On the contrary

I have to say that on the contrary to what people say, about cedar point, and its ride operators, and park staff in general, not being friendly. Got one question what the heck are you smoking.

With a bad day under my belt to start when i got there today, i lost my wallet in the park. I thought i had lost it in Donut Time, funny thing was when i asked if they seen one, i with my own two eyes watched as the girl dug through things under her counter and then asked the other people in the place if they had heard about or seen it. Nice in my opinion especially since i wasnt buying anything.

Then the lost and found people were most extremely helpful, sorry to them that i cant remember names. They gave me a business card to call them, if i wanted. They also were very helpful in helping me get it back making calls to other spots that may have had it.

i also went into park ops where they let me cancel my check card for safety reasons. Let me call out on their fax, and gave me the phone book. Yeah they were that good. Marcia was the lady's name there. DOnt believe me ask around if their is an employee movie screening of "sin City" coming up. Yeah i saw that while in the park ops building, plus a memo from Kinzel which i left unread other than his name.

I also have a pal out there in the park. He is a nice guy that runs the train, whether it be the guy that puts down the crossing barricades or riding it he loves his job. I have bsed with him on baseball huge white sox fan, rips on the tribe, so he is a great guy that just enjoys all aspects for the most part of working there.

Also struck up a convo with an op on blue streak, she mentioned that she was gearing up for an even longer tour with castaway bay.

I just hate the fact that people say the people that work within cedar fair have declined, i have thought extremely different of that after today. And yeah i even got the wallet back.

So poor food service and recent operational messes are just imagined by everyone else?

I believe Jeff just layed down some major "0wnage," as we 1337ers like to call it.

what park runs flawlessly? At least people seem to be more involved there, than anywhere else i have been. Sometimes its a ho-ho, ill just do my job, at least when i needed something they took an extra step.

All im saying is that i was definately taken care of well. Operational messes are expected, if we are talking rides here. Then people boo-hoo about it, there is so much to do there its rediculous. Im not taking shots at anyone, but can you expect everything to be run flawlessly. Its an expected thing. i can give you the bad food service, but i have never complained about the food, other than at private outings, they scrap together some junk. And then the beer ran out, but thats another story. I also know the lines are downright slow, but could that be cause of lack of help, or pure volumn of people. All depends at certain places. Short line could equal quick service or not. The thing is its not fastfood where, where its go and take it as fast as possible, there are more people there than in a drive through at most given times. I can see where your coming from there.

Im not trying to step on toes, but i was more than happy with the experience today.

i lost my cell phone at the point, i called them and they told me they had it. They mailed it to me+shipping insurance free of charge with overnight dilevery....i think most people who go to the park and complain are to blame themselves, these people are first rate all things considered

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MagnunBarrel said:
what park runs flawlessly?

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I hate this line of thinking. Nothing personal, just the opportunity I've taken to vent.

I see this mentioned a lot. Talking about RCT3, park operations, ride reliability, etc.

What park runs flawlessly?

The good ones.

When did we become so accepting of mediocrity? Have our expectations been lowered so far that the customer is expected to 'understand' when things aren't done correctly? When did trying to do well become the same as doing well?

I've been to plenty of parks where thoughout the day, I found not one thing that I could complain about.

*** Edited 8/19/2005 4:25:34 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

I don't think that the issuse really is that Cedar Point has bad guest service. I think the issue is that Cedar Point's overall guest service isn't what it used to be. The members here know what Cedar Point is capable of and hold the park to those standards.

Points taken. Mainly Gonchs, but also Og, the thing is though because they have a good name, they have to live to that standard, i know things arent going to go right every day, but even the best ones arent going to have so called great days.

I loved the way kennywood handled the situation with the early power outage last weekend. They announced some rides were down. Would i have claimed my money back, hell no. The thing is the good parks like we just said are the ones that people seem to think are not doing their best, that kinda helps me land my point. I have heard alot about Cedar Point taking alot of it, in the past, and they did a nice thing, i think they lived up to a good if not great park operations today!

Amen, Gonch!

I was at CP very early this season, and the food was good. The food employees were very nice and eager to please. We ate at the Potato Patch near choas, and the chicken stand at the Stockade.

Even though it was early in the season, the ride opps seemed to know what they were doing. They were fast, friendly, and I don't recall seeing stacked trains.

Clean restrooms, paths, and empty trash cans completed the positive day we had at CP.

But on the other hand, it was just one day out of the whole season.

Just because you had a good experience in one department, doesn't mean that other areas of operation are where they used to be.

While I am far from a CP fanboy, I understand that guests have become accustomed to certain degrees of customer service and when it starts to decline, it becomes an issue.

As far as I am concerned, CP and SFGAm(yes an SF park), are on the same level of high customer service that people expect. When things start taking a decline, people notice right away.

When you are high atop the mountain, even the littlest thing gets attention. While you had a good experience with your wallet situation, that doesn't mean other areas of the park are starting to suffer.

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Lord Gonchar said:

I've been to plenty of parks where thoughout the day, I found not one thing that I could complain about.

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So have I, and one of them was Cedar Point. :)

I'm not running to the park's defense; they sure as hell don't need that. But, it seems that these new "failings" are noticed most by the regulars that frequent the park. The casual guest usually doesn't pay them any attention.

I will agree that it is nessesary that the park is made aware of their short comings before it gets out of hand. I'd hate to see the place take a huge nose dive.

All I can say is this...

Back in June we did a 2200 mile trip that included Michigan's Adventure, Indiana Beach, Wyandot Lake, Ceadar Point and Geauga Lake.

