Early Entry change.

i was at Cedar Point On Thursday got to the park right around 845 like i do on most days to get my early rides in. But this time something was different. I was in the back of the park by soak city. There was a long line Starting at the gate and Going back almost to rip cord. So what i want to know is when did they stop letting people in early to meet by magnum. Like it has been for years, and even earlier this year

It's been inconsistent this year. Some entrances are letting in through the gate early while others aren't, and some like the resort entrance has been different each time I've been to the park this year. Not sure why, but a question I've been wondering about myself.

They held us up at the marina entrance a while back and by the time we got in we lost 10 minutes of early entry. If you are at the front gate it is even worse. One early entry Sunday morning in Mid June it took almost 10 minutes to get in the front entrance, walked to Raptor, she was down so we went back to Millie and she was still testing with water dummies and ended up at Maverick which thankfully just opened and was almost a walk-on. However, we wasted 10 minutes getting in the park and another 25 minutes walking from ride to ride. We decided to just stay on Maverick until the 10 am crowd arrived and they let the Fastlane people in at 950 am! We were a bit miffed about this. Early entry has been a bust for us this season except for a couple visits. We don't seem to get nearly as many rides in before 10 like we did in past years. I never understood why they just don't open the gates for early entry folks 10-15 minutes early and let them head to the ride of their choice and wait there until 9 am.

We usually go every Sunday, but with the big crowds we have experienced this year and add to this fastlane and my Platinum Pass just doesn't do as much for me as it used to. I haven't been back since July 7 when all we did that day was kiddie and what few family rides are left and went home early. I'm looking forward to when the Ohio schools go back and make a few mid week visits in addition to Sundays and hopefully have a few decent riding days.

We stayed a few days July 4th week at the campground, and talked with other people in line at Gatekeeper about early entry for resort guests. A large percentage of those we spoke with were NOT guests at the resorts, nor platinum pass holders, just early arrivers who had not been held at the gates.

Chris

I think it would just be easy to let everyone in at the end of the national anthem. That would be the same time around the park. They are pretty good about only allowing Early Entry in at the front gate.

I have always thought they have done a good job of checking if you either have a platinum pass holder or are a resort guest at the soak city entrance. In have seen them stop several people trying to get in before.

It has been very inconsistent this year at that entrance.

Chris49 said:
We stayed a few days July 4th week at the campground, and talked with other people in line at Gatekeeper about early entry for resort guests. A large percentage of those we spoke with were NOT guests at the resorts, nor platinum pass holders, just early arrivers who had not been held at the gates.

Chris

We did early entry at the front gate once and got there late at 9:45 a.m. and they were letting in general admission at that time. I wondered if that was a regular occurrence as our few early entries have been at the soak city gate.

Back in May, they weren't checking for Platinum Passes when letting folks in for early entry at the main gate, nor were they doing so at GK's entrance. And no "cattle pen" on the main midway, either.

If they're no longer doing early entry for resort guests and PP holders, fine. But don't bait-and-switch your customers mid-season. They did a similar thing with removing the 10% sit down restaurant discount.

It's like paying for a Fast Pass but they don't check it at rides and then anybody can go to Fast Pass.

If they start not checking early entry credentials I may as well not renew my pass next year. I have plenty of coke points for several free tickets. all I would have to pay for is parking.

I don't recall them not checking for resort guests and platinum passes. Just holding us outside the gate until after the Nat'l Anthem instead of coralling us inside for the running of the bulls. Early entry ERT is the only reason we get platinum passes. So if they aren't checking, then what is the perk and why am I paying extra? That's like getting fastlane and letting everyone in the FL line.

It was discouraging to see them open the line before 10am for FL people (GK and Mav). Platinum pass and resort guest early entry is our FL time, they need to wait or stay at the resort or get a platinum pass. I'm not allowed in the FL without a FL wristband.

I haven't been to the park in 3 weeks. Anyone know how crowded early entry has been this past 3 Sundays?

Smitty Werbenjaegermanjensen said:
It was discouraging to see them open the line before 10am for FL people (GK and Mav). Platinum pass and resort guest early entry is our FL time, they need to wait or stay at the resort or get a platinum pass.

Do you know for a fact that you weren't witnessing Platinum Pass holders who had purchased FL?

Dj,

It doesn't matter, FL does not open until 10 am. If I buy FL I would still have to enter the regular line until 10 am when the FL line opens. If they were doing early entry then they should have gone in the regular line with the rest of us. They walked right in the FL line and walked in front of the rest of us early entry folks at 950 am and boarded the ride. If they are going to offer 1 hr of early entry then we should have this honored and not allow FL to board early, they already get to spend the whole day "cutting" the line. :-)

Say something to the op working the FL line next time, i would!

I am going to email CP about the FL thing as well as the gate checks for early entry folks. Thanks!

^Please let us know what kind of response you get.

Maybe Tony Clark will read this post and talk with management. He is very careful with passes when we have ERT.

I think the park has been much more lax when it comes to enforcing the early ride entry than in years past. I remember back in the first years of the Joe Cool early ride mornings, they let everyone through the park gates, however they were checking passes at the ride entrances. If you didn't have the JCC logo, you went through the regular line. If you had it, you passed everyone else in line on the Freeway paths. It pissed off a lot of park guests.

I'm guessing they are still finding that balance. I have to say though, it was pretty cool riding MF half a dozen times in a row on a Sunday morning in the middle of July.

~Rob

This is really starting to irritate me. Growing up, we always had to wait for the park to open, standing outside with our prepaid tickets until time. Are they letting Gen Adm in early to be nice or what? It really stunk walking with the wave of people to Gatekeeper to find the line at a 45 minute wait at 9:45 a.m.

It's interesting that they seem to be changing the value proposition of the Platinum Pass so dramatically - they're essentially rescinding the ERT perk and raising the price by over 8%.

This change probably won't tip the value scales for folks who live near Sandusky, but for people like us in SE Michigan, I think it's nearing the point where it's not a great value.