Best strategy for getting out of the parking lot?

I realize Blossom & Coliseum talk is not helping Sarahb1863 exit the CP lot, but I will continue with the theme. As for Kiss, the first concert I ever attended was in 1975 at The Coliseum, Kiss with opening group Artful Dodger (that guy had a great voice). We made the trek from Fairview Park in our buddy's parents station wagon. Similar to Kevinj I also saw Aerosmith at Blossom, however it had to be in the early/mid-80's. Steven Tyler came strutting out screaming "I'm Back, I'm Back in the Saddle Again....".

We were waiting at the car for things to clear out at Blossom once and the station wagon beside us was doing the same but they didn't appear to be awake or very active and had the same song playing loudly on a loop over and over for the 45 minutes we waited. Forty Five minutes of Bob Dylan telling us we must all get stoned, still playing as we left.

Starlake = Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown? That place is awesome.

I’ll see your Star Lake and Blossom, and raise you one Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. What a cluster-F. Even worse is when it rains and the grass lot becomes a mud pit.

Yep. It changes names all the time. It's been Coca Cola Star Lake Amphitheater , Post-Gazette Pavilion, First Niagara Pavilion, S&T Bank Music Park, and now back to The Pavilion at Star Lake. We've always just called it "Star Lake" around here.

Can Blossom possibly be as bad as Hersheypark when a concert, a game, and the amusement park all let out at once?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

jimmyburke said:

I realize Blossom & Coliseum talk is not helping Sarahb1863 exit the CP lot, but I will continue with the theme.

Oh, go for it! I got the information I was looking for, and I'm enjoying the stories!  I've been in some colossal traffic jams getting out of Blossom and Richfield myself. :-)

Just because it crossed my mind, there was one time when I got out of Blossom with relative ease. And it was one of those magical nights.

R.E.M. has been my favorite band since the early 90's. Always fun when your favorite band technically no longer exists, but I digress.

Saw them in 1999 during the "Up" tour, and as the setlist ended the dark skies were rolling in. They started the encore (which ended up being multiple songs), and I think most people thought it was over when they played "Cuyahoga", which would make sense in Cleveland. The rain already started to fall.

But R.E.M. went on for two more songs, ending with "It's the End of the World" while the monsoon rain and a pretty strong t-storm came in, which was perfect (given the tune). There were maybe 500 of us left, and we ran up from the grassy knoll to the first few rows while the rest of the crowd had been heading for the exits. Easiest exit ever, but I didn't want to leave in the first place.

Rainiest, muddiest for me was 1980ish at a venue NE of Columbus in the middle of farm fields called "Legend Valley". It had a grassy/muddy hillside that sloped towards the stage and the heavy rains made it a great sledding hill for drunk and inebriated attendees using cardboard likely from cases of beer. I believe the lineup Had Def Leopard, Scorpions, J.Geils Band, Ted Nugent.

Worst time I ever had getting out of a "parking lot" was after a reenactment in Gettysburg PA. The parking was in a farmer's field and it had rained the day before, so cars were getting stuck in the mud all over the place. Add to that the problem that the only way out involved going into a muddy swale where, if you weren't going fast enough, you got stuck at the bottom because you didn't have enough traction to get up the other side...well, it was an adventure. I think there might still be cars there.

I have experienced the Gettysburg farm field parking lot. Even being dry both times it was crazy because none of those roads are set up for that much traffic even once you get out o the field and people on foot were moving faster than us after we got the car in the road. At least one of our visits was a big anniversary year so the amount of people was just staggering.

Isn't part of the reenactment the amount of time it would take to get everyone's horses and buggies out of the lot? Not to mention factor in the inability of people from that time period to have any notion of how to negotiate traffic...

Sounds pretty accurate.

Paisley said:

If you plan to leave at closing time don't park in the back, or if you do move your car to the front before closing if you're going from the water park to park or out to the car to eat. Since I come from the east I normally try to park in the east side of the lot and go out the little exit at the far east end of the lot that goes directly to the chausee. Might not be possible right now with construction but they changed the gate so instead of it having to be opened you drive up to it and it opens to let you out of the parking lot as you approach but not in from the other side. An improvement I really like over just hoping it's been opened. heading out the other way I really don't have any strategies I'm still getting used to the new configuration of everything since construction.

Have they done construction recently since the end of June, or are you talking about the new traffic pattern from when they remodeled the toll booth? Also, pre-Covid, I’ve parked on the back and had no trouble getting out of the parking lot. Now the end of June, different story.

Nothing this season, just the new configuration with the new toll booths in the parking lot. I haven't been down the chausee yet this season since they have done the road work there. The construction signs were still up last time I was there so I've avoided it.

If you place your trebuchet at the out-flow bridge for Thunder Canyon and point it at downtown Sandusky...

Worst concert exit ever happened for me at the Great Strahov Stadium in Prague in September 1994. 120,000+ people headed out on the "typical" dainty European roads at the exact same time. They were still leaving at 6am the next day... Astonishing bad planning with a venue capable of 250,000 capacity.

Shane Denmark said:

Starlake = Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown? That place is awesome.

I’ll see your Star Lake and Blossom, and raise you one Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. What a cluster-F. Even worse is when it rains and the grass lot becomes a mud pit.

I've been to a few shows at Star Lake as well when I lived in that area. My sister and her husband went to one of the Billy Joel shows there on the weekend when it first opened in 1990 and they had a nightmare getting out! I guess I was alway pretty lucky myself.

At CP, we usually park in the lot to the left of Perimeter Road - directly across from the main parking lot and just before you get to the pet check area. We don't often stay until closing when the exit traffic is considerably worse, but it is usually a fairly easy exit strategy. My daughter and I came over this year on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks and parked in that area very close to one of the Perimeter Road access points closer to the toll booths. We got caught in a HUGE pedestrian traffic jam getting from the beach back up onto the boardwalk behind Breakers. Also a huge mob making our way back into the park and out the front gate. I expected a vehicle traffic jam as well, but it literally took us about 20 seconds to get from our parking spot out onto the Perimeter Road exit lane which was then a dedicated lane right out to the causeway. The main parking lot was a gridlock mess and I feel for any of you who were stuck in that - but this was probably the easiest exit I've ever had from CP - even under normal conditions!

It’ll be interesting to see how the planned roundabout factors Into evening traffic

Where is the roundabout supposed to be?

In and around the lake.

It is pronounced Roundabound

I thought this was settled.

Cargo Shorts - It seems like I want to call it a roundabound almost every time I go through one any more, thanks to that video.