SANDUSKY — When businessmen George A. Roose and Emile Legros announced their intention to buy Cedar Point in 1956, their plans to turn the amusement park into a residential district quickly went awry.
Public outcry was fierce. The G.A. Boeckling Co., which had ushered Cedar Point into prosperity during the amusement park boom of the early 20th century and then into quiet decline following the Great Depression, responded with lawsuits; Ohio government officials quickly formed a committee to purchase the peninsula rather than see the park razed.
While few flocked to state legislature to prevent Cedar Fair LP’s merger with Six Flags Entertainment Corp. on July 1, the union of these industry titans has inspired plenty of trepidation from locals — and for many of the same reasons.
America’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coast
Twenty-five years after Mr. Roose and Mr. Legros pivoted to investing in the park’s future, Cedar Point’s head of marketing, John Hildebrant, climbed the 131-foot-tall drop tower Demon Drop as dawn approached.
Halfway there, he looked down at the dark lake and realized he couldn’t go any farther.
It turned out all right: A fellow manager reached the summit and dropped the lift so the cameramen could finish shooting a TV spot that would launch one of Cedar Point’s most successful ad campaigns.
Departing from typical cotton-candy munching amusement park shots in favor of an edgier, thrill-seeking teen audience, 1983’s Demon Drop marketing blitz debuted on the precipice of something new.
From southern California to southern Ohio, coaster culture was already on the rise when Cedar Point built Magnum XL-200 in 1989.
Not just the tallest, fastest, and steepest coaster in the world, Magnum was the first coaster to break the 200-foot barrier. Its tremendous success sharpened a public appetite for thrill-seeking.
“It changed the whole industry,” former Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel said in an interview with The Blade. “Roller coasters really drew the attendance. People of all ages love the roller coasters, until this day they do. They really are now the cornerstone of most amusement parks.”
For the next two decades, Mr. Kinzel worked with Mr. Hildebrandt’s marketing team and Lee Jewett, Cedar Fair’s head of planning and design, to bring bigger and better coasters to the park.
Cedar Point “wrote the book” on marketing huge coasters, Mr. Hildebrandt said, as each new ride touted some signifier, whether it was the tallest or the fastest or had the most inversions.
Notable additions to Cedar Point’s lineup included the world’s first 300-foot coaster, Millennium Force, in 2000, and the world’s first 400-foot coaster, the original Top Thrill Dragster, in 2003. From 1997 to 2013, Cedar Point won Amusement Today’s Best Amusement Park in the World Golden Ticket award.
“We broke a lot of new ground. We were the first seasonal park, traditional and seasonal park, that turned into a big super park, a huge brand,” Mr. Hildebrandt said. “We weren’t built from scratch. We evolved over a long period of time.”
Mr. Kinzel left in 2012, Mr. Hildebrandt in 2013; their retirements closed a chapter of park management stretching back to Mr. Roose and Mr. Legros.
Coaster culture
As Cedar Point expanded into larger markets, national television programs highlighted the country’s largest rides, and internet forums grew, a small but dedicated base of thrill-seekers grew into the modern coaster enthusiast movement.
Fans join groups like the American Coaster Enthusiasts, which boasts more than 7,000 members. Interest in Cedar Point and its sister parks, Michigan’s Adventure and Kings Island, is so high that ACE has separated Ohio and Michigan into its own Eastern Great Lakes region.
Cedar Point’s role in coaster history isn't lost on David Chapman, an amusement park enthusiast who moderates the Facebook group Cedar Point Memories.
“They’ve always been known for their record-breaking thrill rides and coasters,” Mr. Chapman said. “That’s definitely what put them on the map.”
Chapman has trekked from his native Detroit 17 times to visit Cedar Point this season alone. And while he and his family have popped into every major amusement park in the country, the Sandusky park remains special as the one he grew up with.
“A lot of people have a lot of deep roots in this park. They’ve been coming all their lives, and they have a lot of memories here,” Mr. Chapman said.
His Facebook group lets him stir those up for its nearly 50,000 members. There, all types, from die-hard enthusiast to casual fan, reminisce about a park that holds multigenerational memories.
“It’s like we’re rooted with the park. We’re a part of the park,” he said.
Balancing act
Cedar Point’s transition from regional darling to the flagship of a nationwide amusement park chain has included its fair share of growing pains.
Under Mr. Roose and Mr. Legros, Cedar Point drastically revamped and expanded resort and marina offerings, also installing a variety of new attractions, from live entertainment to an antique steam engine locomotive to the themed Frontier Trail. In 1964, Cedar Point opened the first new coaster in over 30 years, The Blue Streak.
