Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[SbSteveZ]

I'm worried about going on a weekend, in July... No FP either

 

Why would you do that to yourself?! FP will make your life so much better. If you can budget for it, you really should do it!!

 

Exactly, I don't have the money to put towards FP this time around. But just last year I was able to hit 15 of their 16 coasters and Pipe Scream, as well as several runs on both Maxair and Skyhawk without the need for a fast lane, in the middle of July. With re rides on TTD, Millennium, and Maverick! But it was a Tuesday, so I figured it wouldn't be *as* busy. I'm sure FP is awesome to have, but I know I'll probably still have an awesome time without it. Maybe next year I'll put some money aside for it though

[christianscoasters]

I'll be there the 18th and the 19th. Staying at Sandcastle Suites. I'll be there open-close both days. Would FL+ be useful to me one of those days? Or could I get multiple rerides on all major coasters without it? I'm not buying until the day of either way but just want a heads up.

 

Also, I know CP has a bad weather policy, but is it true that they have lightened up in the past couple years?

 

I'm normally the first person to never recommend buying FL+ until you get to the park, as it is very, very rare that it sells out (except for Saturdays). However, Cedar Point had their Christmas in July ticket special today, where tickets were on sale for $29.99. The tickets are valid July 9-22 and you have a 100% chance of heavy, obnoxious crowds during those days. Go ahead and make it 110% chance just for good measure. There will be ridiculous lines and even more ridiculous people that you really don't wanna be in line with anyway. Lol. Get the FL+ ASAP.

[Stealth1]

I am heading to Cedar Point the weekend of August 19 to August 21. I went last year in May and I found it to be busy as it was physics week. I am probably going to FL+ for the saturday and sunday but was wondering how busy the park is going to be? I have never seen Luminosity and wonder if its worth seeing? How often is Maverick down? When I went last year it was down almost the whole time I was there.

[Coastin Eric]

I am heading to Cedar Point the weekend of August 19 to August 21. I went last year in May and I found it to be busy as it was physics week. I am probably going to FL+ for the saturday and sunday but was wondering how busy the park is going to be? I have never seen Luminosity and wonder if its worth seeing? How often is Maverick down? When I went last year it was down almost the whole time I was there.

 

Most schools will be back in session, but it will still be a weekend. But if you're getting FL+, don't even worry about how crowded it'll be. The most you'll wait is like 30 minutes for maverick, and everything else should be 20 or usually less. Maverick can be hit or miss, but it's pretty rare it'll be down for more than an hour or so unless it's early morning. You shouldn't have much of a problem, I hope!

[PhantomPoster32]

FL+ is awesome. 3 hours at the park and I've ridden all of the coasters already - including both sides of Gatekeeper and Gemini.

 

Also someone was asking - Platinum Passholders still get free upgrade to FL+ for price of a regular FL

[Stealth1]

I hope its open cause I would say its my favorite coaster there. Last year I got lucky on the one day as it was closing time and they let the train I was on stay on and go again.

[prozach626]

I'll be there the 18th and the 19th. Staying at Sandcastle Suites. I'll be there open-close both days. Would FL+ be useful to me one of those days? Or could I get multiple rerides on all major coasters without it? I'm not buying until the day of either way but just want a heads up.

 

Also, I know CP has a bad weather policy, but is it true that they have lightened up in the past couple years?

 

i get it every time i've gone recently. takes away the stress of getting enough rides in for me. i usually go for two or three days. last trips have been around this time and almost every day had downtime due to weather. fastlane takes the stress away for me who just wants to marathon everything in site. lol

 

Even if you don't want to strictly go from ride to ride FP+ is still worth it. It's much more fun to spend your time out and about in the park rather than spending the majority of one of your precious few visits standing in a cramped switchback. Emily and I probably got as many rides in as your typical non FP+ rider, but we gained hours of relaxing and exploring the park. I don't enjoy my time standing elbow to elbow with the many different species of the general public (not excluding coaster enthusiasts).

[Samuel]

I'll be there the 18th and the 19th. Staying at Sandcastle Suites. I'll be there open-close both days. Would FL+ be useful to me one of those days? Or could I get multiple rerides on all major coasters without it? I'm not buying until the day of either way but just want a heads up.

 

Also, I know CP has a bad weather policy, but is it true that they have lightened up in the past couple years?

 

i get it every time i've gone recently. takes away the stress of getting enough rides in for me. i usually go for two or three days. last trips have been around this time and almost every day had downtime due to weather. fastlane takes the stress away for me who just wants to marathon everything in site. lol

 

Even if you don't want to strictly go from ride to ride FP+ is still worth it. It's much more fun to spend your time out and about in the park rather than spending the majority of one of your precious few visits standing in a cramped switchback. Emily and I probably got as many rides in as your typical non FP+ rider, but we gained hours of relaxing and exploring the park. I don't enjoy my time standing elbow to elbow with the many different species of the general public (not excluding coaster enthusiasts).

