Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[southpuddle]

Everyone knows you have to visit Cedar Point in that magical three-week time span every season where rides are open, actually running at full capacity and food locations are open. But be quick because as soon as school is back in session it’s all over!  

[Invertalon]

Stopped at the park Friday evening (arrived 6pm), primarily to walk around the park and grab a ride on MF and Raptor... First visit since pre-COVID, actually, so it's been a minute! 

Park was busier than I would anticipate in the midways at least, but ride lines were not bad. Waited 30min for MF (2 train op with weird stagger from when unload train would advance into loading once train was at top of lift). Was running a bit slow, for sure. Cooler temps and winds did it no favor, but was running smoothly. Decided to try SV again, since I have not ridden it since media day and didn't exactly love it at the time, but as we arrived it stopped at the top of lift... Sooooo, figured it wasn't worth waiting around for given we had about an hour left until close.

Headed back to up the front of the park and walked on front seat of Gatekeeper (also chugging along) and 2x front seat walk on Raptor to close out the quick stop... Still the best ride in the park for me, no question. After all these years, this ride still delivers the perfect experience. Love it!

Park looked good, the new restaurant  back by Maverick looks nice. Magnum was down due to wind, but otherwise everything was open at the end of the day until SV broke down.

Hope to stop back again within a few weeks after work or for early entry, before peak season picks up. It was nice to be back in the park again after our hiatus a few years. 

[drevil0208]

We are visiting Saturday and Sunday this weekend from Toronto area.  Our last visit was May 2019.  For most of our last visit we had pretty windy conditions and Raptor and Gatekeeper were basically  down the whole time.

For this weekend the forecast is showing WSW wind at 10-15mph for Saturday and W wind at 10-20mph for Sunday.  Is that windy enough to shut rides down?  I'm specifically hoping to get on Raptor and Gatekeeper this time around!!

[adamico2]

The wind up at CP rarely drops below those speeds. That should not be any issue at all for Raptor. It'll probably be fine for Gatekeeper, as well, especially if it's not too cold.

[coasterbill]

It’s pushing it both days but you’ll probably be fine if it doesn’t get any windier. Just ride those two when you see them running. Otherwise, everything will probably run except for Sky Ride and Windseeker.

[qwimjim]

Hey everyone, so are there days at Cedar Point where it's legitimately dead? Last time I went was June 3rd, 2019 (Monday), I got FP+ for myself, kids were too little for all but the smallest coasters.. but even with FP+ I still had 45 minute waits on SV. Maybe it was because SV was still really new? Or a shitty merge point, I can't remember. It was also the day after bike week ended, I don't know if that affects crowds. But LOTS of people had FP+

Barring forecast for rain/storms that doesn't come true and keeps everyone away, is CP ever quiet where if you don't have FL+ you can have 30 minute NON-FP+ waits for SV and MF? Or is it just packed every day?

I read about how Hersheypark is always packed, and I went last weekend.. and it was packed on the Saturday, 1-2hrs waits on any of the big coasters.. we didn't even bother with any of them and figured it would be better Sunday. And what a difference, Sunday we road the 5 big coasters 3-4 times each with barely any waits. Our goal was to just get on each one once, so it was a real pleasant surprise. Just wondering if days like that ever happen at CP, so I can try to aim for them

Now that all my kids are 54"+, I can't afford to be forking out for 5 FP+ for the whole family, so I need to try and find the quietest possible time to visit  

[bert425]

Post Covid Shutdowns. . . every park is a crap shoot every day.

 

but many of them are PACKED whatever day you go. . . tho sometimes one gets lucky.

 

Plan for FL+, budget for it, and buy it. . .and if you end up not needing it?   great.

(was just at KI, and had FL+ for Saturday, and it was PACKED. .made great use of it for a few hours in the morning, then major storms rolled thru and shut everything down for ~5 hours (to the point that we went back to hotel for a few hours to play games on the TV, and pack suitcases, before coming back).   When we got back at 8pm, whole park was back open, but crowds were DEAD.    but still didnt' feel I wasted the $$ as we got the rides in the morning bypassing many lines, and when we got back to a mostly empty park?  the FL+ lines are still more direct route into stations, than the full queue. . so saved at least 5 minutes of walking every time we rode Mystic Timbers, Beast, and Orion. . . so still worth it).

[tndank]

CP is traditionally fairly quiet the 2 weekends leading up to their Halloween event.

During the week mid/late June should be a bit quieter. Groups are heavy end of May and first part of June as schools end.

[qwimjim]

37 minutes ago, tndank said:

CP is traditionally fairly quiet the 2 weekends leading up to their Halloween event.

During the week mid/late June should be a bit quieter. Groups are heavy end of May and first part of June as schools end.

