Summer, fall seasons strong

Steel Vengeance coaster a ‘star’

The 2018 season is in the books for Cedar Point, and it was a good one.

The Steel Vengeance roller coaster, new in 2018, earned an industry award.

The park continues to showcase its food, shows and beach on Lake Erie.

The fall-season Halloweekends scored national recognition from USA Today.

And the weather generally cooperated.

“All those things combined to provide kind of a perfect scenario for guests to visit,” said Tony Clark, director of communications for the Sanduskybased amusement park. “We were very pleased with the results.”

Steel Vengeance

Cedar Point dubbed the new Steel Vengeance roller coaster the world’s first “hyper hybrid” ride, with steel track set atop the tweaked wood structure of the old Mean Streak ride.

The park claimed nine other world records for hybrid wood

and metal coasters. Steel Vengeance debuted as the world’s tallest hybrid at 205 feet, fastest at 74 mph, longest at 5,740 feet. It has a 200-foot, 90-degree drop for the longest and steepest first hill; there are four inversions and air time at 73 mph, which are all records.

Riders spend a total of 27.2 seconds floating, the most airtime of a hybrid or any roller coaster.

Steel Vengeance netted the 2018 best new ride honor in the Golden Ticket Awards presented by Amusement Today industry magazine.

“Steel Vengeance really was the star,” said Tony Clark, director of communications for Cedar Point. “If you like roller coasters that do really cool things, this was the one.

“I don’t think I’ve ever opened a ride here where every single reaction was, ‘This is the best ride I’ve ever been on,’” he said. “This ride has performed beyond our expectations. The guest reaction to it has been positive from opening to closing.”

It may stand unrivalled for some time due to its record size, which makes the ride an attraction special for Cedar Point and for Ohio overall, Clark said.

Cedar Point Shores

Hot temperatures were a boon for Cedar Point Shores waterpark, Clark said.

“If it’s a hot summer day, people tend to flock there,” he said. Cedar Point does not release exact attendance figures for the park.

The waterpark had an overhaul for the 2017 season and the past two years the reception has been good.

“This whole business is weather dependent so if it’s nice outside, people are going to come and visit the water park or the main park,” Clark said.

Cedar Point Nights

“Our end goal is to make Cedar Point a multi-day destination,” Clark said. It always has been, but park staff want to create a vacation destination and spread the word to families in the Midwest and beyond, he said.

“So the beach is what made us famous from the beginning,” Clark said. “That’s why people came here.”

Cedar Point Nights had five family-friendly zones.

In the park was the Hot Summer Nights, Music & Bites, with a 12-piece band playing songs with hot and cool themes. The Fire and Ice Tastebud Tour featured sample tickets for foods and flavored lemonades, including jalapeno-spiced lemonade that Clark recommended.

On the beach, Cedar Point added the Glow Zone with blacklights, the Chill

Zone with lighted plastic furniture and the Family Fun Zone with a “silent disco,” featuring music pumped through headphones for people to wear.

“That’s what makes this place so special for vacationers,” Clark said. “It’s giving guests more options for things to do while they’re here because not everyone likes to get on the roller coasters.”

Cedar Point Sports Center

In July, crews broke ground to build the new Indoor Sports Facility and The Lee C. Jewett Sports Medicine Center at the Cedar Point Sports Center, 3115 Cleveland Road in Sandusky.

The sports complex is not on the Cedar Point peninsula; it is on the mainland, across the area known as East Sandusky Bay at the former Griffing Sandusky Airport.

Cedar Point has claimed the $28 million facility will be “a first-class indoor amateur sports facility that will be the best facility in the region.”

When fully built out, the facility is expected to draw an additional 70,000 visitors with an economic effect worth up to $20 million, according to figures from the company.

Halloweekends

The fall season with Halloween-themed weekends had a surprise hit: “Hallotween Mazes,” Clark said.

The park opened three haunted houses — the Mystery of Eerie Estate, Zombie Jr. High School and Hexed: Spellbound — during the day with lighting effects, but no screamsters.

Geared for youths age 7

to 11, it was a chance for parents to take children, or for anyone, to see the haunted houses. Instead of scares, there were puzzles to move through the attractions.

“It was the biggest success, I think, of the entire event,” Clark said. “People really, really liked it. The feedback was so strong that you could definitely see that returning for next year.”

Halloweekends this year landed at No. 9 on the USA Today 10 Best list for best theme park halloween events.

Coming next year

Plans are afoot for 2019 and beyond.

The Dinosaurs Alive! Attraction closed Sept. 3. The space will become the Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island that will open next year.

Forbidden Frontier will have experiential attractions with live characters and puzzles. The inhabitants will be “a little shady,” polite, but not quite right, Clark said.

“It’s a different kind of attraction for Cedar Point,” not entirely easy to describe because it is not a show or roller coaster, he said. “It’s a multifaceted, interactive experience.”

It also is an opportunity to redevelop the island in the center of the park; many people don’t realize it is there, Clark added.

150th anniversary

Not to skip 2019, but Cedar Point staff already are planning the park’s 150th anniversary in 2020, Clark said. Details will follow over the next year.

“It’s going to be a great next two years, for sure,” Clark said.

“This ride has performed beyond our expectations. The guest reaction to it has been positive from opening to closing.”

— Tony Clark, director of communications for Cedar Point on Steel Vengeance