Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

Yay!!!

So with that being said, I have an idea to help with the off season blues.

Wow. That just set in. Time flies.

Tony Clark tweeted yesterday that Opening Day 2019 is 194 days away, putting it on Saturday, May 11, one week later than the past few years. That’s unfortunate that they had to push it back a little, but I can understand why considering some early season experiences I’ve read about on here.

I got on the last train of the year on Millennium and thanks to a stroke of luck and a nice ride operator at Dragster, I also got on the last train of the year there too. This has to have been the only time a Dragster breakdown worked out in my favor. (Also shoutout to Josh Rice who's a member here. His crew was outstanding this year and congrats to him for getting such a high ridership number)

 

Thanks! Dragster had its best ridership of the past five years in 2018!

I believe it. Each morning I visited it was running at park opening, was available during the day, and at night! I couldn't believe how many rides I was able to get on Dragster this year.

I got on the last train of the year on Millennium and thanks to a stroke of luck and a nice ride operator at Dragster, I also got on the last train of the year there too. This has to have been the only time a Dragster breakdown worked out in my favor. (Also shoutout to Josh Rice who's a member here. His crew was outstanding this year and congrats to him for getting such a high ridership number)

 

Thanks! Dragster had its best ridership of the past five years in 2018!

Great job!

Tony Clark tweeted yesterday that Opening Day 2019 is 194 days away, putting it on Saturday, May 11, one week later than the past few years. That’s unfortunate that they had to push it back a little, but I can understand why considering some early season experiences I’ve read about on here.

Hopefully that doesn't increase the crowds for Coaster Campout with people squeezing in their first visits of the season ASAP.

Tony Clark tweeted yesterday that Opening Day 2019 is 194 days away, putting it on Saturday, May 11, one week later than the past few years. That’s unfortunate that they had to push it back a little, but I can understand why considering some early season experiences I’ve read about on here.

I'm all for an earlier "trial run" weekend of sorts to work out the bugs, but if it doesn't matter because of understaffing anyway, I say push it back as far as they need for guests to have a better experience.

I'm hoping to see another season pass holder only preview like they did for Steel Vengeance. 3-4 days. Pass holders only with limited tickets for each day. One small section of the park, next year assuming it's the new Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island or whatever it's called. A handful of additional rides, free food and drink samples. I loved it!

The passholder preview was a great event even with Steel Vengeance breaking down a lot during it and I agree I'd love to see them bring that back.

The 2019 operating schedule has been released. Looks like no more 11pm closings on weekdays in July and early August. Aside from that and opening weekend being one week later than normal, looks like the same as last year.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/explore/cedar-point-calendar-and-hours

I’m sure closing at 10 instead of 11 on those weekdays will be nice for those who work the bigger rides and have to stay after closing anyway to let everyone in line ride.

It also looks like the park is open daily immediately. Has it always been like this? I remember the first week or two being weekends only?

Some years yes, some years no.

The 2019 operating schedule has been released. Looks like no more 11pm closings on weekdays in July and early August. Aside from that and opening weekend being one week later than normal, looks like the same as last year.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/explore/cedar-point-calendar-and-hours

11 pm was a nice time to ride SV this August. I'd be happy if they moved up the opening time to be later in the morning if they need to cut an hour for the staff, especially the maintenance crew who get there before sunrise.

We never stayed in the park until even 8...but then again, that was in May a few weeks after SV's....incident.

I did get a ride on SV at night, and it is one of the most insane rides I've ever done.

I’m sure closing at 10 instead of 11 on those weekdays will be nice for those who work the bigger rides and have to stay after closing anyway to let everyone in line ride.

It probably has more to do with not having enough people in the park after ten to make a profit.

I’m sure closing at 10 instead of 11 on those weekdays will be nice for those who work the bigger rides and have to stay after closing anyway to let everyone in line ride.

It probably has more to do with not having enough people in the park after ten to make a profit.

Oh I’m sure it has to do with money, but it’s a nice bonus for the employees (except for those who enjoy working that late, which I’m assuming isn’t many of them).

So.. Random Question..

I'm thinking about convincing a friend of mine for a CP and KI trip some time. Has anybody experience in flying to mid Ohio from Germany? If not, what would you think is the best plan for the trip? To which airport should we fly? Any hints for planning?

