Cedar Point Boardwalk and Wild Mouse, 5/4/23

In terms of new rides, the addition of Cedar Point's new Wild Mouse probably doesn't feel that extraordinary. But the addition is part of a reimagining of one of the park's greatest assets, its waterfront. The new coaster is only part of the important change. They collected some of their fantastic flat rides all in one place, and built a new food and drink venue that leans into the greatness of the location. This is extra hilarious for me as a founder of PointBuzz, because back when it was still Guide To The Point, I seeded this silly rumor about how they were planning to redevelop the whole area into a boardwalk, based entirely on some concrete pressed to look like wood back around the turn of the century. I can't believe I've had a website for 25 years.

I'm going to go in order of interest, but stick around for the food and my look at Sawmill Creek, the golf resort that Cedar Fair acquired in 2019.

Let's start with the new Wild Mouse roller coaster, built by Zamperla. This Italian manufacturer is not new to the park. They made most of the rides you'll find in the Camp Snoopy area, opened in 1999. In the last two years or so, they've really leaned into building roller coasters. I don't know the whole progression of intellectual property ownership for the spinning mouse, but as I understand it, French manufacturer Reverchon, which built the now-classic spinning mouse coaster that you can find all over the world (where it's still operating), went bankrupt in 2005 and Zamperla acquired the IP. With their wider ambitions to build larger rides, this was a slam dunk for them as they proposed new layouts. Cedar Point's ride is a fantastic example of this, going beyond the horizontal switchbacks and doing near vertical turns helices. It's a really dynamic layout... that you may not even see if the car is spinning hard enough.

Let me address the elephant in the room... the reliability of the ride during the media day wasn't great. The first hour was fine, but then it set up for some reason, stopping cars in three places on the track that had to be evacuated. After it resumed, it happened again, with me on it. My friends and I got stopped on the last block before the final turn to the final brakes, so we had walked down about ten feet of stairs and off the ride. No big deal. I am not surprised by this. It happens with new rides.

Now, if I'm to speculate about the problem, my guess is that it had to do with centering the rotating cars before returning into the station. The Reverchon mice had an elongated centering mechanism in the last section of track down the long side of the ride, and the cars would move continuously through unload and load. This Zamperla model does the unload/load on the short side of the ride. The car centering happens on the little track switch just before the turn into the station. This mechanism has a motor assembly that leans into the car and rotates it until it senses the centered position. I think it's this that was failing. On the first stop, they took the offending car off the circuit. Even after that, one car sent to test didn't center, and they had to do it manually in the station. Whatever the issue, with Zamperla on-site, I'm sure that they're going to figure it out. It's unfortunate that some of the press focused on this.

Despite our stoppage, that first lap was pretty crazy. I could generally track where we were headed, but it was just enough to be disorienting. Our second ride, however, was in another category. Riding the cheese themed car, not named for a mouse like the other cars, is apparently the ADA accommodating car, with a larger door and different weight distribution. I didn't see this myself, it was suggested after the fact. But I can tell you, without question, that it makes sense. By the time we came off the second switchback up high, the rotation continued in an extreme way until the end. I can't tell you how many times we went around, and I can't count in the video either. It didn't make me sick, and me and my party had just left the grand pavilion, loaded with food. But it was amazing and disorienting, and showed how this little roller coaster punched well above its weight. I absolutely loved it, and I want every park to have one of these now.

The boardwalk concept is long overdue. I started a fake rumor back around the turn of the century in the forums about how a boardwalk project was going to be a thing, because I was convinced it was obvious. Apparently it was only obvious in recent years, but hey, two decades... I was still right! The flat rides relocated to this spot feel like they always belonged there, despite being many decades old. I didn't get a chance to ride them, and I regret that, but I was stuck waiting for Wild Mouse to come back online. I can't tell you the last time I've been on any of them. In particular, seeing the Calypso back in its prime is wonderful. I give so much credit to the park and its maintenance folks for restoring these great rides to their best form.

The park has a number of "streemosphere" folks doing performances on the midways. I love this for so many reasons, not the least of which is it gives theater nerds a work they might not otherwise have. It also shows that the company is no longer scared of tattoos. Dread sneaks in though, wondering how long the park will keep this up. Live entertainment has a mixed record with the current leadership.

The Grand Pavilion is what it sounds like. Leveraging the extraordinary position of the park on Lake Erie, the new venue builds on their recent revitalization of culinary efforts around the park. The new restaurant offers fantastic proteins like turkey and hand-breaded chicken tenders and pork, and even some seafood, along with staggeringly good sides that are not from a frozen bag. I spoke briefly to the corporate VP for food stuff, and she made a good case that humans love food, and eating, and the social parts that involve food. Some years ago they started a long-term initiative to rethink food in the parks. Grand Pavilion is an extension of what has already gone on at places like the Farmhouse and BackBeatQue. This is not ****ty theme park food. I would argue that they're exceeding what you find in counter service at Disney, and it aligns with what Universal has done in its Harry Potter locations (though they still suck everywhere else).

