Cedar Point TR

[TopThrill182]

So far this year, I've taken two trips to Cedar Point. One of which was on the 22nd of June, the other of which was on the 4th of July. On the 4th I also took a chanceWhile I know its nearing mid-season already, this TR is going to focus mainly on my thoughts of this new season in comparison to last year's. Overall I am very impressed.

 

Over the course of my last two visits, here is what I've gotten on (including some brief thoughts on it):

 

Raptor (incredible ride that is the perfect invert), Millennium Force (unique ride that has an incredible lift, looking out towards the lake, and first drop), Mean Streak (boring, but not as rough as many say), Magnum (still an excellent ride, and the trims seem to be on less this year than last allowing for more ejector air), Disaster Transport (decent ride not deserving of all the complaints it gets), Wicked Twister (underrated ride that is thrilling from start to finish), Maverick (wow, just wow), Wildcat (fun ride for the family, and smooth), Top Thrill Dragster (one of the most thrilling rides ever created)

 

Random notes / thoughts:

 

Pros:

 

- Last year I noticed that many of the misting fans were either no longer misting, fanning, rotating, or broken all together. This year I noticed that misting fans throughout the park seem to have been fixed. They now all mist, fan, and rotate, which is well appreciated on hot summer days.

 

- Top Thrill Dragster, in particular, seemed to have received quite a bit of love. The ride was much smoother than I can ever remember, and faster than ever, which really added to the overall thrill. Last year I noticed that the signs within the queue with dragster facts were all looking pretty bad. They were all incredibly faded, were peeling, etc. This year it appears they were all replaced and now look much better and add to the overall nice appearance of the queue. The fences in the queue also seem to have been painted and cleaned, as they all look much better. Landscaping in the queue and around the ride continues to grow and improve overall aesthetics. Last year the countdown lights on the ride tower seemed to have problems. Half the covers were missing, which was subsequently fixed mid season, and many seemed to be burnt out or delayed in coming on. This year they are all working, and all seem very bright! You can easily see the lights throughout the park despite the missing covers (which are all still gone but I think it was a wise decision). The staging sign by the launch track now has all of its lighting working (last year some of it seemed to be out). The audio by the launch track of the motor revving is audible this year! Last year it seemed to fade in and out, or not be on at all, quite often. The station lighting, and tower lighting, once again looks great. The track looks to have been cleaned, as the black residue has now vanished from the one section of launch track by the motor room. The speedometer, removed on my first visit, was back in place for the 4th of July visit. Although not on Friday, they are obviously working on some problem it had but it should be on once again quite soon.

 

- Disaster Transport was another ride that obviously received some touchup. The queue, while cheesy, cheap, and ugly, obviously received some dusting, and all the original effects seem to have been turned back on. The ride itself was also much improved! The lighting going up the lift hill and the overheating sign looked better, there was more lighting effects within the ride (including a strobe at one point), Alaska was lit, and space props were much more visible (and dusted). Overall I'd say the ride is somewhat cool, and even fun! I don't think its deserving of all the complaining, and definitely not worthy of being torn down. If they would spend some money to remove the cheap themeing in the queue, badly painted plywood to be specific, I may actually ride this ride more than twice a season! But overall, the ride was perfectly fine and I think it would be a mistake to remove it.

 

- The Planet Snoopy area looked really nice. It looked quite modern which should save it from looking dated in a year or two. It also seemed to be really popular. Bravo CP on a successful new area! There was also more themeing than I expected.

 

- Wicked Twister looked cleaned up. Yes concrete was added on the front launch area, which is unfortunate as the sand was sort of cool, but frankly you really only notice if you are looking for it, as the sand and concrete were very similar in color. There seemed to be excess warning labels on the trains last year, they looked to have been covered up by some sort of new support put on the back of the trains and thus a new label was put on. This year there was only one warning label per seat, and the trains themselves looked like they received a good cleaning.

 

- There seemed to be a renewed emphasis on shows. My family said, I didn't actually see it, that Signed, Sealed, Delivered was the best CP show to date and had Broadway level talent. It looked as if, again I haven't seen it, that CP invested a lot in the All Wheels Extreme conversion, and while standing in line for Wicked Twister I heard TONS of screaming and applause. As people were exiting the theater I heard quite a bit of praise, again saying it was one of the better CP shows in a while.

