Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[DILinator]

11 hours ago, NegativeGLover said:

So I haven't been to CP in 6-7 years and thought about making a weekday trip next week for the heck of it.  I know schools have been back in session this week and will be next week as well, so I was curious about crowd levels and operations this last week.   I've looked at the webcams and the lot looks less than half full, which seems promising.  Mainly though - how have operations been?  I cant imagine they have a plethora of workers right now.  Just looking for some insight.

I have been delinquent in posting about my trip to CP last week with my 4 kids, so in response to this is as good a time as any!

We were there at the park on Thursday, the 19th, in celebration of my Birthday that day! I hadn't actually been to CP since mid-2018, for a variety of reasons, but prior to that, I'd been every years for decades, often multiple times. So this was a long overdue return.

At any rate, as it pertains to your questions NegativeGLover, the operations at the park seemed pretty good, for the most part, and as Mike240SX mentioned, the only main rides down were TTD and maXair. When it comes to the crowds, at least on that day, the claims of not being able to have a good day at the park without Fast Lane proved very untrue that day, as it was not very crowded at all, with the only real wait of the day on Steel Vengeance during our first ride at park's opening to the public, and even that was less than 45 minutes. My kids waited about 30-45 for Valravn as well (I didn't ride, as I was with my youngest who is too short for the B&Ms still), but that was the only other wait over about 25 minutes. Most rides were walk-ons or station waits. The three older kids actually went to SV for their final ride of the night, and instead of getting only 1 ride, they got 3, back to back to back, as the wait was only on the stairs each time. 3 NEAR WALK ONS OF STEEL VENGEANCE IN A ROW! Amazing! So yeah, I'd definitely say, at least based on that Thursday visit last week (which was when Michigan schools were still out, which seemed to be most of the people there), crowds are way down from their insufferable Summer levels.

Getting back to my mini-TR, it was an absolutely awesome day at Cedar Point, and a great time as a family was had by all!  It also reinforced what I've stated repeatedly over the years about the best way to visit CP being smart about WHEN you go, vs. going in the Summer, and wasting (in my opinion) two or three times the gate price on skip-the-line passes. Sure, some people have no other option about when they go, and what they do with their hard earned money is their business. But as I've maintained for decades, if you're willing to be flexible about when you go to CP, and can go when schools are either still in session or have started up again, you're going to have a much better time at the park, AND your pocketbook will thank you as well! We hardly spent anything at the park last Thursday (other than a fabulous meal our first time at the wonderful new BackBeat Que restaurant! A great addition!), and had what we all felt like was arguably our best day ever (cue groans) at Cedar Point!

I have a lot of negative things to say about Cedar Fair as a company, and am one of their sharpest critics, but there were definitely a lot of positives to take away from the visit, and given what I'd heard over the past couple of years since I'd been, I was expecting a bad day at the park, and it was anything but that. Their absurdly awful policy of not letting kids who are too short to ride, wait in line with their parents and walk through at the station makes the mentally ill patients I work with daily look sane, and they are woefully out of sync on that issue with literally every other park I've been to over the past couple of years that isn't a Cedar Fair park. However, unlike Michigan's Adventure, which appalled me with a laundry list of negatives when I finally returned there this year as well, that was pretty much the only negative from the day. It exceeded expectations, and left my kids and myself very satisfied!

One last exciting thing from the trip I wanted to share, was that I went in fully expecting not to be able to get a final ride (at least at CP) on Wicked Twister, which has always been one of my favorite underrated coasters there. I was unable to fit on the coaster back in 2018, the first time I'd ever been "Walk of Shamed" on a coaster, and tried the test seat on Possessed earlier this year, and didn't fit, so I figured even with my recent healthy lifestyle change, weight loss, and inches lost around the belly, it would be a no-go. I tried the test seat out for the heck of it though, and fit! I then made it on the coaster itself, in a glorious final comeback, and it was awesome, and so satisfying to be able to ride it again! So, all the work and the foods I love that I've given up for the past couple months paid off, and it was a very exciting and rewarding moment! Just know that if you saw me at Holiwood Nights, and you saw me at a park now, you would definitely see a different me, and one who is in a lot better shape, and will make his Dr. happy next month when checking in! It was actually that weekend (including KK) that was the final straw in showing me I needed to get serious about getting healthier, and losing weight, or I was going to ruin my enjoyment of parks, and also continue ruining my body. Thanks as well to those who have encouraged me in my weight loss from this site - you know who you are! 