 

Yeah, amen to all of this. Being able to decide your own pace, and not being pressed into a hasty day of compromises due to lines, is big. The total benefits also extend beyond the shortened waits...the passes have allowed me to enjoy meals, visit the beach, take pictures, watch shows, go for a walk outside the park -- essentially, to do whatever I want to do on my own time, and also ride a heck of a lot more than is otherwise possible. Or, just ride Maverick 30 times straight. You'll make a lot more memories doing those things, as opposed to waiting in the switchback pens for VR & the big Intamins for two days.

[BigDipper 80]

Sorry if this has been asked, but what's the "queue trend" like for Valravn? Does it die down at night like most other Beemers? Even Banshee and Gatekeeper in their debut years rarely had a line late in the day.

[Philrad71]

^ It all depends on the day you visit (weekday versus weekend), early in the year, late in the year, weather, the stock market, global economy, if there's a presidential election year, the price of a barrel of oil, how the planets are aligned that day, etc, etc...

[Invertalon]

Sorry if this has been asked, but what's the "queue trend" like for Valravn? Does it die down at night like most other Beemers? Even Banshee and Gatekeeper in their debut years rarely had a line late in the day.

 

Every time I have been there late evening it's been shorter, but still long compared to the others you had mentioned. While Raptor, Gatekeeper and in your example Banshee are walkon at the end of the night... Valravn I have yet to see shorter than 20-25mins perhaps. It's not on the same capacity monster scale as the others... Trains often stack and line moves pretty slow for a beemer. If they only had a dedicated unload station...!

 

For a line that looks only like a 10-15min wait, it ended up being 35mins due to the slow operations. If that same line length was at Banshee, it would have been 1/3 the time.

[BigDipper 80]

^That's unfortunate but still good to know. I'm going Saturday and I'm really not super concerned about the ridiculous lines because I've sorta moved past the whole "let's ride everything fifty times ZOMG" and just want to take my time, and my list of must-rides for this trip is really only Valravn, Rougarou, MF and Maverick (because 2015 was the first year in a decade I didn't go to CP, and I haven't been on them since the upgrades) but if the lines will be (slightly) more manageable for Valravn in the evening I'll just hold off on it till toward the end of the night.

[Nrthwnd]

....Yeah, amen to all of this. Being able to decide your own pace, and not being pressed into a hasty day of compromises due to lines, is big. The total benefits also extend beyond the shortened waits...the passes have allowed me to enjoy meals, visit the beach, take pictures, watch shows, go for a walk outside the park -- essentially, to do whatever I want to do on my own time, and also ride a heck of a lot more than is otherwise possible. Or, just ride Maverick 30 times straight. You'll make a lot more memories doing those things, as opposed to waiting in the switchback pens for VR & the big Intamins for two days.

 

This actually sounds like the Ultimate Disney Parks' FastPASS I know I will never, ever, be able to afford, if it actually exists, lol!

Forgot to ask! Did any of you ever buy FP+ for both weekend days? Or for one, and not the other?

[MidwestThemeParks]

Sorry if this has been asked, but what's the "queue trend" like for Valravn? Does it die down at night like most other Beemers? Even Banshee and Gatekeeper in their debut years rarely had a line late in the day.

 

Every time I have been there late evening it's been shorter, but still long compared to the others you had mentioned. While Raptor, Gatekeeper and in your example Banshee are walkon at the end of the night... Valravn I have yet to see shorter than 20-25mins perhaps. It's not on the same capacity monster scale as the others... Trains often stack and line moves pretty slow for a beemer. If they only had a dedicated unload station...!

 

For a line that looks only like a 10-15min wait, it ended up being 35mins due to the slow operations. If that same line length was at Banshee, it would have been 1/3 the time.

 

One night when I was there (a Thursday) it was only a ten-fifteen minute wait but rain caused it to shut down before we got on. The line didn't seem to move that slow when we were there, and rarely was there a train in the station and two stacked behind it. One thing I like about Valravn is the monitor that they have showing what seats are locked and the load time. Whenever I was watching that screen load time would be between 60 and 90 seconds.

[boldikus]

Just chiming in to say that we used FL+ both days on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend last year and the park was packed but we did what we wanted, got tons of re-rides on all of the favorites and just took the entire weekend at our own pace - riding, eating, riding, drinking, exploring, riding, repeat. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the park, longest we waited for anything all weekend was Maverick 30 minutes Saturday afternoon and that felt like a long time. For four people over two days it was a ton of $$$ but FL+ is absolutely worth it. I wouldn't do Cedar Point without it, unless it was just some freak day where it was dead.

