2009 Attendance

Touchdown said:
^Mr. CP, thats due to a phenomenon of human movement. GP (well unsavy GP) start at the front of the park in the morning and slowly work their way back, that is why Magnum, Power Tower, Skyhawk and Mantis all have much shorter waits in the morning then in the afternoon and why Raptor, and Blue Streak get progressivly shorter lines as the day goes on.

Yeah, exactly. If you want short waits on MF, TTD, or Maverick, go in through the marina or Soak City entrances in the morning when the park opens. They're much closer.

Side note: My biggest pet peeve in terms of CP is when people preface the names of rides with 'The'. Such as 'The Millennium Force', 'The Magnum', 'The Top Thrill Dragster'. That's not their name! Nor does it say that on any of the signage in the parks or on the website. So stop calling it that!

^lol really? It's not a big deal

Side note: My biggest pet peeve in terms of CP is when people preface the names of rides with 'The'. Such as 'The Millennium Force', 'The Magnum', 'The Top Thrill Dragster'. That's not their name! Nor does it say that on any of the signage in the parks or on the website. So stop calling it that!

I LOVE The Raptor!!! ;)

Jo
Lifetime The Raptor flights: 2042 :)

CP rush said:
^lol really? It's not a big deal

Yeah I know. It still bugs me for some reason though.

I know that thsi year there has been a crowd, but not real big! I was there on Friday, which in the past I would not attempt because of crowds, butI went with afriend and took advantage of the Christmas deal for her and her kids to get in. We had a blast! The line were not bad for most of the day, plus we did the rides in the morning and the early afternoon, than hit soak city! I know our vacation was cancelled due to my job situation like so many people around, but I think the weather has played a roll in the lower attendence, because most people are not going to fork out 44 dollars a ticket if they will have to play the rain guessing game!

Keep in mind that I'm pretty sure the amusement tax is levied on admission only, not food or merchandise.

Maybe we should stop talking about the free ice water. Before we know it they will cost $3.50 too. Got to keep our secrets. :)

Your mom is to fat to ride TTD. said:
Maybe we should stop talking about the free ice water. Before we know it they will cost $3.50 too. Got to keep our secrets. :)

Actually I believe it is law that they have to offer ice water. Don't take this to be kindness. I am sure they'd charge if they could get away with it.

Plus people get dehydrated and that would create a huge PR problem if the only water source was $3.00.

Ok I over reacted, on the China thing.

I think the reason why they charge so much for beer, is so people don't get drunk, put some do pay that much, and still get drunk.

Speaking of the free cups of water. How did everyone find out about this, because last time I was at CP I saw a ton of people asking for them.

Daniel Smith said:
Ok I over reacted, on the China thing.

I think the reason why they charge so much for beer, is so people don't get drunk, put some do pay that much, and still get drunk.

Some people are just lightweights and it doesn't take much to get them drunk. Do they still not allow beer in lines? When I worked there, that was the policy.

Yeah well the policy is to only smoke in the smoking areas and look how that is.

Yeah, exactly. If you want short waits on MF, TTD, orMaverick, go in through the marina or Soak City entrances in themorning when the park opens. They're much closer.

Side note: Mybiggest pet peeve in terms of CP is when people preface the names ofrides with 'The'. Such as 'The Millennium Force', 'The Magnum', 'TheTop Thrill Dragster'. That's not their name! Nor does it say that onany of the signage in the parks or on the website. So stop calling itthat!

That is not even nearly as annoying as kids calling Michigan'sAdventure "Michigan's Adventure's". Or "Shiver Me Timbers" instead ofShivering Timbers. At least IMO.

^^ When I was there for Halloweekends, and was very surprised to findout that I squeezed on Maverick, I quick ran over and grabbed two beers(oof on the wallet!) and stood in line with no problem.

^When I worked there, pretty much anyplace that wasn't a queue was a smoking area. That's pretty generous considering places like Disney only have a few small designated areas per park. Unless that's changed, it's still quite generous considering nowadays many places ban smoking entirely.

People that are so addicted that they have to light up while in line when they've got pretty much the entire park to smoke freely in just surprise me. They rightly deserve the lung cancer they will inevitably get from their addiction and will die an early death.

Do they still not allow beer in lines? When I worked there, that was the policy.

Beer is now allowed in lines. I believe the policy changed in either 07 or 08.

I pretty sure attendance is down this year. Every time I have been there, the parking lot has barely been half full, and this is on weekends. This past Saturday (7-25) we arrived at 6:00 pm and the parking lot was maybe a third full.

And Jeff hit it right on the head. Sandusky's admission tax is down about 12 percent this year. There are only three places that charge this tax, CP, the city's golf course and The Tea House of the Dancing Lady (strip club). I hardly think that the latter two have caused the tax to drop that much, so where do you think CP's attendance is this year?

I haven't really seen much of a drop-off this year. The midways and queues seem about as full as they've usually been in recent years.

I think the thing you tend to see most tourism wise in this economy is that it's not so much people NOT showing up, but rather taking their vacations on a shoestring budget. Places like Cedar Point make their money off of food and souvenirs, not admission, contrary to popular belief. While I'm sure the numbers will show a drop-off from last year, the real hit to the park will be the fact that many of the people that did show up this year only paid for their ticket and little else.

Its odd to be able to show up on a Friday at 6 and walk on to some of the popular rides. This doesn't really show me attendance is down (hard numbers do) but its certainly seems lighter than last year.

I also see a lot of families returning to their cars to eat more than usual.