Early admission strategy, etc for relative newbies

Hi! My friend and I are visiting I Thursday the 19th. I was at CP once before in 2001 and my friend also hasn't been in years! We are really excited. I'm a huge coaster junkie and she is a bit more hesitant but still goes on just about everything.
We are staying at the breakers express the night before and the night after so we can get in a full 12 hours in the park (plus one hour early) without driving.
We got the package with one day park admission and breakfast buffet. (Because DQ breakfast sounds soooo unappetizing!)

I see people mention multiple entrances to the park, but don't see any reference to that on the CP website. Can we park and enter near a entrance other than the front? Which one would you recommend?

What do you recommend as a strategy for the early entrance hour? What about a strategy for the rest of the day? I want to ride all the coasters (minus the kiddie ones) and also the power tower, skyhawk and wave swinger. I'm also not sure if my friend would be thrilled about doing MF and TTD first thing but if that's the recommended strategy I could probably convince her!

Myself, I also prefer to ride the milder coasters first and then the biggest last, since I feel sometimes if I do the most thrilling first, the others don't seem so great in comparison! However, unless you're at a park on a day with no crowds, I know that's not a reasonable strategy. So I'm all for going big first during early entry if we can avoid long lines. Since I'm
Not very familiar with the park, what order of rides would you suggest?

I also downloaded a free app called ride watch which as far as I can tell, uses crowd sourcing to estimate wait times for each CP ride. Anyone know how accurate it tends to be?

Lastly, my friend has some food questions! She wants to bring food into the park to avoid greasy and expensive park food. I know it's not allowed, but in my experience most parks don't do a super thorough bag check and I think it'll be fine. Thoughts?
Alternatively, how good of a deal is the meal plan? (Compared to buying lunch and dinner in the park)? Is the limitation of options a big hassle?

Oh, one more thing: what's the best (most central)locker location for leaving a backpack all day?

Any other tips greatly appreciated. We're very excited!

Thanks!

Since you will be there only one day and don't get to go much, if you can, buy a Fast Lane. You will be able to ride until you drop with no strategy necessary. Sorry but that is all I got because I don't get to go but once a year also.

I would also recommend buying Fastlane, and I've tried Mango Mikes breakfast buffet, and it is pretty good. These may help you:
https://www.cedarpoint.com/plan-a-visit/frequently-asked-questions

https://www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do/fast-lane

Depending on what food you get, the Meal Deal could be a better deal.
https://www.cedarpoint.com/ticket-category/Meal-Deals

The best place to leave your backpack all day is in your car!

Here's our plan that has worked pretty well for us for years. However, it involves riding the big rides first because it's your best bet for shorter lines:

When you get to the entrance booths, it's easiest to go the far left one and tell them you are going to soak city. This allows you to park in the back entrance. You can go to any of the booths, but the left one is easiest to get to the road you need to be on.
Park at in the Soak City lot in the back of the park and go left towards the Gemini/Mean Streak when you get in the park. Pipe Scream (the new "kids" ride) was open for early entry so we rode that first this year, and it didn't throw off our plans, so I'd do that first if you want. There won't be any wait at that time. Then go to Maverick (it usually has the longest line out of anything you will ride later and we sometimes ride it twice in a row)because it's usually a walk on during early entry.
We then ride Skyhawk, also twice sometimes, because there's no wait. Then head go through Frontier Town to Millenium Force. You will probably have to wait 20 minutes or so for that one by that point because it will probably be close to 10 AM. After, we ride Power Tower- usually no wait then. And sometimes TTD before we head to lunch.

(Pipe Scream, Maverick, Skyhawk (if open-otherwise wait til evening- do not wait for it- there will be times later to walk on it), Millenium Force, Power Tower)

We have found that this strategy seems to work the best. You will end up having to wait for TTD for 30-60 minutes, but I think it still beats having to wait for the Maverick.
Ride Gatekeeper, MaxAir, Windseeker, and Raptor later in the afternoon for a shorter wait. And maybe TTD in the afternoon later if you don't do it before lunch.

