV... depending on time of day. The locker situation... experienced first time yesterday... so I can't compare it to weeks ago, but it looked like those with FL+only waited around 10 minutes. The lockers are the choke point, and after those, it's basically a station wait. It makes the standby line look like shit, but it's not terrible. Especially if you're patient and hit it after noon. We went at 1:30. It was posted at 90, and we waited about 45. FL+ which we didn't get because the other family with us balked, was seemingly ten minutes. 

 

Waits were perfectly acceptable on the most part. Only issue was Valravn. They were stacking.... BAD. It was the only wait that exceeded the posted time. When we got to the station it was clear why. TRAINING. 

I'm confident that in two weeks, they'll be well staffed and things will feel 'normal. Crowd was pretty big yesterday, and without the people Eater that gate keeper is, lines still were manageable. 

We're back today, and if the rain isn't crazy, today should be pretty sweet. Learned a great deal about managing the park yesterday, hoping to be even smoother today. 

Also, I'd kill for one last ride on a racing Gemini. I doubt I'll ever get it before it's eventual demise. 

[anonymouscactus]

So for those wondering about SV, it was around 1-2pm I think.

Its kind of hard to explain but there is a merge point before the lockers and a long hallway before getting to the lockers. The line to the merge point was about 8 min in the FL line. They were keeping that "hallway"clear and only released people into it when the previous group was done getting their lockers. Since the stairs were empty at that point, we walked right on after the lockers/metal detectors. I think they still need to figure out this flow, though, because when the stairs were empty when we walked up, there were quite a few empty seats going out because there was nobody to group. If that makes sense. Trains were going out faster than they could load due to the metal detector / locker situation. We were at the "front" of the group released to the hallway and we got our locker quickly so we beat everyone else behind us. It's a little weird but it was awesome for us!

[Zand]

It sounds like they're working on the Steel Vengeance situation over the past couple weeks at least. I think the most optimal way to do it is to put about 50 people in the tunnel, let them go through the lockers. Then if you have both detectors running, FL+ goes left and standby goes right. If not, then keep everyone together and just have one set of stairs open. 

Keeping the line blended with standby and FL on both sets of stairs, and then letting 18 people in at a time from one side and 6 from the other side EVERY ride was total BS. It sounds like they were doing it right at first, so don't know why they went down the road they did the weekend I was there. Glad they learned from it.

[JJLehto]

Agreed, on June 4 I didn't think the situation was nearly as bad as some were explaining here, which I am not doubting just as you said I think they tried to be better. FL+ was certainly helpful for SV, not as much as years past but deff a lot better than standard line. There was still some weirdness depending on the person on moving one line more than the other, like at one point FL line was basically stalled and the normal went for a long while. Some dude yelled out about it and I felt kinda bad BUT....the op did start alternating lines afterwards and it was a lot better lol  

I am indeed willing to say that (broken record) things still arent totally normal and SV always has given problems. They're dealing w it, I had no complaints really when I went. Agree w Zand seems they learned. Sucks for those who got screwed by the random change but least they've gone back. 

[prozach626]

5 hours ago, MrFurious said:

I think that if you use FL+, you should experience lower waits on SV...

I thought I was just paying $100 for a cool wristband souvenir. 

[VegasBaby]

Had a great visit to the park on Friday June 11.  It was my first time back since 2016 and my kids' first ever visit to the park.  Got to the park at about 8:20am and the parking lot opened at 8:30am, so we got a nice up front spot.  They started letting people into the park around 8:50am, so we grabbed our FL+ wristbands and headed to MF, where we got on the 2nd train of the day.  My kids absolutely loved the ride and said it was their favorite coaster ever, but that comment would be short lived.  We hustled back to Maverick and got two rides in during the early entry.  My plan was to hit SV next, but a train was parked on the lift hill and the app said it was down.  So we started hitting the other coasters (Corkscrew, Gemini, Magnum, Rougarou), which were all complete walk-ons with FL+.  We were getting a little hungry, so we headed to Frontier Village for the food festival.  The booths weren't quite open yet, so we did Skyhawk twice (my favorite giant swing) and the CCMR (15 min wait since no FL).  By that time is was noon and the food festival booths were open (the hours said 2-8pm, but the booths all opened at noon).   

