Cedar Point has been considered the “World’s Greatest Amusement Park” for many years now. Enthusiasts and general public all over the world agree that this little paradise located in Sandusky, Ohio truly is a dream park. For the 2003 season, the park plans to open their 16th roller coaster, the world record-breaking “Top Thrill Dragster,” a colossal 420-foot “strata-coaster” that redefines the term “speed” and races into the record books as the biggest and fastest roller coaster ever! I got a chance to sit down and talk with Janice Witherow, the Public Relations Manager at Cedar Point, to chat about this and a number of other topics. Here is what she had to say:

Brett Stevens: Let’s begin by having you tell us a little bit about yourself – who you are and how you got this job with Cedar Point.

Janice Witherow: Well, I’ve actually been working at Cedar Point now for 12 years – it’s really a long time when I think about it. Even from the time I was young, I have never worked anywhere besides an amusement park. Growing up in Santa Claus, Indiana, I started out working at the world famous Holiday World as everything from a ride operator to games operator to guest relations representative. I spent about 6 summers at Holiday world before applying for an internship at Opryland, which was in Nashville, about 45 minutes away from where I went to college in Kentucky. In my senior year of college, I only had three classes so I wanted to do an internship like this. Considering the fact that I had the experience with Holiday World, I thought this would be something fun. I was accepted as an intern in the Public
Relations deparment there, so I partook in that internship for about a year. After interning at Opryland, I knew I wanted to enter the PR profession, but not necessarily at an amusement park — but something in the travel/entertainment business. I did a lot of research on places and companies I would consider working for and sent out loads of resumes and went on a lot of interviews. There was a place in Sandusky, Ohio, that I had heard of called Cedar Point — they had just opened the Magnum XL-200 the year before. I was at the right place at the right time because a PR position was available, and I was hired. That was in June of 1990. The park has grown by leaps and bounds since I started, and I am so proud to be part of it all. I really believe I work for the best amusement park in the world, and it is packed with character, history and tradition — those are things that make Cedar Point so special.

I actually met my husband, Brian, through Cedar Point! He is the corporate director of investor relations for Cedar Fair, L.P., which owns and operates Cedar Point. In 1995, CNN was at the park shooting for one of its business programs, and I needed assistance from him for one of the interviews — the rest, they say, is history.

Brett Stevens: What are your personal favorite roller coasters and what do you like about them?

Janice Witherow: Well, my all-time favorite roller coaster, hands-down, has to be Millennium Force. I just think a great roller coaster is something that never lets up from start to finish. Prior to riding Millennium Force, I had NEVER experienced something like that on a roller coaster, something that didn’t let up at all. In my mind, those attributes definitely make Millennium Force my favorite roller coaster. However, we’ve yet to experience Top Thrill Dragster – that might be the only thing that can change my mind.

However, Shivering Timbers at Michigan’s Adventure is without a doubt my favorite wooden coaster. I just think it’s an amazing coaster – loads of fun and loads of airtime. I remember the first time I was riding it, and I was just in love with it. There’s so much airtime, they might as well not have seats on it!

Brett Stevens: Cedar Point has a strong reputation for going above and beyond guest expectations. How does the treatment of guests affect the popularity of the
park?

Janice Witherow: I think that’s vital to the success of Cedar Point. We focus on courtesy and guest services so much, along with the other cornerstones at Cedar Point – safety, cleanliness, and all-around fun. The Cedar Point Human Resources department certainly deserves a lot of credit, as they motivate our employees and actually search for what are considered the greatest seasonal amusement park employees.

Brett Stevens: Cedar Point is sort of out on its own on a peninsula with not many immediate surroundings. Does this mean there are no zoning or height restrictions for the park?

Janice Witherow: That’s a good question – probably one of the most frequently asked questions here at Cedar Point. We’re always asked about how much room we have left to build, and the fact of the matter is that we have a whole Planning & Design Department. Their whole job is to come up with ways to build new rides and attractions on the peninsula. Whenever possible, we try not to get rid of an existing attraction when building a new ride. We try to move things around instead of completely removing them. However, yes – we work with the city of Sandusky on zoning issues, but we do have certain benefits considering we’re out on a peninsula and surrounded on three sides by water. We don’t have any neighbors to contend for the most part, such as other parks do. So we obviously do have our advantages aside from the overall uniqueness of being located on a peninsula.

Brett Stevens: It has been said that you began thinking of bringing a 400-footer to the park immediately after Millennium Force opened. Considering you plan so far ahead, does this mean you’ll be thinking of what you can do next immediately after Top Thrill Dragster opens?

