Tag Archives: September 2010

News and Updates, News Stories, Rides, RollerCoasters

Fire ends Mean Streak’s season early

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

Cedar Point’s Mean Streak will return, feisty as ever, but fans will have to wait until next year to climb back on.

A small fire at the wooden roller coaster Tuesday night damaged a 5-foot section of the track. Firefighters kept the fire from causing major damage.

Cedar Point spokesman Robin Innes said Wednesday the ride won’t be open for the rest of HalloWeekends, but said the park had planned to shut it down by this weekend, anyway, for maintenance.

The park is open on weekends through the end of October, although not all of the rides are available on Friday night. Mean Streak is one of the rides that has been available only on Saturday and Sunday.

News and Updates, News Stories, Rides, RollerCoasters

Small blaze snuffed on Mean Streak

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

A portion of Cedar Point’s largest wooden roller coaster caught fire late Tuesday, but a quick response from Sandusky firefighters spared the ride from any major damage.

The city’s firefighters were called to the park at about 9:30 p.m. because the amusement park’s own firefighters were not there. The park is now closed during the week, open only on weekends for HalloWeekends.

Firefighters said a section of track near the Mean Streak’s second hill somehow caught fire. Workers at the park had been repairing the ride and replacing boards earlier on Tuesday, and part of that work required them to cut metal bolts.

Since there were no heating sources near the fire location, firefighters speculated one of those bolts heated up after being cut, then dropped near the wood. The hot wood may have smoldered for some time until the wind breathed life into the embers hours later and sparked a small blaze.

The fire was small, limited to a 5-foot section of track and boards near the Mean Streak’s second hill.

Crews using one ladder truck completely extinguished the flames by 10:30 p.m. Firefighters said park personnel already planned to replace the boards that burned, so the fire caused no lasting damage.

According to the park’s website, Mean Streak contains 1.7 million feet of Southern yellow pine.

This was the second fire at the park this year.

On July 6 a 5,000-square-foot service building at the park caught fire. Investigators never determined the cause, but suspected an electrical malfunction was to blame.

Admission, Combination Tickets, Events, Halloweekends, Haunted Houses, News and Updates, News Stories

HalloWeekends, PointFest and Boat Show Return to Cedar Point

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Cedar Point Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio, – Cedar Point will offer a wide array of family entertainment this weekend when three popular special events return to the Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park/resort.

PointFest

Back for its second year, PointFest returns to Cedar Point on Saturday, Sept. 18. With nearly seven hours of music and entertainment, PointFest will feature some of today’s most popular Christian artists. The PointFest lineup includes Grammy- and American Award-winner Casting Crowns, Family Force 5, Manic Drive, Sixteen Cities, Remedy Drive and David Nassar.

The concert will begin at approximately 2 p.m. with performances continuing until 9 p.m. The event will be held in the Soak City parking lot. Combo tickets to Cedar Point and the concert are available online and at Cedar Point. Concert-only tickets for season passholders and deals for groups of 15 or more are also available. Admission to Cedar Point is required. For more information and a link to purchase tickets, please visit cedarpoint.com.

HalloWeekends

This weekend will also mark the start of Cedar Point’s HalloWeekends 14. New this season will be Dr. D. Mented’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane, a brand new haunted house in Frontiertown. Inhabited by dozens of horrific creatures and a mad scientist, this could be the scariest location in the park!

Returning for their second season will be two other haunted houses: Happy Jack’s Toy Factory, a bizarre collection of toys and dolls from days gone by, and G.A. Boeckling’s Eerie Estate that will feature more than 20 rooms of scream-inducing terror!

HalloWeekends at Cedar Point will be held Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 17 through Oct. 31. Cedar Point will be open 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday nights (only a portion of the park is open); noon to midnight on Saturdays; and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays. (On Sunday, Oct. 10, the park will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

For more information, including attractions, entertainment and hours of operation, please visit halloweekends.com or call the park’s General Information Line at 419.627.2350.

North American In-Water Boat Show

The North American In-Water Boat Show will drop anchor in the Cedar Point Marina for the 38th consecutive year from Wednesday through Sunday, Sept. 15-19.

The Cedar Point Boat Show will be the largest in-water boat show on the Great Lakes and will feature hundreds of the newest power and sail boats, equipment and accessories. This year, visitors will be able to enjoy the Boats Under $15,000 and Boats $15,000-$25,000 pavilions, the Brokerage Pier and the Demo Dock and Sail Pier. A variety of other activities and the always-popular Party Barge will also be available.