[CoasterNerd87]

7 hours ago, DILinator said:

Their absurdly awful policy of not letting kids who are too short to ride, wait in line with their parents and walk through at the station makes the mentally ill patients I work with daily look sane, and they are woefully out of sync on that issue with literally every other park I've been to over the past couple of years that isn't a Cedar Fair park.

While I'm sure your intentions are for the best, think about how many times people have tried to get under height people on the rides? Is it an inconvenience? Yes, but it speeds operations up because you aren't height checking everyone loading a train.

[Pedrinho]

 

34 minutes ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

While I'm sure your intentions are for the best, think about how many times people have tried to get under height people on the rides? Is it an inconvenience? Yes, but it speeds operations up because you aren't height checking everyone loading a train.

You can do the same height check directly before going into the station so everybody knows who is going to ride and who will wait for the others. Europa-Park does it like this. I don't see how train loading/unloading operations could be affected by the placement of the height chech. If somebody is in a one hour line with someone under minimum size its their problem.

As a dad of two undersized kids I fully understand what @DILinator means.

[DILinator]

6 hours ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

While I'm sure your intentions are for the best, think about how many times people have tried to get under height people on the rides? Is it an inconvenience? Yes, but it speeds operations up because you aren't height checking everyone loading a train.

Like I said, every other park, and park chain I've been to with my little guy has no issue with it, and it doesn't slow anything down. It's just one of those maddening policies that CF has, that frankly, in my opinion, doesn't really have any merit behind it. I think I've seen others mention it here as well (maybe even Shark Tums?), but they aren't really the most "family friendly"chain when it comes to smaller kids, especially when you look at the amount of coasters with higher height restrictions. It'll be a moot point in about a year, but it sure was annoying going to CF parks this year, and last.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

You are spot on, DILinator. Even out here in Missouri, Worlds of Fun is far stricter than Six Flags about their height policies (although SDC beats them both). I remember one time when my son was 46" exactly going up to Fury of the Nile. The employee at the beginning of the queue said he was good, so we waited like 30-40 minutes or so, then when we got all the way up to the front, the ride op decided he was under 46" and that was that. I felt like one of "those parents" insisting that the other employee height checked my kid before we got in line, but it was the honest truth! Ultimately they didn't buy that, and I don't blame them, they didn't have a system set up for the two employees to communicate with each other so they couldn't take my word for it. We just went back the next year and he was inarguably tall enough. Also frustrating is the fact that both SFStL and SDC's rapids rides had a 36" height minimum on basically the same ride (this was a few years ago so it was still Lost River of the Ozarks, not Mystic River Falls).

[DILinator]

The other frustrating thing for my youngest (who is 7), is that he's least fearful of all my kids about rides! He's actually the one who caused my older two sons to ride Zumanjaro earlier this year, as they were too scared to ride, but after my youngest was going to with me and my daughter, they felt they had to not to look shown up! lol He wanted to ride Kingda Ka, and rode Millennium Force, and wants to ride everything he can, but is held back by random height policies. For instance, he can ride Goliath at SF, but not Steel Vengeance at CP. I get that SV is a lot bigger and more intense than Goliath, but when almost every other RMC (including Twisted Timbers) is 48", it's strange to think 4" will make a difference on SV.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yeah, if it's a safety thing, you'd think that identical trains would have an identical height requirement. Cedar Fair just puts theirs way higher than other parks and I don't know why. So as long as they do that, their parks are just not going to be as great for families with younger children. 

[Haymaker]

2 hours ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

Yeah, if it's a safety thing, you'd think that identical trains would have an identical height requirement. Cedar Fair just puts theirs way higher than other parks and I don't know why. So as long as they do that, their parks are just not going to be as great for families with younger children. 

Not always. My kids were able to ride 310ft high, 90mph Millenium Force at 48 inches before they could ride 208ft, 70mph Ride of Steel. Both Intamins at two different chain parks. 

[Pedrinho]

4 hours ago, Haymaker said:

Not always. My kids were able to ride 310ft high, 90mph Millenium Force at 48 inches before they could ride 208ft, 70mph Ride of Steel. Both Intamins at two different chain parks. 

