Cedar Point 2021 Discussion

[IndyGuy4KI]

5 hours ago, IBEW_Sparky said:

I promise you it wasn't Mr. McClure at fault, look above. 

I don't think there is blame to be had on any person.  I am hoping with her honeymoon phase this season that she can get more things changed for the better that may have been impossible before.

[BeeastFarmer]

Wow, lots of negativity towards CP!  IMHO, even on the worst day, CP is better than the best Six Flags park.  I've had bad days there but never a "I'm never coming back" day.  As mentioned earlier--international workforce is gone this year.  They do not have a labor pool to draw from like other CF parks.  Their pay is good.  Even parks like KI in larger employment markets have a hard time filling positions and have relied on international workers.  

Then there are the Intamin downtime issues added into the weather issues with other rides.

Add in the pent up demand that is going to be at all parks this summer, and you are going to have a bad time if you don't set your expectation appropriately. 

[robintodd]

19 hours ago, Rivertown Rider said:

I think there are a few things at play.

1. Isn't CP the park that depends on international visas the most? All of the other major CP parks are within 20 to 30 minutes of metro areas so they have a bigger domestic workforce population to pull from).

2. Operationally they struggle for whatever reason.  It isn't just the Intamins either.  Valravn and Raptor seem to have a lot of issues.  KI, Wonderland, and Carowinds don't seem to have this issue.

3. I have joked that CP is the park you date and KI is the one you marry.

1. True, hopefully next year will bring back the international visas.  Also, CP only has 50% of the workforce population of KI since no one lives in the water.  

2. I concur.

3. I laugh  (and concur)

 

2 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Wow, lots of negativity towards CP!  IMHO, even on the worst day, CP is better than the best Six Flags park.  I've had bad days there but never a "I'm never coming back" day.  As mentioned earlier--international workforce is gone this year.  They do not have a labor pool to draw from like other CF parks.  Their pay is good.  Even parks like KI in larger employment markets have a hard time filling positions and have relied on international workers.  

Then there are the Intamin downtime issues added into the weather issues with other rides.

Add in the pent up demand that is going to be at all parks this summer, and you are going to have a bad time if you don't set your expectation appropriately. 

I couldn't agree more. Seems like people are forgetting that CP gave us an extra year for the passes and any add-ons.  I believe that a TON of people went ahead last year and added on a meal plan at least (some even Fast Lane) to their passes since they would get 2 years out of it.  This is just going to be a different year.  Busy with lines as opposed to last year that was busy with social distancing and ride capacity restrictions.

As I stated last year my wife and I will be renewing our platinum with meal plans.  The move to be one of the first to act last year and to make such a generous move with adding all of 2021 sealed me for a customer for years to come.  

[disco2000]

CP had international workers in 2019 when they gave away their gate in gold passes.....ask any of us, or look at the newspaper articles, at how horrendous the experience was with everything open and too many people there.....

As I mentioned, part of the issue is with all the add-ons, people are staying in the park instead of going to the parking lot or hotel to eat.  Let's say that averaged 5,000 people at any given hour that would have left the park but instead are now in food lines to use a meal plan and the lines can't accommodate that additional demand....and this also keeps people in the park longer cause "gotta get my value out of the meal plan" when in the past they may have got in the rides they wanted and the left for the day...or the folks that just stop by after work to get their free meal on meal plan and leave...most people didn't do that pre meal plan...

Demand went up but supply didn't...econ 101 says prices go up when demand exceeds supply and yet CP (or CF for that matter) have maintained or lowered gate and food costs...

 

[coaster sally]

plus they changed who could/couldn't stay in on-site living 

[coaster sally]

 

https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/cedar-point-opening-weekend-hiring-challenges-reportedly-leads-to-ride-closures-longer-lines/

"They also said they are working with people who may not have had the best time during opening weekend"

Sure come back to this mess for free and do it all over again or here is a meal voucher to wait in an hour line.

[disco2000]

59 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

 

https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/cedar-point-opening-weekend-hiring-challenges-reportedly-leads-to-ride-closures-longer-lines/

"They also said they are working with people who may not have had the best time during opening weekend"

Sure come back to this mess for free and do it all over again or here is a meal voucher to wait in an hour line.