Regular admission is $9 for adults and $7 for seniors (age 60 and older), while children, age 12 and younger, are free. Hours for the boat show will be noon to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, Sept. 15-17; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 18; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 19.

For more information about these events, please log onto to cedarpoint.com or call Cedar Point’s General Information Line at 419.627.2350.

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories, Rides, RollerCoasters

Cedar Fair Wins Top Honors

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Cedar Fair Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio – Families looking for world-class fun and thrills will want to find their closest Cedar Fair Entertainment Company amusement or water park as the company earned several top honors at Amusement Today’s 2010 Golden Ticket Awards celebration, including the coveted “Best Amusement Park in the World” honor for its flagship Cedar Point amusement park/resort in Ohio. This marks the 13th consecutive year that Cedar Point has earned that title.

Cedar Fair also took home top honors for having the “Best Kids’ Area” for the 10th year in a row at Kings Island amusement park, in Mason, Ohio, and the “Best Steel Roller Coaster in the World” for its record-shattering Millennium Force roller coaster at Cedar Point.

“We are honored to receive these prestigious awards,” stated Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We strive to provide our guests with the absolute best in thrills, chills and family fun and these awards are a testament to that.”

Two new roller coasters made their highly-anticipated debuts this summer – Intimidator at Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., and Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion in Virginia and both were a huge hit with coaster lovers. Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion earned the No. 2 spot in the “Best New Ride for 2010” category, while Intimidator at Carowinds came in at No. 4. Both scream machines also earned a spot in the “Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters in the World” list, along with numerous other Cedar Fair roller coasters. In fact, Cedar Fair placed nine coasters in the Top 25 alone, including four of the Top 10! Three Cedar Fair wooden coasters earned spots in the “Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters in the World” category, with the legendary Beast at Kings Island finishing in the Top 10.

Guests looking for even more thrills and chills will enjoy special Halloween-themed events at a majority of Cedar Fair’s parks this fall. Two of these events, Knott’s Scary Farm and Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt, earned Top 5 billing in the “Best Halloween Event” category.

Other awards included Gilroy Gardens placing No. 3 for “Best Landscaping” and Knott’s Berry Farm placing fourth in the “Best Kids’ Area” category.

The Golden Ticket Awards are some of the most prestigious awards in the amusement industry. They are presented annually to the “best of the best” in the industry and are calculated from an international poll conducted by Amusement Today, an Arlington, Texas-based publication that covers amusement and water park news and trends.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: “FUN”) is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. The Company, which owns and operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels, is one of the largest regional amusement park operators in the world. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in California under a management contract. Cedar Fair’s flagship park, Cedar Point, has been consistently voted the “Best Amusement Park in the World” in a prestigious annual poll conducted by Amusement Today newspaper.

Admission, Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Weather + new rides + better economy = strong summer for Cedar Fair parks

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

Cedar Point isn’t the only Cedar Fair property that had a strong summer.

Cedar Fair has seen a $32 million increase in revenues so far in 2010, according to company officials.

Most of the extra revenue comes from a major increase in attendance at its 11 amusement parks and six water parks. About 18.7 million people visited the Cedar Fair parks this year, up 5 percent from last year.

Officials attributed the strong performance to investments in new rides, a better economy and great weather.

Although the economy hasn’t seen significant improvement, most of the mass layoffs that dominated the headlines last year have ended, which has helped the parks, said Lee Alexakos, Cedar Fair’s vice president of marketing and advertising.

“I think, last year, people were really nervous with all the layoffs,” Alexakos said. “The economy hasn’t seen a marked improvement, but it has stabilized. All those layoffs — that has leveled off.”

Cedar Fair’s new rides have also drawn big crowds.

In Sandusky, the arrival of Shoot the Rapids, a water ride, perfectly coincided with a summer sizzling with record heat.

And two new roller coasters at Cedar Fair parks in North Carolina and Virginia drew major interest.

The southern region, which contains those two parks, has done especially well, with a 13 percent increase in attendance.

“Both coasters are unlike anything the South had before,” Alexakos said. “Those were a big hit down there.”

Online promotions, season-pass changes at California’s Knott’s Berry Farm and targeted marketing strategies to groups like the military and Facebook fans have all helped too, officials said.

“We are pleased with our overall performance this summer,” Dick Kinzel, the company’s chairman, said in a press release. “We are hopeful this will continue as we enter our award-winning Halloween season.”