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Please, just be courteous of the others around you.

Thats all I would ever ask too. The ONLY time Ive ever even had a problem is in line for a ride. Closed space...lots of people around...no way to get away from it. The stupidity is that there already is a rule about this, but CP does a horrendous job in my experience of enforcing it.

Tell you all what...I get my barbershop quartet on the Frontier Trail, and I get to put a little sign in front that says "no smoking near the barbershop quartet please". And then we remind the employees to enforce the rules that already exist.

deal? :)

Yes it can be both. Per visit one SP holder will spend less money than the average full pay guest. But over the accumulated number of visits per season that same SP holder will spend more money at the park than the average full pay guest. Hence he/she brings down the per cap but is better for the bottom line.

Not only are statistics a slight of hand game, but the "death" rates attributed to smoking are an estimate based off of faulty data. There are very strong arguements that second hand smoke has little to no effect on people.

The Pizza Hut Express at GLP would run around $15,000 on a busy day. (nearly a 0.60 per cap) More than a grand an hour. We ran with over 20 kids and three managers (each working 60 hrs a week). And it still ran at a ten food and ten labor.

Which is part of the point. An amusement park day is generally 10 solid hours of business on a busy day, not too much less on an average day. No other joint i have worked in has the same demand. Furthermore running any joint in the real world at a 20% controlable is mind boggling.

I have worked both ends of the food service business (high and low, including GLP, the Gund, high and low volume cafeterias and restaurants) and there is NO comparison between entertainment venues and the real world. In fact amusement parks are longer and busier than ballparks and concert venues. At least people go and watch the show for a while. High and low volume are two very different animals which demands different stratagies and SOPs. What works in a restaurant does not often work in the hight volume world.

I don't know why i didn't think of it, but a dark ride is the best idea yet.

Darth Snoopy said:

Put some of those 25 cent water spray guns overlooking Thunder Canyon.

That would be cool. You could shoot people while they were on the ride. Sweeet

IMO, What Cedar Point can do to really improve itself is to fix the front of the park more. They need to make it a more "Main Street" type area from the entrance, until before Coasters Dine-In. Plant more trees, have more islands with flowers, and redo all the pavement at once to keep the entire area in the same condition/color. It is kind of unappealing when the pavent changes from one spot to another. Another improvement would be to go get make it so that you can't see the shelters/picknic areas when you are inside. And most importantly, keep the area from getting occupied with too many rides. Keep it a fun area with arcades, gift shops, restaurunts, etc.

But why would you rip out the entire midway when it is maybe just a 5 foot by 5 foot square that is cracked and needs replacing? Who cares about the color as long as the styles matched. I could understand if they were replacing concrete with blacktop in a patchwork fashion, but they aren't.

Will someone please remove the boarhead monstrosity in front of skyride leftover from Halloweekends?

The "decor" could just use a little more consistency in certain areas. It does, at times, seem like a patchwork of ideas that seem a bit thrown together. Alas, if decor was what I was in the mood for I would be at a Busch Gardens. CP will never win an award for its flower arrangements...:)
*** Edited 7/10/2006 7:22:57 PM UTC by Kevinj***

^^I understand what you are saying, but I really think that the entrance is the most important area to consitrate(sp) on. It lets visitors get a taste of what the rest of the park will be like. And when they leave, it gives them that atmosphere that makes them want to come back. Some of us on Pointbuzz (including me) may not care about what the park looks like and just worry about the coasters, but the general public might. I know, because my family always talks about how they could improve the area. The truth is that the Main Midway is most unappealing area in the entire park, and it needs to be redone with effort.
*** Edited 7/10/2006 7:21:45 PM UTC by CPGuru***

e x i t english said:

The only reason I'm in favor of designated smoking areas is that it keeps everyone happy. I'm approaching this with as level of a head as I think I can, because I think that if someone wants to smoke, go right ahead. Please, just be courteous of the others around you. While there's plenty of courteous smokers at CP, there's a large group of them that "don't give a ****", and they ruin it for everyone.

*** Edited 7/10/2006 6:39:59 PM UTC by e x i t english***

thank you. thats all really was tring to get at. go ahead and smoke but be courteous (sp) to others. if i made any one mad or upset while on my smoking rampage i would like to say sorry.

edit: the water guns are sweet. they have them on grand rapids at mia and they are fun. *** Edited 7/10/2006 8:09:45 PM UTC by milleniumforcerocks***

CPGuru said:
Some of us on Pointbuzz (including me) may not care about what the park looks like and just worry about the coasters, but the general public might.

We're ALL general public.

And, quite honestly, I just don't understand the whole "I only worry about the coasters" attitude. There's so much to Cedar Point, so much more than just rollercoasters.

exactly, that's my point. People go to Cedar Point not just for the coasters, but there are enthusiasts (me being one of them) that don't care what the park looks like. We just go to ride coasters. I wish I could change that. Hopefully later on in my life, I will be forced to do other things at Cedar Point, like take a child of mine (not happing yet) to Camp Snoopy. Or of course it could be Bikini Bottom at that time. :)

Or, you know, you could make that change for yourself now and actually spend some time away from the coasters and see a show or something.

