2010 vs. 2009 Crowd Levels

This was my first year as a season pass holder, so since I don't have much to compare it to, can someone tell me if this season was generally a busier one than last? I definitely don't remember Halloweekends being so packed on Friday nights, and there were quite a few days during the summer with higher crowds levels as well.

Saw this article on PB's Twitter feed this morning (http://www.sanduskyregister.com/sandusky/2010/oct/26/scary-good-new...sky-budget), and it definitely makes it sound like CP had a much better than average season. Assuming they did, what caused it? The economy? Heavy social media focus? Promos?

The 3rd quarter earnings call is scheduled for Tuesday. Hopefully they'll talk about attendance figures like they did in the 2nd quarter call.

firefox15 said:
...it definitely makes it sound like CP had a much better than average season.

I'm not sure that's what the article suggests. From what I gathered, Sandusky adjusted their budget down based on gloomy tourism forecasts. It turns out that those forecasts were way off, but there's no telling how this year's attendance compares with past years, only that it was better than they had initially feared.

I read an article(can't find it at this time) that said people are staying closer to home instead of doing cruises, multaple day trips...ect. People just are not dropping the coin on the bigger trips, but rather staying within a days drive from home.

Local parks all over have reported higher numbers in attendance this year. I think holiday world reported a record breaking year as well.

According to the linked article, people are making lots of overnight trips to Sandusky:

Unlike last year, many more people spent the night at local hotels as opposed to taking day trips, the city’s finance reports show.

Every trip I took this year was much busier than past years. I tend to visit on the same or similar days every year because of work. Every time I went this year I would tell the people I was with that last year it wasn't busy at all, short lines, etc. and I ended up looking like a damn fool each and every time. Good for Cedar Fair, bad for people expecting short lines.

I am proud of CP this year for their Great Attendance. I will never go on a Saturday anytime during the whole year. These last few Saturdays the PARKING LOT was Filled. Sorry for the people coming into Sandusky that were Stopped all the way from Kalahri. I heard the Line for the "MANTIS" was 4Hr wait. The "MF" was close to that long wait too. Looking on the WEBCAMS; it looked like the Line for the "TTD" was Backed up by the Station. I am ready for the "WINDSEEKER" 2011, but I wish they would not take the "CHAOS" out of the Park, because that is a Great THRILL RIDE for Me. RIDE ON!!!

Definitely busier than last year, during the summer as well as Halloweekends. Some of the traditionally quiet times were extremely busy! Millennium was busier this fall than last, and Single Rider Bob said the same thing.

Roz

It would be hard to tell from the article, but attendance is definitely up over last year (not that last year was a banner year). When the dust settles, my guess is that they'll be up somewhere between 5-10% over 2009, which would be near or a little above 2008.

SRB and I were talking about this earlier in October. This was not a good year for going to CP if you like short lines. Most of the summer was crowded. I could tell just by looking at camper village availability. It was sold out almost every day over the summertime.

I have been in the park around 30'ish days already this year (need to go add them up) and the best day this year was nowhere near as dead as my best several days last year. On average, it's been MUCH more crowded.

Based on what I've seen this year, I do plan on hitting the park early on weekdays next year. I want to get down there on a Thursday and Friday while schools are still in, in Michigan and Ohio. I can say, even on the busiest day I saw it (this past Saturday) I was still able to get a ride in on both Maverick and Millennium during early ride time.

In my many visits this year no matter what day of the week or time of the season I found the crowds to be larger and the lines to be longer. Fridays and Sundays for HW are no longer the gravy train of short lines that was the case in recent years. Saturdays for HW are off the charts.

It was mentioned earlier that Mantis had a 4 hour wait on a HW Saturday. I don't think that is true. I will say that on one HW Saturday the line for Mantis filled the queue and extended out to the railroad crossing. Probably a 2 hour wait or so. That's the longest line I ever saw for that ride.

How busy has ERT been this year? I have a platinum pass, but I was never able to use the ERT since my friends only had the regular pass. The only time we got to use it was for season pass appreciation day, and it was wonderful since the park was dead.

About how long were the lines for ERT compared to later in the day? Are the lines for MF still 30 minutes or longer?

ERT lines were somewhat longer than in the past. Still worthwhile, but I wasn't able to get as many repeats on MF, Maverick or Raptor. ERT for the most part has the shortest lines of the day. Raptor, though has extremely short lines within an hour of closing most of the year. MF's lines aren't as long either during that same time, but I generally wouldn't call them short.

ERT has been great for Raptor. I can usually ride it two or three times in 15 minutes. It usually works out to where I can get at least one ride in on Raptor, Millennium, and Maverick during ERT.

The only thing that makes it difficult is if Millennium isn't up until 9:20 or so.

That's why I tend to hit Maverick twice right away (entering from the resort gate, of course), then head to MF (it's always been open by then for me) for a lap or two, then to Raptor before the bulls are released.

That's actually the method we went with our last time out and it worked great. We got on Maverick and were on to Millennium by about 9:10. Granted, it was the busiest day and Millennium's line was 30-40 minutes, but on "normal" days it could work very well.