That's right. Our kids could ride some flats and one coaster at CP while they aren't allowed on identical rides in Germany.

Same goes for Universal. There are a lot of flats they could ride right now, but aren't allowed at our home park for several years.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

5 hours ago, Haymaker said:

Not always. My kids were able to ride 310ft high, 90mph Millenium Force at 48 inches before they could ride 208ft, 70mph Ride of Steel. Both Intamins at two different chain parks. 

Interesting. I haven't been on Ride of Steel, but the trains do look a lot like MF's in the photos. 54" for it, hmm? Interesting. 

[prozach626]

On 8/27/2021 at 6:08 PM, CP_RULES said:

Pro tip: We would prefer to see the best of each view instead of every picture you took, that was exhausting to get through! Looked beautiful though!

Who's "we?" Maybe next time he won't do a TR at all, since you referred to it as exhausting to get through.

[KarlaKoaster]

I guess height limits are not only based on manufacturer specifications (ie, the height range for which their restraints are designed for) but by the state or country that approves the ride for operation (some will be stricter than others) and also the park itself taking into account how extreme the layout is. Some parks and countries will be stricter than others.

[AmyUD06]

On 8/27/2021 at 8:08 PM, CP_RULES said:

Pro tip: We would prefer to see the best of each view instead of every picture you took, that was exhausting to get through! Looked beautiful though!

I didn't realize how similar some of the Windseeker and Ferris Wheel pictures were; I'll edit them down.  Sorry that you had to scroll through 5 "duplicates" at most.  When you're putting up a ton of pics you don't really pay attention.

If you notice in the Valravn pictures, they're actually all kinda different, following the train through the course.

@prozach626Thanks for the backup brother.

[DILinator]

I'm glad I didn't put up any of my pictures of my trip to CP! I'd hate to offend anybody's delicate sensibilities of how they should look!

[Pedrinho]

1 hour ago, KarlaKoaster said:

I guess height limits are not only based on manufacturer specifications (ie, the height range for which their restraints are designed for) but by the state or country that approves the ride for operation (some will be stricter than others) and also the park itself taking into account how extreme the layout is. Some parks and countries will be stricter than others.

Of course we know why these restrictions are in place. But as @SharkTums said once: Try to explain a three year old why he is not allowed to ride a ride at Heide Park or Tripsdrill when he is allowed the very same ride at his home park and he knews for sure it's the same ride.
It's perfectly okay why these things are as they are. Every park is allowed to have its ground rules. But sometimes it's not logical. And if Sue-Happy-Merica is less strict than my average german park, it's even getting a bit funny.

[Pedrinho]

On 8/28/2021 at 2:08 AM, CP_RULES said:

Pro tip: We would prefer to see the best of each view instead of every picture you took, that was exhausting to get through! Looked beautiful though!

Pro tip: Please make sure that you and the others are not reading my upcoming Phantasialand trip report. I really don't want to cause any exhaustment on anyones side because of photos I took.

I for myself liked @Mike240SXs complete post as I am not able to go to CP in the forseeable time and I didn't mind to see some photos that are similar to each other.

[Haymaker]

3 hours ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

Interesting. I haven't been on Ride of Steel, but the trains do look a lot like MF's in the photos. 54" for it, hmm? Interesting. 

They are identical. ROS's train might be newer but thats it.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

27 minutes ago, Haymaker said:

They are identical. ROS's train might be newer but thats it.

Good to know, sounds fun. I've had an idea for a Carowinds/Kings Dominion/Busch Gardens/SF America/Ocean City Maryland trip, whenever that becomes possible again. Charlotte is one of the few places I can get a direct flight.

[Garet]

17 hours ago, Pedrinho said:

That's right. Our kids could ride some flats and one coaster at CP while they aren't allowed on identical rides in Germany.

Same goes for Universal. There are a lot of flats they could ride right now, but aren't allowed at our home park for several years.

Yep, my introduction to big rides was on a trip to Florida. Some height differences aren't much between Europe and America, I think a lot worked out around 3cm difference but that's a lot to a kid.

I know people talk about states requirements and manufacturer requirements etc but at least in the case of us international traveler for Europe being higher I think it's the Metric system. Montu for example is 54inches = 137cm. European parks use centimetres but nearly always round it up to the nearest 10cm eg. 110cm requirement, 140cm requirement etc. I got turned away for riding Ripsaw, a Huss Top spin at Alton Towers, (at 140cm) being just under the line but could ride Montu, on a family vacation I think 2 weeks later.

