Coming in 2018: An expanded beach boardwalk

The 2nd gate would be more entertainment focused. Move the stage to the 2nd gate. Host a nightly fireworks show at the 2nd gate.

There is already a second gate, it's called Cedar Point Shores.

As big as it may feel when walking to your car the front lot isn't really big enough for a whole second park if that's what is meant by the 2nd or 3rd gate.

Paisley said:

As big as it may feel when walking to your car the front lot isn't really big enough for a whole second park if that's what is meant by the 2nd or 3rd gate.

Oh but I thought Cedar Point wasn't running out of room? ;)

It’s not like you could fit a Kings Island in the CP parking lot.
And I’m trying to figure out who’s paying second/third gate price to see entertainment and shows. Really, I think CP is gonna plug along as is for a while yet and make do with the space they have for new rides and shows.
And maybe it’s my age, but I can only do so many laps around that park anymore as it is. Many, many steps around that place every visit.

I think the idea of a proper public bathhouse is interesting idea. When I worked at the park there was no park gate at the beach, but park entry was required to access the beach. So it was come and go, no ticket or handstamp required. And locals could purchase a season beach pass that let them in, but they got no string/stamp for rides. Everyone paid toll and parking.
The beach was fenced off at the Breakers end and again at the parking lot end to keep people from entering the park without paying. People would bring their beach stuff from the car through the park and spend an hour or two at the beach. On weekends it would get quite crowded. I can’t remember if access to the beach was strictly through the bathhouse, with separate entrances for men and women, or if there was a gate opening in the fence for direct access from the midway. (And I’m a little embarrassed by that, I worked right next door for an entire summer)

But I agree if they’re going to allow open beach access from the parking lot and Breakers/Shores, they need a place for those customers to change their clothes and rinse off. I used to use that old Camper Village shower house to change clothes and pee if necessary, but now it and the Challenge Park rr’s are gone. Someone mentioned the only place to use is in Breakers and that’s just not acceptable. Hotel guests are one thing, but I can’t imagine they want everyone else traipsing through there too.
Maybe with the stadium being raised it would be a good place for a changing facility, open from the boardwalk only. It would be centrally located enough that patrons visiting the beach from either the main lot or Shores would have the same shot. Put a flat ride, a small store or snack stand on the midway side, maybe.
In the end this could be a good thing for the park to market. They’ve already done what they can to improve the beach experience but I believe the general public still views it as a hotel-exclusive activity. Now they can advertise it heavily as a place that all visitors can use, day and evening, and get there from either parking lot. I believe beach parties, fireworks, and stuff like that will see an increase in customers on account of this. It’s perfect for park patrons and those that aren’t as well.

Listen, when Mr. Ouimet joined on, he joined with the goal of making Cedar Point a resort experience. Hotels. Cedar Point proper. Soak City. A 2nd gate.

Ok. What’s your source, there?

Comparatively, Disneyland Park is what, 120 acres? Quality should be priority.

From Theme Park Tourist a couple of years ago.

1. Disney's Animal Kingdom - 403 acres
2. Epcot - 300 acres
3. Tokyo DisneySea - 176 acres
4. Disney's Hollywood Studios - 135 acres
5. Disneyland Paris - 126 acres
6. Tokyo Disneyland - 115 acres
7. Magic Kingdom - 105 acres
8. Disneyland - 85 acres
9. Disney California Adventure - 72 acres
10. Hong Kong Disneyland - 68 acres
11. Walt Disney Studios, Paris - 62 acres

[Pulls up old argument...]

Cedar Point building a monorail just isn't going to happen. Said monorail would have to be built in the bay, as there's not enough room on the causeway, driving up construction costs; it would require two tracks to expidite moving people back and forth; it would require construction of a large facility for maintenance and upgrades.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland have monorails as a viable transit resource, but those parks are open year round. WDW was developed with public transit in mind -- check out Walt's original concept for WDW.

A Cedar Point monorail would be unusable six months out of the year, but would still require continous maintenance.

