Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[teacherkim]

11 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Trying to figure out what was so 'well done' about the situation. It all sounded like something unnecessarily blown out of proportion. Fifteen minutes of sitting on a fiberglass horse and essentially being entertained by... almost nothing. Sounds annoying as hell.

Meanwhile, the ride operator in charge of your safety can't handle the minimal amount of situational stress and has to be removed from operations.

Unreal how fragile and easily shaken people are in 2022.

Maybe the ride op was "fragile" or maybe a person that simply does not respond well to pressure or maybe afraid she was going to get in trouble. My son had a supervisor give him a safety once over some people ignoring him when he directed them to stay seated until the go karts had all been parked and he was pretty sure they did not understand English, so hardly his fault but the supervisor didn't care. Impossible for anyone to pass judgement when they don't know the person/situation/job pressures, etc. 

On the other hand maybe people could stop being so defiant and just follow directions once in a while. All he had to do was wait on the ride and the whole thing would have been avoided

[mikeykaise]

^ I agree with you, the Ride Op was just following her guidelines and it was the man who chose not to listen. I'm sure it made it worse on her when the son got upset and started crying because his father left him, as a parent I wouldn't have left him especially if the son was young. I could see how it might be a little hard for the op to handle and process everything that happened, who knows what the guy was going to do after he got off and refused to listen.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Yikes at Steel Vengeance posting 270 min waits today, while simultaneously sending trains with as many as 8 empty rows.  Something about 1 metal detector being down, and not being able to get people through the lockers and onto the stairs quickly enough to fill trains.  

[jarmor]

19 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Unreal how fragile and easily shaken people are in 2022.

Yeah, It's almost as if we never hear about a mass shooting at least twice a month or how we have an increase sense of no regard for anyone's safety as the days go by.  Heck, we are lucky to even have people willing to work at theme parks lately due to the stress they receive.  No matter how much you don't want to see it, it is dangerous and scary out there in the world.

[ilrider]

3 hours ago, FeelTheFORCE said:

Yikes at Steel Vengeance posting 270 min waits today, while simultaneously sending trains with as many as 8 empty rows.  Something about 1 metal detector being down, and not being able to get people through the lockers and onto the stairs quickly enough to fill trains.  
 

We had to wait two hours and we were there when the ride opened this morning. It was awful. We saw a train dispatch with 2 rows filled (!) due to the holdups at the sole metal detector. They finally opened the second one just as we got to it and we used it.
 

One thing I don’t get is even though my son and I had no metal on us, they sent us out of the structure to the lockers to line up behind others just to come right back into the structure rather than let us go right through security and to the station. They need to figure out a different system overall. I watched the security guard spend well over a minute wanding some people, which was one reason they could not move people to the stairs fast enough. This is our first day ever at CP, so not sure if the second detector being down was the biggest reason for the delays, but watching train after train of several empty rows was maddening and I wondered if this was SOP. Loved the ride though!

[AmyUD06]

22 minutes ago, ilrider said:

We had to wait two hours and we were there when the ride opened this morning. It was awful. We saw a train dispatch with 2 rows filled (!) due to the holdups at the sole metal detector. They finally opened the second one just as we got to it and we used it.
 

One thing I don’t get is even though my son and I had no metal on us, they sent us out of structure to the lockers to line up behind others just to come right back into the structure rather than let us go right through security and to the station. They need to figure out a different system overall. I watched the security guard spend well over a minute wanding some people, which was one reason they could not move people to the stairs fast enough. This is our first day ever at CP, so not sure if the second detector being down was the biggest reason for the delays, but watching train after train of several empty rows was maddening and I wondered if this was SOP. Loved the ride though!

Even when the detector/locker system does work right, it still gums up the works.  They need to go back to the under-seat pouches or the pre-queue dectector and locker system.  The same goes for Twisted Timbers.

[ilrider]

35 minutes ago, Mike240SX said:

Even when the detector/locker system does work right, it still gums up the works.  They need to go back to the under-seat pouches or the pre-queue dectector and locker system.  The same goes for Twisted Timbers.

