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Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

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^ Actually, I believe they have a bit of an indoor pool, with a jaccuzi beside it.

Not sure, but I'm pretty sure this is what Bert and I passed by on our "day off" from

the park - walking around, prior to an OMIGGGGGGGGG meal at Famous Dave's.

 

What I remember...

 

there was an indoor pool, next to the Arcade, and right outside the main

doors to TGI Fridays.

 

maybe we caught it just after they treated it, but the whole area just reeked of Chlorine. . it was really strong when we walked by.

 

So no outdoor hot tub? Lame.

 

no there are two connected hottubs outside, between the outdoor pool, and the kiddie play area/pool.

 

if you face the right direction, you can watch the beach

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Clearly our president is to blame for Cedar Point's attendance being down and Steel Vengeance not running three trains.

 

On to Steel Vengeance. Any one else's thighs hurt after riding it?

 

After multiple rides over 3 days I ended up with huge bruises on my thighs from SV, I figured it's because I'm fat and I have fair skin that bruises if I sneeze wrong. Wouldn't stop me from getting right back on it though!

 

This is probably why I didn't like it nearly as much as everyone else. I think it was a bit too much against the grain for me. Felt a lot like bull riding!

 

Nobody said he was to blame for the(supposed) decline in attendance. But nice twist on words.

 

I believe the conversation was about Canadian visitors.

 

Living in a border city (Buffalo) and working in the tourism industry I can 100% tell you that Canadian travel to the US is down. While not delving into a political debate, this has been the slowest summer we've had for cross border traffic since 2007.

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Living in a border city (Buffalo) and working in the tourism industry I can 100% tell you that Canadian travel to the US is down. While not delving into a political debate, this has been the slowest summer we've had for cross border traffic since 2007.

 

Now that you mention it, we've seen the same thing on the West Coast on our two trips in the past 6 months. Both times the border crossings were less crowded than during previous trips during the same time of year. We always watch the wait times online and often would end up driving to one of the smaller crossings because Peace Arch is like an hour or more wait, this year it was less than 20 minutes even when we crossed during the busiest time of the day. When we mentioned how wonderful it was to get through customs in minutes instead of hours the Canadian Border Patrol guy said they were down about 20% on crossings from previous years. He didn't offer any reasons.

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I am beyond lucky, that our Niagara Falls trip was over Memorial Day, before the current President really started this with Canada.

 

the crossing agents were wonderful, and pleasant, and so happy to see us.

 

today? I would be concerned about how they would view us

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I've always received a much tougher, no-nonsense, dead-eyed experience from the U.S. border guards than the Canadian guards. Heading into Canada, they'll ask what I'm up to and then tell me to go have fun and enjoy my visit. On the U.S. side I expect to get asked three times where I live, get stared at for 30 seconds of silence, and then get asked a fourth time the same thing while receiving a nightmare stare. "Go" or some similar one-word directive is all I get in return.

 

It's not fun, and I don't know how chipper they'd be to hear that you're just visiting the country to hop around a bunch of amusement parks and ride roller coasters -- that seems like a good reason for them to say "pull over."

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We used to get hassled the most by the US side, but starting with our 2017 Alaska trip it's flipped, the Canadian guys are now more hardass with the 30-second stare and 20 questions. At first we chalked it up to the hassle of bringing a shotgun through Canada, the questioning was serious and relentless. Then we had the same thing happen on our most recent trips, lots of questions entering Canada, no questions on the way back to the US - one trip we had a ton of stuff in the back of the truck, two motorcycles and a car engine, the guy didn't even ask us about any of it.

 

It's not stopping us from visiting (we're going back again next month), but I'll admit I now feel a little nervous rolling up to the border.

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Its the same for me regarding the border. This past weekend going over to the US they only asked where I was going. Crossing back into Canada I got the the third degree on why I went alone to Cedar Point, where I worked and if I had any electronics with me.

 

I will say the political stuff could explain the decline in attendance but Cedar Fair could help themselves out by promoting the Platinum pass at Wonderland and the other parks in the chain. A lot of the people I talk to have no idea such a pass exists.

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Hello everyone! I am planning a visit to CP in late August and am planning to get FL+. Just curious...how long typically is the FL+ line for SV? I am hoping to get multiple rides on it. Thanks!

