Attendance is crazy today 8-24-19

I dont remember last year being this busy on a saturday this late in the season. I'm assuming all of the new gold pass holders are taking advantage for the first weekend since school is out, or is it usually this busy? I.E. raptor is a 1.75 hour wait.

Parking lot is full. I am unable to get in right now.

Late summer 2018 was VERY busy as well. The new passholder concept they started using last August (buy now, get rest of current year included) I think causes some of it but, in general, late August has been much busier than July recently. It even has come up on some of the shareholder calls. We've transitioned to our two yearly trips to being in June and July. 3 days in June, 4 in July.

I'm also in a Kings Island passholders Facebook group and every post this afternoon is about crazy crowds there today. Shot from the Eiffel shows a nearly full lot, which is pretty huge.

It’s also a really nice day. Sunny and 71F. Hot muggy and crowded or beautiful day and crowds from hell, pick your poison. Let’s hope they don’t run out of food as has happened in the past. :)

We are heading up Sunday but is just going to be a beach day and rent some kayaks. The boys may run in for some free food and a Gatekeeper ride if the lines are reasonable. Might leave for the park a bit earlier than planned on hearing the lot is full.

It’s definitely busier today than it has been in late August. It’s almost perfect weather and I’m sure the new gold pass is driving some of this. I just took a look at wait times and Steel Vengeance is a 4 hour wait and Rougarou is over an hour. Fortunately, the wait at the Surf Lounge is minimal.

That post made me miss Pete.

No doubt we all miss having Pete at the Surf Lounge.

DSShives, hopefully you had a drink in honor of Pete while at Surf Lounge.

Several of us regulars toasted Pete at the beginning of the season. Definitely miss sitting and talking about his insight to all things Cedar Point.

I thought I saw him there once a few seasons ago. I almost said hello but I didn't, the 'he doesn't know you, that would be weird' impulse in my brain getting the better of me.

I really wish I would have now. :(

We were there yesterday as well. You couldn't have asked for better weather and it showed with the crowds. Still, given the crowds it was pleasant. Walked on the beach to escape for a few, headed over to the Red Garter for a show and watched some glass blowing after.

After leaving tried to get a table at the Thirsty Pony, but since we had to drive back to Livonia, Mi we didnt want to wait for a table (45 minutes).

App seemed to be fairly close for what times, and with the crowds the park was clean with no overflowing trash containers.

I was there Thursday and Friday, then left Saturday afternoon. That was unreal the amount of people coming in on the causeway. Starting just after the last traffic light, they had three lanes open for vehicles coming in. There was also the Boat Show going on the south west side of the main parking lot. Looked to be even bigger than the Columbus Day Saturday in past years.

I went late Sunday morning, to get my Gold Pass card and walk around a little bit. I'd say about 75% of the people at the gate around me were holding printed vouchers to exchange for Gold Passes. Cedar Point better get ready - they're going to be super busy the rest of this year and next.

Busiest Sunday I've seen, probably ever. When I arrived in the late afternoon, there were at least four times as many people waiting at the season pass center as compared to the ticket window. I think it's safe to say they are knocking it out of the park with this Gold Pass deal. In fact, I ended up buying one for my girlfriend as her wild card had expired. We'll be up there at least once, maybe twice for Halloweekends. And probably get another 6+ visits in next year.

You had what is typically one of the busiest weekends of the year (end of summer, back to school) combined with exceptionally nice weather, and people with a brand new season pass. Once the novelty of a season pass wears off, I bet crowds return to a bit above average rather than very crowded.

A bit of a tangent, my sister who lives in Michigan told me that the school system that they are in started school this week. Has the law about starting school after labor day fallen apart? All that my sister know was that more and more schools are not doing it.

Regarding schools in MI, the standard is for public schools to begin classes the Tuesday after Labor Day. Private/parochial schools do not have to comply with this rule and typically start earlier.

Public school districts can appeal to the state Dept of Education for a waiver to begin earlier than Labor Day and the DOE allows these requests for the most part. The Labor Day rule was ramrodded through the Legislature by the tourism lobbyists that figured this would extend their operating seasons.

Most schools in MI have to burn through a limited number of snow days during the winter which means students have to stay in school well into late June to hit the minimum required number of education days. By starting in mid to late August, school districts can dismiss for summer vacation in early June.

More and more school districts have applied for the waiver to start earlier as the years have gone by which makes the original Labor Day law the exception rather than the rule at this point in MI.

As for the original thread topic, I was in attendance on Friday, 8/23 and the crowds were bigger than I've seen in a while which is saying something since I never go to CP on a Saturday. I can vouch that the season pass lines were longer than I've ever seen so the Gold Pass deal looks to be a runaway success for the park.

Sunday was an excellent beach day with a nice strong but manageable surf. No crowds or lines at all. :D

Cargo Shorts, I was going to ask you about that when you previously said you were going to rent Kayaks & such. I was wondering if you meant renting the stuff located near Windseeker. I was there Sunday until 1:30pm or so, around 11:00am we were at Wicked Twister and the NE wind was fairly brisk, the waves were looking to be 2' to 4' or so. At that time there were no pleasure boats at all on that side of the peninsula, but a few hours later it seemed to calm down a touch. Hope you guys had fun!

We pulled in about 12:30 and were right in front of Windseeker. We didn’t end up renting the kayaks but not due to the surf, my boys were just having fun digging in sand and playing catch in the surf. There was a girl about 10 that was in a kayak and was doing fine once 30’ or so out from shore, but her brother was trying a paddle board and that did not work out at all and surprised they even rented it out with that kind of surf. I don't recall seeing any boats or anyone renting the jet skis though they had a couple moored and ready to go.

We had a great time and with the strong wind and low temps never felt hot at all. Was just a bit chilly for the brief period we were in Windseeker’s shadow and I rather surprised it was running most of the day as it doesn’t seem to take much breeze to shut it down.

I imagine there are other good beaches on the lake but it is convenient for the boys to run in the park and grab some pizza and use the restroom facilities if needed.