The full lowdown on Wild Frontier Nights

Editor's note: Justin Dietz is a Register correspondent representing CPFoodBlog.com and @CPFoodBlog on Twitter. The first night of Wild Frontier Nights is in the books, and the evening was filled with unlimited rides, wild entertainment and exclusively food and drinks. Cedar Point is offering an exclusive adults-only, age 21 and over, event that closes down Frontier Town for an after-hours party. Before getting deep into the details, let's talk about the general preconceived consensus of the event. The common theme from the general public is Wild Frontier Nights is overpriced for only three hours of access to the park. So let's dive into that argument. Up until June 17, Cedar Point's regular operating hours are only until 8 p.m. due to staffing and the high costs of payroll. Wild Frontier Nights is after the park closes, from 9 p.m. till midnight. This requires a large staff to operate rides, security, food and beverage, live entertainment both on stage and behind the scenes. Therefore, a lot of upfront costs need to be covered to make the event viable. During the Wild Frontier Nights, guests get access to unlimited rides on Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Maverick, Skyhawk, Steel Vengeance and Wave Swinger — though, oddly, the swings were not in operation during the opening night of the event. Considering, at most, there were only about 150 to 200 people at opening night, riding the attractions as much as guests wanted was not a problem. From what we experienced, everything was walk-on or station wait. Only factoring in the rides, a day guest to the park that purchases Fast Lane Plus access, it starts at $114 to $249, can ride all of the Wild Frontier Nights attractions with the exception of the Mine Ride. With all the regular guests, we would venture to guess riding attractions like Maverick and Steel Vengeance could be limited. For a true ride warrior that only cares about riding marquee roller coasters, Wild Frontier Nights provides a great opportunity to get on as many rides as guests want. They were allowing guests to continuously ride so long as no one else was in line and wanted your seat. This means guests could easily ride every 5 minutes on Maverick and Steel Vengeance, which would never happen during the day with Fast Lane Plus. For ride benefit alone, which we would argue is the target audience, some would find tremendous value in Wild Frontier Nights. Now add on top of it a quiet evening in the park at night with a very low number of guests, and the value starts to peak out under the initial sticker shock. Throughout Frontier Town, there is also mechanical bull riding, ax throwing, learning to rope, a chainsaw carving demonstration, Bands in Residence and live entertainment performing throughout the night. The key must-see performance is Lusty Lil's Rough & Rowdy Revue. This adult version of the daytime show is a wild and risqué twist headlined by none other than Lusty Lil, played by Jade Jones, who does a fantastic job hosting the evening and living up to the show's heritage. Then comes the exclusive food and beverage being served throughout the event. Guests appeared to love the specialty cocktails — such as The Lusty Lil, The Rambler, and Avengeance — served in exclusive souvenir mason jars and cowboy boot cups. There was also a bourbon tasting station which appeared quite popular. The chefs debuted a whole menu of specialty menu items that included a Juicy Lucy Mac and Cheese Slider, Over the Top Milkshakes, and a whole bar o build your own s'mores. The menu item was exclusive to the event and different that the daytime Frontier Festival menu. The night was capped with an evening show tune from the Lusty Lil cast and fireworks leading guests off into the evening skies. While Wild Frontier Nights might not be for everyone, due to the high price of entry, that actually plays into the benefits for those looking to get the most out of night rides. While this event is a first test run for the park, we could see something similar being rolled out in the future, possibly with additional areas of the park that could bring the value benefit more in line with a wider audience willing to pay for the privilege.