 

Also, about border crossings, I live in the Buffalo Niagara area (about 5 minutes from Niagara Falls), so I live right on the border and cross it regularly. Typically, from my experiences, the Canadian officers seem nice and respectful, but don’t seem overly excited or amusing. The US officers in the other hand always seem extremely rude and strict. Never much of a hello or goodbye, typically I am asked in the rudest possible way, “Where do you live”, “Why do you leave” and “Did you buy anything”. To me, neither country has super nice and fun officers, but the Canadian ones are at least acting like they are talking to a human being, and the US ones just seem plain rude.

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Clearly our president is to blame for Cedar Point's attendance being down and Steel Vengeance not running three trains.

 

Nobody said he was to blame for the(supposed) decline in attendance. But nice twist on words.

 

I believe the conversation was about Canadian visitors.

 

I believe it was a joke. Don't be so defensive.

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^I laughed, prozach!

 

Regarding the attendance, I think it's interesting that arguably the best coaster in existence opens up at CP, and their attendance is down. Yet, a couple of years ago, Valravn opened, a massive Dive Coaster, and business was booming! I know just from talking to my GP friends and acquaintances (which constitute most of my actual interaction with real live people), the hype over Valravn was much greater than what I've gotten from them regarding SV. This probably doesn't explain entirely the drop, but it could play a part, and at the very least, it's interesting how it again shows how different the GP view coasters, and enthusiasts view them! This bodes well for another banner year for Canada's Wonderland next year!

 

Speaking of the Canada issue, I have a funny story from years back when I went to CW last! On the return trip to the States, at the US border, the agent there was an emotionless, no-nonsense gal, and she gave us the business getting back in. When she asked where we were coming from, I answered "Canada's Wonderland", and she glared at me like I was being a smart @$$, and was not impressed! She literally had no idea of CW's existence, and seemed dubious even when I explained it was an amusement park. So yeah, even many years ago (2009), it was a lot rougher getting back into the US, than it was getting out.

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SV also managed to crash on opening day. That doesn't help public perception, no matter how minor it was.

 

I don't know that you can all put it on Canadian visitation if there's a dip. Moreover, the decline may not be as precipitous as we think because, if you think about it, the park has installed a ton of high capacity rides. There might be 10 coasters at that park that can exceed 1000 PPH. Also might be that unfriendly visits in May/September/October when the park is lacking adequate staffing have taken a toll on its public perception. A dip from that wouldn't be recognized until future years as people simply opt to go somewhere else.

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Moreover, the decline may not be as precipitous as we think because, if you think about it, the park has installed a ton of high capacity rides. There might be 10 coasters at that park that can exceed 1000 PPH. Also might be that unfriendly visits in May/September/October when the park is lacking adequate staffing have taken a toll on its public perception. A dip from that wouldn't be recognized until future years as people simply opt to go somewhere else.

That's a good point. In addition, Cedar Point has invested a lot in non-roller coaster "stuff," such as the beach, water park, and other activities. I remember my visit a few weeks ago, the park was mildly empty, while the water park was PACKED. Perhaps these types of things can account for the decline in wait times?

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Moreover, the decline may not be as precipitous as we think because, if you think about it, the park has installed a ton of high capacity rides. There might be 10 coasters at that park that can exceed 1000 PPH. Also might be that unfriendly visits in May/September/October when the park is lacking adequate staffing have taken a toll on its public perception. A dip from that wouldn't be recognized until future years as people simply opt to go somewhere else.

That's a good point. In addition, Cedar Point has invested a lot in non-roller coaster "stuff," such as the beach, water park, and other activities. I remember my visit a few weeks ago, the park was mildly empty, while the water park was PACKED. Perhaps these types of things can account for the decline in wait times?

 

I have heard from multiple people that Cedar Point Shores is absolutely crushing it. I fully expect the park to keep investing in that park (though I fully admit that my first comment when they announce tons of new slides is going be... "awesome, who the hell is going to staff them?".

 

It's interesting that they keep pulling Steel Vengeance off of ERT and Early Entry days. I wonder how much of this has to do with the ride itself and maintenance needs and how much of it has to do with the ride crews and how many hours they're working.

 

Hmmmm, sounds like even more reason to not bother with the early access and just use FP+ to spam it.

Esp since it seems like 2 is all ya can really hope for in the early access, not sure its worth all the extra for the hotel and if it was to be taken off early entry damn I'd be salty.