That would make so much more sense! Lest everyone think it was just some horrifically busy day at the park, the second longest wait for any of the 9 coasters we rode today was 20 minutes for Valravn, the second ride we rode during early entry. Every other coaster we rode was 15 minutes or less. Maverick showed 90 minutes on the app at one point, but we are saving that for tomorrow after the SV wait today.

[toughmudder]

If there’s 15-20 mph winds at the park are there any rides that shut down? 

[coasterbill]

Technically the answer to your question is no, but often when a weather app says 15-20 mph winds the wind gusts are higher than that. If you're looking at one of the next few days, then it looks like gusts could be around 30.

Sky Ride and Windseeker will probably be down but you probably don't care. You should ride Raptor and Gatekeeper ASAP when you see them running just to be on the safe side. If they're testing early I would actually throw normal strategy aside entirely and ride them first. Otherwise, you'll probably be fine if nothing changes.

[prozach626]

19 hours ago, jarmor said:

Yeah, It's almost as if we never hear about a mass shooting at least twice a month or how we have an increase sense of no regard for anyone's safety as the days go by.  Heck, we are lucky to even have people willing to work at theme parks lately due to the stress they receive.  No matter how much you don't want to see it, it is dangerous and scary out there in the world.

That's a terrible way to live. You'll absolutely never convince me that someone who works in a ride operator capacity is exposed to anything but mild stress. I can only imagine what would happen if an actual emergency took place. That's who is in charge of your safety.

Busy stress? Sure. Mild.

Real fight or flight stress? Nah.

My mind goes to the Intamin Drop Tower incident where instead of hitting the emergency stop button, the ride operators ran away. How would someone who can't deal with the stress of an obnoxious guest trying to leave the spinning horses react when guests are in physical danger? This is a real concern.

This is the opposite of a "thanks for keeping us safe" situation.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

20 hours ago, FeelTheFORCE said:

Yikes at Steel Vengeance posting 270 min waits today, while simultaneously sending trains with as many as 8 empty rows.  Something about 1 metal detector being down, and not being able to get people through the lockers and onto the stairs quickly enough to fill trains.  

The same thing happened Monday night for associate ride night. They had two metal detectors going and the operators were HAULING, almost rolling trains. But wait was maybe 30 mins while sending half trains. Part of the problem is the clog at the end of the long straight. People who need to get to the lockers aren't able to.

4 hours ago, toughmudder said:

If there’s 15-20 mph winds at the park are there any rides that shut down? 

Corkscrew, Millie, Raptor, Rougaru and Steve are supposedly closed atm

[haydn12]

We were at the park a couple weeks ago.  Steel Vengeance never sent any trains with empty rows during our whole stay.  The person at the end of the long straight just needs to go down the line every couple minutes to ask if anyone has loose items and immediately get them to the lockers which is what occurred most of the times we rode.  Most of them would have the people going to the lockers hit the left side and the other people going to the right side.   It was best if all in a group went to the lockers.   We did run into a couple operators at the metal detectors that were slow wanding people.   The biggest hold up were the people who refused to put everything in their lockers so it would trigger the metal detectors.   We thought it was running smooth though for us for the 4 days we were there.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ Same.  When I was there in early May, that wasn't happening for me also, but I do think it's a cluster of a system.  There were people during my waits trying to use the space between the queue railing and the fence to get to the lockers preemptively with all of their party's belongings from about halfway back on the long straight, but employees kept turning them around and saying they need to stay in line until they get to the point at the front, and also that their entire party needs to go into the locker area with them regardless.  I get trying to keep people on the pathways and out of areas they're not supposed to be, but that entire system still needs a big redesign, in my opinion.

[anonymouscactus]

Even with two metal detector sides going, when the ride reopened from a breakdown a few weeks ago it still sent at least 6 trains with only a few people in them and then gradually filling in. They definitely need to figure that out.

[ilrider]

Quick trip report, we spent three days at the park and stayed at the Lighthouse Point campground at the park. Our first time at CP. Campground was very nice, with a pool, and shuttle service if we did not want to walk the 7 minutes to the park. Crowds were light overall. Nice lineup of rides. Loved MF, SV, and Maverick. I can see why Intamin gets such a bad rep for reliability though. MF was down a lot over the 3 days, and we only got one ride on it. We were on the train for ride 2 today when it broke down and we left since we had already waited out one breakdown and they predicted extended downtime for the second. Maverick went down twice, once when we were 5 minutes from riding, the second time on the final brake run, so at least we got a ride and an exit pass for that one!