Upstairs, you'll find a huge bar with a ton of inside and outside seating. This place was made for volume, and judging by their staffing level on a day when they weren't even making the drinks with liquor (sad face), this is going to be fantastic. The drink menu they've made includes a lot of classic. Most of is uses lower-shelf liquor, but it looks like they've adopted good tequila, Casamigos, and I saw St. Germaine and some other "better" bottles. If this is successful, I hope that they learn from it and improve the resort situation at Breakers. In my visit last May, not even the busy season, the demand at the Surf Lounge and Friday's was off the charts. They're leaving money on the table, and that wasn't even peak season.

I was on the ground for barely a day for the media event, and Sandusky is notoriously terrible for "good" hotel facilities. I decided that I would try Cedar Fair's latest acquisition, Sawmill Creek. It's a golf resort that has been around for as long as I can remember, but prior to the buy in 2019, wasn't what anyone would describe as "good." I can happily report that the renovation is generally solid. I can nit-pick about some things (would it kill them to repave the parking lot and road in?), but the rooms are what I would describe as "business class," on par with any Holiday Inn Express or Marriott brand that has been recently renovated. It's not luxury, that category simply doesn't exist in Sandusky, but it's solid. I paid $203 for a standard room, and it was only a little less than I paid at a Marriott Westin in Lake Mary, FL, in March. I thought it was reasonable, especially in Sandusky.

It was cold, so I wasn't hitting the outdoor pool, and I given my tight schedule, didn't really enjoy it as much as I could have. I spent the night before mostly working. I did venture down to the bar, and had a drink that I dictated to the bartender, who happily made it. I scanned their collection, and saw that they had Chambord and St. Germaine, key ingredient so to a cruise cocktail that I like. The barkeep was super friendly and excited to try making it. Somehow it only ended up being $9 (other ingredient were Citron, like and club soda). I was sitting next to a person that might have been the GM at Kings Island, judging by the conversation, but I'm not one to insert myself into conversations.

The one thing that I will observe, and this is true for all of the hotel properties, and some others, is that the interior design seems to stop just a little short of where it should be. This is hard to define, despite my brother-in-law being an architect for a several big hotel chains that you would know. For example, if you're standing in the lobby, or the atrium just off from there, you see all of these beautiful textures of brick and wood, but it needs something else. It's not fully decorated. Even in the halls, there's random stock "art" on the walls. Same in the rooms. It needs something else, and Cedar Fair's design lacks whatever that is.

Overall though, it was a fantastic, if super brief visit. Cedar Point has something great to celebrate this year. I understand that Castaway Bay has been renovated, so combined with Sawmill and the classic Breakers, the park has a complete and awesome package. My only hope is that ride operations are better than last year. That's where they need to focus attention next.

One of the easiest and no-expense ways of improving ride operations, at least on coasters, is teaching ride operators to generate a sense of urgency and getting park guests to hustle. All it takes is spieling: “Oncoming riders, please board this train quickly but safely” and having platform operators enforce it.

While much has changed since the days of standing on a dot at Blue Streak and dispatching the train while still doing safety checks or having 60 seconds’ish to dispatch Gemini/Corkscrew when running 3 trains, what hasn’t changed is the ability to communicate to guests and make them MOVE versus the total chaos I see on boarding platforms today.

Or move the chaos away from the boarding platform by putting it in a mandatory locker room. Rides like Steel Vengeance and Velocicoaster benefit by relieving riders of their personal belongings back in the queue where delays don’t affect the actual operation of the ride. Once riders reach the loading area everything has had a chance to right itself, the ride ops have one job, and the confusion of the locker room and the long wait is all but forgotten. Oh, I remember the days of blue dots and yellow lines at Cedar Point but they have been replaced and won’t return.
Speaking of capacity, which I wish we weren’t, one of the most interesting aspects of Wild Mouse is the lack of FastLane. I watched a rather cringey YouTube report on media day where the creator snagged an in-person interview with Tony Clark. When the interviewer was close enough to his mic so we could actually hear, he asked about the lack of FastLane and Mr Clark’s reply was something like “we want to give everyone a chance to ride Wild Mouse”. (!!) I can see where individual cars, continuous movement, and space consideration might take the blame but his answer seemed a little off-brand to me. I’m going to view it as an interesting experiment- here’s a case where capacity and throughput will have no challenge save for the operations and the actual ride itself. Like Wildcat was.
It’s unfortunate that the ride had downtime and an evac situation on one of the most important days of its life. I think the analysis of the cause seems reasonable. The more complicated things become the riskier things get in terms of reliability. I’m fascinated by contraptions that center ride vehicles- the devices on the Reverchon mice and Intamin raft rides have always seemed like mini engineering marvels to me and good solutions.

