Gatekeeper Media Day
So seeing as I’ve never been to a Media Day event, I thought it might be fun to let everyone know what these spectacular events are like from the view of a first timer.
I started my day at 1am since I live in Michigan and it takes me over two hours to drive to the point. We arrived around 3:30am and had to wait in the parking lot a few minutes before we were allowed to get in line at the gate. When we finally lined up, we waited about 20 minutes before we walked into Guest Services and received our Gatekeeper lanyards, an event itinerary, a coupon for a free on-ride photo, and a coupon for a surprise souvenir to pick up when we left. The entire time we waited we were treated to the spectacular view of the testing Gatekeeper above. We immediately walked over to Gatekeeper to find tents, tables, and of course tons of media workers.
Everywhere you looked, people were being interviewed and taking pictures of the breathtaking new coaster. We waited about 20 minutes and then we were forced to make a difficult decision…RIGHT or LEFT? We decided to ride the right side first. When we got to the loading station we could see cameras mounted on the ride and multiple news crews filming people loading and unloading. I sat 5th row in the outside seat, and WOW was it amazing!
When we got off Gatekeeper we were greeted by a beautiful display of complimentary breakfast snacks and drinks. I grabbed a water bottle and a muffin and immediately decided to get back in line for the ride. This time we chose the left side, which we both ended up agreeing was the best side. When we had had enough of waiting in line, we decided to walk around and take some pictures of the ride. As we walked back up to the front of the park we noticed Donut Time and the Midway Market were now open and serving breakfast. So we grabbed some free coffee and donuts before heading back on our walk.
At 9:15 the Grand Opening Ceremony began. John Hildebrandt kicked it off, speaking to a crowd of hundreds of enthusiastic fans and reporters. The ceremony continued for about 20 minutes and when it ended we decided to explore the park. We walked around for about an hour, watching all the ride operators prepare themselves for the weekend. The funniest part was listening to them recite their spiels to a bunch of empty seats, especially when they said “Welcome back riders! How was your ride?”
As we made our way back around to the front we were treated to more free food at Coasters, consisting of cheeseburgers, fries and pop. When we finished our food we noticed Raptor was now open and running. We rode Raptor twice and then made our way back to Gatekeeper for a few more laps. When we had had enough on that ride we followed the crowd back to Millennium Force which was also now open for our enjoyment. We finished out our day riding Gatekeeper front row, which quickly became our favorite spot. The lines at this point were almost non-existent and if it wasn’t for the lack of sleep and long drive home we would have ridden it as many times as humanly possible. On our way out we redeemed our souvenir coupons and received a nice black Gatekeeper messenger bag. It was filled with loads of Cedar Point information, a nice surprise read for the ride home. Overall, I found my first Media Day experience to be AMAZING, and would like to thank Cedar Point for such a wonderful time!
By Britt McMillan
