Winter Chill Out 2018

I thinks CP already handles their social media marketing quite well. Cedar Point's facebook page has 1,434,971 followers. The twitter feeds of Tony Clark and Cedar Point have 18,086 followers and 180,217 followers, respectively. That is a total number of 1,633,274.

This does not include the number of local and national media outlets that will cover this story. Steel Vengeance has already appeared nationally in USA Today, Here and Here.

I live in the deep south. I have non enthusiast friends and coworkers ask me excitedly if I know about Cedar Point's new roller coaster and show me pictures of Steel Vengeance.

The decision to allow enthusiasts to attend a media preview will solely be up to Cedar Point. What comes in to play here is wants and needs. Cedar Point decides what best fits its needs regardless of what a small group of enthusiast wants.

coast said:
I feel entitled......

Well, at least you're honest......

coast said:

I feel entitled to an invitation to media day. I feel all enthusiasts are entitled to that since we will create a solid buzz on social media.

Step 1 would be getting a media-related job.

GigaG said:
Pete, with all due respect, there are 1-2 people complaining excessively here about Chill Out tickets. Why should that screw over the hundreds of enthusiasts who'd love SV to have a media day like GK?

Probably not fair, but I'm looking at the old saying of a couple bad apples spoils the whole bunch. Gatekeeper media day was amazing but the day seemed more like a preview day than a media day and it was amazing with the free food, drinks and extra rides that opened. Probably something CP tried as an experiment and decided the benefits didn't have enough of an upside to continue with it. I doubt anything like what they did for Gatekeeper will happen for Steel Vengeance.

And that is just fine with me. I'm not working media, I would go for my own enjoyment which does CP absolutely no good. And by not inviting enthusiasts CP wouldn't have to deal with dumb complaints from butthurt people who didn't get their way, people appearing on camera wearing Kennywood shirts and all the other distractions that get in the way of the main purpose of the event.

coast said:

...we will create a solid buzz on social media.

I've said it before that I believe this is the reason Cedar Fair did invite enthusiasts to the media day events for GateKeeper, Halloweekends, Gemini Midway, and Banshee. I think the results that they saw from it were not as much as they were hoping for, and so they discontinued it.

Dealing with large groups of people is something Cedar Fair does all the time. They know there will always be some "negatives" from doing so, especially when something is free. It's a question of whether the positives outweigh the negatives, and I don't think they do.

In the years that have followed, I've found I enjoy an evening charity event way more than a 7:00 AM, freezing cold "media event".

coast said:
I never claimed to be entitled to a ticket to WCO. I feel entitled to an invitation to media day. I feel all enthusiasts are entitled to that since we will create a solid buzz on social media.

Why would you be "entitled" to an invite to media day -- unless you're an active member of the media?

The idea that coaster enthusiasts will create "a solid buzz on social media" is questionable at best, since we tend to hang out on sites devoted to coasters and parks; we're preaching to the chorus.

I dont ever see a "Gatekeeper" type even coming back. It was amazing and the park just went over the top for those of us who attended. The problems started at the Pipe Scream/Gemini media event. Some people (the public) forgot that it was a working media event and just got ugly and nasty with the park staff. I witnessed some of it an could not believe what I saw. I was not surprised at all it didnt come back. Rougagrou's media event had a small number of people involved chosen by a lottery system of WCO attendees. I attended that event and it was definitely a better controlled event over the Pipe Scream event.

I will say that if you want to attend a preseason event, you should do the first rider auction. For Valravn, it was just amazing. I think we got 15 or so laps on Valravn and the food was amazing.

I honestly hope the park never goes back to letting the public in on a free media event. Too much trouble for the benefits. Do a nice first rider auction event, charge a premium fee for it, limit the number of attendees and then give the money to the LJFF or something like that.

As for the Halloweekends event, it was a great experience, and I'm thankful the park offered it, but it likely won't happen again either.

I think it was a during a discussion with Tony and Kristy during an RWC event, but basically, it failed to meet the objectives.

First, um, yeah, the first word in Media Day is Media. Well, the media weren't interested in showing up on a Friday in September. The staff that would have come out to cover it were already dedicated to high school football.

Second, Once October hits, we all know what kind of crowds CP Halloweekends brings. Halloweekends only needs hype for the first few weekends. The social media hype from enthusiasts, some of whom showed up just for the free ticket into the park, just wasn't there.

Third, the "mommy blog" conference was also held that weekend. CP got more mileage from the blog write-ups than anything enthusiasts did. As noggin already pointed out, enthusiasts aren't really delivering much on social media outside the echo chamber, while the mommy blogs are hitting a key demographic.

What is a mommy blog conference?

That sounds...terrifying.

It’s where a bunch of helicopter moms get together to share the tools of the trade.

The timing with Halloweekends was not a coincidence.

I am looking forward to the event, and will be there for my chosen time slot, with a cup of stimulant in hand! ;-)

You lucky whole person. Take plenty of pictures for us partials.

We aren't entitled to a media day, but that doesn't mean we can't request and wish that it was open to enthusiasts like it used to be. And hopefully, I can express that sentiment without being called a bad enthusiast.

GK media day was one of the best times I've had at CP, and repeating that with an even better coaster would be absolutely amazing!

You aren't a bad enthusiast, because you understand that you aren't entitled to Media Day.

Petulance makes for a bad enthusiast. You posts seem to have a lack of that trait.

^Honestly, thank you. I figured that my mild rants on "Online Enthusiast Morals" would have convinced people I'm an arse.

