Change in CP operating calendar?

Don't count on light crowds this weekend, it's the 2nd annual Rev3 Triathlon:

http://rev3tri.com/cedar-point/cedar-point-news/

Last year I went Sunday during Rev3 and crowds were minimum on the rides. A lot of people were in the triathlon area near Wicked Twister though.

Well, I called that in advance. But this year, even I'm a little bitter at how stupid CP is in announcing these events. You have to give people more than 3 days notice so that they can plan to attend!

I planned for Friday, figuring they'd announce bonus ride time on Friday as they did one of the previous years. Well, they announced bonus ride time on Saturday and Sunday.

Oh well...should still be a fun day, and with the park only open 4 hours, I can't imagine anyone other than locals making the trip. Now even more so with the bonus events on Sat/Sun only.

It would have been nice taking some friends for $19.99. But you guessed it...they can't get off work in time.

I just don't get why CP does it like this, year after year. These events have NOT been well attended in previous years because of the short notice. I'm curious if the $19.99 tickets make it a different story this year though...

Clearly a ploy to get more people in the park by allowing friends of passholders to participate as well. A good business move. I, unfortunately, didn't get the chance to go to the past Season Passholder weekends, when it was just passholders. (Or have they allowed friends to do the ERTs in the past as well?) Obviously, CP wasn't happy with the participation rate, so now they are extending ride times to passholders' friends too. So now I don't know if I will go. Hmmmmm, what to do?

I'm sure all the ERT sessions will be much busier this year, especially the late night ones. How hard is it just to stand outside the line and ask if a pass holder can vouch for them so they can get in?

As much as I hate to see increased lines, this is a smart business move by CP. By making ERT sessions at Saturday night and Sunday morning, they are trying to get pass holders to do something they would normally never do--stay in a CP hotel. We'll see if it works.

As a first time season passholder, I was excited to see some ERT available for us that did not overlap with Holiwood Nights (which I had already signed up for prior to learning about Coastermania) and was on a weekend, unlike the Thursday night sessions that I can't make it to on a 3.5 hour drive during the work week. Now I am torn, do I sink the cash into the gas and hotel hoping for good ERT, or is it so mobbed with "bring your whole youth group for $19.99 all weekend plus ERT" that the re-rides aren't even that accessible?

CP has around 100 people saying they are going on their FB event. There are obviously many more that aren't on FB. I wouldn't go hoping for a good ERT session. I would guess many groups will go as long as one person in the group is a season pass holder. MF's ERT will be packed in the morning.

firefox15 said:
As much as I hate to see increased lines, this is a smart business move by CP. By making ERT sessions at Saturday night and Sunday morning, they are trying to get pass holders to do something they would normally never do--stay in a CP hotel. We'll see if it works.

The hotels were already booked solid for Saturday night before they announced any ERT sessions. I assume the triathaloners are staying on-site for convenience with getting to the starting line early on Sunday morning.

That hotels were already booked for the marathoners makes this move by CP even smarter. If there aren't any rooms available in town, the park needs to sweeten the deal a bit to get customers through the gates. I'd say this $19.99 offer sweetens the deal quite well for many.

Sure they are booked? Priceline shows 16 out of 16 hotels with rooms available for this weekend.

TripAdvisor showed 0/0 when I checked earlier.

It should be interesting to hear how busy the ERT sessions are. This appreciation weekend should be busier than the past ones.

They must have had some cancellations or opened up some more rooms. End of last week there were no rooms in Breakers, Sandcastle or Lighthouse Point for Saturday night. Now they are showing some available.

Firefox15: What does FB mean? Sorry, I'm drawing a blank.

FB usually means Facebook.

Onpoint Blog said:
.Just show your pass at the entrance of the ride – and be sure to say hello! I’ll be there to check your passes. Any friends of Passholders must be with the Passholder in order to be admitted to the ERT.

Conformation that Passes are being checked. :)

They are checking them, but I can't imagine it will be that strict. Random people could just ask to be vouched for by any passholder, and I'm sure at least one person won't tell them no.

Looking at the weather this weekend, it is calling for scattered storms, 40% chance of rain, and low 70s. Maybe this forecast will deter passholders unless they are like me going regardless.

IMO, passholders will go regardless of forecast because they hardly have anything to lose. Admission is free.

I'm kind of slow here but... the ERT is for friends of passholders too? Can friends of passholders get in an hour early as well? I'm going with my platinum pass with 3 members of my family. My wife and I have platinum passes.. I didn't know the rest would be able to do ERT as well.

That is kind of lame.. that means this ERT is going to be packed I imagine compared to when they just allow passholders to go do the ERTs.

Lame.