And sadly this is just rehashing of what they said they would do at the end of the 2019 season gold pass fiasco, 2020, and now present day...some variation of guest experience isn't what they were hoping so they are looking at improvements.  2019 they said improvements would be made to prevent long backups on the causeway...yet we still hear of issues and apparently it was a disaster trying to leave Saturday night...

The "With new health guidelines coming out just this week" holds zero merit as they could have continued as originally planned being a private business, plus many of the restrictions are in place for a few more weeks...  If anything, this shows how unprepared they were because the reservations opened up long before the new health guidelines were issued, so if anything the park should have been at a reduced capacity based on the reservation system...they are simply using the new health guidelines as a deflection from the real issue...

The whole point of requiring reservations is to use that to control number of guests to available staffing...

That would be like purchasing a movie ticket and showing up and being told they didn't have enough seats...

Unfortunately the guest experience at CP has been declining the past few years.

Steel Vengeance did not draw the crowds in like they expected, so they gave away the gate and are now suffering from that short-term decision.

Sure the pandemic impacted it, but much of this is self-inflicted on their part...

So the solution will end up being even more increased giving away the gate because if it is cheap to get in, then people just accept the long lines and subpar experience right...

 

[BeeastFarmer]

^Glad to...see you...posting...again! 

 

[disco2000]

Glad to see you missed all the .....

[SnakePlissken]

6 hours ago, robintodd said:

1. True, hopefully next year will bring back the international visas.  Also, CP only has 50% of the workforce population of KI since no one lives in the water.  

2. I concur.

3. I laugh  (and concur)

 

I couldn't agree more. Seems like people are forgetting that CP gave us an extra year for the passes and any add-ons.  I believe that a TON of people went ahead last year and added on a meal plan at least (some even Fast Lane) to their passes since they would get 2 years out of it.  This is just going to be a different year.  Busy with lines as opposed to last year that was busy with social distancing and ride capacity restrictions.

As I stated last year my wife and I will be renewing our platinum with meal plans.  The move to be one of the first to act last year and to make such a generous move with adding all of 2021 sealed me for a customer for years to come.  

They gave us an extra year. That is not extirely true. They made all our passes and addons good for 2021. If you live in Canada or California did you get an "extra year? All parks canceled Winterfest Haunt and all other events for 2020. Some parks have canceled Winterfest for this year and Haunt is likely canceled again. For those with Platinum did Carowinds or King's Dominion open in March 2021 like normal? Was Knotts open in Jan? Today is May 17 2021 and can I cross the border and go to Canada's Wonderland with my platinum? Are park hours the same as we expected them to be when we bought our 2020 passes in 2019? IE wheres the midnight closing in the summer and 1am Haunt closes. Look at parks like Dorney who are not opening a full 7 day week at all during the summer. How about the fact that the parks that did open for 2020 opened in July or later.

I do not see 2021 as an "extra year". If anything I still do not think as a platinum holder with meal,drink and Fast Lane plans that I have even got a normal 1 years worth. I could not use my drink plan as needed last Sat due to long lines. food was the same way and if you were at Cedar Point you were not getting your moneysworth from FLP.

Will I renew for 2022? As it stands probably only my platinum pass and maybe not even that. I likely will go ahead and buy the pass even though I tell myself I should not because I'm in Columbus. I like being able to just hop in the car on a nice day and go to the park unplanned.

Also most of my complaints and frustrations are aimed at Cedar Point and Cedar Fair as a whole not King's Island. For the most park I love King's Island and they do not do much wrong.

[disco2000]

Unfortunately when someone purchases a pass in one year for the following year (or a gift card or any advance payment), one is essentially purchasing it on good faith that the company will still be around when it is time to use such purchase, whether it be season passes or gift cards, or anything of value bought in advance.  We are also assuming that we will be in good health and not dead in 6-9 months when the park will be open the following year.

There is always a risk to purchasing for something in advance.  Usually a purchase like this is a safe bet...but the park can significantly alter the experience at a later date without much recourse to those that pre-purchased.  Maybe complaints change it back to what we expected (meal plan offerings for example), but maybe not.

