Closing Weekend Observations

We made our first and only trip to the park for closing weekend, and while it was great to take a break and get away with the family, I can't help but be really disappointed in the overall experience. Some background first, we've been passholders for over 10 years but due to some other vacations, did not renew for this year, not until the Gold pass was announced. 90%+ of our trips to the park over the years occur during HW, and we have always stayed at the campground. Most years we would make it to 4 out of the 7 HW weekends, and I always got there around 1PM on Friday and stayed through closing Sunday... I say this to relay the fact that these observations are rooted in a LOT of HW experience.

I'd been watching the webcams periodically and reading social media reports of what's been going on since the debut of the gold pass and somehow was hoping I'd get lucky. The monsoon forecast for Saturday gave me hope that a lot of people would just stay home. This did not come to pass. Friday was the single busiest HW Friday I've ever seen, to the degree I would say it was about as busy as a average HW Saturday with nice weather. We got two SV rides during early entry, but by the time we got out of that ride at 6PM, since Maverick was not open we jogged up to MF to find a line of one hour already. Never seen anything like that at 6PM on a Friday. We walked the park for a bit looking for some shorter lines and didn't find any, so we headed back to camp to change into some warmer clothes in preparation for the haunts. When Cornstalkers opened, the line was already a full cue and way down the midway. Having waited in this one before I already knew it was about two hours. This is nuts for a Friday. We called it an early night.

Saturday morning gave us two hours of opportunity to get some rides in before the monsoon hit, but due to various rides being unavailable (or breaking right before we got on), we got nothing done. Then the rain started. Gradually throughout the day the crowds gave up and went home. We went back into the park in rain gear around 7 and looked for things to do, but what was odd, and very disappointing, was that rides unaffected by rain were all closed, with no staff present and lights off. Examples here are Dodgems, Scrambler, Calypso, just to name a few. It seemed like the park threw in the towel and sent everyone home. So when the haunts opened we decided to brave the rain and make it through as many of the houses as we could. Went to Zombie HS to find the door wide open, lights on, no attendants, and no scare actors at all in the house. What's up with that? Then we went to Eerie Estate and found it completely closed. Why? A couple of the houses in the back of the park were open, but were lackluster to say the least.

Just before 10 the rain stopped completely and it was pleasant out, yet not a single ride reopened. Why? Here we had an empty park and two hours of opportunity to ride things FINALLY after a weekend of not being able to, but I guess they decided that didn't matter and sent everyone home.

I won't report on Sunday since it's been well documented here already but it was once again packed.

I'm not really posting all this to complain, although it may come off that way. I'm just really disappointed that the former glory of HW appears to be dead, so long as these gold passes are available. I'm really regretting that we bought them. Even though they were inexpensive, the thought of going to a HW next year just holds zero appeal for us. Even though HW have always been busy, the savvy visitor was always able to find a way to get most of the rides in, even if it meant leaving work early on Friday as we did to get there well before ERT.

The saying "nothing good lasts forever" certainly seems to ring true here. I suspect this will all backfire on the park, but I'm sure this was a measured decision made with a lot of analytical data. Let's hope that I'm wrong and that there's more to this than meets the eye, because the guest experience has deteriorated considerably for me and my family.

First, sorry your weekend was bad.
Second, some apologists on here are going to attack your post for every minor detail that wasn’t exactly what they experienced.... pay no attention to them.

Thanks for the insightful post, most of us on here truly love the park and are pained to see the direction it’s been going. Your dedication to HWs is remarkable, I would never be able to deal with that many Saturday’s in the park during HW.

Hopefully management sees what happened as a negative, notices the social media reaction and the employee’s that had to deal with the mess of a weekend.

I’m not sure if this is the new CEOs direction for the chain and CP, but it’s seems like a Six Flagging will have negative guest impacts from what we are accustomed to under the Ouimet era.

It cost me fifty bucks, but after seeing what the park has deteriorated into this fall, I decided to cut my losses, cancel my reservations at thd Breakers, and stay home. I'm glad I did.

I’m not sure if this is the new CEOs direction for the chain and CP, but it’s seems like a Six Flagging will have negative guest impacts from what we are accustomed to under the Ouimet era.