 

- There seems to have been a renewed emphasis on employee friendliness and helpfulness. All the employees I saw, with the exception of one employee over the course of two visits, were smiling and enthusiastic. Station spiels were once again very personable and borderline enjoyable / humorous to listen to at some points. We stopped to ask one employee on the 4th of July what time the fireworks were. Instead of simply replying 10pm and walking away, she was very informative and replied with the time, where they were being fired from, what time "the other great night show - Hot Summer Lights" was being done, etc. All with a smile. We also encountered a suit and tie employee who was very gracious, enthusiastic, and went above and beyond when answering a question. This was pretty uniform throughout the park, and was very noticeable.

 

- On the 4th, when the park was packed (45 minute line for Wicked Twister for example), there were groupers at all the popular rides who were efficient in their job and helped things move faster. Very few empty seats going out.

 

- There was smoke in Magnum's final tunnel on BOTH visits!

 

- Security was very noticeable throughout the park. On my first visit, there was a large group within the old WWL station part of Maverick's queue. Two members of that group obviously just got in line, and went past everyone to join up with the group (the switchbacks by the entrance were not full, and the group had just entered the covered queue, so it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds). 5 minutes later, a security guard comes and talks to the two members asking them to leave. They refuse and deny their cutting. The security guard leaves, and comes back a minute later with two others. They dealt with the situation very well and efficiently, and removed not just the two cutters, but other members of the group who started making a scene and raising their voices. On my 4th of July visit, I see, while in line, a girl and her father leave the line. I presumed they just didn't want to wait that long or something, as it was moving somewhat slow, but maybe 5-7 minutes later they reenter the queue and go back up to their original spot which was now halfway through the covered part of the queue. Again, 5 minutes later, I see security show up and escort the two out of the line.

 

- The smoking rule is actually being enforced! Over the course of my two visits, I encountered no people smoking in the queues, and only one or two groups smoking on the midway which were promptly told to put out their cigarettes by nearby employees. This makes for a much more pleasant day at the park and I was impressed with how strictly they were enforcing it (because last year was, well, a joke).

 

- There are a lot of people out there who criticize Cedar Fair parks in terms of their appearance (too many garbage cans, no landscaping, too much concrete, etc, etc). Well I'm sorry, but Cedar Point looks great to me! Sure the Wildcat / Hot Summer Lights midway is a bit bare in the aesthetics department but thats really it. In every other area of the park there is lots of nice landscaping, plenty of trees, beaches, water, artistic signs and buildings, etc. It is really a great looking park, especially considering how little they have to work with in Ohio. And as to the garbage cans... I guess people would rather trash thrown about on the midways?

 

- New ice cream shop looks very nice and seems to be popular.

 

Cons:

 

- Power Tower's lighting is still looking bad, and getting worse.

 

- Millennium could use some paint badly (even if it were just the area of the track near the midway and queue).

 

- I'm sorry to be complaining, and I realize it was a busy day on 4th of July, but the parking lot is a disaster. We got to the car at 11:20pm, and it took a full 45 minutes just to move from our parking space! It took another 15 minutes to get out of the lot and onto a main road. There are plenty of other parks out there, Busch Gardens, Disney, Universal, etc, which have larger crowds than CP and yet do not have such a mess. The parking lot was just plain gridlock, and it was really a bit ridiculous. They need a new system desperately. On the causeway at night, why do they need two lanes of incoming traffic to the park? Couldn't they cut that down to one and allow three lanes of outgoing traffic? I'm no traffic expert but something needs to be done, because as I could see from the faces of other motorists' faces, this end of the night mess quickly turned an otherwise good day pretty sour...

 

- Soak City continues to age, and continues to be outdated. CP please, could we spend some money over here? I don't know how they expect to keep marketing this as a stand alone water park. Still, nice considering its free with a platinum pass.