The park sold passes in 2019 at a discount for the 2020 season.  We as consumers either decide to take advantage of that discounted offer and accept the risk or wait until the following year and pay whatever the going rate is at that time.  Whenever something is paid for in advance, the risk always exists that something may happen to render that purchase useless.  Whether it is an event like this, a company goes out of business, or someone is scammed by paying someone to build them a deck and then that person takes off and the money is never seen again and a deck isn't built.

It's life...and sometimes life sucks...but for many years, we got a great deal out of purchasing the year before for the following year... If I added up the savings differential over the years I have had passes, the savings more than pays for what we paid for passes for 2020 and get to use in 2021...I know that isn't money in my pocket now, but that savings did allow us to spend it on other things throughout the years and this year by not having to renew.

One thing this will do, at least for the short term, is modify people's spending habits and not buy a pass until the following year...or pay for anything in advance.  It will be interesting to see what CF does to try to overcome this new consumer spending habit...sadly their model is to give away the gate even more when attendance or sales are a little soft.

I know many people that never pay for anything in advance.  My one friend would always tell me he took the $100 he was going to spend on a pass in August and invested it and the money made on that investment more than paid for the $140 pass in April.

I suspect many of us will wait and renew next year instead of in August this year after we see the product being provided for the purchase of the season pass.  And if a significant number of season pass holders do that, we may actually see lower prices in the spring as they will be desperate for sales…
 

[coaster sally]

Steel Vengeance's line was closed  over 25% of the day Saturday since the line closed at 530 pm with a 8pm closing.

 

There is no reservations for CP available for Friday or Saturday.  Wonder if they decreased capacity based on what happened over the weekend?

[Benjamin22]

1 hour ago, SnakePlissken said:

They gave us an extra year. That is not extirely true. They made all our passes and addons good for 2021. If you live in Canada or California did you get an "extra year? All parks canceled Winterfest Haunt and all other events for 2020. Some parks have canceled Winterfest for this year and Haunt is likely canceled again. For those with Platinum did Carowinds or King's Dominion open in March 2021 like normal? Was Knotts open in Jan? Today is May 17 2021 and can I cross the border and go to Canada's Wonderland with my platinum? Are park hours the same as we expected them to be when we bought our 2020 passes in 2019? IE wheres the midnight closing in the summer and 1am Haunt closes. Look at parks like Dorney who are not opening a full 7 day week at all during the summer. How about the fact that the parks that did open for 2020 opened in July or later.

I do not see 2021 as an "extra year". If anything I still do not think as a platinum holder with meal,drink and Fast Lane plans that I have even got a normal 1 years worth. I could not use my drink plan as needed last Sat due to long lines. food was the same way and if you were at Cedar Point you were not getting your moneysworth from FLP.

Will I renew for 2022? As it stands probably only my platinum pass and maybe not even that. I likely will go ahead and buy the pass even though I tell myself I should not because I'm in Columbus. I like being able to just hop in the car on a nice day and go to the park unplanned.

Also most of my complaints and frustrations are aimed at Cedar Point and Cedar Fair as a whole not King's Island. For the most park I love King's Island and they do not do much wrong.

This 100%. CedarFair didn’t give us an extra year, sure some can frame it that way but if CedarFair hadn’t extended the passes Until 2021 they’d probably be bankrupt by 2024. For the most park Cedar Fair has handled this pandemic well, Cedar Point seems to be the only Cedar Fair park having significant issues opening weekend. 

[disco2000]

7 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Steel Vengeance's line was closed  over 25% of the day Saturday since the line closed at 530 pm with a 8pm closing.

 

There is no reservations for CP available for Friday or Saturday.  Wonder if they decreased capacity based on what happened over the weekend?

The reservations were obviously filled up with the "make me whole line" that were offered to come back free this weekend

[BoddaH1994]

4 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Steel Vengeance's line was closed  over 25% of the day Saturday since the line closed at 530 pm with a 8pm closing.

 

There is no reservations for CP available for Friday or Saturday.  Wonder if they decreased capacity based on what happened over the weekend?

Pics or it didn’t happen!

