Tips needed for this weekend trip

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to CP and planning a trip this Saturday. (The last and only other time at CP was 4 years ago on a Saturday, a major disaster! Lots of crowd and spent 6 hours going to 2 rides. Got tired of waiting in the line and left!!)
There will be four of us, and I am looking for some tips.

a) What is the best time to get there? Will 11:30 a.m. do? The park opens at noon.
b) I am looking to ride the best (most thrill) rides like TTD, MF, Maggie, etc. Is there an order that I need to follow to minimize wait times?
c) The last time I was there, there were separate (very short) lines for people with some special passes (Freeway?) that they got when the park opened. Does CP still give out those passes and what is the best way and best time to get them? And for what rides?
d) What are the recommended sights/ shows for Haloween and what are the best times to hit them.

We are planning to be there the entire time the park is open and then drive to Detroit.

Advace thanks for all of you who respond!

ThrillRider, hopefully I can give you a bit of advice for your trip so you have a great time.

First let me emphasize this; Cedar Point will be mobbed on the Saturday of your visit. Saturdays during Halloweekends are always extremely crowded, and unfortunately, I doubt it will be too much different than your last visit. I'm not trying to be pessimistic or anything, but you will have a much better time at the park if you go knowing it will be very crowded. Having said that, just keep the fact that it will most likely be extremely crowded in mind and have a lot of fun!

a) I would say 11:30 is fine. I'd make sure that you are at the gates at 11:30 and not driving into the park at 11:30. I don't know what area you are coming from, but can I recommend staying in one of Cedar Point's hotels Saturday night? I believe as long as you swung around to the hotel early Saturday morning, you would be able to get into the park an hour earlier than all the non-resort guests. This would allow you to get some of the bigger rides in. If you aren't planning on staying in a hotel, I'd go with the 11:30 time, or perhaps a bit earlier.

b) As I said above, the bigger rides will have long lines. Plan on waiting 2 hours for rides such as Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, Maverick, and even Raptor and Mantis. Even rides like Magnum and Mean Streak will get hour lines during the day.

I would recommend starting your day with some of the smaller rides. As soon as the park opens, everyone runs to rides like Millennium, Dragster, and Maverick. You will wait quite a while for those no matter when you go. I'd run straight to Blue Streak when the park opens. After that I would run to Mantis and get a ride or two in on that. After Mantis I would continue heading towards the back of the park and get a Skyhawk ride in. Then, head over to Mean Streak and get a ride in on that. Then circle around and start heading to the front of the park getting a ride or two on Gemini and Magnum when you pass those.

All the rides I suggested going to first will develop close to hour lines during the day. Sometimes they can get more. Doing them in the morning while everyone else is running to Dragster, Millennium, and Maverick will save you a lot of time. After you do Magnum, I would then hop on Dragster for a nice ride, as the line shouldn't be too long this early in the day. I'd then go over and ride Millennium, and then head back to Maverick and ride it. You will probably be waiting close to 2 hours for Maverick by then, but the queue is shaded and its a great ride.

After that you can eat lunch/ early dinner and get a few rides in on the park's other attractions. Wicked Twister is a great ride that shouldn't have a ridiculous wait, Power Tower is really thrilling. This will also allow you to be close to done with many of the rides right when the Halloween stuff starts opening.

c) No, Cedar Point no longer uses freeway. Unless you are willing to pay over a thousand dollars for a VIP program, you will unfortunately have to wait.

d) I'd recommend all the Halloween stuff. If you had to skip one though, I'd say skip Pharaoh's Secret or Lair of the Vampire. Those are two mediocre haunted houses. There are no lines for CarnEvil or Feare Faire or Fright Zone, and the waits for Undertaker U (a great haunted house by Maverick) and Werewolf Canyon (another great outdoor walkthrough type thing by Maverick) seem to move quickly in recent years. There is also a parade at 4pm, which is probably only worth seeing if you are close by, and there are Edgar Allen Poe stories told in a theater by Maverick in the back of the park. There are also various other Halloween festivities.