 

 

Overall I was very impressed with my two visits to CP. There seems to be a great attention to detail once again which is really nice. And as you can see, parking lot mess aside, the pros outweigh the cons by a landslide. Overall it was a great day at Cedar Point (the 4th), and it was nice to see the park so crowded.

[Philrad71]

It IS nice to see security now actually enforcing the line jumping policy. I have seen people get escorted out of line of MF during my last two visits! The nice thing was that the people in the lines actually applauded their actions both times! Some of the other CF and SF parks could use some work in that department, although I realize that parks cannot have a gazillion security guards watching every ride.

 

I fully agree on the personality of the ride op's. I have witnessed some of the friendliest and funniest people that run some of the bigger coasters at this park. You can tell that most of them are really having fun and are actually enjoying their job. Even more-so at night. Kings Dominion could use some work in that department, with the exception of the 'Flying Eagles' ride op...he was just so awesome - "Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"

 

Nice job on the analogy and insight...I agree with your assessments on most everything. Opening the incoming lane at night could create some traffic hazards though, so I could see why they might not be willing to take that one on. Now when I go, I either:

 

A. Stay overnight at one of the resorts.

B. Leave earlier in the night to avoid the heavy traffic near closing.

C. Other option would be to wait until after hours and perhaps take a stroll on the beach, or take a powernap in the car if traffic is unbearable.

[pianojohn]

Cons:

- I'm sorry to be complaining, and I realize it was a busy day on 4th of July, but the parking lot is a disaster. We got to the car at 11:20pm, and it took a full 45 minutes just to move from our parking space! It took another 15 minutes to get out of the lot and onto a main road. There are plenty of other parks out there, Busch Gardens, Disney, Universal, etc, which have larger crowds than CP and yet do not have such a mess. The parking lot was just plain gridlock, and it was really a bit ridiculous. They need a new system desperately. On the causeway at night, why do they need two lanes of incoming traffic to the park? Couldn't they cut that down to one and allow three lanes of outgoing traffic? I'm no traffic expert but something needs to be done, because as I could see from the faces of other motorists' faces, this end of the night mess quickly turned an otherwise good day pretty sour...

 

There really isn't anything they can do about this. I worked at the park for 5 years and every single Saturday night was a nightmare trying to get home. And you really cannot compare CP to Disney or Busch because CP is located on a peninsula. There are only so many lanes of traffic that can move at once.

 

Unfortunately, there really is not a solution out there. So either leave early, stay overnight, or leave after the crowds have thinned out.

 

Sorry!

[pyrocoasterkid]

I have to agree with you on the enforcement of line jumpers... I was overjoyed when 2 guys cut (to get in line with girls they knew in front of us) in front of my friend and I in the line for Maverick and something was done about it. One of the 2 workers at the entrance came over and told them to go back all the way out, and get back in line after everyone they cut. Best of all, he kept a keen eye on them, only to watch them attempt again to cut in line with the girls.. He came over yet again and said "alright I gave you a chance, now get out of line and don't get back inline. And don't think it will be soon, because I'm out front here for quite a while." Man, I was happy to see someone take such initiative.

 

I saw similar events and enforcement happen in line for Millennium. Thank you CP

[ginzo]

It is really a great looking park, especially considering how little they have to work with in Ohio. And as to the garbage cans... I guess people would rather trash thrown about on the midways?

 

Great looking compared to what? There are so many more aesthetic parks: BGE, Dollywood, Europa, Tripsdrill, Efteling, etc. And they did have plenty of natural beauty to work with, they just chose to cut all those pesky trees down.

 

As for the trash can issue, there are plenty of parks that manage to stay clean without installing one trash can for every guest. Us Ohio people must be pretty sad if we can't be bothered to walk more than 5 feet to throw something away.

[Coasterfanatic245]

It is really a great looking park, especially considering how little they have to work with in Ohio. And as to the garbage cans... I guess people would rather trash thrown about on the midways?

 

Great looking compared to what? There are so many more aesthetic parks: BGE, Dollywood, Europa, Tripsdrill, Efteling, etc. And they did have plenty of natural beauty to work with, they just chose to cut all those pesky trees down.