PyroKinesis09 said:

Paisley said:

As big as it may feel when walking to your car the front lot isn't really big enough for a whole second park if that's what is meant by the 2nd or 3rd gate.

Oh but I thought Cedar Point wasn't running out of room? ;)

I didn't say anything about running out of room, I said the front parking lot isn't big enough to build a whole second park that would be worthy of it's own gate and admission and make any sense blending with the park configuration already there. Adding space at the front of the park maybe but not room to build an additional park. I don't think either is going to happen in the parking lot any time soon if ever.

Yes and no.

I don't see Cedar Point getting a monorail, or adding a 3rd gate. As noted above, the cost of building a new park from scratch is substantial. The traffic issues, either getting to the park, or leaving it at night, seem to be a couple times a year event, which just doesn't warrant the kind of expense a monorail installation would take.

However, some of the arguments against it fall short.

Cedar Point's main parking lot is larger than the figures above for DCA, HK Disneyland, and Studios Paris. So, you know, if Cedar Fair had a spare $500 million sitting around and a real plan, they could build something there. If this were 8-10 years ago, I suppose Kinzel could have just moved part of Geauga Lake into the parking lot as salt in the wound of the "Bought it to close it" theorists. Side note: Is there a name for these folks? Seems like all the conspiracy theory groups have nicknames now. We have truthers, birthers, deathers, grassy-knollers, mooners, and tenthers. Surely there must be name for these folks too.

Estimates for monorail construction based on publicly available figures range from $50 million per mile (Brazil 2014) to $150 million (Vegas 2004 using WDW trains). Cedar Point could build their next 4 coasters for less than the cost of a basic system, before the maintenance and other costs noggin mentions.

If management decided what we the people really want isn't more attractions but to park way over there and cram into mass-transit to be ferried to the peninsula, there are options. Something like Chicago's L could be installed on the causeway over existing lanes. Or, since this would in theory significantly cut down on traffic on the causeway, a lane or two could be taken out. Unfortunately, cost estimates for light-rail come out similar to monorail pricing. One of those trendy gondola systems could be installed. They would be cheaper than a monorail or light-rail of some sort, but like lots of things, just because something could be done doesn't mean it should.

Yeah it’s called heartbroken customers and former employees. It was not handled well at all.

Going by Ken P's numbers, CP is huge compared to other parks. I'm already walking 10 to 15 miles if I spend the entire day their. How much bigger should the park get? CP is not running out of room and is as big as it needs to get.

The amusement park fence surrounds about 140 acres on the peninsula.

140 acres.... Thanks for that number. I didn't spend much time, but the answer I kept seeing was 364, which I was pretty sure wasn't comparable to those Disney numbers. I arrived at the parking lot size being about 76 acres using the polygon area tool in Google Earth.

I used to be in the group that thought CP didn't have room, but then we went to Indiana Beach a few years ago. If I remember correctly, there was a coaster on top of a restaurant building or something, and another coaster wrapping around that running along the log flume. Maybe not as scenic or as much "charm" as Cedar Point has, but definitely an example of how much can be put into a small area.

At the park right now, you can already see work being done for the boardwalk. Around GK, WT and connecting to the existing boardwalk right next to Windseeker. Why build another gate when you can build a path to the underutilized "Oceania" gate?

^^ Pretty sure the 364 acre figure that is thrown around a lot is the entire peninsula - park, resorts, water park, parking lots, etc. in total.

And the 140 acres puts CP as #4, almost equal to Tokyo Disneysea at #3.. Much of the acreage of Animal Adventure is animal preserves, not midways. Even combining the original Disneyland and California Adventure is just a little bigger than CP alone. Makes my point that the park is as big as it needs to get and is bigger than most.

ok. Hear me out on this one. Because i think we are blowing off this second gate idea.
We all know that crowds are a problem at cedar point. and they just tore down sandcastle suites. I think they are going to open a second cedar point in the current parking lot spot. Think about it. The first ever twin amusement park.

Two of everything! that way all the lines will be cut in half.