We absolutely loved the Frontier Festival and it's a shame they aren't doing it all summer.  We had bought two tasting cards ahead of time ($50 with season pass discount) and it fed all five of us, with tickets left over for desserts.  There were no lines at any of the booths and all of the food we got was very tasty.  I especially liked the brisket and sausage sliders, which were only 1 ticket each and pretty filling.  After lunch, we headed to the front of the park to knock out Windseeker, Wicked Twister, Gatekeeper, Raptor, and Valravn.  The kids loved Gatekeeper, so we ended up riding that twice.  My two daughters wouldn't do TTD despite riding Xcelerator many times before, so my son and I did it twice and it was only about a 15 min wait with FL+.  They were running 6 trains on it and the ops were hauling, as they were all day long.  It seems like CP has their operations running smoothly now, at least as far as the rides are concerned.  

By this time it was about 4pm and the kids were hungry again, so we split some strombolis from Hugo's Kitchen and headed to the back of the park for Steel Vengeance.  The app said it was a 60 min wait and we waited about 15-20 minutes per ride with FL+.  We ended up riding it four times because it was just that good.  I had very high expectations going into the ride but it managed to exceed them all!  The airtime is just crazy, there's a ton of sideways airtime (who knew that was a thing), the pacing was incredible (no dull moments), and it was butter smooth.  I was worried that my kids might find it too intense (they were done with Maverick after two rides) but they all declared it as their new #1 coaster and demanded we ride it over and over. 

We finished the day off with 2 great rides on MF and some souvenir shopping.  My son has decided to start collecting Nanocoasters from the parks we visit, so he got a MF nanocoaster for his first one.  Overall it was just a perfect visit and my kids are now fully converted to CP, so we will probably be making annual trips going forward.  

 

 

[DoinItForTheFame]

Apparently Gatekeeper's chain has snapped again. Seen photos of it floating around social media.

[prozach626]

How long does that repair typically take? I'd bet the cost and availability of that chain and material/ability to manufacture it are going to make replacement more difficult.

[anonymouscactus]

This might be a stupid question but in these scenarios do they generally replace the entire chain with a new one? Or do they just replace a few links somehow?

[bert425]

I'm seeing numerous "updated" stories today that the train "stalled" after the lift chain "separated"

so. . . did it snap?  or is it something they can weld, and just fix?   dunno. . all the stories are focusing on that the ride stopped and guests had to be escorted off.

but interesting they are using the terminology "separated" for what sounds like a lift chain snap.

[Carrie]

3 hours ago, prozach626 said:

How long does that repair typically take? I'd bet the cost and availability of that chain and material/ability to manufacture it are going to make replacement more difficult.

My husband is in this industry.  He told me it depends on the chain.  If it is a specialized OEM, it could take months (something specifically made for them).  However, he said that it would surprise him if they did not have more than one just in case....as lucrative as that business is and relies on running.   Mostly, it all depends upon the chain, what happened to it, etc.  Although I am sure there are safety measures in place to prevent a train from flailing from it's track, that is still kind of scary to think about!! LOL

[MrFurious]

Concluding (and having high hopes that I use enough detail so as not to incur the biting wit of prozac... but knowing I'll fail and he'll pounce... enjoy!):

Sunday 13th vs Monday 14th was a tale of wildly different experiences. Sunday was very solid. Wish other family was comfortable doing FL+... but wasn't... and we didn't want to separate (daughter prefers riding with kids to old geezer parents... and I don't blame her). Managed just fine, but holy crap, yeah... just buy the dang FL+.  Ops seemed off at first, but yeah, they're training a boatload of newbies, so patience was key. Without massive details (boring and unnecessary as we aren't experts and made plenty of self inflicted wounds) the day was fine. 