 

As for the trash can issue, there are plenty of parks that manage to stay clean without installing one trash can for every guest. Us Ohio people must be pretty sad if we can't be bothered to walk more than 5 feet to throw something away.

 

He's not comparing CP's beauty to anything. He is right that CP is gorgeous. I think there a plenty of enough trees and can never understand why people say there are no trees.

[ginzo]

can never understand why people say there are no trees.

 

Because they cut a bunch of them down! Look at pictures of the park from 20-30 years ago.

[AmyUD06]

Hmm...

 

Cedar Fair cuts down trees, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

Six Flags tears down rides, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

I'll take less trees, thank you.

[Rollerman87]

As for the trash can issue, there are plenty of parks that manage to stay clean without installing one trash can for every guest. Us Ohio people must be pretty sad if we can't be bothered to walk more than 5 feet to throw something away.

 

Nah,it's not Ohio, it's Cedar Fair. You ever see a TPR for Knott's here in Cali? The trashcans are just as bad. I think CF feels people are too lazy to walk that extra five feet to throw some trash away. Stupid lazy American fast lards

 

Hmm...

 

Cedar Fair cuts down trees, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

Six Flags tears down rides, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

I'll take less trees, thank you.

 

Honestly, I'd rather them take down rides than trees. Yes, we enthusiasts cannot live without the rush we get from rides, but we humans can not live period without trees that produce breathable air. Plus, I'll take trees over concrete anytime.

[Gav]

Nice job on the analogy and insight...I agree with your assessments on most everything. Opening the incoming lane at night could create some traffic hazards though, so I could see why they might not be willing to take that one on.

It isn't really dangerous, because tidal flow roads operate all around the world as a a practical method of dealing with congestion, I mean here in Brisbane Cornation Drive and the Houghton Highway have that system in place.

[slither37]

I was there yesterday and I also noticed the security, saw a few people removed from maverick line.

 

Also had an employee mention that next year, it will be all Coke products in the park. I had not heard this before, so I was pretty excited. Pepsi is just plain *yuck*.

[gk]

^^Somehow I don't think it's up to Cedar Fair to save the human race by planting trees in their park.

 

The park does need more trees, like it used to have, but on the other hand it has the most impressive coaster skyline going, which is also quite pretty.

[cooksta77]

I like that because I love Coke and hate Pepsi so I just came back form a week trip to CP and I drank water all day! But the thing I hated about Maverick is I got in the park at 9 Am and the early rides open were Raptor Mellenium Force and Maverick! The thing with Maverick though you waste that whole hour because it's always down in the morning! I think it's just an excuse to get there morning tests in! But they should bring in people early just to test Maverick because thats rediculous to keep doing that! It just wastes that free hour that you get to get into nthe park early!

It's an awesome ride when you finally get on it!

[hemmy]

Cedar Point and Busch Gardens (Tampa) attendance are not even comparable if you use the 4th of July as a standard.

 

CP gets wayyyy more people. My last time at Busch on the 4th I got 3 rides on every coaster before 1:30

 

As for the trash can issue, there are plenty of parks that manage to stay clean without installing one trash can for every guest. Us Ohio people must be pretty sad if we can't be bothered to walk more than 5 feet to throw something away.

 

Nah,it's not Ohio, it's Cedar Fair. You ever see a TPR for Knott's here in Cali? The trashcans are just as bad. I think CF feels people are too lazy to walk that extra five feet to throw some trash away. Stupid lazy American fast lards

 

Hmm...

 

Cedar Fair cuts down trees, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

Six Flags tears down rides, sometimes to install new rides and sometimes for no reason at all.

 

I'll take less trees, thank you.

 

Honestly, I'd rather them take down rides than trees. Yes, we enthusiasts cannot live without the rush we get from rides, but we humans can not live period without trees that produce breathable air. Plus, I'll take trees over concrete anytime.

 

Let me guess, you have 10 years worth of food saved up for when global warming kills us all too?

 

Cedar Point has a lot of trees compared to some parks.

[cooksta77]

They still have a bunch of trees! Remember that! Everyone is making it sound like they don't have any trees left!