In RMC news, SV was down most of the day yesterday. There was a cherry picker on the structure this morning but it was running today. They were testing it from 10:30-11 tonight. I already described our nightmare 2 hour wait on Tuesday for that one. We got in a 15 minute line for it today as our last ride of our trip, but two minutes in they shut the ride down to transfer a train, which they said would be quick, but my son was just done, so we left the park. Just icing on the cake at that point! 

It was very hot and humid on days 2 and 3, with people passing out all over the park, including an employee. Not sure if the weather might have affected the coaster operations somewhat. We had free drink wristbands as part of our stay that was a real savior those days. 

I have to say, that second launch on Maverick might be my favorite coaster element anywhere. The sense of speed in the near darkness and the way the train just explodes out of the tunnel into that hard left turn. Truly amazing! I was howling with delight every time. Glad we got on it 3 times. It is my son’s new #1 coaster, beating out MF from the day before. 

Good rides (something for all ages), friendly, enthusiastic employees overall, but the mechanical operations of the major coasters leave a lot to be desired. I was very frustrated at times. I got all the coaster credits by day 2 thankfully.  I understand now why many people say just to go to KI instead. We had a fun time at the park as a family though, and it was nice to finally hit CP!

[prozach626]

This thread has helped a lot. At least I'm prepared for a total shit show for our trip in a couple weeks.

[Midgetman82]

I've only experienced Steel Vengeance when they had the pouches under the seats to zip your stuff in. If I'm understanding it correctly, they set the metal detectors right before the stairs leading up to the station, and right after the long straight bit of the standard queue?

I'm curious why they don't do like VelociCoaster, and have the metal detectors immediately after stowing your stuff in lockers before continuing the rest of the queue. Does the FastLane line affect this?

[AmyUD06]

2 hours ago, Midgetman82 said:

I've only experienced Steel Vengeance when they had the pouches under the seats to zip your stuff in. If I'm understanding it correctly, they set the metal detectors right before the stairs leading up to the station, and right after the long straight bit of the standard queue?

I'm curious why they don't do like VelociCoaster, and have the metal detectors immediately after stowing your stuff in lockers before continuing the rest of the queue. Does the FastLane line affect this?

So the way it works now is the FL merges into the regular line before the start of the long straight section of queue under the structure of the ride.  At the end of that, before the zig-zag that leads to the stairs to the station, to the left is the locker area.  One way in and out.  They stop everyone there and tell them if they have stuff they need to go to the lockers.  If you instead go right and through the metal detectors, and they go off, they send you back against the flow of traffic to the locker area.  It's horrible.

[JT325]

Any news on the woman who was hurt from the Dragster part last year?

[_s3_]

To be honest, you'll probably never hear anything else about it unless they can't reach some sort of settlement on it and have to take it to court. If they reach (or reached) a settlement, there will be coinciding NDAs and the due to to HIPAA laws only the patient (or family) can discuss any medical situations. 

[JT325]

^Makes sense, thanks for the explanation.

[Haymaker]

New teasers at Wicked Twister site.

[Nrthwnd]

^ The "Wind Seeker" thing sort of looks like what we got at Playland(PNE) this year.

What we got at Playland, is being called SkyBender.

 

[Hilltopper39]

Man I wish they still had their Wildcat, that would be a perfect addition for this kind of expansion. Yeah I've heard the Mad Mouse rumor and all but it aint the same as a Schwarzkopf Wildcat or whatever the model name is.

[AmyUD06]

36 minutes ago, Hilltopper39 said:

Man I wish they still had their Wildcat, that would be a perfect addition for this kind of expansion. Yeah I've heard the Mad Mouse rumor and all but it aint the same as a Schwarzkopf Wildcat or whatever the model name is.

I'm convinced that Mad Mouse rumor is Screamscape being it's normal "ideas out of it's ass" self. I cannot imagine Cedar Fair sending such a low capacity, dead-manufacturer, ride to it's flagship park.