Janice Witherow: We work based on a five-year plan at Cedar Point. We have strategic planning committee that looks long-term at the park, so we pretty much know what we’re doing five years from now. Technology is forever changing, so we may know that we’re putting a roller coaster in – however, it may not be defined as what type of roller coaster until a few years out based on the technology that’s available. Like I said, we basically have a good idea of what we’re doing down the road. However – with Top Thrill Dragster – it was pretty evident after we opened Millennium Force that we had something special on our hands. We loved the idea of raw speed, so we immediately began looking at drag racing and how we could incorporate the idea of drag racing into a world-class roller coaster. Fortunately, Intamin was able to take us there to this new threshold of speed and the new barrier of height with the new roller coaster. We’re forever looking at technology, although it keeps changing, but at the same time we’re forever serving our guests and asking them what they would like to see at Cedar Point. Time and time again, the number one answer is roller coasters, while the second answer is typically water rides. We have to keep in mind that although we are a roller coaster park, we also attract families that aren’t into the incredibly tall and fast roller coasters. We have to add things for those guests and well, and the family market is extremely important to us. The thing we want people to realize is that Cedar Point is much more than a regional amusement park – it’s an all-around family resort.

Brett Stevens: We’ve seen coasters of many different sizes at Cedar Point. You’ve worked mainly with Intamin on the more recent coasters. How high can these companies build before they reach their limit?

Janice Witherow: Well, you know – when building a tall roller coaster like Top Thrill Dragster, there’s several things you have to keep in mind. First, the park has to have enough space to build a ride of that magnitude. They also need to have the funds to back the investment, and as long as you have those things, things can work themselves out. The manufacturers are using all sorts of technology when designing these very tall and very fast roller coasters. As long as the technology produces a ride that is safe and the demand from our visitors is still there, the sky is truly the limit. I think we are going to see the trend continue as far as these massive rides go, although I believe the trend right now is to implement family-scale rides into these parks.

Brett Stevens: What does Cedar Point like about working with Intamin? Describe the whole process of what goes into contracting a company to build you a ride.

Janice Witherow: Intamin definitely proved themselves with Millennium Force. When we had the idea to go beyond 300 feet, we approached several manufacturers. They later came back to us with their ideas and how to achieve the height and speed we were looking for. As far as Intamin went, we really liked what they brought to the table with the cable lift system. It was something very unique and different, and it works out perfectly with the limited space we have on the peninsula. Because Millennium Force is so tall, a traditional chain lift would have been far too gradual and take up too much room. The elevator cable system really allowed us to go extremely high in a small amount of time while taking up a small amount of space. Intamin has been very good to work with, and we’re proud to have a few of their world-class roller coasters.

Brett Stevens: Talk a little bit about the current relationship between Cedar Fair in general and S&S Power (Now S&S-Arrow). Two of their “Absolutely Insane” (VertiGo) models were opened at Cedar Fair and Knott’s Berry Farm. After the incident occured where your version snapped, what sort of terms are you on with the manufacturer?

Janice Witherow: We’re actually on good terms with S&S. They have produced an excellent ride in Power Tower at Cedar Point along with similar rides at other Cedar Fair properties. However, with VertiGo at Cedar Point we really felt that the negative impact of the incident would produce a decreased ridership and give the ride a bad reputation, so we made the decision to remove it from the park.

Brett Stevens: People from all over the world visit Cedar Point. How do people from all corners of the globe hear about the park, meaning how far does your advertising reach, and what groups are targeted?

Janice Witherow: Well, people do visit Cedar Point from not only all over the country, but all over the world as well. We certainly pride ourselves in knowing that we’ve got strong enough of a following to have all of these people hear about the park and want to come visit. We’re seeing an increase in attendance from our international visitors as well as our outer market. I think our unusual location on a Lake Erie peninsula puts us at a great advantage, and it truly is a beautiful place to be. We do have four resort hotels, the marina, cottages, cabins, and hotels, so we like to think those things attract people into visiting for maybe not a whole week, but at least a couple days. It truly is the ideal location for that type of things. With our advertising, we shoot for within about a 300-mile radius of Cedar Point. The rest of it is really publicity – with 16 roller coasters and the fact that we’re continually adding the biggest, fastest, and tallest roller coasters (and we’d like to think the best of their kind), we attract a huge amount of publicity. This is something that our Media Relations department works very hard at; not only to attract local and regional media, but to grab the attention of the entire nation. With the advent of the Internet, it is very advantageous for people to receive instant news and updates all over the world about a certain product, as we’ve seen with Top Thrill Dragster.

Brett Stevens: Many people have noticed that in Top Thrill Dragster’s press releases, you call it the “first and only 400+ foot coaster in the world” without acknowledging “Superman: The Escape” at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Is this just a clever marketing ploy?