Oh, wait, this didn’t take long to get out. 
 

I’m normally very sympathetic to the company. You can’t blame them for being a victim of their own success. However, when you know exactly how many people will be in the park due to the reservation system you have both a unique advantage and a and lack of excuse for preparation.  They knew exactly how this day was going to go well in advance. This is entirely on them. I get that they were short staffed. Okay, wouldn’t they have a pretty good idea that it might be a problem months ago? They sure as hell would have known when they launched the reservation system.  Why did they allow that many people in the park when they only accommodate a fraction of it? Why are you closing lines because the crowd that you sold tickets to overwhelmed the system? Why did you open if you weren’t ready? What if an emergency had happened? Would the “staffing issues” be the excuse that is presented if someone where to get hurt? These are the things I think about. 

[BeeastFarmer]

^ aw, but she is worked up over a souvenir cup in the lockers!

[BoddaH1994]

32 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

^ aw, but she is worked up over a souvenir cup in the lockers!

I don’t think it was about the souvenir cup. I think her point is she paid for a locker and got in line, and now she’s being told that she isn’t allowed to wait in line - which would be fair grounds to be upset. 

[BeeastFarmer]

2 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I don’t think it was about the souvenir cup. I think her point is she paid for a locker and got in line, and now she’s being told that she isn’t allowed to wait in line - which would be fair grounds to be upset. 

I didn't get that from this small snippet.  What I got was that she was upset her souvenir cup would not fit into the new lockers.  But I could be very wrong about what she she is worked up about.  And the lockers may fit a souvenir cup.  

 

[robintodd]

16 hours ago, Benjamin22 said:

This 100%. CedarFair didn’t give us an extra year, sure some can frame it that way but if CedarFair hadn’t extended the passes Until 2021 they’d probably be bankrupt by 2024. For the most park Cedar Fair has handled this pandemic well, Cedar Point seems to be the only Cedar Fair park having significant issues opening weekend. 

KI had significant issues their opening weekend.  The credit card machines took 4-5 times as long to process and lines for food were the longest I've ever seen at the park (with the exception of fall fest).

 

17 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Unfortunately when someone purchases a pass in one year for the following year (or a gift card or any advance payment), one is essentially purchasing it on good faith that the company will still be around when it is time to use such purchase, whether it be season passes or gift cards, or anything of value bought in advance.  We are also assuming that we will be in good health and not dead in 6-9 months when the park will be open the following year.

There is always a risk to purchasing for something in advance.  Usually a purchase like this is a safe bet...but the park can significantly alter the experience at a later date without much recourse to those that pre-purchased.  Maybe complaints change it back to what we expected (meal plan offerings for example), but maybe not.

The park sold passes in 2019 at a discount for the 2020 season.  We as consumers either decide to take advantage of that discounted offer and accept the risk or wait until the following year and pay whatever the going rate is at that time.  Whenever something is paid for in advance, the risk always exists that something may happen to render that purchase useless.  Whether it is an event like this, a company goes out of business, or someone is scammed by paying someone to build them a deck and then that person takes off and the money is never seen again and a deck isn't built.

It's life...and sometimes life sucks...but for many years, we got a great deal out of purchasing the year before for the following year... If I added up the savings differential over the years I have had passes, the savings more than pays for what we paid for passes for 2020 and get to use in 2021...I know that isn't money in my pocket now, but that savings did allow us to spend it on other things throughout the years and this year by not having to renew.

One thing this will do, at least for the short term, is modify people's spending habits and not buy a pass until the following year...or pay for anything in advance.  It will be interesting to see what CF does to try to overcome this new consumer spending habit...sadly their model is to give away the gate even more when attendance or sales are a little soft.

I know many people that never pay for anything in advance.  My one friend would always tell me he took the $100 he was going to spend on a pass in August and invested it and the money made on that investment more than paid for the $140 pass in April.

