Castaway Bay

We are spending several days an the Point during May and I was wondering what are the admission prices for Castaway Bay. Everywhere I look, I only see their hotel rates, which include admission to the park.

Do you actually have to stay at Castaway Bay in order to get into the park? I wouldn't think so, but I can't find the admission prices anywhere.

Any help will be appreciated.

That's generally the idea, yes. They were allowing the locals in for day passes, but I suspect that's an off-season affair only. If I was paying $200+/night I wouldn't be too thrilled about letting outsiders in.

Pshhh! Who needs Castaway Bay's waterpark when you have Cedar Point!

Well, that sucks... big time. I mean, CP supposedly invested several million dollars on this project and they don't let anyone not staying there in??

As for the $200+/night... you could actually pay that and more if you stay at Breakers and that doesn't give you exclusive use of the park...

Anyway, I guess we will not be able to stay there anytime soon...

Thanks for the info.

It's not that big that they can let anyone in. They let outsiders in when the rooms didn't got sold out. And let's get this straight. Breakers you get A+ rooms and service. CB is more like a Comfort Inn or a Holiday Inn when it comes to rooms. You pay the $200 to get into the waterpark and a room happens to come with it.

Did I stay at a different Breakers? Everytime I stay at Breakers the rooms are a "B" at best. Call me crazy but I think Sandcastle Suites(a place that I would say is a dump for the price you have to fork over) and Hotel Breakers arn't that nice(room wise... heck I would say Breakers Express is nicer than most Hotel Breakers rooms). In my opinion I have felt for the price you pay for Sandcastle Suites and Hotel Breakers you should be getting a much better room.

Just my 2 cents...

About the waterpark use... think of any hotel with pools. You can't stay at an hotel on "A" street, and go swimming in a pool at an hotel on "B" street. Look at all the hotels around Cedar Point... if Cedar Point said only their hotel guests could get into the amusement park, their hotels would fill up. If Castaway Bay allowed anyone in, people could stay at the cheap hotel down the room that Castaway Bay doesn't get any money from, because of course most people then wouldn't pay the 200 dollars a night at Castaway Bay. Look at Soak City.. anyone can come in, and it gets crowded at some times, so by paying the money and staying at Castaway Bay you are getting a private water park, that won't ever have huge lines. Just like why would anyone buy the Joe Cool season pass thing for the ERT, because they want to spend the extra money to have "private" time in the park.
*** Edited 3/12/2005 9:33:50 PM UTC by CP 1984***

pfranco said:
Well, that sucks... big time. I mean, CP supposedly invested several million dollars on this project and they don't let anyone not staying there in??

Uh yeah, why is that hard to understand? They didn't build it for anyone but the people staying there. It has a limited capacity.

I hate going to waterparks because they're always crowded and I don't like being shoulder to shoulder in a swiming pool. Having a limited number of people in is a great idea. I'd pay $200 for a relaxing time at a waterpark that never has a raining or cold days.

I took a day pass trip to Castaway this past Wednesday (trip report coming soon I hope) and I can see why they wouldn't let just anyone in. The place was great, but it's definately small enough that a full hotel would pack the place. From my understanding, they didn't have many rooms booked when I was there, and it still was fairly busy in the afternoon. The day passes are a great thing for the days the hotels rooms are empty, but on days with more booked rooms, it would definately get too crowded.

Breakers you get A+ rooms and service. CB is more like a Comfort Inn or a Holiday Inn when it comes to rooms.

Boy, I hope this isn't true. I must grade on a different curve than you do, but I've stayed in more than a dozen resort properties that have nicer rooms and better service for less money than Breakers. And before you tell me that I'm paying for location at Breakers: it is is right next to a darn fine amusement park, but these other places are right next to quality ski slopes, fronting ocean beaches, on Orcas Island, next to world-class golf, and within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom.

I agree. The rooms at CB are like any other hotel chain. Not what you would expect for $200 a night.

Family and I were there a couple of weeks ago. The rooms are average at best, definitely could use a good cleaning in the corners. I wouldn't consider this a "resort" hotel definitely more like a Comfort Inn. Waterpark was okay but small. (I wouldn't consider a day pass now.) Food choices are very poor, especially Mango Mikes. TGIFridays was our best bet. I don't see us going back anytime soon. I can spend the $250 plus elsewhere. We did get to see Snoopy once during our stay. :)

The rooms at Breakers are like any other hotel chain too. Even the ammenities are nothing out of the ordinary. You're paying for the location, the beach, the ability to wake up, look out your window and see the park or the lake, and the ability to walk to an entrance gate within minutes. That, apparently, is valuable enough to enough people that they fill the place pretty consistently.