I'd say hit the Halloween stuff in the order you want to, starting with the stuff that looks most appealing. Lines seem to taper off a bit after 10pm, and this is a good time to go to the back of the park and hit Undertaker U and Werewolf Canyon. Other than that, I don't think it matters a whole lot. Feare Faire, Fright Zone, and CarnEvil can be done anytime after 8pm. The shows have designated times that are in a show schedule they hand out.

Finally, I'd hit Raptor on you're way out the park. Since this great coaster is right by the entrance, the line will hardly ever drop under an hour wait during the day. It will usually still be over an hour at Midnight. It is an unbelievable coaster at night, so I'd recommend it right before you leave.

Hope this helps! I'm sure you'll have a great trip. *** Edited 10/11/2007 3:41:18 AM UTC by Top Thrill 182***

Maxair is also busted and it has been for a while, but then the company that build it went bankrupt and I hope they can still get the part fixed for the darn ride.

Huh?

Ive got to add some more tips (which are based on what I did this past Saturday):

-I disagree on starting your day at smaller rides. While MF, Maverick and Raptor all let resort guests have ERT on it (and will thus have sizable lines.) TTD does not, so as long as you get there before the main rush from the Main Gate you should get on it with a <30 min wait. The way to get ahead of this rush is to either: park in the Soak City lot (go to the booth on the far left, ask to go back there, follow perimeter road until past Mean Streak, take a left where the sign tells you to, and yes anyone can park there) and enter at the Magnum entrance, or if you must park in the Main Lot, follow the path on the left past the picnic groves, and parallel to and right to the right of the perimeter road up to the Marina entrance (by the Good Times theater.) As a bonus if you park in the Soak City Lot you can end your night at Magnum which will have a short wait at the end of the night.

-As for haunts, if waiting in a two hour line is not your thing then heres how you can avoid them. The indoor houses open at 3 pm, you need to be lined up at the entrance to one 10 mins before one of them opens. Pharaohs Secret (DT queue) and Lair of the Vampire (picnic building right inside the main entrance) are situated so that if you are in line for one 10 mins before, you can enjoy that house and then go directly to the other which will still have a manageable wait of about 30 min (we did Vamp and then Pharaoh's.) However, some people dont like them (Vamp can be, depending on the crew working it, rather sparse with scare actors but has a fantastic spinning tunnel effect that makes the whole house worth seeing while Pharaoh's is a dark light mummy/alien maze which I love, and Im pretty sure is the longest maze in the park.) I on the other hand do not care for UR Dade (hallways are too narrow for people to hide and scare, and gore doesn't do anything for me, it doesnt scare me or gross me out, I get bored by it) if you want to do it without a long line then you are only going to be able to do that haunt because its all the way in Frontiertown.

-Werewolf Canyon-If, and only if, there is no wind at the Point the day you go this attraction is worth doing. Its located in Thunder Canyon (yes in the raft ride chute sans water obviously) which they fill with fog so thick you cant see your hand when you hold it out in front of you and when it works well its a great haunt. However, any bit of wind and the fog is blown away and the scareactors have really no place to hide making it really lame. So if its a calm night, and you dont want to wait in a two hour line, line up for this baby at 7 (one hour before it opens.)

-Dont miss a walk through Fear Faire, Fright Zone and CarnEvil (and if you can do it twice) these are truely the best Halloweekend attractions and since they are scare zones they are open to all and have no lines, you can even mingle in them if you wish.

you can get more done on Friday with its limited hours and ride availabilty than you can on a Saturday from my experience.

Surprisingly enough, when I visited two weekends ago and the wind was fierce, there was tons of fog in Werewolf Canyon, and all the fog in Feare Faire was being blown away.

Correction about the parade time. It is at 4 PM, not 2 PM as someone stated above.