I suspect many of us will wait and renew next year instead of in August this year after we see the product being provided for the purchase of the season pass.  And if a significant number of season pass holders do that, we may actually see lower prices in the spring as they will be desperate for sales…
 

I'm guessing the days of the $99 pass are gone.  We are in a captialistic society that runs on supply and demand.  If widgets sell out, and you can't make more widgets, raise the price of the widgets because demand is high.  If they raise the price to $115 and sell 90% of the passes they sold for $99 they actually will make more money.  Remember last year was the first full year for the CP 99 gold pass.  With the pandemic happening when it did it was a perfect storm.  There's a thin line between having a full park of half disgruntled customers and a half full park of happy ones.

This is one example where I believe FLP hurts those with season passes.  If the park has the lines look long, they sell more FLP.  So the more people in the park means more FLP sales.  So it seems they want to sell season passes for less to make the lines longer and therefore sell more FLP.  If the passes were more expensive (let's say $120) and they only sold 80% they would almost make as much money compared to 100% but would have 20% less season pass holders in the park (adjusted because some of those people would come for a traditional visit).  The last 2 Saturdays KI has sold out of FLP.  If this keeps up, expect the cost of FLP to go up and in the future FLP annual fees.  

Some thought parks like KI would money after last year.  I'm sure that so far the FLP sales are taking a bite out of that loss.

 

17 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

They gave us an extra year. That is not extirely true. They made all our passes and addons good for 2021. If you live in Canada or California did you get an "extra year? All parks canceled Winterfest Haunt and all other events for 2020. Some parks have canceled Winterfest for this year and Haunt is likely canceled again. For those with Platinum did Carowinds or King's Dominion open in March 2021 like normal? Was Knotts open in Jan? Today is May 17 2021 and can I cross the border and go to Canada's Wonderland with my platinum? Are park hours the same as we expected them to be when we bought our 2020 passes in 2019? IE wheres the midnight closing in the summer and 1am Haunt closes. Look at parks like Dorney who are not opening a full 7 day week at all during the summer. How about the fact that the parks that did open for 2020 opened in July or later.

I do not see 2021 as an "extra year". If anything I still do not think as a platinum holder with meal,drink and Fast Lane plans that I have even got a normal 1 years worth. I could not use my drink plan as needed last Sat due to long lines. food was the same way and if you were at Cedar Point you were not getting your moneysworth from FLP.

Will I renew for 2022? As it stands probably only my platinum pass and maybe not even that. I likely will go ahead and buy the pass even though I tell myself I should not because I'm in Columbus. I like being able to just hop in the car on a nice day and go to the park unplanned.

Also most of my complaints and frustrations are aimed at Cedar Point and Cedar Fair as a whole not King's Island. For the most park I love King's Island and they do not do much wrong.

I stand corrected.  I should say they gave pass holders like me an extra year. I live north of Cincinnati and go to KI almost every week and CP 3 times a year.  I always stay at the Breakers and for 2 of the trips get the Platinum rooms for the discount and find it an exceptional value considering I don't have to drive in and out of the park every day.  Living within 5 hours of 2 CF parks is not something many people have the luxury of and therefore I would guess they don't buy platinum passes.  It would be interesting to see the breakdown of gold/platinum pass holders by state.  I'm guessing Ohio would outnumber Platinum passholders in other states.   Other people living near other CF parks will make their own decisions but I doubt hundreds of them come to CP every weekend. CP and KI are unique in that several people could be considered 'locals' to both parks.

As far as Haunt and Winterfest in 2020 there were actually some parks that did a drive thru for Xmas and of course there was fall fest.

Thinking of Fall fest I'm not sure Haunt will ever be the same after seeing the LONG lines for the food offerings this past season in the Fall.  Those food passes sold like hotcakes are a lucrative upcharge for the park.  To set up another food stand to handle long lines is much cheaper than building another coaster and the staffing takes less people as well.  Look at the pop-up food places they do for Carnivale.  I'm not saying Haunts will be completely gone, I just don't think they'll have 6 or more of them, especially at KI where the emphasis is more on families.  The Fall Fest last year, even in a pandemic, was a success.  They'll continue to build on that.  I wouldn't expect an indoor haunt till 2022.

In the end the choice to renew or not is just that a choice.  I was mostly considering CF to other parks.  Did Dollywood pass holders get and "extra full year".  They got one from the time the gates opened in 2020, not the full 2021 season.  My point is we got more than most.  It was a move CF didn't have to do.  Not doing it may have hurt them in the short term but in the end they are an amusement park company and eventually the crowds would come back.  As Americans we are addicted to them.