The stand out park as a whole for efficient AND friendly service was Geauga Lake with Michigan's Adventure being a close second. Indiana Beach was the same. I can't think of a negative experience at any of these. The stop at Wyandot Lake was very short (a credit stop), but from the few employes I ran into, they were friendly and efficient.

All merchandise / food / etc employee were friendly... and at the very worst some of the ride crew members (mainly the person at the actual controls) were not saying much to riders because they were concentrating on their jobs of running the ride... with the people who were loading and checking restraints being friendly AND efficient. Some at Geauga lake actually scared me a bit with how polite they were being... I thought I walked into the mysterious Ohio Triangle (anyone who remembers the old WKRP In Cincinatti may remember this).

Cedar Point however was the place where we hit our only two "bad" employees of the trip.... one who basically ignored us at a food stand (basically trying to look busy so he wouldn't have to wait on anyone... even though all we wanted was a pepsi), and another at a food stand who was just being basically ignorant to everyone. As for the ride crews... some were friendly and efficient... but some were either Friendly OR Efficient. If you ask me, when I am a rider, I like a friendly and polite service... but I don't need for the ops to put on a show and entertain... almost like they are trying to one up the ops on the other rides. Wrost cast was on one of the coasters (I forget which one) where the train before mine pulled in to the station and the op asked "How was your ride?". Some folks cheered, but he said "Come on, you can do better than that! I said How Was your Ride!" They cheered again and he then released the restraints. Then when the train I was in pulled into the station, he did the same thing. Just relase the restraints and be done with it.

Don't get me wrong... The experience at Ceadar Point was not bad. We only ran into two employees that I would call "bad"... but that was two more than we ran into at any other park. While the ops are fast and efficient for the most part, so are they at some other parks (Knoebels Phoenix crew being probably the fastest and most efficient). The only place where CP could improve in their efficiency is to cut down the "showmanship" of the crews. Be polite, be friendly, be efficient... but don't feel like you have to "entertain" the guests. Whatever they are about to ride will entertain them, they don't need the ops to be putting on a little show for them. At first it was kind of neat... but after about the fifth ride I was on it was like "Okay okay... I get it... you like your job... now just dispatch the damned coaster already." It may come off as endearing to CP regulars... but to me it came off as a bit of smugness and after a while it was a bit iritating.

Of course, all of this was much better to the employees that I ran into at Dorney Park a week later. That was like "Night of the Living Dead Revisited." For crying out loud... on average, the employees I ran into at Great Adventure on a May trip were 10 times better than those at Dorney this year.

Of the parks I visited this year, I would place the operations and employees like this...

Geauga Lake, Michigan's Adventure (<-- VERY good), Knoebels, Indiana Beach, Wyandot Lake, SF Great Adventure, Ceadar Point (<-- Average to Good), Six Flags America, Dorney Park (<-- Below Average), Ocean City Pier Rides, Jolly Roger, Trimpers Rides (<- POOR!)

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The only place where CP could improve in their efficiency is to cut down the "showmanship" of the crews.

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I completely agree with you. I know a lot of CP fans seem to enjoy this, but I just don't care for it.

As for everything else being said in this thread, I've stated my opinion at PointBuzz over and over. I'm not going to bring my argument over here. :)

*** Edited 8/19/2005 12:57:28 PM UTC by Gemini***

One thing is for certain: Capacity has suffered since Bill Sphen left.

Yeah, that's the real irony in all of this, is that Geauga Lake is probably running the best it ever has, and I credit the guy that held Cedar Point to such high standards for a number of years. When I met the ops manager there a few weeks ago, Spehn said she had the toughest job in the park, because it was his job. This is a guy who can walk up to a pool, put his hand in the water, and tell you what the temperature is. No joke.

I don't think Cedar Point is a lost cause. Certainly it takes a year for a new general manager to get a feel for how his people are operating. I know John was gone for barely nine months, but his role is so vastly different now than that of VP of marketing. He won't let things slide.

Thanks for not ripping me out a new one totally! I think that with other parks there is alot to be expected as well, i know we always dont get what we want, but then again we always cant. I guess if we were in the same position we would know how others felt about us. Our complaining actually helps, and addresses problems we may have with a certain area of the park. I guess this just about closes this sorry for a disturbance i shall leave it alone from now on.

Also to Jeff i agree that Spehn was a very good man for the job at geauga lake. That guy is out and about just making sure things should be running right. The only thing is i hope for all the hard work that he and his employees put in that the work starts to justify itself through the gate. Geauga Lake is where it all started for me, and it would be a shame to see people not come to a place like that. *** Edited 8/20/2005 5:48:29 AM UTC by MagnunBarrel***

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SLFAKE said:

one) where the train before mine pulled in to the station and the op asked "How was your ride?". Some folks cheered, but he said "Come on, you can do better than that! I said How Was your Ride!" They cheered again and he then released the restraints. Then when the train I was in pulled into the station, he did the same thing. Just relase the restraints and be done with it.

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I actually like this. AW has a few ops that play like this. It can add value and fun to the experience of the park, but it is a fine line to manage. If it begins to interfere with the speed of cycling it is no longer amusing!

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SLFAKE said:

even though all we wanted was a pepsi

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Sorry.

Suicidal Tendencies flashback.

Point taken. As you were.

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dexter said:
We ate at the Potato Patch near choas, and the chicken stand at the Stockade.

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If you ate at the "Potato Patch" you weren't at Cedar Point. The real "Potato Patch" is another state over. :)