A little ironic given what Matt said about Zimmerman when Matt stepped down as CEO and Richard took over:

Richard has the skills and experience required to lead the company forward. He has been a great thought partner to me and has made major contributions to our strong performance, including being a key driver behind such successful initiatives as Fast Lane, season passes and our all-season dining and beverage programs.

Just hoping that the "GP" Gold Passes will lose its luster to a lot of those people that bought them and don't show up as much in 2020.

What are the chances that people just put them in a drawer somewhere and forget about them?

GoBucks89 said:

I’m not sure if this is the new CEOs direction for the chain and CP, but it’s seems like a Six Flagging will have negative guest impacts from what we are accustomed to under the Ouimet era.

A little ironic given what Matt said about Zimmerman when Matt stepped down as CEO and Richard took over:

Richard has the skills and experience required to lead the company forward. He has been a great thought partner to me and has made major contributions to our strong performance, including being a key driver behind such successful initiatives as Fast Lane, season passes and our all-season dining and beverage programs.

Niceties aside (what else would he say). If he had those skills and the experience under the direction of a visionary leader where they were properly applied, great. If, (I said if) he has a vision for the company more aligned with a Six Flags operation than prior Cedar Fair than not so great.
( I wonder how the view of Ohio is from that corporate office in Charlotte.)

Just pointing out the irony. I agree its not likely Matt would be quoted as saying Richard was incompetent and the company would tank with him as CEO (even if he believed it though I doubt he did). But one of the things that Matt specifically called out with respect to Richard (and he could have mentioned any of a number of things or nothing specific at all) is the very thing that many people here believe has been changed in such a way as to ruin Cedar Park forever.

Closing weekend, I did Friday but not Sunday. October was great for me, I did 4 Fridays and 3 Sundays, BUT I always did the early entry. Fridays I was out by 8pm and Sundays I was out by mid-afternoon. While most rushed toward Steel Vengeance at early entry, I concentrated on MF, Valravn, Maverick, GateKeeper, and Rougarou. Most of the time Millenium Force was a walk to the platform and if early enough, re-rides directly from unboarding to boarding. I'm 75 miles away so 1 1/4 hours of driving got me many early entry rides. October for me was great as my interest were the rides and not the haunts. Years ago, HalloWeekend Fridays and Sundays were low crowd and many rides, things have changed and we'll have to adapt as I did this year.

I'll echo what Maverick said. I've never seen a HW Friday like that and man I would have been puzzled if it wasn't for the information shared on this site. Saturday was pretty fun playing and riding some rides in the rain, we made the most of it. Sunday we gave up around 2 and drove home. I couldn't believe how many people showed up with nothing open and I figured once the wind died down the lines would be crazy anyway.

Overall I had a nice time, but with the crowds Friday and Sunday the overall value has dropped significantly. Weather being better would have only exposed the other issues the park faced the weekend prior.

With Breakers being 800+ for two days, FL Passes being given away and a dramatic increase in crowds. My most favorite trip of the year might get the axe. I'll just go mid-may when there's still value in the perks I pay extra for.

Will CF/CP suffer because of little me getting rid of this annual trip? Nope. Time will tell if this new direction they are taking is good or not long term.

Although I didn't make it, they should have done the one free visit for the remainder of this year instead of this bonus of unlimited visits the rest of the year. It probably would have transitioned better.

Just Coasting said:

Just hoping that the "GP" Gold Passes will lose its luster to a lot of those people that bought them and don't show up as much in 2020.

What are the chances that people just put them in a drawer somewhere and forget about them?

Honestly,who knows. There will be a small percentage who purchase and never use. Or only go once cause it was such a steal this season. I honestly don't think your May weekday or even June attendance will seem much different next season. July/August Saturdays will probably be busier however. But I think the Monday - Friday day to day will only see a minor uptick. People still got to work. Kids will still be in school in May, etc.

There will always be the unknowns too, weather, a looming recession, maybe fuel prices will sky rocket making people who live 2+ hours away rethink summer plans. There are just too many unknowns to truly foresee how 2020 will turn out.

I love the park. I've been going consistently since the late 90's and even more so since 2001 when my love of the industry took root. But I do think 2021 will see me take a breather from Point. I may decide to do more parks I've never been to instead. Like the New England area. Or maybe visit the west coast again (in which CF still may get my Platinum Pass dollars lol) but I think I need a season or two away.