Today, Monday, was a feces fest. No sour grapes or ill will towards cedar point, but yikes it was rough. First and foremost, the crowd was MUCH heavier than Sunday. My best guess is that Saturday and Sunday features a bunch of travelers (such as...us), which leave on Monday (cedar point express hotel really seemed to be emptying out Sunday to Monday), but Monday (and formerly Tuesday, Wednesday, etc) is when anyone within the three hour drive descend on the park with their season passes. Gold passes. Early entry was chill, but once the park opened the masses descended. Then, bad luck hit. Milli, SV, GK (broken chain... and it's looking grim over there), TTD didn't open for the first three plus hours. Maverick, which we hopped in line for after a second train valravn run, went down almost exactly at ten am. With us boarding next. Since nothing else was running that we felt was worthy of pulling the plug, we waited. And after an hour of that... we finally pulled the plug. At this point, five of their biggest rides were down... and things got interesting. We waited fifty minutes for Rougarou. Had you told me that on Sunday I would have believed you less than if you told me maple trees have birth to octopi.  Corkscrew had a 105 minute wait posted at one point. Blue Streak was 90 minutes. It was hilarious. The poor maintenence staff must feel like the game of whack-a-mole they were playing was some kind of cruel joke. Winds were decently high in the morning, so that likely played a role too.  Yesterday I complained that if never ride Gemini as a racer anymore. Today... it was racing. However, I got vetoed and wasn't able to ride (we were hoping to leave by four and begin our travel to kings island... and the wait was posted at 45). Just ran out of time.

 

Goals for the trip were: 1) Ride SV.  Checked that box twice. Second time in last row. Holy Frijoles the forces back there are intense. I loved every second, but I seriously wonder how many laps someone could do before Crying uncle. 

2) get daughter to ride all the coasters. Missed GK, CCMR, and blue streak... so a return visit is inevitable. 

3) find some good beer (Hello CLAG beer in Sandusky). 

 

Now, tomorrow morning, KINGS ISLAND. 

[TopThrill182]

Great to hear the park is continuing to tweak the SV queue setup/flow. Not flooding the pre-locker tunnel and both station staircases with standby guests is a big improvement for FLP users. Hopefully the park finds a way to make that stick. To me, the best option is still to keep the tunnel clear but keep the (longer) right staircase filled with guests so seats don’t go out empty.

[prozach626]

I'm willing to bet after a crowded day at Cedar Point, your experience at Kings Island will be a breath of fresh air. Maybe... just maybe your group will decide after waiting so long in lines at Cedar Point they'll want to do a cheaper (selling point) FL+ option. You'll get a true FL+ experience that way.

Regardless, I'm sure you'll have fun. Enjoy!

(no biting wit)

[MrFurious]

I SO WISH they would... but they won't. I'll encourage, but this is the price to pay to have companionship. Worth it for my kiddo (though I've trained her well to hate and strategize around lines).

 

I forgot to mention...I noticed one thing in line for SV yesterday. It's almost like they made a policy change WHILE we were in line. At first, the line was CREEPING, and I was counting anywhere from three to ten empty seats on the trains (assuming it was the lockers). Then, something happened, and ALL the trains were full. On Sunday, when it was our turn to hit the lockers, if people were behind us, but had NOTHING to put in the lockers, they made them wait for us. This likely led to the empty line situations after the choke point. On Monday, while we were handling lockers, they were letting people behind us go right on through and get ahead of us. AND THAT WAS PERFECTLY FINE!!!!!!! Reward them! And I have ZERO issue waiting behind them. When we went through the detectors, the stairs and hall before them was FULL. 

That's likely why the line started moving much better, and the trains were all full. 

So... to conclude... yes, it was very nice seeing adjustments being made.

Now fingers crossed for our first kings island trip. I'm ready for some slower rolling and a new park. Being that SFStl is my home park, I'm pretty stoked. Hoping to find some good beer while I'm here today as well. It... assists... my relaxation. 

[teacherkim]

Furious, on that back row SV question: my son did 7 back row rides in a row (with very little wait, it was pretty much a walk on each time, as it was last year and he did it while others were running around getting line tickets for everything) before he stopped. And I am not really sure if he stopped because he needed to or finally the line started to back up. Note he was 17 at the time, age is not your friend on these sorts of experiences 

[SimpsonTide985]

On 6/14/2021 at 12:12 AM, TopThrill182 said:

@anonymouscactusHow’d you manage to get on SV in 10 minutes?! Has the park figured out how to reduce the FLP line for that ride, or did you just luck out somehow?

If you're curious, I got on the first train of the day on Steel Vengeance on this past Sunday WITHOUT even using Fast Lane. It's the only way I know of getting onto the ride, particularly on the first train, without Fast Lane and in well under an hour, specifically on a weekend.

Protips on how to do this:
1. You MUST have Gold/Platinum/Early Entry AND you must enter in through the Main Gate. This is the only way you can get in at the earliest times. They usually open the main gate around 8:45am so you want to already parked and be in the security line by 8:30am-ish.

