Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[Myself 0]

SFMM last year also comes to mind, but we haven't seen its long-term effects yet.

[coasterlover420 0]

I'm pretty sure parks can do whatever they want. Especially since CP's probably been saving up for 6 years, I wouldn't really leave out the possibility of two coasters, or even maybe one somewhat expensive one, or even improving upon the ones they have in a major way (i.e. paint, track for MS). Cedar Point is a great park as far as keeping their current attractions appealing, especially with all the new lights this year!

 

p.s. Does anybody here actually know how much a park makes in profits a year?

[Geauga Dog 1]

Cedar Point has never built two coasters in one season before and has only once added back to back coasters (Wicked Twister and Dragster). I personally can't see them doing that but there's a first time for everything.

[99er 0]

^^Well according to this article, Cedar Fair had profits of $72.2 million in 2011.

[Thom25 0]

That's a good point, and suspect if they do build two, then that will prove CP does care about their coaster count and reputation as America's Roller Coast. The did build Gemini, but understand your point of view and believe they will build 2 proving the coaster wars are alive and well.

[bgroodog 0]

Cedar Point released their information for FAST LANE. Here is the pricing, its pretty much the same as Kings Island.

 

FAST LINE OFFICIAL INFORMATION PAGE

 

1 - $50/ea

2 - $45/ea

3 - $40/ea

4 - $35/ea

5 or More - $30/ea

 

*Additional $5 per person on Saturdays.

 

Rides with Fast lane access are as follows: Blue Streak, Mean Streak, Raptor, Millennium Force, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, Corkscrew, MaXair, Shoot the Rapids, Gemini, Magnum XL-200, Power Tower, Windseeker, Dodgem, Giant Wheel and Cadillac Cars

 

Also, some more progress has taken place for Luminosity. The old projection buildings for the big screen are now coming down. See picture below. Lots of activity for CELEBRATION PLAZA!

Fast Lane Logo

Celebration Plaza Construction

[XYZ 0]

An extreme & family coaster can be built. Really, a family coaster won't affect attendance at all and it really doesn't cost much to build. Also, how long are the lines on the kiddie coasters & family coasters?

[Skycoastin Steve 0]

CP's facebook page is blowing up with people complaining about the new Fast Pass system. What they don't realize is that 1. it's not required for them to buy and 2. it's a GOOD thing.

[BigDipper 80 0]

^I'm really not all that surprised. I'm sure it'll die down like it did at KI. In the meantime, it sure can be entertaining reading the posts of those who will never return to the park because of corporate greed and CF's secret evil plan to switch to a pay-per-ride system.

[coasterlover420 0]

I'm so happy those stupid boxes are leaving the midway! The views around the park are going to be so much better from every angle now, especially with bunches of new lights

[TXman308 0]

For the Fast Lane, will there be one assigned row, or will you be able to pick which row you want to go to? I'm primarily talking about dragster, because I think that would probably make people angry if you had to wait twice as long for the front row.

 

Edit: It says on the info page "Separate Ride Entrances". So it won't be right up the exit ramp?

[BigDipper 80 0]

Most of the Fast Lane rides have a separate queue left from when FreeWay was still in use. For example, MF's FreeWay queue went from the ride's entrance to the ramp, bypassing the switchbacks. You'd still have to wait in the stretch of queue that went from the bottom of the ramp up to the station.

[Skycoastin Steve 0]

I'm guessing the Fast Passes will get you to the station immediately and you have to wait from there, which I actually think is the right way to go about it.

[TXman308 0]

Most of the Fast Lane rides have a separate queue left from when FreeWay was still in use. For example, MF's FreeWay queue went from the ride's entrance to the ramp, bypassing the switchbacks. You'd still have to wait in the stretch of queue that went from the bottom of the ramp up to the station.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, but then it says "exclusive access points". If they're referring to an access point to the ramp, they could be misleading a whole bunch of people.

[bgroodog 0]

Fast lanes will go directly to loading platforms and there will be a limited wait from there. There are no assigned rows on ride vehicles.

[triggernel 0]

Fast lanes will go directly to loading platforms and there will be a limited wait from there. There are no assigned rows on ride vehicles.

