Cedar Point Crowds

[sixohdieselrage]

So, my wife and I, and her friend and her kids are spending the week in Sandusky. We are wanting to go to CP for a day. So, my question is:

What day out of the week is the best to go, when crowds are lightest? Obviously, the two kids are 9 and 11, so them waiting in horribly long lines is not a good thing, as they are like normal kids, impatient. They are both over 54", so can ride everything. 

The wife and I have Platinum passes, but her friend and their kids only have a KI gold pass, so we know they will have to pay admission/parking etc.

If there is another thread on this, then I apologize in advance. Just searched for it, but couldn't find something. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[King Ding Dong]

In general I would say Tuesday through Thursday but weather is a the biggest determining factor of course.  Like KI it hasn’t seemed as busy this year.  

If one of you rides with the friend and uses you platinum pass you can save on parking.   Also CPS is a separate gate so they will have to pay if you do the waterpark or get a combo ticket.  

Make sure you ride Thunder Canyon, much different than WWC.  

[sixohdieselrage]

Thank you sir!

Yeah, I knew about the free parking deal, but we are going to early entry, which they can't get. I am planning to get FL+ though. 

It's back near Frontiertown/Frontier Trail and Maverick right? 

[Gannersdaddy]

I saw that they closed today at 2 due to weather and low attendance. 

[malem]

I drove up to Cedar Point today, as I heard that most rides were operating (despite the weather) with very light crowds. I arrived at 1:35, walked onto Valravn, then got to Millennium Force (which had no line) at 1:55.

Alert on the Cedar Point app: Park closing at 2pm due to the unprecedented rainfall in our area. I managed to sprint to Steel Vengeance just as they cut the line.

Overall, a really frustrating trip. I couldn't find a previous instance of Cedar Point closing early for weather, even on days when not much more than Blue Streak and Cedar Downs operated.

[King Ding Dong]

I looked at the web cams around noon and it looked to be only one row of cars in the main lot.  

There really is little reason to close the park for weather if you have people there to spend money on stuff.   Low attendance on the other hand...  kind of sucks but it does seem to be the direction the company is heading.   It sure seemed like KI closed early quite a bit this season versus the past couple of years.  

I am actually very surprised they had as many coasters running as they did.  Weatherbug had the avg wind speed at 23 early this afternoon and anytime I have seen it get over 20 everything tall shuts down.  

Didnt you have that happen at SFGA last year?

[malem]

^ When they closed, it was scattered drizzle with winds around 20mph. GateKeeper, Raptor, Valravn, Blue Streak, Iron Dragon, Millennium Force, Rougarou, and Steel Vengeance were operating. Maverick was sending empty trains.

As a resort destination that draws people from a wider radius than most amusement parks, Cedar Point has typically followed the operating schedule to the extent possible. This was really disappointing, but I hope closing early was a fluke rather than a new normal; going to a park being affected by tropical storm remnants is always a gamble. I just wish they had given enough warning to turn around or get some rides in if already at the park.

It could always be worse. The group in front of me at Guest Services had flown in from Arizona for the weekend to visit the park today.

[King Ding Dong]

It seems logical the more a park closes early due to weather/low attendance the more hesitant the public will be taking the chance coming when there is inclement weather.  Not exactly the situation the park wants be in and seems rather short sighted.  

[disco2000]

 

50 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

It seems logical the more a park closes early due to weather/low attendance the more hesitant the public will be taking the chance coming when there is inclement weather.  Not exactly the situation the park wants be in and seems rather short sighted.  

A lot of CF parks have closed early this year with very little notice - CP wasn't the only one to close today with short notice...much more so than previous years.

And yes this will prevent people from taking a chance if wet weather is predicted, but they want that to ensure that they have a valid claim for low attendance when making that claim on conf calls

[King Ding Dong]

Another issue of closing early is staff retention.  If one is counting on that paycheck but is continually having their hours cut by being sent home they may consider more stable employment.  Especially problematic for a park that relies on many employees traveling great distances to work in the fall.