2. Also, obviously, you have to go straight back to Steel Vengeance right away using the Gemini Midway. I DO recommend using the restrooms near Top Thrill or the ones near Gemini on the way to the back unless you're in a group. You might have a little bit of time to hop on Magnum XL-200 on the way since it usually opens at 9am sharp, but you can skip it. By the time you get to Steel Vengeance, there should be less than a dozen people sitting around waiting if you've been a fast walker.
NOTE: If you're NOT a season passholder, I recommend going in through the Park's Magnum entrance (via the Resort Drive) on the northeast end of the park and get in that gate's line by 9:15am. They usually will open the Magnum gate at around 9:45am-ish. You obviously won't get the first Steel Vengeance train, and there'll probably still be about 150+ people already in the line before you get there, BUT it'll be better using this entrance versus the Main Entrance that the majority of the people will use at 10am.

3. Now, the trick is, knowing that the Fast Lane Plus lanes and the Steel Vengeance ride itself doesn't even open until 10am (actually more like 10:15am due to the early testing runs). So, you really want to stay right there in line as soon as you can, no matter if some rides like Maverick, Raptor, Magnum, and Valravn are running early as early as 9am. This is because the big line for Steel Vengeance will start around 9:30am and if you don't get in line right then, there will easily be 400+ people in line by 10:15am when they start letting everyone in. So, even if you have to wait at the Steel Vengeance entrance at 9:15am, a 45 min wait is worth it versus the 2 hour wait if you leave to ride something else first and come back later after 10am.

4. Also, they will open both the general line AND the Fast Lane Plus line at the same time as well. At a certain point inside the queue, these two lines merge into one. However, the general line has a much longer walk path before it gets to the merged line, so I'd recommend running not walking through the general line path. If you're quick enough, you can actually BEAT the Fast Lane Plus crowd to the front of the train line!

5. Also, if you get there early enough at 9am, you'll be able to sit down and wait on the raised concrete just to the side of the entrance. No having to stand up for hours waiting!

6. Lastly, USE-THE-OUTSIDE-LOCKERS. At around 9:45am, while you're waiting for Steel Vengeance to open, have someone save your spot in line and go use the $2 lockers across from the entrance and put everything in your pockets inside (including glasses, hats, etc.). Trust me, 8 or 9 times out of 10, you WILL lose your spot in line if you use the free lockers inside.

Enjoy!

[SimpsonTide985]

On 6/13/2021 at 10:14 PM, Mike240SX said:

I got attacked by no less than 3 birds over the course of my two days at the park at the end of May.  I think they might have been nesting in the bushes and we just got too close.

I just got attacked on Monday by a bird on the back of my neck. I just assumed my sunglasses retainer looked like a worm??

[anonymouscactus]

Sounds like a lot of work. Or, you know, go at 1:00p with fast lane.

... but no there are some good tips in there for those without FL.

Having stuff for the free lockers can potentially slow you down a bit, as you said, if you go with empty pockets you bypass everyone getting the lockers. At least when I was there... but we were super quick getting the lockers so it didn't matter.

[SimpsonTide985]

On 6/14/2021 at 8:27 AM, MrFurious said:

I think that if you use FL+, you should experience lower waits on SV... depending on time of day.

In what I've seen in the last 3 times I've been to CP, it's very random and hard to predict the best time you'll want to get onto SV, regardless of if you have FL+ or not. For me, if you don't have Early Entry or FL+, you absolutely need to go as early as you can in the morning, preferably in the Magnum gate entrance.  OR you'll want to go early in the afternoon--maybe around lunch time 12-2pm. If you can get in line early enough in the day, you might be able to get a 20 min wait as long as you put your stuff in the $2 lockers BEFORE you get in the line and if the folks in front of you are moving fast enough in the regular line. 

Otherwise, it's completely unpredictable as you never know how many FL+ park riders are going to flood into Steel Vengeance all at once.  I'd say 80% of all FL+ riders will only use it for Steel Vengeance and Maverick so there's always a chance that the FL+ lines are going to still be incredibly long, especially during midday peak (2pm-4pm).

[SimpsonTide985]

57 minutes ago, anonymouscactus said:

Sounds like a lot of work. Or, you know, go at 1:00p with fast lane.