I suppose the most comparable place I can think of is the Contemporary at WDW. The garden wing rooms can be had with a AAA discount for $233 per night during the summer peak season (and cheaper after the July holiday, when the weather gets almost too hot to enjoy). You can walk to the Magic Kingdom. You have views of Bay Lake outside your window. The hotel has amenities, dining options and furnishings far surpassing that of Breakers East or Tower, priced almost identically.

True, Big Thunder is no Millennium Force, but it whips CCMR like a rented mule. ;)

I've stayed in breakers, and have happily paid the prices for it. But, I no longer recommend it to anyone that has visited a real resort without setting their expectations appropriately low. The only on-point property I recommend without hesitation is Lighthouse Point.

Do we need to give supply and demand lessons in here? If people weren't booking Breakers and Sandcastle at the high prices that are charged then the prices wouldn't be that high.

That isn't complicated, is it? Hey, at least now you get a modern room at Breakers. Backy in the 80's and early 90's you were paying inflated prices for deflated rooms.

Well, since we discuss this monthly, I'll just repeat myself. I don't expect CF to change the way they run the hotels, because they don't have to--plenty of people pay. But, if anyone actually claims they are "A+ quality" with a straight face, they are either lying or have no reasonable comparison point.

Sandusky strikes me as awfully similar to Branson, or maybe Pigeon Forge: tons of cheap, horrid hotels, a few mid-range ones, but nothing really nice. In that kind of market, you don't need to offer much more than a clean and reasonably well-maintained property plus a few unusual extras to be able to rate a premium, and other hotels manage it too. For example, the Holiday Inn at Rt 2 and US 250 is getting $90+ for opening weekend. The amenities are okay (it's a Holidome after all!) and the place is a step above many other Sandusky properties, but it's still got paper-thin walls and looks as though it was last renovated in 1985.

(Edit: and how could I forget the Poconos! The "resorts" there make Breakers look positively posh!)

It would seem to me that this market would support an upscale property. So far, the only ones that even try to fit that role are the indoor waterpark hotels, and maybe a few places in Port Clinton (which are really a separate market, as far as I'm concerned.) However, most of the tourist destinations I can think of that do support such properties tend to be able to support traffic year round: ski/golf combo resorts in northern MI, winter sport/water sport combo resorts in the finger lakes of NY, indoor waterpark row in the Dells, any destination with a significant concentration of casinos (Vegas, AC), and places in the west/south that don't freeze over and usually have an ocean near by. The exceptions I can think of are Mackinac Island (definitely seasonal, definitely upscale) and a few mid-atlantic oceanfront towns that are too cold in the winter to really consider them tourist destinations then. So, it's probably pretty tough to successfully run an upscale property in a seasonal destination, unless that seasonal destination is known for being upscale already.

*** Edited 3/16/2005 5:08:51 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

I almost went to the Poconos for my honeymoon. Glad we bailed on that idea.

You are right, Brian. The area could probably handle some "plus" hotels, particularly when you consider that all of the "Horizon" suites seem to sell pretty well at the Breakers. I would agree that Breakers and Sandcastle are not A+ quality. They may not even be B+ but they are at least a solid B.

I understand that Disney is looking to build an "exclusive" hotel that would be a step up from the Grand Floridian (which is outstanding already) and quite a bit smaller to cater to the uber-wealthy.

On the contrary, a honeymoon in the poconos would have made for stories you could tell your grandchildren! ;)

I'd go for B. "Good, no problems, but nothing special." And I do suggest Breakers to colleagues, but only if they really don't like the idea of the cabins/cottages, and only after first setting the context for them, so that they go in with the proper expectations. I no longer recommend Sandcastle, though. If you need a suite, the ones in Breakers provide better value, IMO.

I tend to agree that paying for a Cedar Point room is paying for convenience. I've stayed in enough three and four-diamond hotels to know that what the park offers is mediocre at best. Heck, after the fiasco at LHP closing weekend, I don't think I'm in a hurry to go back. While I don't expect a four-diamond experience (though maybe I should at those rates), I do expect a fair amount of attention to detail.

I have stayed at the Breakers, LHP cottage, BE, Castaway and Sandcastle. LHP is my favorite, (view and privacy) Breakers is the most convienent, BE is the best for what you pay except it is is a pain to get in the park. The last trip to Castaway we received a free upgrade to a suite (thanks CP!) but the in wall heater did not heat the large room very well. The rooms at the Breakers, with the exception of some of the suites, are way overpriced for the size and decor. The time we stayed at the Snoopy Suite at the Breakers we had to get the ants in our room killed. Anyway, I cant wait for May, it will be the Breakers or LHP cottage.