Cedar Point/Kings Island low attendance?

I have checked the web cams for both parks daily. It is the middle of July and Kings Island is almost empty today and has been almost every day this summer. Is Cedar Point the same and what is going on? The snake coaster at Kings Island is walk on today and most every day.

We have been discussing Cedar Point's attendance over here. It would be nice if Cedar Fair would release individual park numbers, but since they dont, all we are left with is to speculate on how parks are doing.

I was at the point most of the day yesterday and there was a good crowd all day.
I went from 10-1 today and crowds were light. I rode TTD 2x in 30min. and was a walk on at MF.
SV had a 120min wait time though.

I find that using the CP webcams isn’t always a reliable way to estimate crowd size. It would be nice to have an overview of the parking lot and the ability to get real time wait times from outside of the park.

I’ve only been in Ohio a couple years and haven’t been to KI yet but hope to visit soon!

It's hard to really know from webcams unless you can see the parking lot because you only see the people walking around, not the people waiting in line. I was there 7-14 and it was busy and the heat was brutal. If it wasn't a planned way in advance around other peoples' work schedules that can't be changed large family event I would have been home in the AC not in the park. I think on some of the lighter days the heat has been a factor. Some of us just physically can't take it.

I think the heat can be a factor. Especially when CP Shores and the beach are wall to wall people.

I do miss the days when a webcam was on the parking lot. When I still lived local, it was often the determining factor for going for a midday or evening visit.

From 2013 - 2015 we would arrive at 4:00pm & if the main lot was filled past that scaffold structure we knew to anticipate greater wait times for many rides. These days we live local and have gone early entry exclusively and have had no waits for Varavn, GateKeeper, Millenium Force, Maverick. If TTD opens at 10:00 we are in line for a 5 minute wait ride, then no wait at Magnum. We typically leave via the Causeway at 11:45am or so. There have been several days that the traffic entering at that time has been 3 lanes wide & backed up all the way past the incline for boats to pass below. Saturday was like that. Yesterday (Sunday) there was hardly any incoming traffic.

Just a suggestion to those who don't go frequently; Do not get in line at 11:30am for Raptor. It is always jammed full at that time while many other popular rides have little wait at that time. MF looks pretty sparse, TTD 20 minutes or so.

Coasterhawk, I was at KI yesterday from 10 to 8 and it was most certainly not dead. Granted most lines were not long except for FoF and FH. It was extremely humid and only bearable becuase it was overcast most of the day but when the sun did break through it was brutal. Those conditions make heavy coaster riding difficult, but that was the mission we were on, in fact 2 of the kids in my group had protein spills after getting off The Bat of all coasters around 4 and one was my kid and that has never happened before.

It was the kind of day I normally would pass on, but a couple of the kids are visiting from KC so this was their only chance to visit KI.

Cartwright said:

I think the heat can be a factor. Especially when CP Shores and the beach are wall to wall people.

I do miss the days when a webcam was on the parking lot. When I still lived local, it was often the determining factor for going for a midday or evening visit.

We went many evenings after school even though we would only be in the park for two hours because of the drive but we knew we would get a lot in because we could see the lot was empty. Now I'm a bit more leery of spending two hours on the road for a two hour stay.

I was there yesterday (Sunday, 7/15/18) it was not very crowded for a Sunday. All rides were walk on’s or less than 20-30 minutes except for Maverick which was about 45 minutes all day and Steel Vengeance which was 60 - 90 minutes. I did hear that the Waterpark was crowded because of heat. Went to the beach for awhile and that was very crowded as well. I was amazed though by how empty the front of the park was after I had lunch. Didn’t even wait a second for Raptor, and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen that on a weekend. Regular Lot was at the tower and CP Shores lot was completely full.

For attendance at Cedar Point, I wonder if it has anything to do with the bad reputation SV got opening weekend. The weather has been very good, we haven’t had rain for almost 5 weeks now in Monroe, Michigan.

As for Kings Island, It’s simple. They didn’t add in a new ride. When you put nothing in you will get nothing back. Just ask Michigan’s Adventure.

I’ve only just discovered the Cedar Point Crowd Calendar but from what I’m seeing it’s been spot-on this past week. It will be interesting to see if this Saturday is as slow as forecast.

Responding to ChasingTheThrills: I disagree with your assumption that if Cedar Fair doesn’t build a new attraction people won’t attend the park. And, Michigan Adventure proves my point. Cedar Fair has very little incentive to increase capital expenditures at Michigan Adventure because it has such predictably stable attendance year over year (or so it seems to me). We went yesterday and it was packed. There were few if any parking spots remaining in the entire lot and it was a 95 degree, full humidity, Sunday.

Um...... if I am reading that crowd calendar right May and June are busier than July and August. Not sure I buy that.

Uncle Steve said:

I’ve only just discovered the Cedar Point Crowd Calendar but from what I’m seeing it’s been spot-on this past week. It will be interesting to see if this Saturday is as slow as forecast.

I've noticed that "crowd calendar" changes it's "predictions" after the fact. I wouldn't trust it.

I wish the park would do a few nights during the summer months that the park would be open 10P - 6A. I doubt many would attend? But who doesn’t love warm summer nights in comparison to brutality hot, humid, and sunny days? I’d be first in line.

Staffing would be the big problem with that idea. We have to let the Minions sleep sometime.

I can this much as a person that goes pretty much only on weekdays, today is easily the most crowded I have seen the park this season. I would take a good guess with highs being only inthe mid-70s and absolutely clear conditions is a pretty notable factor.

I have been working on a park in Planet Coaster called Luminosity, and the hours are 8pm to 8am. I've been having a blast building it so far. Now I want to start my own amusement park in real life that opens at sunset and closes at sunrise lol.

Augustmueller said:
I wish the park would do a few nights during the summer months that the park would be open 10P - 6A. I doubt many would attend? But who doesn’t love warm summer nights in comparison to brutality hot, humid, and sunny days? I’d be first in line.

I’m guessing you’ve never been in the park at night. The midway is busy with trucks cleaning, maintenance, resupplying food stands, resupplying merchandise, etc. Having guests in the park would make it impossible to get all of the overnight work completed. I occasionally helped out at night. We’d be sitting in a food service truck waiting at the gate to get on the midway ASAP at night.

Does anyone know If Cedar Point is doing this offer? I know Kings Island is because I saw an ad that said $39.99 for Kings Island till August something. Hopefully Cedar Point does this ad too. I hope this helps their attendance. I don't want to see Cedar Fair parks have low attendance. As much as I love re-rides, I don't want Cedar Fair to go bankrupt because of low attendance.

I've heard some unofficial off the record numbers for CP and they seem shockingly low for a year with a major new coaster. No clue as to what the problem is. Could the POed guests from bad Halloweekend and early season chaos have a major negative effect? I heard they closed the water park early today, boneheaded move to save a few dollars. Better to maybe lose a little and let the guests who don't mind the weather enjoy their day then have another line of mad people at guest relations. Short sighted. Went to Chickie's & Pete's today. No hostess to be seen, no bartender to be seen. Sat at the bar with no service until finally getting a table so that someone would serve us. Seems like management in various areas of the park needs some serious adjustment.