... but no there are some good tips in there for those without FL.

Having stuff for the free lockers can potentially slow you down a bit, as you said, if you go with empty pockets you bypass everyone getting the lockers. At least when I was there... but we were super quick getting the lockers so it didn't matter.

It's not a lot of work. I just like writing out the details.

 

Also I will partially disagree in that saying "1pm with Fast Lane" isn't really reliable enough day-to-day. Sometimes you might get lucky but it's hard to really account for some abnormalities that could occur throughout that lunch period. There could always be a random flood of FL+ people choking up the line at any moment.

I do agree that 1pm is still a decent time since most people will start looking to get lunch.

I only recommended the $2 lockers first only because there seems to be no consistency in terms of how the line operators will merge you back into the best line and at the right time and I can't guess that everyone will be as fast through the inside lockers as you or I might be.

[bert425]

56 minutes ago, SimpsonTide985 said:

If you're curious, I got on the first train of the day on Steel Vengeance on this past Sunday WITHOUT even using Fast Lane. It's the only way I know of getting onto the ride, particularly on the first train, without Fast Lane and in well under an hour, specifically on a weekend.

Protips on how to do this:
1. You MUST have Gold/Platinum/Early Entry AND you must enter in through the Main Gate. This is the only way you can get in at the earliest times. They usually open the main gate around 8:45am so you want to already parked and be in the security line by 8:30am-ish.

2. Also, obviously, you have to go straight back to Steel Vengeance right away using the Gemini Midway. I DO recommend using the restrooms near Top Thrill or the ones near Gemini on the way to the back unless you're in a group. You might have a little bit of time to hop on Magnum XL-200 on the way since it usually opens at 9am sharp, but you can skip it. By the time you get to Steel Vengeance, there should be less than a dozen people sitting around waiting if you've been a fast walker.
NOTE: If you're NOT a season passholder, I recommend going in through the Park's Magnum entrance (via the Resort Drive) on the northeast end of the park and get in that gate's line by 9:15am. They usually will open the Magnum gate at around 9:45am-ish. You obviously won't get the first Steel Vengeance train, and there'll probably still be about 150+ people already in the line before you get there, BUT it'll be better using this entrance versus the Main Entrance that the majority of the people will use at 10am.

3. Now, the trick is, knowing that the Fast Lane Plus lanes and the Steel Vengeance ride itself doesn't even open until 10am (actually more like 10:15am due to the early testing runs). So, you really want to stay right there in line as soon as you can, no matter if some rides like Maverick, Raptor, Magnum, and Valravn are running early as early as 9am. This is because the big line for Steel Vengeance will start around 9:30am and if you don't get in line right then, there will easily be 400+ people in line by 10:15am when they start letting everyone in. So, even if you have to wait at the Steel Vengeance entrance at 9:15am, a 45 min wait is worth it versus the 2 hour wait if you leave to ride something else first and come back later after 10am.

4. Also, they will open both the general line AND the Fast Lane Plus line at the same time as well. At a certain point inside the queue, these two lines merge into one. However, the general line has a much longer walk path before it gets to the merged line, so I'd recommend running not walking through the general line path. If you're quick enough, you can actually BEAT the Fast Lane Plus crowd to the front of the train line!

5. Also, if you get there early enough at 9am, you'll be able to sit down and wait on the raised concrete just to the side of the entrance. No having to stand up for hours waiting!

6. Lastly, USE-THE-OUTSIDE-LOCKERS. At around 9:45am, while you're waiting for Steel Vengeance to open, have someone save your spot in line and go use the $2 lockers across from the entrance and put everything in your pockets inside (including glasses, hats, etc.). Trust me, 8 or 9 times out of 10, you WILL lose your spot in line if you use the free lockers inside.

Enjoy!

so what you're saying is you DIDN'T get on it in 10 minutes.

based on your hints, you would have waited 1 hour and 20 minutes (minimum) to get your ride, since you got there right at 9, and basically stood in line waiting for Steel Vengeance to open - instead of riding other things open during early morning hours.  Actually, you would have stood around doing nothing for ~2 hours, since you recommend getting there at 8:30 parked.

my time is worth more than the cost of FL+, so it's foolish not to buy it, and just do it that way (and also enjoying any other early entry rides that are open, if you're a hotel guest/pass holder)