Sorry for the double post, but to go a little more on topic with this one.
Thanks for a great report- I think I’m going to risk a rainy day and head up on Monday for a look-see. I’ve been obsessed with this Boardwalk renovation since the announcement and for a couple of reasons. First, if Cedar Point is going to hang on to 60 year old, old-assed (sorry, I mean vintage) flats they deserve some love. While traditional amusement parks have the freedom to install rides of many sorts wherever they want, I’m glad this new area gives the rides props and the home they deserve. At first I vocalized disappointment that all the new equipment seemed budgeted for Charlotte, but seeing the thoughtful treatment of The Boardwalk it all makes sense.
And Jeff, thanks for giving my old gal Calypso a shout out. I love that ride and I can count on one hand the number of visits throughout my life when I didn’t take a spin on one or both, no matter the theme. I was holding out hope for its renovation but was braced for the worst. Instead I’m surprised and delighted in the redesign, and thrilled they held onto the original sign. In fact, the art direction on all of the flats is top-notch, and would be worthy of, say, Knott’s.
Second, the Grand Pavilion. It’s no secret that enthusiasts rolled their eyes (and that’s putting it politely) at the thought of yet another restaurant, but this might turn out to be one of the park’s greatest achievements ever. The building is gorgeous, goes above and beyond thematically, and honors the park’s history perfectly. The park may have been wise to not preview the place a lot during the off season- I think guests will be pleasantly surprised by the addition.
I’m definitely going to give the food a try, it looks amazing. I haven’t tried Farmhouse yet- on previous visits the day wasn’t really conducive to outdoor dining or it was really busy. Now it’s going to have to wait another minute. I haven’t had or needed the dining plan for a number of years but now with better choices here and at KI I’m re-thinking.
There’s so much good about the Pavilion that I hope it lasts a hundred years there by the lake.

Jeff:

the interior design seems to stop just a little short of where it should be

Seeing pictures of the interior of the Grand Pavilion, I had this reaction - it seems fine, but doesn't communicate "grand." I'm basing that off a couple of photos that may not have captured the place, and will reserve any further judgment til I see it in person. (And it's obviously gotta stand up to lots of people moving through, lots more than a hotel lobby, which limits their choices.)

In general, I love the way the area looks, and it will obviously have considerably more charm when the trees grow in. I also like the way they've integrated Dodgem into the area; it always seemed to be awkwardly stuck at the end of Kiddie Kingdom before now.

Jeff:

I don't know the whole progression of intellectual property ownership for the spinning mouse, but as I understand it, French manufacturer Reverchon, which built the now-classic spinning mouse coaster that you can find all over the world (where it's still operating), went bankrupt in 2005 and Zamperla acquired the IP.

Yes, though that's only part of the story. Zamperla's version of the ride replaced the original restraints with individual pull down lap bars, which allow a lower height requirement than the original. The easiest way to tell the two versions apart is by restraint design.

Meanwhile Reverchon reformed as Cedeal Rides, building three of the "compact" mice under that brand. All three are travelling in Europe – Bad Trip, Crash Test, and Tattoo. The comfort level of these versions is not to the level of the originals; there's a bit of a thump every time a car hits a corner, almost as if they don't have equivalent shock absorbers – though that last bit is guess work on my part.

Subsequently Reverchon reformed again under its own name, with a slightly redesigned version of the original mouse featuring an angled turn after the first drop. There are a few of these travelling in Europe, and there's one park model in Australia. The difference can clearly be seen in this photo.

The Reverchon mice had an elongated centering mechanism in the last section of track down the long side of the ride.

Most of the Reverchon mice out there rely on an operator to manually straighten the car at the end of each ride.

The mechanism you describe can only be found on later models (and those produced by Zamperla). It's on the long side of the ride on the compact model (four trailers, one less switchback) and the short side of the ride on the standard model (five trailers).

And yes, I am a nerd.

Was the person you think was the gm short and have glasses? I have a picture of him but cant seem to figure out how to post it. If so, that is Tony Carvillano and I worked with him in 1995-2002 in the rides department at Kings Island.

I'm eager to try CP's new mouse and compare it to our experience with Pandemonium at SF Vallejo. My partner is 6'6" and we found on that ride, if we got a car to ourselves, sat on the same side, he leaned way back into his corner and I leaned into him (putting the center of gravity as far from the center as possible), AND we got lucky and caught the first couple turns just right, we could get an insane amount of spin on the car. To the point that, like Jeff mentioned in another post, you can barely tell what the ride is doing. Fun times.

Thanks for the write up, really enjoyed your perspective on it.

I thought they did well too. The food was delicious, but my portions felt small for the cost. I absolutely loved sitting out on the upstairs patio, though. You could watch Gatekeeper in the distance or look out on to the water. It was just awesome.

I wish the bathrooms were a bit larger, though. Maybe they expect the crowds to be smaller when it’s not so new, but it was incredibly crowded in there.