Disappointing Check-in at Breakers Express

We made our annual Halloweekends trip last Friday, and opted to say at Breakers Express - primarily so that we would have access to early entry. We were disappointed when we got to BExpress a little before 4:00 PM to find a very long check-in line, and desk workers who really seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever to move people through the check-in process quickly and efficiently. It was rather frustrating that by the time we were checked in we and got to the gate we had about 15 minutes of our hour-long early entry.

I would think that the park would anticipate a crowd at check-in around that time and would have staff on hand to help handle that - at times they only had one or two check-in windows available (though at times they had three open). Particularly when one of your selling points over other (and far less expensive) options is the hour of early entry, the park should do what it must to ensure guests can take advantage of that perk.

Have you expressed your concerns to resort management?

They sent me an online customer satisfaction survey regarding our stay that I did fill out, but nothing beyond that.

So in other words, you haven't expressed your concerns to resort management. That would require a phone call (for the most prompt response).

An email or a personal letter would also be a good idea. Believe it or not, you're likely to get a personal response if you reach out in a more personal way first.

Without looking at the schedule, I'm assuming hour-early-entry was 5:00, and you got there before 4:00, which should be more than enough time.

I'm in awe (although not surprised) of how popular and chaotic Halloweekends are compared to the first two years.

This seems like a pretty frequent complaint toward the end of the season. I suspect they've got a lot of staffing and training issues with the crazy late season. I don't know how you address that as an HR person. I wonder if throwing money at the problem (bigger bonuses for late-season work) is the answer.

Jeff said:
This seems like a pretty frequent complaint toward the end of the season. I suspect they've got a lot of staffing and training issues with the crazy late season. I don't know how you address that as an HR person. I wonder if throwing money at the problem (bigger bonuses for late-season work) is the answer.

I think throwing money at the problem is exactly the solution, when the park reduced/eliminated bonuses staffing issues became much more difficult for the park. Self check-in Kiosks or proper pre-keying pre-registration by the front office staff. That would greatly reduce check-in times when you can assign all rooms seeing as the hotel was empty the night before.

I did go ahead and send an e-mail to resort management - we'll see what kind of response I get. Pre-keying the rooms seems like a great idea for pre-registered guests.

Another improvement would be separate check-in lines for non-registered and pre-registered guests. There was a span of time where the line didn't move at all while the 2 attendants registered parties who were not preregistered.

The problem is you decided to check in at the same time as the early entry, instead of hours or even a day before.

All on you man.

He was there before 4:00. Early entry does not start until 5:00.

Giving yourself over an hour buffer of time to check in to a hotel is more than reasonable.

It is a problem they could look into and find a solution for.

He's complaining that the lines were long at a hotel during a busy time of year for Cedar Point. You know the lines are going to be long. Get there at 3. No excuses.

Just a ploy by the park to slow down the check-in process which will result in increased demand for next year's new addition: Fast Lane for hotel check-in. :)

TheEternalQuestioner said:
He's complaining that the lines were long at a hotel during a busy time of year for Cedar Point. You know the lines are going to be long. Get there at 3. No excuses.

I wish all the guests I have dealt with in my hotels had/have your mentality. An hour for the arrival process at check-in time is not acceptable in any hotel/resort. This is piss poor management from the hotels leadership team. There is always a solution to avoid this type of delay.

Sounds like some BS to me. We arrived at Breakers Express at 3:50 checked in, took our stuff to the room, changed, hit bathroom and headed to the park. We were at the gate 15 minutes before the gates opened at 5pm. Yes there was a line but not anything like what is being said here. It took 15-20 minutes tops to checkin. I agree CP should plan better but it was not as bad as what is being said here.

And the plot thickens..

TheEternalQuestioner said:
The problem is you decided to check in at the same time as the early entry, instead of hours or even a day before.

All on you man.

Not sure how you do this when Breakers Express wasn't open for check-in until 3:00 on Friday. Ideally we would have been there a bit earlier, but I would have thought an hour to get checked in, get our stuff to the room, and drive to the main gate would be ample time.

Fozzy... there must have been a whole lot of people who showed up in the 10 or 15 minutes between the two of us. When we got there the queue was full and the line snaked around past the main doors and to the the gift shop.

Don't get me wrong... we had a great trip and thoroughly enjoyed the Halloweekends attractions (Fright Lane/Skeleton Key was totally worth it) - we just missed out on a couple rides due that we would have preferred to hit (Maverick, for one) during early entry because the lines were long later in the night.

AndyG: smart move, sending an email to resort management. When presenting a complaint or concern to a company, a 'paper' trail is always a good idea.

And, clearly, Cedar Fair hates Michigan's Adventure so much it doesn't even get long hotel check-in lines. :)

We were there the same day, got there at 3:30, and didn't have a line at all.

We were pleasantly surprised that there were a few people behind the desk. In years past, there has usually only been 1 person at check-in upon arrival.

The process seems slow compared to other hotels, but it isn't nearly as bad as checking-in to the campground at Cedar Point!

We stayed on property at Knott's last year for Scary Farm and if I recall correctly, our keys, tickets etc were all in an envelope and ready to go at check in. We had maybe a 20 minute wait but once we got to the counter it was quick.

We actually did our reservations online a few hours earlier in the day but they were still all ready for us when we got there.

Granted Knott's doesn't really deal with an "end of season" but preparing for arrivals well in advance could help CP out just as much!

Look, I think people can complain as much as they want during Halloweekends, but there is just absolutely nothing CedarFair can do about it that they aren't already doing...they can't just "add another person" because there ARE no other persons...take a look at their job listing -- they are practically BEGGING people to come work for them, and that goes on year round, let alone after mid-August when all the college kids go back to school, and after labor day when all the international kids head back to their countries to go back to school...they just don't have the people even if they wanted to add staff.

That means doing better personal planning: get there earlier. Expect longer lines. Plan meals in the parks at the bigger food places because most of the smaller ones will be closed.

Plan ahead -- and avoid Halloweekends -- the singularly busiest days at CP all year.

What if you planned on everyone else planning?