 

16 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Steel Vengeance's line was closed  over 25% of the day Saturday since the line closed at 530 pm with a 8pm closing.

 

There is no reservations for CP available for Friday or Saturday.  Wonder if they decreased capacity based on what happened over the weekend?

Not sure if they had time to do that or not.  The first two weekends were the only weekends that had special pricing for platinum pass holders this season so I'm pretty sure some people saw/heard about KI and decided to go the 2nd weekend instead of the first.  I'll try and find out.  My wife and I are going this weekend.  One bonus is that the Breakers is open Sunday night so we'll  get a full day in the park on Sunday instead of checking out and leaving around 4 or 5 (we live 3 1/2 hours away).  Wish they would do that during weekends in the fall (we always go the last weekend).

P.S. I saw the paddleboats going, did they do a soft opening on them?  Didn't think they were supposed to open till May 29th. (I hope to ride them this weekend).

[Kenban]

For those unaware Annual Passes purchased or renewed through Knotts Berry Farm are being extended into 2022 for the number of days the park is closed this year.  Passes from Canada’s Wonderland have already been extended through Labor Day 2022.

Nothing is perfect, it would be nice to see all US platinum passes work at Canada’s Winderland and Knott’s during these extension periods but frankly it’s likely difficult.  They may still do something for Platinum pass holders, everything keeps changing.  But acting like nothing has been done for the individuals at these parks is wrong.

 

Cedar Point needs to use their reservation system to limit park capacity to something which will allow guests a reasonable experience.  If one or two rides are creating extremely long uncontrollable lines then have a ride reservation system.  I hope Cedar Point finds the employees to be able to operate the park with a reasonable level of service.  But they have been having problems during weekend operations at the start and end of the season for years.  It just sounds worse then normal.

[SnakePlissken]

12 minutes ago, Kenban said:

For those unaware Annual Passes purchased or renewed through Knotts Berry Farm are being extended into 2022 for the number of days the park is closed this year.  Passes from Canada’s Wonderland have already been extended through Labor Day 2022.

Nothing is perfect, it would be nice to see all US platinum passes work at Canada’s Winderland and Knott’s during these extension periods but frankly it’s likely difficult.  They may still do something for Platinum pass holders, everything keeps changing.  But acting like nothing has been done for the individuals at these parks is wrong.

 

Cedar Point needs to use their reservation system to limit park capacity to something which will allow guests a reasonable experience.  If one or two rides are creating extremely long uncontrollable lines then have a ride reservation system.  I hope Cedar Point finds the employees to be able to operate the park with a reasonable level of service.  But they have been having problems during weekend operations at the start and end of the season for years.  It just sounds worse then normal.

Where in this thread has it been stated that nothing has been done for those 2 parks you mentioned? I fail to see that. Sure I do not think anybody actually took the time to post any particular thing that those parks are doing like extending into 2022 but at the same  time  I fail to see where any one person has stated nothing is being done for these 2 parks in question. Therefore I want you to point out exactly who is saying that and what users are "Wrong".

Secondly worse opening weekend operations than normal at Cedar Point does not make it all okay. It does not give them some sort of free pass as you and others seem to imply. Cedar Point's opening weekend in a normal year is not acceptable let alone this year.

[disco2000]

29 minutes ago, Kenban said:

For those unaware Annual Passes purchased or renewed through Knotts Berry Farm are being extended into 2022 for the number of days the park is closed this year.  Passes from Canada’s Wonderland have already been extended through Labor Day 2022.

Nothing is perfect, it would be nice to see all US platinum passes work at Canada’s Winderland and Knott’s during these extension periods but frankly it’s likely difficult.  They may still do something for Platinum pass holders, everything keeps changing.  But acting like nothing has been done for the individuals at these parks is wrong.

 

Cedar Point needs to use their reservation system to limit park capacity to something which will allow guests a reasonable experience.  If one or two rides are creating extremely long uncontrollable lines then have a ride reservation system.  I hope Cedar Point finds the employees to be able to operate the park with a reasonable level of service.  But they have been having problems during weekend operations at the start and end of the season for years.  It just sounds worse then normal.