Some fans believe that, when coasters took center stage during Mr. Kinzel’s tenure, Cedar Point’s thrill-seeking focus left families by the wayside.
“I think their finances are packaged more toward getting people in the door and collecting that money whether people go on rides or not,” said Russ Hauden, who founded the Cedar Point Memories Facebook group.
This cycle kicks off whenever Cedar Point builds a new coaster, according to Tony Clark, the park’s communications director.
“The common comment we get in that year is ‘We need more attractions for families,’ so then we build a new attraction for families and the families are happy, then the thrill seekers do the same thing, and they say, ‘Where’s the next, you know, 800-foot-tall roller coaster?’”
On Friday, Clark announced that Cedar Point would be permanently closing the log flume ride Snake River Falls after the 2024 season to make room for an unannounced future expansion. Its last operating day will be Sept. 2.
Recent family-friendly additions include last year’s, Wild Mouse coaster, which has a height minimum of 48 inches alone and 42 inches accompanied. And through Aug. 18, Boardwalk Nights includes live performances, glow-in-the-dark volleyball, and other beach-themed events.
Much of Boardwalk Nights is free with admission, a welcome change in a time when it feels like costs come around every corner.
Guests who walk up to Cedar Point’s cash-free ticket sales counter will be faced with an $85 price tag for daily admission, compared to $38 in 2000, about $15 higher than inflation accounts for. In 1988, the first year Cedar Point admission was based on height rather than age, tickets were $16.95, or approximately $46 in today’s dollars, nearly half of today’s gate price.
But as Hildebrandt relates in his 2018 memoir Always Cedar Point, “only a crazy person pays full price for a Cedar Point ticket.” In the Internet era, the gate price is no longer representative of how much people are paying to attend the park.
Online, a single adult ticket costs $64.99, and frequent promotions lower those prices further. Season pass sales have eclipsed day tickets, ranging from $99 at their lowest and increasing incrementally as the season gears up.
Cedar Point makes up for customers’ season pass savings with money-making strategies like the Fast Lane and Fast Lane Plus add-ons, which allow guests to bypass the wait for many of the park’s rides. Because ride operators prioritize the Fast Lane add-ons queue system, guests in the regular line experience longer wait times.
Fast Lane Plus, which includes the most popular coasters, starts at $120 and ranges to $199, per person in addition to admission.
Ride closures are an especially difficult pill to swallow for those who’ve paid hundreds or even thousands in add-ons.
After the 2021 incident where a guest was seriously injured while waiting in line for the coaster, Cedar Point reworked Top Thrill Dragster and relaunched it this year as Top Thrill 2. The ride was closed indefinitely on May 12 for modifications, only eight days after it launched.
Of course, Top Thrill 2’s closure is only a problem because people want to ride it.
In 1960, the park hit one million attendees. In 1965, it conquered two million for the first time.
Cedar Point has regularly topped three million visitors since the 1976 debut of the Corkscrew roller coaster. For decades, it has remained the most visited seasonal amusement park in the United States.
Merger worries
Many wonder what’s to become of their regional park now that its rise to international prominence has resulted in a high-profile merger.
Enthusiasts hope that Six Flags and Cedar Fair will jettison problem areas, keeping the best of both for improved experiences across all the chain’s parks. Others fear cost cutting measures will inevitably result in poorer — and pricier — guest experiences.
“As long as Six Flags and Cedar Fair come together and remember the things that are special about each of those properties,” the merger will be a net positive as the national Six Flags brand expands, said Carissa Baker, a University of Central Florida assistant professor who specializes in theme park studies.
Cedar Point’s Mr. Clark is selling the big picture.
“We’ve touted roller coasters for a very long time, and that will always be in our DNA. But we also look to cater to people who are not just interested in roller coasters,” Mr. Clark said. “The more attractions we add and the more improvements we make to the property, the less time there is to see and do it all.”
Promoting Cedar Point’s entire package, from rides to resorts, caters to those looking for a multi-day trip. Making coasters one element of a larger experience harks back to the peninsula’s beach-and-beer garden roots; the difference is that locals won’t be likely to pay for the resort packages they entail.
Whatever comes next, it's safe to say that it won’t be those 1,000 ranch-style homes once envisioned by Mr. Roose and Mr. Legros.
Nor is it the same park they left behind.
“Cedar Point is Cedar Point. It’s one of the great brands in our part of the world,” Mr. Hildebrandt said. “I think its best days are still ahead of it.”
First Published August 2, 2024, 10:07 p.m.