Janice Witherow: (::Laughs::) Well, we’ve gone on record since 1997 when the ride was introduced that we did not consider it a roller coaster. It is a great thrill ride, and I have been on it, but we do not consider it a roller coaster. We haven’t been shy about saying it’s a reverse freefall ride, but at the same time it’s not something that we continually bring up. We respect Magic Mountain and I think they have mutual respect for Cedar Point – it’s just a
difference of opinion in defining a roller coaster. It’s somewhat of a gray area in the middle of being a roller coaster and a drop ride. Some enthusiasts consider the ride a roller coaster while others do not, and we at Cedar Point happen to not consider it a coaster. It’s honestly not an issue for Cedar Point, although the media and enthusiasts seem to bring it up often because it may be a fun topic to debate.

Brett Stevens: When Cedar Point initially began talks with Intamin in order to bring a coaster like Top Thrill Dragster to life, what was the reaction of the manufacturer?

Janice Witherow: I am not privied to those very early conversations. I do know, however, that discussions began as early as three years ago after we opened Millennium Force. At that time, it was a very small, tight circle of people that were involved in the project. I was brought into the circle a little more than a year ago on a marketing standpoint when Cedar Point needed some help with the publicity side of things. Unfortunately, as much as I would like to have access to those conversations, I just don’t.

Brett Stevens: It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that $25 million is a huge investment for a single attraction. With the popularity Millennium Force has garnered, it was definitely worth the investment. Do you think the case will be the same with Top Thrill Dragster? How long do you think the buzz will last?

Janice Witherow: We are very comfortable and confident with our investment for Top Thrill Dragster. Already, our publicity has reached people all over the world and we have seen a response like nothing before. The buzz has already surpassed Millennium Force, and that’s something I never thought I would see. We are very optimistic about this summer and what Top Thrill Dragster will do for Cedar Point.

Brett Stevens: What kind of year are you looking for in regard to attendance? Can you see another record-breaking year in the forecast?

Janice Witherow: Well, because Cedar Point is part of a publically traded company, we do not release attendance projections. Of course we have set internal attendance goals, and we are hopeful that with the right weather, the right response, and the right economy, we’ll be able to achieve those goals. We definitely think we’ve got the ride of the year to talk about in the amusement industry, and we’re happy with that.

Brett Stevens: Compare the Cedar Point experience with that of other parks. What do you do differently that puts the park at the top of many lists?

Janice Witherow: I think with Cedar Point, it’s several things. We’ve talked about location, and I don’t think any other park in the world can lay claim to such an unusual location for an amusement park. You’ll hear it again and again – location, location, location; and while location is important, I think the history of the park (132 years!) is a huge factor in the popularity. Many people have so many memories of Cedar Point, and they’ve grown up with those memories. Families pass down the Cedar Point memories from generation to generation, and I think that the history and location, coupled with our 16 roller coasters and the resort atmosphere, is a very unique blend for a world-class amusement resort.

Brett Stevens: In 1989, Cedar Point opened Magnum XL-200, the world’s first 200+ foot coaster. Just about 10 years later, we saw Millennium Force, the world’s first 300+ foot coaster. Just 3 years later, we’re already looking at a 400-footer. I’m sure this is on everyone’s mind, but is a 500-footer next on the agenda?

Janice Witherow: (::Laughs::) Oh gosh – I’m not even aware of what’s on the agenda anywhere past 2004, so it’s hard to say. There has to be that strong demand, not only from the enthusiasts but from the general public as well. The reason we’re so interested is because we never know which one will be the “spectator ride,” where people come into the park and watch it but don’t ride it. I think it’s going to be an interesting summer seeing the reaction to the ride.

Brett Stevens: How high do you think you can you go before the demand becomes minimal and not substantial enough to keep going higher?

Janice Witherow: It’s really hard to say. With Millennium Force, we thought – 300 feet, is this going to be a roller coaster that people watch from the midway? I mean, clearly it wasn’t, but we’ll see what happens with Top Thrill Dragster. As long as the technology is available and the demand is there from the general public, I think we can pull anything off. However, we are seeing a shift with the “baby boomers” and demographics, and that’s something we’re always looking at. There’s no doubt that if you look across the country, family rides and attractions are the frontrunners. They’re the biggest thing in the amusement industry right now along with the incredible new roller coasters.

Brett Stevens: Now that you’ve got all sorts of records in your possession, what’s next for Cedar Point?

Janice Witherow: Well, roller coasters are definitely our claim to fame. They are what puts Cedar Point on the map, and I think that our reputation for roller coasters will continue. However, we really want to grow Cedar Point as a resort destination. We’ve been concentrating on that for about the last 10 years, and I think we’ve done a really good job of marketing the resort side of Cedar Point. I’m sure that is something we’ll continue to focus on, although we’re going to also concentrate on the family market, which is very important to us.