 

Anyway people can input if they think this is dumb (esp since I've always been a 2 or at least 1.5 days at CP guy) but I really am just planning on using fast lane to marathon whatever I want. Get a cheap hotel since I wont need early entry (right?) with fast lane. Heading to Kennywood on Sat and home on Sunday (undecided if Ill bother with Waldameer I found RF2 pretty crap, not sure if I'll give it another try).

 

Is weird the park seems to be down on attendance and it cant be fully explained by SV absorbing them. Maybe travel is down, I mean its summer, the economy is up but ya never know. I also dont know how many Canadians go to CP, I reckon alot, it'd not shock me if people were turned off to/purposely not traveling to the US due to politics and trade crap and etc

Way to be pro business

 

Price out Cedar Point Express Hotel (unless you're a reward point guy like me and you're like... "nah, f*ck that place" in which case I totally get it). The room comes with discounted tickets so it might be competitive enough that you could just get the best of both worlds. You can always find dirt cheap hotels in Sandusky, but some of them are horrific and that's coming from me; a person who really has pretty low standards for hotels and motels.

 

I'm always hesitant to tell anyone to go to Cedar Point for one day and book in advance though since a decent breeze could ruin your day, but if you get lucky with weather then you'll be fine with Fastlane Plus. I'd still be hesitant to pass up Early Entry but I guess you don't technically need it.

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My family is considering taking a trip to Cedar Point next year. They could be about 10 people on this trip. Lodging could be a bit of a challenge. Does anyone have any experience with Lighthouse Point? I figure that would probably be a better option than just hotels. Any advice/experience with these "cabins?"

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It's interesting that they keep pulling Steel Vengeance off of ERT and Early Entry days. I wonder how much of this has to do with the ride itself and maintenance needs and how much of it has to do with the ride crews and how many hours they're working.
Tony Clark covered it saying the line was too long and it took too much time to get through the line at this point in time.
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It took me a minute to figure out where he said it but I see it now in a totally separate tweet. That makes sense, I guess they kept it on August 21st since it's still an 8:00 close.

 

Speaking of Tony's Twitter; the amount of enthusiasts bitching to him about the trims is honestly embarrassing. Keep living up to that stellar reputation...

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Attendance may be down because not everyone goes to Cedar Point every year and some of the people that are coming from further places may be waiting for the 150th year celebration in 2020. It may have a small impact as I don't think it explains everything but it could be a factor.

 

I think it also hurt that Steel Vengeance had issues on opening day as the press pretty much went national. Then running one train. Maybe people were waiting until everything got sorted out. Waiting for 2019. Again I don't think it explains everything but it could be a factor.

 

Also if you look at Disney this year, both parks made major changes this year as did Universal Orlando. Maybe those parks took away some of the people that would have traveled to Cedar Point. Granted Disney is more towards kids, and Universal is more in between Disney and Cedar Point but this could be a factor.

 

I think it is a combination of a lot of things that causes attendance to go up and down.

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Attendance may be down because not everyone goes to Cedar Point every year and some of the people that are coming from further places may be waiting for the 150th year celebration in 2020.

 

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Attendance may be down because not everyone goes to Cedar Point every year and some of the people that are coming from further places may be waiting for the 150th year celebration in 2020. It may have a small impact as I don't think it explains everything but it could be a factor.

 

I think it also hurt that Steel Vengeance had issues on opening day as the press pretty much went national. Then running one train. Maybe people were waiting until everything got sorted out. Waiting for 2019. Again I don't think it explains everything but it could be a factor.

 

Also if you look at Disney this year, both parks made major changes this year as did Universal Orlando. Maybe those parks took away some of the people that would have traveled to Cedar Point. Granted Disney is more towards kids, and Universal is more in between Disney and Cedar Point but this could be a factor.

 

I think it is a combination of a lot of things that causes attendance to go up and down.

 

Basically all of that is insane. Google News turns up a few Cleveland Scene, ABC Toldeo, Cincinnati.com and Sandusky Register stories about Steel Vengeance having issues and that's it. Yup... National news. That's probably the only thing you mentioned that actually had any sliver of an impact at all, but "national news"... come on

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Also if you look at Disney this year, both parks made major changes this year as did Universal Orlando. Maybe those parks took away some of the people that would have traveled to Cedar Point. Granted Disney is more towards kids, and Universal is more in between Disney and Cedar Point but this could be a factor.