[swampfox]

I'm going to Cedar Point for the first time next week, but from pictures I've seen, it looks like the park has more trees than Kings Dominion, Carowinds, or SFA. Do the people who say there are no trees not go to the back side of the park or something?

 

I think I'm the only board member that doesn't like Coke and loves Pepsi. Yeah, I like being a heathen that way.

[TopThrill182]

 

Great looking compared to what? There are so many more aesthetic parks: BGE, Dollywood, Europa, Tripsdrill, Efteling, etc. And they did have plenty of natural beauty to work with, they just chose to cut all those pesky trees down.

 

As for the trash can issue, there are plenty of parks that manage to stay clean without installing one trash can for every guest. Us Ohio people must be pretty sad if we can't be bothered to walk more than 5 feet to throw something away.

 

Well not really compared to anything. Just great looking. I don't think there's a law out there that in order for a park to be aesthetically appealing it has to look like a forest. CP utilizes nice, colorful architecture, amazing looking rides, AND great landscaping to achieve the overall effect. The parks you mentioned, although I haven't been to all, are great looking, yes. I just got back from Busch Gardens Africa and its an amazing looking park. But frankly I'd still hold Cedar Point up there with it. Islands of Adventure had very few trees, and none that really provided any shade, but I don't see people complaining about how that park looks. It looks great but in a different way. There are plenty of trees and landscaping at CP, and even if there weren't, I don't think a park's aesthetics should be ordered in terms of tree count.

 

And as to the garbage cans, I like the way CF does it. Other parks that have less garbage cans creates quite a pileup at the ones they have. It often results in more of a smell, and the nasty overflowing garbage can look. You're never going to see that at Cedar Point, and until one of those garbage cans is standing in the way of a new attraction, I'm not going to complain.

 

I'm glad to hear that others have seen the added security and their more rigid policies (and that I wasn't experiencing a coincidental occurrence). And yes, when the rowdy group got ejected from Maverick's line the line started to cheer as well! Quite the line entertainment!

 

And I really have to disagree with those that say there is nothing that can be done with CP's parking situation. As Gav said the reversible lane system is really not uncommon at all. All they do is put up lights in each lane telling drivers whether they can drive in that lane or not. No different than a toll booth really. If that light's red drivers know not to go on it. At midnight there just doesn't seem to be a need for 2 lanes of incoming traffic on the causeway. And even putting that aside, there are other things that could be done to improve it. Part of the problem is traffic backs up on the causeway due to the light at Cleveland road. At that time of night when the park closes, it should really almost be a constant green at the intersection for exiting CP traffic. And if not constant green; close to it. There was not that much traffic coming through there when I left.

 

Also I think they should change how they let cars out of the parking lot. AT the moment it seems like they are doing a lot of "ok let 5 cars out of the Soak City Lot, stop that line of traffic, let 5 cars out from over here, 5 cars from the overfill lot" etc. I think it would go faster if they would just let Soak City cars leave for 5 minutes. Then switch and let another part of the main lot exit for 5 minutes, etc. The whole a little bit from there and then over here slows things down and less cars end up leaving at any given time. Sort of like a 4-way stop. There's just a lot of time lost in the whole stopping and going.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys and swampfox, you'll love Cedar Point! It's a great park.

[edboxer]

Well, I have to disagree on CPs traffic problems. There are back-ups going into CP and back-ups getting out of CP - due to width of the roads in Sandusky. You can't take three lanes of traffic coming across the causeway from CP and try to mesh them all into a one lane road! Iits not going to help. You would think the Sandusky would have done something in the last 50 years to alleviate the traffic snarls.

[Rollerman87]

 

Let me guess, you have 10 years worth of food saved up for when global warming kills us all too?

 

Cedar Point has a lot of trees compared to some parks.

 

Actaully, five years JK. I'm not much a conservationalist, but that comment really bugged me. And yeah, I went last summer to Cedar Point and was entrenched with trees when we were heading over to Maverick. You go under the tunnel under MF, and then trees cover the sky But rides more important than trees? Get real.

[ginzo]

I'm not much a conservationalist, but that comment really bugged me.

 

Do conservationalists meet and discuss their strategery for saving trees?