But yeah, I recognize that they don't *have* to do an open Media Day, but just because they don't *have* to doesn't mean they *shouldn't* :P. They did it in the past, and KI did it with Mystic Timbers (albeit only for ACE), so I'm still holding out some hope that maybe CP may do one open to GOCC and other clubs as well like they did with GK!

Pete said:

The only thing I think they should do next year is put the tickets up for sale at, let's say, noon instead of midnight.

Choosing midnight was not accidental or random, so I don't know why you assume it was a mistake on their part.

Presumably they chose an odd hour so that only the most dedicated or motivated among us would be attending. It's making the event more exclusive by way of self-selection, and I think it's the right move. Sure, some who missed out didn't anticipate tickets would be sold out by ~5AM. But I don't think the most motivated of those folks will make the same mistake next year.

As for missing this year's WCO, I think it's worth noting that if you were going to miss a year, this would be the one you'd choose. The premier ride has been pretty much complete since before the park closed last season, so there's very little progress to show off, aside from perhaps the trains' arrival. There are a couple big piles of dirt where some buildings used to be. And I guess there's a sidewalk on the beach that's new. Of course there will likely be a few surprises, but again, this year's event won't crack the top 5 most exciting WCOs in my opinion.

Am I the only one that remembers when there was a ticket date announced beforehand, but, not a time. You had to repeatedly look up to see if the tickets were available yet. Prob 6 or 7 years ago, you simply kept refreshing to be able to catch when tickets went on sale.

...and when it was limited to 100. That number would REALLY annoy some folks now.

djDaemon said:

Pete said:

The only thing I think they should do next year is put the tickets up for sale at, let's say, noon instead of midnight.

Choosing midnight was not accidental or random, so I don't know why you assume it was a mistake on their part.

Presumably they chose an odd hour so that only the most dedicated or motivated among us would be attending. It's making the event more exclusive by way of self-selection, and I think it's the right move. Sure, some who missed out didn't anticipate tickets would be sold out by ~5AM. But I don't think the most motivated of those folks will make the same mistake next year.

Who said anything about it being a mistake? I said they should put tickets on sale at noon if there is a chance that it will sell out in a few hours again to make it more accessible to those that aren't night owls. It doesn't even apply to me as I am a night owl but choose to wait until morning because historically the event took a few days to sell out. I don't think that even the park expected such a fast sell out and tickets were put on sale at midnight because that is the start of the day. Makes it most logical, it is not an odd hour.

How do you figure putting tickets on sale at midnight makes the event more exclusive? CP had so many tickets to sell and they would have sold all the tickets no matter if it sold out that night or by the end of the week. There is nothing exclusive about it. Do you think the park said "let's put the tickets on sale at midnight so the rabid enthusiasts will get all the tickets and we can shut out the more casual guests so they don't spoil the event"?

People who didn't try to get tickets right away didn't make a mistake. It was not accidental or random either, they were going by historical data that indicated they had more time to buy tickets. Will it sell out in a few hours next year? I think that depends on what project 2019 is. If project 2019 is a new hotel or cabins at the Sandcastle location, I think you will see much slower ticket sales for Chillout. I believe this fast sellout is the direct result of Steel Vengeance.

Good morning! I saw my name mentioned a few times, so I thought I'd say hi.

Winter Chill Out has become more and more popular every year - that much is obvious. What began as a humble gathering for Pointbuzz/Coasterbuzzers to raise money for charity has grown into an all-out park event, where we not only donate 100% of ticket sales to A Kid Again, but also everything else to make it a success.

Our full-time staff gives their weekend time to facilitate every aspect of the event. We eat (pun not intended) all of the costs associated with maintenance, food, construction (yes, we sometimes construct things just for WCO), etc. It's not a small undertaking by any means. That said, a two-day event is not feasible or logistically possible.

When the tickets went on sale, there were three of us up at midnight to monitor everything - and when we saw something was fishy (perch-y?), we worked on the solution. It was fixed in about 15 minutes. Also, the very last ticket wasn't sold until around 5 a.m.

Going off the rails in 3, 2, 1...

Allow me to digress, and as embarrassed as I am to say it, I was one of the weirdos who set my alarm for 3 a.m. on the first Apple Watch pre-order day. (Spoiler alert: I was able to snag one. Use the Apple Store App - you get in faster. I think?) And now the latest watch is waterproof. GRR!! WHY DO THEY DO THAT??!

Back on the rails.

Anyway, thanks to those who purchased a ticket and donated to A Kid Again. We're busy finalizing additional event details for Steel Vengeance. Those will come soon!

Pete said:

Who said anything about it being a mistake? I said they should put tickets on sale at noon if there is a chance that it will sell out in a few hours again to make it more accessible to those that aren't night owls.

You are, sort of, by suggesting the "solution" of selling the tickets at noon instead.

How do you figure putting tickets on sale at midnight makes the event more exclusive?

Because - and Tony himself alludes to this in his comments on getting an Apple Watch - only those of us who are most motivated are going to be willing to stay up that late to get tickets. Selling them at noon, by comparison, means that those who are less enthusiastic might snag a ticket instead of someone more enthusiastic.

Do you think the park said "let's put the tickets on sale at midnight so the rabid enthusiasts will get all the tickets and we can shut out the more casual guests so they don't spoil the event"?

I'm pointing out that they went out of their way to put them on sale at midnight. There's obviously a reason they chose midnight. I'm speculating about the reason. Sure, I could be way off base. But why else would they go to such lengths to put them on sale at such an odd hour? That's not a rhetorical question. If you have a better explanation, I'm all ears.