Alternatively, you could park in front and ride Gatekeeper, Millenium Force, then Maverick and Skyhawk. But I would think by the time you get to the Maverick, the line would be getting longer. However, I prefer the first method to park in back because you can park really close. A few times we've tried to ride TTD early, but it's not usually open for early entry, so I wouldn't recommend trying that. You'll probably just waste your extra hour.

Either way, you can get 3 or 4 big rides done in that hour (assuming the weather is okay), and you shouldn't have a problem riding everything that you want in 1 day without Fast Lane. We've always been able to get everything done. We kind of use the motto that if the line is over an hour for anything, just don't ride it and check it out later in the day.

However, we also know which rides we don't really like and can skip. This a personal preference but these rides include: Iron Dragon (looks cool, but boring!), Corkscrew, and Mantis. We usually ride Gemini, Magnum, Mean Streak, and the Mine Ride in the evening when there's no wait (I actually how rough these rides are, but some don't and just skip them all). Then hit up 1 of the big coasters again at the end of the night right before they close the line.

They won't check your bags, so you can bring in a reasonable amount of snacks without much trouble. I would store a bag in the Millennium lockers if you had to, because you can ride everything up until that point in the AM without a locker, and it's pretty centrally located. When you get to Millennium, just take out some money and leave your bag there after riding. I prefer to not bring a bag though, it's easier. Also, if you park in the Soak City lot, it is a quick trip out to the car if you are near the back of the park, and we will often go to the car to grab a sweatshirt or snacks later in the day without taking up too much of our ride time.

Hope the weather cooperates for you. Have fun!

The best advice that I can give:

1) Start early AT THE BACK of the PARK. (Either the Soak City or Marina gates.) Most people enter from the Main Gate (that's why it is called the "Main" Gate ;)) and hit Raptor & Gatekeeper on their way in. This means your best shots are at Maverick, Millenium & TTD.

2) Plan on doing lots of riding AFTER 7PM. Not only does the park look better lit up, tons of people are gone by 7:30. Riding up until closing is your friend :)

Thanks so much, everyone! Is there any problem parking at the back if you don't have soak city tickets? (Like, do you have to show them)?

Unfortunately, we can't afford fast pass but we will do the start in the back strategy and also ride lots after 7. What are your favorite rides for mid-day when the lines are long?

Get to the back gate early. Like no later than 8:45, 8:30 would be better. They do not do the rope drop style opening anymore. They dont start scanning tickets until they open the gates for the day.

parking in the soak city lot has nothing to do with actually going to soak city. a secondary park entrance exists there.

If they don't let you in until 9, why get there early? To be first in line and run to the coaster lines right away?

A lot of people will get there 10 to 20 minutes before the park opens. Being in the first 20 or so people in line will get you into the park a few minutes faster than the 400th.

Midday is the time to eat and enjoy some of the shows. It is the hottest time of the day so being inside out of the sun in the AC is a nice place to be. Most of the shows are hourly between 12-5 which is perfect for that strategy. Also it is my preferred time for doing the water rides. Frontier Trail is mostly tree covered and there is lots to see and do. It is also where the water rides are located so it makes a nice place to hang out during the heat of the day. If you start at the back with Lusty Lil’s Revue, then head down the Frontier Trail to the Red Garter (taking a water ride or two) you can end up down by the Good Time Theatre for the ice show.

I always like to stay one step ahead of the larger early admission crowd. Ride Millennium Force and/or Maverick first. The lines there will be much shorter until about 9:30 when the bulk of the crowd makes their way back there. After those two, then make your way back toward Gatekeeper and Raptor before the park opens to the public. This strategy always works for me. Then i ride some of the less popular rides (rides that people aren't sprinting to when the gates open) after the park opens to the general public at 10. If you do not make it to Raptor during early entry, DO NOT ride it between 10am and about 5pm. The line will die down tremendously later in the day to pretty much a walk on.