Has nothing to do with attendance in the last hour and everything to do with how much those people are paying. Cutting an hour of pay from the day results in a roughly 7% cut in operations cost. That difference may in turn be used to make more anemic revenue increases look bigger. It isn't infinitely repeatable though for obvious reasons.

So.. Random Question..

 

I'm thinking about convincing a friend of mine for a CP and KI trip some time. Has anybody experience in flying to mid Ohio from Germany? If not, what would you think is the best plan for the trip? To which airport should we fly? Any hints for planning?

You have two options:

1) The only nonstop from Germany to anywhere nearby I know of is Frankfurt-DTW.

2) Otherwise, you should accept that you'll be connecting in Chicago O'Hare, Newark, JFK (NYC), Boston-Logan, or Atlanta. At that point you can either go open gate and fly into Cleveland or Detroit (or honestly even Toledo or Akron) and out of Cincinnati (or Dayton) or vice versa. If you fly into Columbus, it's very central, but you'll be double backing through there to get from one park to the next. You could also choose to include Louisville or Pittsburgh pretty easily with this plan.

'I think' Indianapolis is a huge hub and it's only about an hour and a half from KI. You might want to check flight availability there. I know Indianapolis and Chicago were the only airports within several hours of us which had direct flights to Hawaii.

CMH isn't a bad idea if you want to fly in and out of the same airport. If you did CLE or CVG but wanted in and out of the same airport, you'll do two full-length drives across the state. The most ideal option would be into one and out of the other, but of course, that may come with higher costs.

Thanks for the quick replies, folks!

You have two options:

 

1) The only nonstop from Germany to anywhere nearby I know of is Frankfurt-DTW.

 

2) Otherwise, you should accept that you'll be connecting in Chicago O'Hare, Newark, JFK (NYC), Boston-Logan, or Atlanta. At that point you can either go open gate and fly into Cleveland or Detroit (or honestly even Toledo or Akron) and out of Cincinnati (or Dayton) or vice versa. If you fly into Columbus, it's very central, but you'll be double backing through there to get from one park to the next. You could also choose to include Louisville or Pittsburgh pretty easily with this plan.

Yeah, I think Detroit might be a bit far away. It would have to be a very cheap connection to use that. So changing planes will we be the plan.

'I think' Indianapolis is a huge hub and it's only about an hour and a half from KI. You might want to check flight availability there. I know Indianapolis and Chicago were the only airports within several hours of us which had direct flights to Hawaii.

I thought of that. We were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year we drove to CP directly. That was well manageable. Thanks!

CMH isn't a bad idea if you want to fly in and out of the same airport. If you did CLE or CVG but wanted in and out of the same airport, you'll do two full-length drives across the state. The most ideal option would be into one and out of the other, but of course, that may come with higher costs.

So we definitely like to fly in, take the rental, do one park, drive to the second, drive back to the airport and return the rental an fly out. So Columbus seems to be the most logic thing.

If you fly into Indi, you might also be able to make a quick stop at Holiday World. You'll only need a few hours to ride their four roller coasters and Gobbler's Getaway (yep). Grab a Thanksgiving dinner on your way out for your culture credit...

'I think' Indianapolis is a huge hub and it's only about an hour and a half from KI. You might want to check flight availability there. I know Indianapolis and Chicago were the only airports within several hours of us which had direct flights to Hawaii.

IND to Kings Island = 133 miles. Might take a little longer than that ...

If I was traveling across an ocean to go to KI I'd try to take some time to visit CP and ride Steel Vengeance, which I think is better than anything at KI or anywhere else.

Yeah, I think Detroit might be a bit far away. It would have to be a very cheap connection to use that. So changing planes will we be the plan.

Indy isn't a hub, but if you aren't flying from Frankfurt, AMS, or CDG, it really doesn't matter anyhow I suppose. You'll need to connect somewhere.

From DTW to Cedar Point is about 90 minutes.

I thought of that. We were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year we drove to CP directly. That was well manageable. Thanks!

Were you planning on going to see a race during this trip? If that's the case, you'll want to fly into CMH since that's by far closest to Mid-Ohio. I'd strongly recommend going to see the top levels of some series that are more American specific too - namely the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, OH about 30-40 minutes south of Cedar Point, or Eldora. You could actually book end it that way: start with the Kings Royal, do Kings Island, then head up to Cedar Point and finish at Mid Ohio.