Last year CP had access passes for their main big attractions...and someone getting the access pass for the hours of 3-4pm for example were met with a 2 hour+ full queue upon arrival to the ride...that didn't exactly work for them either...granted it wasn't a true reservation system, but clearly they were giving out more access passes per hour than hourly ride capacity...

[SnakePlissken]

54 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Last year CP had access passes for their main big attractions...and someone getting the access pass for the hours of 3-4pm for example were met with a 2 hour+ full queue upon arrival to the ride...that didn't exactly work for them either...granted it wasn't a true reservation system, but clearly they were giving out more access passes per hour than hourly ride capacity...

Don't forget the line you had to get into for the access pass. You had to be in that line at least an hour before giveaway and it was not social distanced and ran from one end of Frontier Town to the other. So You had to stand in a line to get in another line.

[disco2000]

That sounds like a wonderful guest experience for a 20 year old ride

[jsus]

19 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

Don't forget the line you had to get into for the access pass. You had to be in that line at least an hour before giveaway and it was not social distanced and ran from one end of Frontier Town to the other. So You had to stand in a line to get in another line.

There was also no way to tell where the back of the long wait-in-a-long-line-to-get-a-ticket-to-wait-in-a-long-line lines were, or what they were.  There was no associate walking around advising people what they were getting in line for.  If you came across the train tracks by Gemini and saw a line backed up all through Frontier Town, how do you know if it's an Access Pass line for Maverick or Steel Vengeance?  Or maybe nothing at all, because people are just waiting around?  You can ask the people in front of you, but then it's like a game of telephone - are you sure they know?

[Browntggrr]

A couple weeks after a park opens (and especially opening weekend) are always difficult.

Rides/ attractions/ food service sitting idle for months do take more time than you can imagine to get going full-speed- even after being tested before opening day.  Combine that with seasonal parks not running at full capacity for 18 months, new employees, lack of employees, and guest expectations to Everest levels need to be considered.

I will say that CF has not made it easy on guests and employees with all the differences for: seasonal passes, entry fees, Fast Lane, and entry times etc.  We here can keep up with it due to talking about such things to a crazy enthusiast level, but for most guests and employees, there is no way they will have all the nuances down pat this early in the season.

The typical guest did pay good money for their experience, and deserve the same experience opening weekend as you will have in August.

CF needs to get back to the basics.  Keep the lines open till the park closing time (and I'm sure that decision to close the lines early was made due to shortage of staffing).  Get rid of Fast Lane as it creates too much animosity amongst guests.  If the park cannot keep a majority of the rides operating, either discount the entry fee for the first few weeks or give out a discount coupon for later in the year or test full speed weeks before opening day.  Get rid of the multiple seasonal passes as the perks for each one constantly get confused for many paying customers.

Many of these opinions will likely not go over well, but it needs to be understood that parks like CP and KI operated & survived without perks for decades.  During that same time, guest experience was put at the top of the list and was included with your park entrance fee.  The parks today require additional money for a top-notch experience and when the parks fail to meet the expectations, the complaints are numerous- and some are justified.

[calakapepe]

I agree with some of what you are talking about for sure!

CF would greatly improve guest experience by reorganizing how everything is laid out.
It's nice to have a lot of options; save some money by forgoing certain amenities, but sometimes less is more.

For the past few years I've been wishing they'd completely rethink/ reconstruct the locker/ bin systems so that it's figured into the park ticket (which is rather low for our park size; what's a $5 increase for a park ticket), and make the experience relatively easy. Yukon Striker was an ah-ha moment, but then wasn't utilized for future things.
I have faith that CP will turn this rocky start around. They may have to get a little more creative than in the past but, One thing is for sure, they messed up this year for their opening; CP has been borderline 'too busy to enjoy' for a couple years now on several, non event, days.

[coaster sally]

Cedar Point has ZERO reservations for the weekend.  Hopefully they are lowering the cap.

[JimParker85]

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.

[disco2000]

Do we know if these have been filled reservations or actually removed?