I understand being an enthusiast, but I just don't see the point anymore.

I will agree that there are stands that are not properly organized, however, the system in doubt does have its applications. It should NOT be necessary to have more people in the back to produce for the front with a limited menu. It just isn't practicle when you get to more than four POS. I guess my piont is that the "Coasters" method is fine for its situation, but it just isn't needed universally.

Perhaps. But, the fact remains---if you have more than one open order per cashier, and no means (other than verbal) to relay orders from front to back, there is no way even the most competent employees can keep things straight.

And while it may not be necessary to have more back-end than front-end staff, many CP window service places don't have enough back-end staff to cover the open cashier spots, because they simply don't keep up during a rush. But, my "suggested change" is less about staffing ratios, and more about keeping a paper trail in the window service places so that orders aren't so commonly forgotten or mis-assembled.

The window service at the park is bad enough that I simply won't get in a line more than one or two people deep. Compared to just about any other amusement park---from WDW's Magic Kingdom on down to a place like Kennywood---CP's window service just stinks. This is not new this year, either. It's been a chronic problem for the last several years.

Or, you know, you could make that change for yourself now and actually spend some time away from the coasters and see a show or something.

I understand being an enthusiast, but I just don't see the point anymore.

Thanks for the advise English... But I heard you the first time ;)

I too noticed how bad the food service is and can see how easly an order can get messed up. They call back their food, instead of having it on a screen, they don't have the food ready for an order and have to cook it (ex. 7 mins to cook chicken) and, the person taking the order (from what I have noticed) usually has to go an dget the food.

This does however, make people spend more time getting food whcih can spread out the lines ;)

Take it from somone who works at one of the top rated McDonald's in MN (not trying to brang..) Theres so many things that we have to follow.
From the time we take an order to the time the customer gets the food has to be under 90 seconds. If our avg. times for the hour are more than that (or if it's lunch/dinnner time and we have a higher goal) then the manager(s) have to do a write-up and send it in to the store owner.
Each station also has individual times. Grill (where they make the food), should usually be under 30 seconds. Others are drive-thru, front-counter,exc...
This is the key to McDonald's sucess. How fast and efficent they can get things done. THey also have set procedures on how to make food, how much sauce goes on a sandwhich to the exact second of cooking time.

I personally would love for CP to improve there food service. I"m not saying it has to be as good as mcdonalds, just better.javascript:__doPostBack('Pf$_ctl0$SubmitReplyButton','')
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How about taking the trims off the first hill of Mantis and Mean Streak. Brakes on the first drop of a coaster are just ridiculous

Ok Im going off the deep end on this one.A big parking ramp out were the toll boths are. then move the front gates out into the parkinglot making more land for coasters, rides, and shops, they have that at US/IOA it uses less land for parking.they got them cool moving sidewalks too.

djDaemon said:

DBCP said:

If they do anything to change that, I'd like to see ERT for Joe Cool club members at 8:30, then let Resort Guests in at 9, then the general public at 9:30... of course, that will never happen.

You're right - its not gonna happen, because CP doesn't make any money on the SP holders. But, if you swapped it so that resort guests got in at 8:30, and JC at 9:00, it would be much more plausible.

I alone very easily spend over a grand each year at the park, not including season passes, and it's once in a blue moon if I stay at one of the resorts....

That being said,
-Someone fix the mics on the Blue Streak platform. It's bad listening to them for 5 minutes, I can't imagine having to listen to that noise all day.
*** Edited 7/11/2006 1:07:19 AM UTC by DBCP***

I go to CP after work quite often and usually end up spending about 20 or 30 dollars on food per visit. I usually have dinner in the park, I'd rather enjoy the atmosphere of the park than eat at some place while on the road. Also, I'll get some drinks and maybe an ice cream or other snack during the course of the evening.

My after work visits do add up after awhile, probably to $400 or $500 on food alone during the season. Add that to what I spend at Bubbles Bar, Famous Dave's and TGIF's during the course of the year when at CP during a weekend, I'm pretty sure CP is not sorry that I bought a pass.

Speaking of TGIF, the location at Castaway Bay is adding live entertainment on certain days. They had an advertisement in the marina, enticing boaters to visit and take advantage of the free dockage. Great idea, that is something that is long overdue. I'm hoping they add more late night entertainment venues to the Point, catering to both boaters and resort guests. It is what CP needs to make the resort complete, and give guests staying at CP some choices for fun after the park closes.

The added security is not something that cannot be done. In fact it has only been recently (within the last 5 years) that there has not been somebody watching the longer qeue lines. I am not saying that all the qeues need watching just the longer ones. I can remember when Magnum, Raptor, and most of the qeues had some sort of a security presence and if you did something wrong you were asked to leave the park.

Now the no-smoking in line policy is a joke. If you cut in line most times you are not caught, if you are caught you just get sent to the end of the line. If simple rules like these are not enforced it is only a matter of time before some guests will try to get away with more.

I still feel that Cedar Point is a great park and they are noticeably better IMHO this year compared to last, but I feel that some areas are slipping and other parks are getting closer to taking and running away with Cedar Points best park title.