3-5cm isn't a big difference to us adults but to a child just hitting the lines, it makes all the difference.

[cfc]

I just cleaned up some of this thread. Good people of TPR, let's restrict ourselves to discussing Cedar Point--cut out the personal attacks. If you have a  personal beef with someone, take it to private messages.

Theme parks are supposed to be about fun, remember?

Thank you.

[Pedrinho]

12 hours ago, Garet said:

Yep, my introduction to big rides was on a trip to Florida. Some height differences aren't much between Europe and America, I think a lot worked out around 3cm difference but that's a lot to a kid.

I know people talk about states requirements and manufacturer requirements etc but at least in the case of us international traveler for Europe being higher I think it's the Metric system. Montu for example is 54inches = 137cm. European parks use centimetres but nearly always round it up to the nearest 10cm eg. 110cm requirement, 140cm requirement etc. I got turned away for riding Ripsaw, a Huss Top spin at Alton Towers, (at 140cm) being just under the line but could ride Montu, on a family vacation I think 2 weeks later.

3-5cm isn't a big difference to us adults but to a child just hitting the lines, it makes all the difference.

In our most curious recent appearance of this problem it was no height restriction (Flip at Holiday-Park) to 90 cm (Dino at Heide-Park). But yes, it seems that European park round up. Paul could really have a good time at Cedar Point right now. 

[Haymaker]

1 hour ago, Pedrinho said:

In our most curious recent appearance of this problem it was no height restriction (Flip at Holiday-Park) to 90 cm (Dino at Heide-Park). But yes, it seems that European park round up. Paul could really have a good time at Cedar Point right now. 

How about 48 inches on Primeval Whirl (RIP) at AK? Never understood that one 

[KarlaKoaster]

On 8/29/2021 at 3:00 PM, Pedrinho said:

Of course we know why these restrictions are in place. But as @SharkTums said once: Try to explain a three year old why he is not allowed to ride a ride at Heide Park or Tripsdrill when he is allowed the very same ride at his home park and he knews for sure it's the same ride.
It's perfectly okay why these things are as they are. Every park is allowed to have its ground rules. But sometimes it's not logical. And if Sue-Happy-Merica is less strict than my average german park, it's even getting a bit funny.

You were, but not everybody was - one post said 'you'd think that identical trains would have an identical height requirement' so I was explaining what that was not the case.

6 minutes ago, Haymaker said:

How about 48 inches on Primeval Whirl (RIP) at AK? Never understood that one 

It's because there's one restraint for two people, so they're trying to minimise the size differential between riders to avoid the situation where a small child with their parent would have a huge space between them and the restraint. This is quite often the fact with Wild Mice and why modern mice have individual restraints.

[MartinU]

On 8/29/2021 at 7:04 AM, ytterbiumanalyst said:

Interesting. I haven't been on Ride of Steel, but the trains do look a lot like MF's in the photos. 54" for it, hmm? Interesting. 

 

On 8/29/2021 at 1:25 AM, Haymaker said:

Not always. My kids were able to ride 310ft high, 90mph Millenium Force at 48 inches before they could ride 208ft, 70mph Ride of Steel. Both Intamins at two different chain parks. 

If my memory serves me correctly, MF had a 54" requirement when it opened. And it was changed a few years after. I remember because I was too short in 2000 for the 54" but in 2001 I was 54" but they lowered it to 48"

[PKI Jizzman]

Cedar Point Trip Report August 9th - August 12th

I picked that week since it was the last week of daily operations where the park was open 'till 10pm and they had the CP 150 festivities going on. As scary as it was to think about exploring hotel options that aren't Breakers/Lighthouse/Breakers Express, my choice of Cedar Cove (right across from Thirsty Pony) ended up being a delight. I used my Chase points, but rooms start at $87 a night. That's nothing compared to the $350-$400 CP wanted for Breakers Express and LH. Breakers wasn't even available. 

Cedar Cove will definitely be my spot from here on out. Rooms were clean, bed was fine, you got free bottles of water daily and breakfast. 