Prettycolors said:
What are your favorite rides for mid-day when the lines are long?

Blue Streak.

Make sure your there plenty early. You want to be in line at the gate 20 minutes early because they no longer admit people through the entrance before the park opens due to runners. If you show up at the gate at 9 you'll wait for about 10 minutes just to get in the gate. it might take up to 15 minutes to get from Breakers Express to the Soak City lot. Go straight to Maverick and ride it 2X. Then Millenium 2X. I would suggest that you jog between rides but be respectful of others. You should get your 4 rides in before 10. Go directly to Top Thrill Dragster. After that the lines on the top rides should stack up. Hit up the milder rides because their lines have just opened and haven't stacked up yet. Power Tower, Corkscrew, Magnum, Gemini, CCMR, Mean Streak,SkyHawk. If you want to ride one of these get in line instead of walking by it and walking back later. Don't bother going up front until after 4. These rides up front stack up real bad as soon as the gates open. but Raptor and Gatekeeper have good capacities and will be almost walkons later in the evening.

We usually give up around 1-2 depending on the crowds. This is because our trips are usually a few days long. We go back into the park between 4-5. Don't bring anything into the park in the morning. You'll be to busy riding anyways. Go back to the car and get it about 1-2. This will save you from having to get a locker in the morning. And since you parked in the back, Magnum is pretty much a walkon from 8 to 10. If a ride has a short line ride it more than once.

Also Iron Dragon is a great way to see the line on Top Thrill Dragster. It's very hard to get a good idea of the line size from anywere else in the park. Maybe Power Tower if your lucky enough to sit on the west side of the tower.

I am sure you'll have a great day!

Mean Streak, Blue Streak, water rides, and the flat rides are all good rides to ride during the peak hours of the day. I usually stay on point so the water rides are great to ride between 2-4. then go change clothes and start the grill up at the campgrounds.

If you really want to maximize your first hour, get there by 8:30 and park in the main lot where everyone else is parking and walk around to the marina gate across from Famous Daves, getting there 10-15 minutes before 9. It's a bit of a hike, but there usually aren't that many people there and it puts you closest to MF. Get in the marina gate at 9, go left and ride MF first. Probably twice. Then head to Maverick and ride that twice. These two rides have the lower capacity and as a result will build much longer lines than Gatekeeper or Raptor throughout the day. It's not uncommon to have GK and Raptor with a pretty brief wait after dinner time. They both move people really well. I'd probably do MF, Maverick (2X each if you are lucky) and then it will be 10 and you can do Skyhawk and start working your way from the back of the park to the front (Mean Streak, Mine Ride, Gemini, Pipe Scream, Magnum...)

Another trick is to hop in line for one of your longer waits right before closing time. They will keep the line open until park closing time and as long as you're in line before closing, they will let you ride. So you can avoid wasting an hour of your day waiting for one of the biggest rides by doing it last. If you're hell bent on riding Dragster though, you might want to ride that when you can and not save it for last since it breaks a lot. :)

I agree with other people that middle of the afternoon is a good time to see a show or eat. It's the hottest time of the day and the most crowded. It's also a good time to leave for an hour or two and hit Chet & Matts or take a nap. :) Since we are there all the time, we often bail out of the park at 3-4 and then come back after dinner. You might do it differently if it's a once per decade trip.

This always works for us: we park back in the Soak City lot about 8:30 (usually rock star parking at that time of day). Then you can keep everything in the car (food, etc) for an easy trip back and forth from the park. Take a shuttle (there is a bench with an awning - should be a phone there - pick it up and say you need a shuttle to the marina entrance). Take the shuttle to the marina entrance by 8:45. At 9 the gates open and head on back (to the left) to the Millenium for the first ride of the day. Then either go to Maverick or Raptor since you're back there. Usually TTD doesn't run for early entry - but if it does run at 10am when the park opens - get in line by 9:55 so that when it opens you're ahead of the game.

Have a blast!!