Bad experience in 2013, trying again in 2015

** Posted this to the wrong forum at first, trying again! **

Flew to Cedar Point 8/9/2013 with my 13 year old. Went to the park later in the day Friday when we arrived, went on a couple rides, and then went back for a full day Saturday 8/10. We purchased the fast passes Saturday for I believe ~$90 or so each to avoid waiting in lines since we flew in for 1.5 days and wanted to make sure we hit everything we wanted. We've done this in the past for other parks we've traveled to visit.

Overall we had a poor experience. Wait times were over an hour for most major rides even with fast passes, and it seemed like every other ride we were trying to get on broke down during our wait! We ended up having to leave the line most of the time to try and get on something else.

It was not a very efficient trip compared to our experience at Disney/Universal in Orlando and even Six Flags in NJ. At other parks wait times on weekends with fast passes is typically 10-20 minutes in my experience.

Have things improved at Cedar Point at all? I'm thinking of going back middle of July this year with my 6 and 8 year olds who are around 50" and love roller coasters. It seems like there's a lot they can ride at Cedar Point and I think they'd love the trip. However, I don't want the same experience as I had in 2013 - especially with my 6 and 8 year olds.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/opinions.

Thanks!

** Replying to a comment posted by RCMAC on my previous post before it got locked **

You fly in from where, Russia? :-)

No, Massachusetts but it's a significant expense for airfare, hotel, car rental, etc...

There's been a lot of complainers here lately that Cedar Point got off to a rough start this season, reliability-wise, and maybe it's true. But if at all possible, you should plan your trip to the park either early in the season or later as schools go back in session. It's so much more manageable crowd-wise. Then, especially with FastLane you can really pack in the fun.
Edit: I re-read as saw your thinking of July. Weekdays, if you can do it, would surely be best then.

Thanks. It's tough because I need to go during summer school vacation, but on the other hand it's difficult for me to take more than Friday off work so that's why I'm trying to do a Friday/Saturday trip. I'm sure my situation is not unique which is why weekends are bad. :)

I'm assuming you checked height restrictions for the various rides listed on the website. I'm not well versed on the subject as it doesn't matter to me, but it seems 48-52 is the benchmark for a lot of the bigger rides, and a couple are 54. If the kids are only around 50 they may be disappointed.

I did, and I'm actually excited that there are quite a few coasters that are 48" so they can ride. I thought about a trip to Six Flags NJ (which would be cheaper for us because I'd drive) but other than El Toro, Skull Mountain (kind of lame) and The Dark Knight there aren't a lot of exciting rides they can go on.

At Cedar Point they can ride:

Blue Streak
Cedar Creek Mine RIde
Corkscrew
Gemini
Iron Dragon
Magnum XL-200
Mean Streak
Millennium Force

That's not too bad!

Thanks again.

I would expect 2015 to be a 'bad experience' also. Saturdays in July and August are their busiest days. With the additions of GateKeeper and Rougarou,things shouldn't change.

Thanks for the reply. So, does Cedar Point just typically sell too many fast passes? Are they less efficient at dealing with large crowds? Or are they really just handling way more people than Six Flags NJ, Universal Orlando, etc.? I would have thought with the large amount of coasters at Cedar Point that the people would be more dispersed.

Regarding summer weekdays, are Fridays traditionally the busiest days? Is there a preferred day to try and visit on a summer weekday?

Thanks!

If you have to incorporate the weekend into your visit then my guess is that Sunday-Monday would be better than Friday-Saturday. Tuesday and Wednesday would probably be the least busy but you should still expect decent sized crowds since it is July.

They do limit the number of the Fast Lane passes and on days when the crowds aren't that heavy FL can get you on to rides pretty quickly - almost instantly in some cases. But when there is a heavy crowd there are going to be a lot of other visitors who have the same thought as you (buy passes, save time, ride more) and because of the way they alternate between FL and the regular line it can make the FL line long. Everyone at that point has to wait for a ride, it just becomes a question of how long.

If you can you should stay in one of the CP hotels and get early entry into the park. They may or may not have all of the the scheduled rides running (something is bound to be down or testing) but at least you can get in to the park and get ahead of the wave so to speak. :)

Get in what you can during the morning and early afternoon and then if at all possible consider taking a break during the middle of the day. Go back to the room to recharge or head over to Soak City for a while. Then come back in the evening for some nighttime riding. The park will probably be packed in the area where they do Luminosity so just keep that in mind.

Best of luck with your trip and have fun!

Thanks for the tips guys. I decided to book Sunday - Monday, flying in Sunday morning and back out Tuesday morning. Fingers crossed for good weather and reasonable lines. I'm planning on waiting until I'm there to decide on fast passes.

Last time I stayed at Breakers Express but this time considering Breakers. For ~$250 MORE total (2 nights) we could get a single king Rotunda room. No pics of the room online but it sounds fine.

Anyone have any opinions on Breakers vs. Breakers Express for the money? Are the rotunda rooms new?

Totally new.
Breakers. No question.

Correction on my last post! For $250 MORE I can get Breakers king Rotunda vs. Breakers Express. :)

Definitely Breakers. I'm sitting in the Rotunda right now, and have been for over an hour. It is absolutely amazing! The new firepits are a big hit too!

Thanks guys! There doesn't seem to be any promotional rate going on for the nights I'm staying (7/12 - 7/14). Should I forget about any kind of promo and book now, or would it be better to wait a bit and see if they offer any kind of discounts?

$250 buys a good amount of Fast Lane.

Breakers Express is fine for sleeping.

You would have to call to confirm, but if you booked now and a promo did pop up, I would bet the park would be happy to apply that to your rate.

Just a guess; it's what a lot of places do.

And in terms of your overall experience, I would have to believe that a Sunday-Monday trip will be a world of difference between a Friday-Saturday at the peak of the peak season.