[Movieguy]

I'm surprised to hear that some of the themeing in Disaster Transport is actually getting some love. I don't think it should be torn down, it's a good coaster for younger folks...but there's got to be a way to improve on that ugly, warehouse style exterior.

 

As for the trees issues, I'd like to see at least a few more at CP...not because I'm a tree-hugger or anything, it'd just be good to have more shade. I've been to that park in the dead heat of early August, and you just bake in there all day, especially in the front area of the park.

[Little Coaster Girl]

As far as the parking lot is concerned , i have been to six flags great adventure, and they come out of that parking lot like its the indy 500. There was even a wreck not far in front of me because someone just had to get out before everyone else. So i would rather wait and get out safely. What a joke.

And as far as the trees are concerned, i go to an amusement park to ride the rides, that is what i love about cedar point, they have great rides. If i want to see trees i will go to a forest. They have plenty of trees at that park.

Also yes they do have too many garbage cans, but when you have that many and still have idiots who throw there garbage on the ground next to it, what can you say.

[cooksta77]

As far as the parking lot is concerned , i have been to six flags great adventure, and they come out of that parking lot like its the indy 500. There was even a wreck not far in front of me because someone just had to get out before everyone else. So i would rather wait and get out safely. What a joke.

And as far as the trees are concerned, i go to an amusement park to ride the rides, that is what i love about cedar point, they have great rides. If i want to see trees i will go to a forest. They have plenty of trees at that park.

Also yes they do have too many garbage cans, but when you have that many and still have idiots who throw there garbage on the ground next to it, what can you say.

 

You're right people go to ride the rides at amusement parks (like Cedar Point) not look at trees!

[nagro5]

Here are my thoughts on all the topics covered in this thread.

 

When I was there the smoking policy wasn't being enforced AT ALL! There were lots of people smoking on the midway and employees were walking right past not even saying a word.

 

I agree that Disaster Transport was an okay ride and that it doesn't deserve to be torn down. The queue was poor though. It looked like the local art club came in and decorated the queue.

 

Planet Snoopy was a hit with my little bro. I loved Snoopy when I was a kid so it was fun. The area looked very modern and hopefully will stay that way.

 

Joe Cool Cafe was also good. I liked the fact that the kids had a larger menu than the adults, it was really all for the kids. It wasn't very busy though, but that may be because we ate a funky time.

 

Since you didn't get to see All Wheels Extreme I'll tell you how it was. It was a very entertaining show. There wasn't very much talking though. There was a little at the beginning and the end, but it was basically people dancing and doing tricks to some music. There was a little humor added to it too with the crazy tourist guy. Hot girls dancing, people doing some awesome stunts, rockin' music, a little chuckle here and there, what more can you ask for. Overall 8/10.

 

I'm bummed that Wicked Twister got paved under the launch.

 

I also agree that the ride ops looked like they were having a great time. For example when we were riding Wicked Twister the op asked the train how the ride was, we all cheered, she replied with a satisied "Wicked!"

 

I think that CP could use a few more trees toward the front of the park. I'm not talking as many as there are in Fronter Trail, but just a few here and there to give some shade.

 

At the top of Power Tower only two of the four lights were on. Not only that but they weren't changing colors either.

 

Did you get to ride Skyscraper? Here's my thoughts on it. My mom and I had a coupon for $5 off so we went to ride it. My mom wasn't looking foward to it. We got to the ticket booth and saw that they had a buy one person get another free, so we used that instead of our coupon. We ended up paying $20 for the thing and we couldn't complain about how much it cost. If we had to pay regular price we would have had to pay $40. The op said that we would spin four times backward, then four times forward. The ride was fun, but not as intense as I expected. We didn't flip that much. At the top of the loop there is some nice hangtime. About half way through the cycle they stop you at the top to give you a very nice and open view of the lake. When the ride ended my mom said that it wasn't that bad (it would have been worse it we would have flipped more).

 

Anyway, that's all I have to say.

[cooksta77]

Wow it's 40 bucks for Skyscraper! Thats a little pricy than again it is their new thing in '08 so it's still pricy! $$$