 

I'm just gonna have faith with what you're saying. This will make the half hour extra waits for the front rows not seem so bad.

 

Also, I loved the tiered pricing. It's only gonna be about $300 for me and 4 friends who are road-tripping it down for a couple days this summer. We were expecting to spend more than that just for one day. For us, it's also going to do FastPASS was designed for, keep us out of the lines and buying more stuff. We'll probably actually do some sit-down meals not having to worry about lines. Might even go to the beach or God Forbid Soak City. Great move CP!

[alilstronger 0]

I think fast lane is a great idea! I like its a bracelet allowing to ride when you want and not the Q-Bot system.

[lake 0]

Facebook fans, we need to band together. Cedar point is now offering the fast pass for $50 per person, when it use to be FREE couple of years ago! Rumor has it that it was discontinued back then because customers became irrate due to people using the fast pass with a hand stamp. Cedar Point is trying to pull a fast one on all season pass holders and regular customers by offering yet another thing to pay for....They are becoming a high end community. Every attraction you pay for. Look the new exibit for 2012, Even that cost $5 to get in on top of the $45 plus dollars to get into the park & 10 parking fee. Please pass this along to all your friends and lets protest together...Maybe they will take us serious.

 

Anyways, I think The Fastlane would work better as a QBot. At least QBot puts some order into the system. Without any order I could see Fastlane getting out of control if a large group purchases 20-30 Fastlanes and all goes on Blue Streak together. Six Flags at least makes them wait.

[Hilltopper39 15]

This will be an absolute must for me the next time I get to Cedar Point (or any Cedar Fair Park from now on really). Pricing seems pretty reasonable for the amount of rides included in it too, I wonder in the future if they will include brand new attractions on Fast Lane during their opening year?

 

Glad more parks in general are starting to adopt these ride reservation systems like Qbots, and Flashpasses, and Fast Lanes, it really makes a day at the park much more enjoyable and probably will be a constant cash cow for the parks that adopt them.

 

Welcome to America, where you can buy your way to the font of the line!

[Skycoastin Steve 0]

Without any order I could see Fastlane getting out of control if a large group purchases 20-30 Fastlanes and all goes on Blue Streak together. Six Flags at least makes them wait.

People thought this would happen at Kings Island last year, and as far as I understand, it didn't. And the way they do it (with the Fast Lane dropping you off in the station, not directly onto the ride), that makes it impossible for people to truly abuse the system.

[99er 0]

Without any order I could see Fastlane getting out of control if a large group purchases 20-30 Fastlanes and all goes on Blue Streak together.

That would almost be better if all 20 rode at once. Because lets say you are waiting for the front seat but the group of 20 all want the front seat, now you are waiting train after train for your seat. If the whole group rode at once, you are only waiting one extra train. But I doubt you see groups that large buying them everyday anyway.

[Hilltopper39 15]

^Yeah, but Blue Streak's line does get pretty out of control, 20-30 extra people at one time might make that 5 minute wait an unbearable 10 minute wait.

[rcdude 0]

I'm interested to see how this will affect visits from those who aren't locals. Since Fast Lane will make it possible to realistically do everything in one day, I wonder if the resort will see a decrease in multi-day stays. I guess the price of Fast Lane is comparable to that of another ticket so Cedar Fair won't be losing out on much revenue.

 

Anyway, I'm definitely in support of this system if they can do it well. With the exception of Xcelerator, it has worked well at Knott's so I trust Cedar Point will be able to do a good job with it also. The only thing I question is the ride selection, although I guess most of the Cedar Fair parks seem to be including the more popular coasters and balancing them out with non-coaster rides. I still think they should have included Wicked Twister and Wildcat, however (they could drop Corkscrew and Mean Streak to add these two).

[Hilltopper39 15]

I'd be interested to see how many Fast Lanes Cedar Point (or any Cedar Fair park for that matter) actually is willing to distribute each day. I wonder if it is a set amount of passes per day or if it fluctuates as a percentage based on the number of guests in the park on a given day.

[alilstronger 0]

The bracelet option seems to work really well at The Great Escape but than again that park probably does not reach the capacity levels of the most Cedar Fair parks. So I guess that is not a fair assessment but I am just going on my past experience with The Great Escape and the bracelet.