Sunday, June 27, 2004
Part One: Cedar Point
This was my first multi-day trip to Cedar Point and on top of the 12 hours of normal operations, there was an additional 3-4 hours a day of ERT (exclusive ride time). On Sunday the crowds were average size (about 1 hour wait for Millennium Force), on Monday they were less (30-45 minute wait), and on Tuesday and Wednesday there were a lot more people (1-1/2 hour wait). It was really nice though because we didn't have to rush to see everything in a day. We could just walk around and enjoy the park.
The event mostly went as scheduled. Iron Dragon broke down just before its ERT (I even saw them welding the track) so they opened up Power Tower for us and moved Iron Dragon back a day. Top Thrill Dragster was the real problem though. For every ERT it was broken down. The park was nice about it though and they gave us two Freeway passes (like Disney's Fastpass: a system to avoid waiting in line, basically front of the line passes) good any day this season. We were also able to get a few more off people who never used theirs and lived far away. Using the passes I was able to get two rides on Dragster in this trip. A bit disappointing, but better than nothing.
As you know... I have been talking about the Millennium Force seatbelt thing and what might happen at this event. Here is the news about it from CoasterCon: Nothing happened. People mostly tried out the test seat and if they didn't fit they didn't ride. A lot was said to the management about the issue, but nothing nasty.
A fun part of these events for me is the question and answer session with the park management. Cedar Point had the different heads of all the departments (Operations, Foods, Entertainment, Etc.) there to talk with us. As I said, a few people commented on the seatbelt thing here. Most of the questions about the future plans for the park were not directly answered, it was to be expected though. One man asked if the park could get a pop that was both diet and caffeine free (like Diet Serria Mist) and they responded with a YES. They also seemed open to the idea of making the park smoke-free except in special locations.
One man brought up an issue that was blown off by the management and which I think they should have listened to. He talked about how hard it was to move his wife around the park in a wheelchair. Not problems like steps or walls but from simple procedure. His example was thus: Powered wheelchairs are allowed to go up the exit of Millennium Force. However, push chairs must enter the freeway line and join the regular mass of people at the ramp to the station. This means a constant start stop pace for the pusher in which they must stop the chair and set the break (and then take the break off) over and over again. The park management responded that they like to keep disabled people in the "mainstream" as much as possible, but I think they should really look at this again.
That is it for now. A little more about Cedar Point, a lot about the ACE dinner and Geauga Lake later.