^ Sorry, that was me. I've edited my post so as I don't confuse anyone. I completely forgot it was 4.

I forgot to mention that when the weather is cool and there is fog out, it is one of the best times to ride coasters. It makes for some unbelievable rides.

I was there last Saturday and it was horribly packed. My advice would be to stay at one of the resorts to get the Early Ride Time card and race to your bigger coasters during that time.

If your plans dont involve staying at one of the resorts, be in the park at 11:30 so when the gate drops at noon, you can race to one of the larger rides and not have much of a wait. As I said, try to make sure your up to the sky ride gate around 11:30. If you can, try to arrive at the park itself earlier, because the line of traffic into the park will be horrible, not to mention if you have to stand in line to buy your tickets to the park. Last saturday there was honestly around 50 people in each of the probably 15 lines open for tickets. That will hold you up on time as well. If were in your shoes, I would try to plan on arriving at the park around 10:30, which will give you ample time to get parked, get your tickets if necessary, then be up at the gate by noon.

Best of luck to you and I hope you enjoy your trip to the happiest place in the world :D

My Advice: Pray for a miracle on Saturday. Otherwise, be prepared to wait a very long time for all of the rides.

This is what I would do if I were going this Saturday:

1.) Stay at a resort to take advantage of the early entry. Be at the gates and ready to go by 10:45 (have all snacks and bathroom breaks done just before this time)

2.) When the gates open at 11:00 hit the ground running and get in as many of the big rides as possible.

3.) When the crowds start to build up cut back to smaller rides and especially flats.

4.) At lunchtime (an hour before the indoor halloween attractions open) have lunch at the car.

5.) Be in line for an indoor halloween attraction about 15 minutes before it opens.

6.) Continue to site-see, go on small rides, see the parade and at least one of the Trio of Terror Shows.

7.) At dinner time go off site and get a good meal. Take a nice long brake from the crowds to refuel and relax. Get back to the park in time for the nighttime halloween attractions - weather permitting get in line for warewolf canyon before it opens.

8.) Spend the night enjoying the scare zones and atmosphere. Just before park closing get in line for one last big ride.

Other things to keep in mind:

Food lines are horrendous, sometimes longer than many of the rides. Plan on bring snacks with you that fit in your pockets and visiting the drinking fountains a lot. Yes, they give out free ice water at the food stands but is it worth it if you have to wait 20+ minutes for it?

The temperature can vary a lot from mid afternoon to midnight. Bring clothes that layer well.

If it is cold try to only use bathrooms that are attached to food stands. These are the only ones that have hot water at the sinks.

It is going to be crowded. Prepare yourself for that ahead of time.

If possible hit the park on the friday before or the sunday after as well. Crowds are much lighter and you can get some good ride time in.

^That's actually a really good plan for a Saturday during Halloweekends. Good thinking on all counts.

Miss_Maverick07 said:
Maxair is also busted and it has been for a while, but then the company that build it went bankrupt and I hope they can still get the part fixed for the darn ride.

http://www.hussrides.com/78AboutThrill.htm

Strange, they have no news releases about filing for bankruptcy.

And there is nothing in the CoasterBuzz news archives (going back to June) that have anything to do with Huss.

Do you have an actual link (that doesn't start with www.wikipedia.com) to back up your claim?

the magican at the Centenial Theater is worth seeing....really good show and good fun.

Halloweekends soda cups with $0.99 refills are cool....keep the cup, especially if you are going another day!

There is a great deal on seasons passes for 2008 right now....go to the seasons pass ticket office

Ride the Iron Dragon & Corkscrew.....2 great rides, little wait and classic thrills still after all their years of service

Have a cheese on a stick....don't worry about calories

Arrive early.....stay late...have fun

Go Friday or Sunday. Saturdays in May and especially in October are insanely crowded unless it is raining. CP has had good weather this year and there still hasn't been a rain out yet this fall. This weekend looks like another good weather time for CP. I'll be there on Sunday for JCC early entry. :)