Thanks, and what does quiet mean at CP, how long of a wait for SV or MF? Assuming it's not some weird fluke of a day

[coasterbill]

1 hour ago, qwimjim said:

Hey everyone, so are there days at Cedar Point where it's legitimately dead?

May weekdays but the park is a massive shitshow in terms of operations and a bunch of stuff will be closed.

[tndank]

34 minutes ago, qwimjim said:

Thanks, and what does quiet mean at CP, how long of a wait for SV or MF? Assuming it's not some weird fluke of a day

Sometimes less than 30 min.  More along the lines of a weekday or Sunday at other parks.

But, it's also really hard to tell.  These are the times I've seen the last couple of years on FB groups folks post about how empty and great the park was that day. 

[qwimjim]

54 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

May weekdays but the park is a massive shitshow in terms of operations and a bunch of stuff will be closed.

Yeah I definitely want to avoid that

[qwimjim]

How are labour day mondays typically, still busy?

[coasterbill]

Yeah, and they usually close early and kick everyone out of the hotels and shut them down by like noon also. It's not as bad as Saturday and Sunday but it's usually bad.

[qwimjim]

8 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Yeah, and they usually close early and kick everyone out of the hotels and shut them down by like noon also. It's not as bad as Saturday and Sunday but it's usually bad.

Alright good to know! 

[thepoint4life23]

The weekend of September 9th might be your best bet, or get the point in the next week. Most schools have ended or will be ending in the next few days so it will start to pick up.

[qwimjim]

1 hour ago, thepoint4life23 said:

The weekend of September 9th might be your best bet, or get the point in the next week. Most schools have ended or will be ending in the next few days so it will start to pick up.

Yeah last time I went was June 3rd, a monday, and it was still super busy.. so that's why I wasn't sure if some other time of the year might be quieter

[garyman6]

To all Cedar Point Fans!!!

Wicked Twister Lives On!!

Well at least part of it,  my home park is Valleyfair.  Stopped by yesterday and noticed that they have a seat from WT at the beginning of Steel Venom's cue to serve as a test seat.  Sorry, I don't have a pic but though you all would like to know. 

[teacherkim]

On 5/26/2022 at 10:29 AM, qwimjim said:

Yeah I definitely want to avoid that

June 19 - 22  CoasterCon will be there, just fyi. 

[DILinator]

I went on August 19th last year, and it was fantastic. Not "dead", per se, but aside from SV, nothing with even a half hour wait. Pretty walked on everything, and the people who bought FL+ that day might as well have burned their money on most everything all day. I also typically go during mid-week at the end of May, and have had a lot of similar success. So yes, there are definitely days you can still go to CP with a large family (like I have), without FL+, and without breaking the bank.

[toughmudder]

We are headed there in a little over 2 weeks on Thursday, June 16th.  We are a family of 6 and this is sort of a once in a lifetime trip.  We live out West, so we rarely head out this direction on vacation. 

We are only there one day, so we will likely purchase FL+ if the weather looks ok.  I want to get in as many rides as we can while we're there, and while I can roll the dice hoping for a "lighter" crowd day, this will hopefully help us get multiple rides on SV, MF and Maverick.  It also closes at 8pm, so with the shorter operating hours, I feel that FL+ could be more of a necessity. 

We are staying at Breakers Express, so we will also get Early Entry.  Given the current list of Early Entry rides, we will likely head straight to MF, and stay in the back of the park and hit Magnum before getting in line for either SV or Maverick (which are both not on Early Entry list) for park opening (10am).

Anyone been there recently to see if this is a decent strategy?  I know that many with Early Entry may focus on the front of the park (Valravn and Gatekeeper), so my hope is that we can do those later in the day when the initial rush of front-of-the-park action dies down. 

[AmyUD06]

4 hours ago, toughmudder said:

 

We are only there one day, so we will likely purchase FL+ if the weather looks ok.  I want to get in as many rides as we can while we're there, and while I can roll the dice hoping for a "lighter" crowd day, this will hopefully help us get multiple rides on SV, MF and Maverick.  It also closes at 8pm, so with the shorter operating hours, I feel that FL+ could be more of a necessity. 

 

Note that FL will not help on SV or MF if the natural lines are about 20-30 minutes or less, since that's about where the merge points are.

[mikeykaise]

 

[prozach626]

FL+ is almost always a safe bet. I'd rather roll the dice and buy it before my trip, rather than it have even the slightest potential of selling out. I actually prefer it on days where waits are 15-20 minutes in the standby lines, because FL+ turns almost every ride into a walk-on.

If this is a once in a lifetime trip, I would absolutely spring for it.

[toughmudder]

Thanks for all the advice everybody.

One other quick question.  If I'm buying FL+ online in advance, and staying at the Express Hotel, can we get our wristbands there? (at the hotel?) or do we still need to get them inside the park?