[PhantomPoster32]

Sorry if this has been asked, but what's the "queue trend" like for Valravn? Does it die down at night like most other Beemers? Even Banshee and Gatekeeper in their debut years rarely had a line late in the day.

 

Today GP standby was up to 2hrs in morning went down to 1.25hr around midday and ended with 1.75hr. The shortest was 30 min right after a break down.

 

FL+ was 30min max and usually 10-15min at most.

[MidwestThemeParks]

Just chiming in to say that we used FL+ both days on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend last year and the park was packed but we did what we wanted, got tons of re-rides on all of the favorites and just took the entire weekend at our own pace - riding, eating, riding, drinking, exploring, riding, repeat. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the park, longest we waited for anything all weekend was Maverick 30 minutes Saturday afternoon and that felt like a long time. For four people over two days it was a ton of $$$ but FL+ is absolutely worth it. I wouldn't do Cedar Point without it, unless it was just some freak day where it was dead.

 

If you go on weekdays like we did (Wednesday-Friday), there is NO reason to spend $90+ for FL+. We were easily able to ride everything multiple times with minimal waiting. On most rides (especially on Wed. and Thurs.) the general line was already past the point where FL people merge. Therefore, FL riders and non-FL riders had the same wait times for nearly everything, with the exceptions being Maverick, Valravn, and sometimes Millenim Force.

 

Now, if you can only go one or two weekend days (Friday or Saturday) then I would completely understand buying FL+, but I don't think I would ever buy Fast Passes in advance for any park. My luck I would buy it and then the park would end up being dead. I know that they can sell out, but, if they are sold out of FL passes, would the waits really be that different?

[madmax]

Looks like the CP fanatics are already out in full force. Just go to the Kings Dominion board.

[SFMMGeek27]

Alright, so if I get FP+, it will be Tuesday only (not Monday). So what is a good game plan for Monday? I have early entry. Haven't been since 2013 so quite a bit has changed. I'll be there til closing as well.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Alright, so if I get FP+, it will be Tuesday only (not Monday). So what is a good game plan for Monday? I have early entry. Haven't been since 2013 so quite a bit has changed. I'll be there til closing as well.

 

Start at the back of the park IE: Maverick, and work your way forwards.

 

Most people will start at the front with the first rides they come to, and then work their way back. If you do the opposite you'll save a lot of time not waiting in lines at the start of the day!!

[bluestreak]

Hi all, I was wondering if any of you have played the Battle for Cedar point game yet. If so, does the app drain your phone battery really bad? I have a Galaxy S6 edge and I lost about 15% of my battery after using the app for only 10 minutes. Hoping it's a common problem and not something wrong with my phone.

[DILinator]

I literally just got nauseous reading all of the glowing recommendations of the abomination that is FL-anything...

 

I'm going to be the voice for dissent, and a different perspective... For future reference, to all of those who are non-regular CP attenders, who may plan to go in the future, I recommend a better option.... Do whatever you can to get to the park on a weekday in May, or even the last week of August, rather than taking it up the rear by getting FL+. I walked onto just about every ride all day one of the times I went to CP earlier this year during that time (including 3 Valravn rides, 2 of which were 10 minutes or less in the standby line), and only had one wait (our third time on Maverick) over 30 minutes all day. While that level of awesomeness may not be every weekday's experience, I've been going to CP virtually every year since the late 90's, and always get to ride whatever I want, however many times I want, without any ridiculously gratuitous extra costs whenever I go during this time. Rather than forcing yourself to "budget" more money to essentially get exploited by CP, plan ahead, and do what you can to "budget" your time so you can go when the park isn't going to be so crazy crowded, and as an added bonus the weather will be a lot more pleasant as well!

[mpmbee]

I will be at the park on August 10th and 11th and have ordered FL+ for both days. Expensive yes but no way do I want to spend all my time for a one off trip stuck in queues.

[DILinator]

I will be at the park on August 10th and 11th and have ordered FL+ for both days. Expensive yes but no way do I want to spend all my time for a one off trip stuck in queues.

 

I actually get doing it for overseas visitors, especially if your schedule necessitates a trip in the Summer. If I ever manage to get overseas to ride coasters, I will be willing to doing similar systems, due to the likelihood of it being a once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

For CP though, I still recommend, even for overseas guests, if you can plan in advance for a May trip as opposed to a July or August trip, you'll be better off for it!

[tykunkel1031]

^ I would agree, except there's a problem. For me personally, and I believe many others, my school system is in session during those times. And an even bigger problem, if you miss a day unexcused (a trip to CP) you can't exempt any of your finals. I'm sure it'd be worth it but it's a risk I'd rather not take.