2003 Operating Schedule

ITS ANNOUNCED!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/trips/operate.cfm

2003 Operating Schedule has been put up!

Opening day is MAY 4!

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- Dennis
*** This post was edited by Big D 12/5/2002 1:56:42 PM ***

Interesting that they decided against opening for the Halloween weekend. Also of note, no midnight closings during the summer, except for July 4, and a little bit shorter HalloWeekends Friday.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

...and there are NO 6p.m. closings in early May.

Soak City has two "bonus weekends" past labor day. A nice surprise for us SC fans.

Is it just my faulty memory, or are Sunday opening times during halloweekends earlier?

Also, pricing for next year is announced. Everything is up a buck or five, depending on the ticket. The biggest change is that the free age cutoff has been moved down to 2 and under from 3 and under. My son doesn't hit 3 until early October, but I'll probably end up buying him a junior season pass for our planned Halloweekends trip.

*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 12/5/2002 2:57:55 PM ***

That is correct - last year's Sunday HalloWeekends opening was noon.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Anyone have any thoughts on why they took away the midnight Saturday closings? Granted, as an employee they were a pain, but before that, it was nice to have even just one extra hour on a busy Saturday to explore the park.

That's the way it looks. Halloweekend sundays are 10-8 instead of 12-8.
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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Good: No 6pm closings.

Really Bad: No midnight closings in July, or Friday nights during Halloweekends. No Halloween weekend. Just the perception of five-hour Friday nights in October makes it feel like less of a value.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
"Climbing as we fall, we dare to hold on to our fate, and steal away our destiny to catch ourselves with quiet grace" - The Stairs, INXS

My thought about the midnight closings is JC members are to be getting nighttime ERT. If that is the case, they don't want to be offering night time ERT after midnight.

And I'm wondering why September 5 and 12 are not listed as open...weren't those two fridays open before?
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
*** This post was edited by OldCPer 12/5/2002 3:11:15 PM ***

I was also thinking that they made the change to accomodate night ERT for the JCC members. I have to be honest though - that extra hour on Saturdays in July and early August is needed because crowds on Saturdays are far more concentrated than any other day.

Now it won't be as easy for us to tell the newbies, "look at the operating calendar - when they're open until midnight it will be crowded!" :(

Also, is there a buyout on May 3? I'm guessing there is, but is it Longaberger?

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis 12/5/2002 3:20:18 PM ***

No, the park was closed on those two Fridays last year. The Friday evening hours don't start until HalloWeekends.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Darn...I was hoping for a return of something similar to Millennium Mania. Wishful thinking.
Guess I shouldn't complain since we ARE getting nighttime ERT
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Just got off the phone with Season Pass sales. Not buying my son a pass was totally my fault---the phrase "age 3 or older" is plastered all over the season pass info pages. Despite this, CP was willing to sell me a junior pass for the Fall sale price, rather than the current price. Yet another example of CP's excellent customer service. I was fully prepared to pay the (only slightly) more expensive price.

On the subject of Halloweekend hours: for those of us with youngins, this schedule works much better. We planned a trip thinking we'd just come home Sunday morning after breakfast, since "nap time" is usually around 2 when visiting CP, and the drive home is perfect for last-day-of-visit naps. Why bother entering the park for just a few hours? With the 10AM opening time, sticking around is much more interesting.

The earlier closing times probably won't affect me personally. When I'm staying on point, the family is in tow; we are almost always in bed well before even the 10 PM closes. Amazing how much more exhausing the park is when I'm with my kids! When I'm only there for the day, I'm usually headed toward my car not much after 10; later and it's too hard to make the 2 hr drive home.
*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 12/5/2002 3:30:11 PM ***

Is the nightime ERT confirmed? I looked on CP's site and couldn't find anything. I hope it is, because most of my trips to the park happen after work and I could never use the morning ERT.

Also, didn't the original schedule from last year only have the park open to 11:00, and then right before summer started, they anounced the midnight closings? Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

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Bob M.

The 2002 brochure shows that the midnight closings were planned from the start.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Yeah, the midnight closings were planned from the start, but they did come out with a press release on June 25th about being open to midnight, making it seen like it was something that they had just decided to do.

It looks like they also decided to set a specific opening time for the gate, one half hour ahead, instead of changing it all the time. Looks like Halloweekends Friday Nights are the only days that the gates open when the rides start. All the other days they open a half and hour ahead of the rides.

Woohoo for only one midnight closing!! Well besides Halloweekends. Honestly, the park really died by eleven anyway.

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Brent Haley
Gemini Crew '02

Rats, less hours..heheh

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Park Services 98'
Snake River 99'00'
Peanuts ATL 01'
Giant Wheel Tri. TL 02'

You say less hours, I say more time to sleep, or other things...:)

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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...

...Denial is an ugly thing.