Best Day to Kings Island and/or Cedar Point

[fanofFirehawk]

I have recently moved and I'm a hard time coping with it so the place that is common ground between Indy and Columbus is non other than the Best Place on Earth, Kings Island. I have plans to go a couple of times for the remainder of this season with my friends(Razy). But I was thinking of trying to set up and entire trip with the Gang. So we'd like to go the deadest day of the year. At Kings Island the most dead I have ever seen the park was during an education day, marathoning Diamondback, best day ever. But what days would you suggest for Kings Island and Cedar Point.

[jcgoble3]

For Cedar Point, I've heard that the deadest time of year is the weekend after Labor Day. At Kings Island, I would recommend a late August weekday, or a weekday in May (but be careful with the latter as those days are often dead, but are sometimes packed with school reward trips).

[PKIVortex]

Any Sunday during the Fall the park is pretty empty!

[elyk]

the last day is always pretty decent

[thoe124]

The day after kids go back to school. I'm homeschooled so I can go whenever!

Edit: rainy Sundays in October!

[DiamondAceExpress]

How busy does Cedar Point tend to be Labor Day weekend?

[thedevariouseffect]

Usually busy, comparable to a good day in June

[fanofFirehawk]

How busy does Cedar Point tend to be Labor Day weekend?

100th post. Woot Woot.

[DiamondAceExpress]

Yay, rah! Sis, boom, bah!!!

[purdude86]

Most weekdays in general dont' seem too bad for Kings Island. I always try to go then. May can get a bi busy with school trips but usually not terrible and will die off later in the day when they head back. And August after they head back to class is great too. But should be good with a Tuesday or Wednesday especially anytime.

Most waits I have experienced then are around 10-15 minutes. Firehawk is one of the few exceptions since it has slower load times and such.

[MrSaturdayNite]

I'm looking at taking my first trip to the Point for one or two weekdays during the week of May 19th. What can I expect crowd-wise?

[thedevariouseffect]

I refer you to one of my favorite links on Pointbuzz here.

[MrSaturdayNite]

Sarcastic, yet helpful. I like it. Thanks.

[thedevariouseffect]

Figured I'd give you the best channel of information, all of that is true. Crowd prediction is darn near impossible. There have been beautiful days in the beginning of the season that I was surprised it was dead empty, I mean practically every ride was sending almost full empties. Then some days where the park was packedfor no reason like a random Monday, just hella packed, no sense at all.

Only day I will habitually tell you to avoid the park is Columbus Day, worst day of the year, every year, for like ever.

[PhantomTheater]

Weekdays in May at CP expect school groups, lots of them.

[Sebastien6221]

I wonder if after Soak City is open would be better than when it isnt, because alot of people will go to the waterpark, i've never been there when it wasnt opened though.

[The Interpreter]

Soak City Cedar Point is not the major draw that Soak City Kings Island is, for a multitude of reasons--from climate to resort park to competing interests outside the park to pricing.

[BB1]

Both! At both you will have a best day!

[Hoeter]

I've had luck at Kings Island during the week where it's been 20 minutes or less for each ride in the park.

Cedar Point, not sure of. Looking to get up there on a Friday at some point this season.

[homestar92]

It's worth noting that in my experience, most of the principles in that post about Cedar Point apply to Kings Island as well. I never thought about the closing time being a factor.

Looks like I done good picking days for Canada's Wonderland when the park closes at 6.

[malem]

I've found KI's crowds to be much easier to predict that CP's. KI has a larger percentage of local guests who can easily come back another day.

CP was packed all three times I visited last season: a Tuesday in May (8pm close, not during Math & Science Days), a ridiculously stormy Thursday in July, and a HalloWeekends Sunday (8pm close).

This year, I'm thinking of trying a Sunday in May, CoasterMania for the first time, a Tuesday or Wednesday in mid-June, and/or the first Sunday of HalloWeekends.

[The Interpreter]

(Then there is the esoteric art of crowd prediction at NJFTP or SFGAm--darn near a fool's errand!)

[jcgoble3]

My two visits to Cedar Point were June 20 to 24, 2011, and June 6 and 7, 2013. All seven of those days saw temperatures of barely 70°F or less and overcast skies, usually with an ever-present threat of rain, thunder, and lightning. All seven of those days featured extremely light crowds, with waits of 15 to 20 minutes for Millie, 20 to 30 minutes for TTD, 15 to 20 minutes for Maverick, and so on. Often there was no significant difference between morning ERT and normal operation.

All I'm saying is that if you live close enough to have the luxury of making plans on one or two days' notice, watch the weather report very closely.

jcgoble3, who doesn't have the luxury but somehow managed to luck out both times (Can he do it again? Find out in 2015!)

[malem]

Find out in 2015!

As a reminder, if you signed up for the "Coaster Campout" camp site lottery at CP, you are entitled to free admission (plus ERT and meals) on the dates of that event.

If you can't attend, I'm sure they would appreciate knowing in advance.

[jcgoble3]

Yeah, there's a little thing called "the cost of a hotel room" (shut up Devan, I'm not sleeping in my car ) that will keep me from making the trip. Also, I never received any email at all from them, even to tell me that I wasn't selected. So I don't know how to even contact the people responsible for the event. Maybe there are other people who can tell me how to contact them (hint, hint ).

[malem]

^ You could e-mail Tony; I'm not sure who's handling registration for that event. Presumably they'll send out a reminder e-mail with contact details, lest some simply forget about it.

Parking overnight on CP property generally isn't allowed without a parking sticker or a marina/resorts parking pass. Devan would probably try to get a Kalahari meetup going that night.

[thedevariouseffect]

I won't be here by that point..

And who said park and sleep in the parking lot inside the park haha

There are plenty of dirt cheap perfect hotel/motels outside of the park just open your eyes.

[jcgoble3]

By the time I would spend $40 to $50 on gas for the round-trip, there's nothing left for a hotel close enough to the park for the short night. And honestly, with a night that short, and knowing my ability to wake up on short sleep and drive, I would really have to fork over the money to stay at Hotel Breakers if I wanted to do it so I wouldn't have to drive anywhere in the morning. And that destroys my budget right there.

[OldieButGoodie]

For Cedar Point, I've heard that the deadest time of year is the weekend after Labor Day. At Kings Island, I would recommend a late August weekday, or a weekday in May (but be careful with the latter as those days are often dead, but are sometimes packed with school reward trips).

We went first week of June last week and had walk-on to nearly everything including Gatekeeper. The only long lines were for Maverick and MF at the end of the week.

[thedevariouseffect]

Gatekeeper is somewhat easy to get a walk on some days IMO..that crew and ride can cycle riders like no other, quite a beautiful people mover.

Our new B&M had better end up like that, sans full time employees or area sups..

*crosses fingers*