Thirsty Pony has always been the loveable cheesy bar with decent food and they still have a solid offering of beer and food. Prices are just up a bit, but Sandusky is really trying to make that area "Cedar Corner" into a nicer offering. Cedar Cove is refreshed, the old Rain hotel is a horse themed boutique (LOL) hotel, and there's a new Holiday Inn to give CP Express some competition. 

Monday was the best looking weather day, so I made sure to get there at opening and make the most of the day. I arrived around 915am and parked in the 2nd row, got in no problem. 

Okay this is where you need to take note if you're visiting CP this year:

Monday I was able to purchase fast pass + for the FP price with my platinum pass discount in park at opening. Amazing.

Tuesday I was able to purchase fast pass + for the FP price with my platinum pass discount in park at opening. Amazing.

Wednesday, upon going right to the FP store at opening, FP+ was sold out already, so to have FP+ you must have had to buy it the night before. You could still buy FP. No discounts of FP though. The same thing happened on Thursday. 

So if you really want FP+, make sure you get it while it's available because there's no guarantee it will be there to purchase in park.

Monday and Tuesday with FP+ were amazing, Dragster had the most uptime of all the coasters and had short waits. Millennium was have major issues and I only rode on Monday, sadly. It was down Tuesday, Wednesday, and maybe ran an hour or two on Thursday. 

After riding Sheikra, all of the other dive coasters are a big step down in my opinion.

Raptor still kicks so much ass.

Magnum was running great, I had a lot more fun on it than I remembered.

Wicked Twister is leaving and that's just fine. I like these coasters and they're really strange, but I do agree the twists and pull out are a bit jerky. 

Gatekeeper has grown on me and I really enjoy the front seat. 

Windseeker at Cedar Point is a must ride. 

I never rode Rougarou or Iron Dragon, huh. 

Power Tower provides such a great view and it's bad for an S&S tower, I ride it every time I walk by.

Maverick, Dragster, and Steel Vengeance are all incredible, but when you're missing a long relaxing Millennium Force, you're gonna end up leaving the park with bruised thighs due to so many extreme airtime filled rides on those 3 haha. 

Maverick is still my pick for best coaster at CP, it's one of my favorite coasters of all time. I had visited Japan and Velocicoaster since my last Maverick rides but it still holds up. The airtime hill is so so good, the launch is forceful, the stengel dives and long airtime hill finale are epic. What more do you want?!

Steel Vengeance's new locker system for this year is fine, and you can store your beer in it! It just fits, haha. But the 2 split lines make no sense to me. They were never even. Why have 2? Just have one or make 1 FL and the other regular? 

Anyways, Steel Vengeance is such a beast. If you got off Maverick wanting more, this coaster has more. I love love love the mini wave turns in the 2nd half of the ride, the inversions are a complete WTF, but I think my favorite moment is sitting front seat for the airtime hill up, turn, up into the MCBR. Wow what an insane moment of airtime. 

Food - I stuck to Melt and Famous Daves. The bartenders were really friendly, attentive, and there's HAPPY HOUR DEALS!!! at both!!! Why eat anywhere else? I gave Chickie & Pete's one shot and that place was a shitshow. Messy, sold out of standard items, and staff arguing with guests over seating/meal plans, it was a disaster. 

Somehow this place continues to provide good service, food, drinks, and timely delivery even in 2021.

Sadly this 'ol Intamin was only up for probably 10 hours during my 4 day trip. It's still a legend.

Theme park accidents suck, but I was shocked to hear about Dragster after it was running like a gem during my visit. 

Being a single rider + FL+ holder gives you many opportunities. I rode Dragster front row 3x, and 11x overall on that Monday. What a day.

After being down the entire weekend of my last visit, Maverick was Mr. Consistent during each of my 4 days.

This coaster is perfection, even without the botched heartline roll. Glad they got it right on Veloci!

This airtime hill is one of the best ejector moments anywhere on the planet. 

But those stengel dives are just something else. So unique! 

So Maverick and Steel Vengeance ran in the rain on Monday and Tuesday. It wasn't heavy rain, but holy crap they kept running them!!! Are we finally creeping back into normal rain policies at CP?!

Ya hate to see it.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty stormy, but the park does an okay job getting things back up once lightning is out of the way.

The new queue layout does allow you to get some cool photos!

Honestly I didn't mind just sipping on my beer and watching the coaster fly all around you.

Hidden barrel roll a bit more exposed now, so cool to get up and close to the ride!