JimParker85

I think the Ohio parks could get more out of the 55+ job market. Parks like HersheyPark, SDC, Dollywood do a better job there. I know the longer operating seasons help, but especially with KI now having an April-New Years season in a non covid year, I think that is an area to make up some ground. Internationals will also be very important next year and beyond, of course.

If it's looking noticeably understaffed, it makes wonder how much staff they lost after last weekend. Have to think some walked away after personal experience, word of mouth from other employees or following the significant news coverage.

Silver Dollar City has extended it's weekend hours 3 times already this season. Must be nice.

It's possible they'll end up with an early weather close on Friday, no Soak City on Saturday to go along with the new 8pm close time. Not an ideal Memorial Day weekend.

I'm very nervous about Cedar Fair. The rapidly disappearing calendar while nearly every other competitor is increasing theirs is bad enough, but a lot of the in-park decisions make it even more concerning. And likely no major investment, even at the large parks, is on the horizon in the near term.

They also may need to make an announcement about Soak City for Saturday. Every time i refresh the forecast the high temp drops another degree and rain is now predicted. Current predicted high temp is 59.

Very disappointed. A theme of Cedar Fair post 2019.

Inaction is not a feasible strategy here. The second statement by the park promises action, but as of today, nothing has been made public. They'll see an enormous crowd this weekend, potentially at capacity again. What will be their changes to ensure a repeat of last Saturday's situation does not occur? As someone who is currently set to travel to the park this weekend with my wife for our first visit of the year, I'm interested to see if any specific policy changes are made public as the week goes on. As of now, I'm skeptical that anything will change, outside of perhaps a slight increase in security presence.

It really is surprising to me that the dry park does not have reservations right now. With their inability to staff food and beverage, it seems a no brainer. Cedar Point turned around their in park experience in one week simply by throttling back the reservation total. Reservations are also required right now at Dominion and Carowinds, if I'm not mistaken.

The potential PR issue is the ballgame, here. If a fight video goes viral or a major media outlet picks it up and it gets national attention, you have a serious problem on your hands. The park would be wise to take swift and significant action, in my opinion.

I would not be surprised if the park took significant action. After a disastrous opening weekend, Cedar Point slashed available reservations, removed 8 operating days from the calendar and significantly increased their salary offering... All in less than a week. If KI, staring in the face of a likely VERY busy holiday weekend and coming off an embarrassing night for the park that has made the news, decides to copy the Kennywood/Kentucky Kingdom chaperone policy and bring back reservations effective immediately... I would not be shocked at all.

With Kentucky Kingdom doing it, and if things were bad enough last night for the park to essentially close early due to violence, they must at least be considering a similar chaperone policy. It would certainly ruffle feathers, but the park cannot afford to alienate their family oriented customer base. Kennywood also has this policy, about 4/5 hours away in Pittsburgh.

Some of mine... 1. Maintain the attractive pay in 2022, even though they will likely be able to staff up more with Internationals. 2. Raise the Gold Pass Price to at least $130, if not $150 3. Focus on improving food and beverage. Look for an opportunity to consolidate into a large new eatery like Harmony Hall. 4. Spend CapEx on restroom renovation 5. Operate with a 2019 and prior calendar. The park is so popular, it needs the early and late season availability to spread out a lot of the destination and passholder guests.

Demand is SO HIGH. If these CF parks could staff and have a better operating calendar I think they'd see record attendance.

I am 2 hours behind right now out in Colorado so that time would be 4:52 pm EST

From Twitter

Park at capacity, wow.

As far as pass cost, of gold went to $150 and Platinum $275 with 20-25% increases in all season food/drink I'd be fine with it assuming 2022 sees a return to the 2019 and prior operating calendar.

Boy did I hate being right about this one. What a sad time for my (up until recently) favorite park.

Not sure. Seems odd it would just be every tuesday and Wednesday for the first four weeks of the month. It could be an error, or maybe they don't think they'll need them those days due to lighter crowds, or it could be a staffing issue that is going to cause them to reduce the calendar by a further 8 days and cancel a ton of hotel reservations. If it's that, I assume an announcement would be coming in the next few days. It has them grayed out in my app at this time in the same fashion as the late august closed days. We'll see...

They've also removed the first four weeks of Tuesdays and Wednesdays in June from the reservation system. If they end up announcing those days will be removed from the operating calendar... Yikes.

That top 3 of I305, Twisted Timbers and Volcano would have been so nice. Instead... A park on a massive decline.

The international workers are so important at CP. They relied on them heavily for resort, food and beverage and early and late season staffing. They also are susceptible to weather down time more than most. They've had an unnecessarily cautious rain policy for years (even before the Magnum bumping incident) and Raptor/Dragster go down often for wind. Add in the significant reduction in ticket prices, ever increasing reliance on and availability of fastlane and more and more guests having meal and drink plan... You get a reduced experience on a lot of fronts. Now add in the awful early line closure... It's just piling on. I've made multiple trips to the park every year since 2002 where we've paid to stay on-site. 2021 will be my first year making only 1 trip since back on my family trips in the 90s. The ride lineup is the best it's ever been and Breakers is a nice hotel (albeit still very expensive), but it's just not worth it to spend 5-8 nights there a year anymore for us. We are adding 3 Six Flags parks to our trips this summer, plus Hershey before our pass expires. Add in KI, Carowinds and BGW if Pantheon opens, and it's a lot of money spent elsewhere than CP.

If the staffing issues remain a major issue all season (very possible), and crowd numbers stay higher than normal on a daily basis (with so many passholders and a drastically reduced operating calendar, also possible) and the early ride close stays as drastic as it currently is... I think the result will be fewer renewals, even if they continue to give away the gate with the $99 gold pass. Overall, however, I think their calculation will continue to be that a low price point will allow them to absorb the rapidly declining guest experience without much penalty. Sad.

These very early line closures will be a guest service/guest experience catastrophe.