From my experience, there is very little overlap between Cedar Point / Kings Island guests and Walt Disney World / Universal Orlando guests.

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My very non-enthusiast 87 year old mother saw a story on the SV opening day incident and talked to me about it before our trip, so Fox news must have covered it since her tv set doesn't seem to respond to any other channel request. I could see the incident having some minor effect on attendance if the GP decides to wait until later in the season for their annual trip so there's more likelihood of SV running properly.

 

Whatever the reason, it's got to drive the executive side of Cedar Point nuts to see a huge investment like Steel Vengeance open to massive fanfare and excellent reviews then see the attendance numbers drop.

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Just speaking from personal experience, it's been really hard to get friends to go for a trip in September. A lot of people up here associate CP in the summer/fall with massive lines, and that's a huge turn off to the non-enthusiast. This year we're trying to hit the first weekend of HW to hopefully miss the lines. I'm on board to purchase a FP+ but it's hard to get the other 2 people going (non enthusiasts) to drop $50 for a ticket and then another $150 for FP+, on top of 2 nights at Breakers ($650 for 2 nights), and $50-ish in spending money for the park. That's like $460 per person for one night at the park and 2 nights in a hotel...quite pricey!

 

Without FP+ you save $150 but you get on 7 rides all day and probably can't do any of the haunts. We're debating possibly doing CW instead as the lines are not nearly as long and you can get a quality 4 star hotel in the Toronto area for $150/night USD.

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Just speaking from personal experience, it's been really hard to get friends to go for a trip in September. A lot of people up here associate CP in the summer/fall with massive lines, and that's a huge turn off to the non-enthusiast. This year we're trying to hit the first weekend of HW to hopefully miss the lines. I'm on board to purchase a FP+ but it's hard to get the other 2 people going (non enthusiasts) to drop $50 for a ticket and then another $150 for FP+, on top of 2 nights at Breakers ($650 for 2 nights), and $50-ish in spending money for the park. That's like $460 per person for one night at the park and 2 nights in a hotel...quite pricey!

 

Without FP+ you save $150 but you get on 7 rides all day and probably can't do any of the haunts. We're debating possibly doing CW instead as the lines are not nearly as long and you can get a quality 4 star hotel in the Toronto area for $150/night USD.

 

You might want to mention this in the CW thread and get the locals take on Halloweekends.

 

CW draws in more attendance annually than CP and crowds have always been huge on any weekend that I have ever visited. While I have never visited on Halloweekends, I would imagine it's probably twice as crazy as a regular weekend.

 

If you did a Friday or Sunday, it might not be as bad...however, I would avoid Saturday like the plague unless you want to get FL+.

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I'm on board to purchase a FP+ but it's hard to get the other 2 people going (non enthusiasts) to drop $50 for a ticket and then another $150 for FP+, on top of 2 nights at Breakers ($650 for 2 nights), and $50-ish in spending money for the park. That's like $460 per person for one night at the park and 2 nights in a hotel...quite pricey!

 

Without FP+ you save $150 but you get on 7 rides all day and probably can't do any of the haunts. We're debating possibly doing CW instead as the lines are not nearly as long and you can get a quality 4 star hotel in the Toronto area for $150/night USD.

 

If at all possible take advantage of Friday night. Less people seem to go due to the limited ride availabilty and lines are typically shorter. You can do Friday and Saturday nights at Lighthouse Point with tickets for Friday and Saturday for 226 apiece after tax. Cheaper than Breakers by a little for some reason I fail to understand, unless it's the lack of housekeeping? And you get more space than the cheapest room at Breakers, and you get a grill. Bring some food and stuff with you. And this is assuming you don't have a season pass and need tickets yourself, or a platinum pass, where you can get the FP+ cheaper. Or as mentioned above, just hang out on Saturday and go to the park Friday and Sunday. But Anonymouscactus says on here that they go the first weekend of Halloweekends because the crowds are light...so maybe you wouldn't even need FP+ on Saturday.

 

I did Lighthouse Point a couple years ago for Halloweekends and loved it, and am going to try and do it again this year. The more people you get, the cheaper it gets, especially at LP since you can comfortably stack some people in there without having to share beds unless you really pack it in.

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