From a family viewpoint...

Just came back from a Sunday trip, I have 4 kids ranging from almost 5(just 1/4" to short for 48") to 2 weeks old.

The park was very family friendly. The assortment of rides is great as always and planet snoopy is a nice area. I don't think it's an improvement over the old peanuts playground though. It really needed an updating for sure, but it was nice to have a quiet area for the kids to be able to play. It was my kids favorite place in the park, they were able to run and climb to burn some energy in a somewhat fenced in area where a parent could let them do their own thing while taking a little break from the park.

I'm sure some lazy parents were letting their kids run like banshees and thats not cool though.I saw it a few times last year myself. Maybe they could add another of those rope climbing playscapes like they used to have. I forget what that was called but I remember it being a blast when I was a kid. Even the tree slide would have been nice if they could have saved it. It was a much better kite eating tree.

The new family care center is a welcome addition for my wife. With the new baby she is breastfeeding and an air conditioned private area is nice to have available. Kudos to the planning dept for that one.

We spent a few hours at soak city as well. The kids really enjoyed the play area inside the lazy river and me and my little girl (18 months) went around the river a few times and had a blast.

They could use a family care center in this area as well. Nothing to fancy a few private rooms and a small first aid center would be great. The wife had to use the shower rooms to feed and said it wasn't the best of situations.

I know the food prices have been beat to death already, but how can a family possibly afford to eat in the park? I checked at the Joe cool cafe and almost fainted at the door. To eat a meal would cost around $70.00 in there. I'm a season pass holder so I usually try to eat in the park atleast once a trip since it's not too expensive other than gas, but I'm gonna have to start making it a snack item in the park and the cleveland rd Subway for the meals from now on.

It's feels bad to say that....If they really want to create a good feeling about going to CP they really need to fix the pricing or bring the product up to the quality expected for the cost.

Other than the food we really had a great time, the park wasn't to busy and the weather was good.

Sounds like you had a good time. :) I agree with you on the food prices. We have been to CP 2 times this year so far. The first time we ate at the park, and the second time we packed lunches and ate in our car (parked in Soak City parking lot). I thought eating in our car was much more enjoyable than eating in the park. It was private, and comfy, and what a great view of Magnum as we ate. :) Plus it was A LOT cheaper that way too!

Wow yeah I guess I never really thought about families. I'm used to buying food for myself, so the $8-10 is pretty bad, but I usually just pay it. But a large family must really have a tough time paying for food at the park. At least you still had a good time.

If you put a Jacks naturally rising pizza on the dash in your car at 8:30 A.M and the weather is 74 degrees or hotter, you can check back between 1:45-2:00 and the pizza will be cooked.

It's how I roll every time

Just eat at TGI Fridays. The cost of the food is the same as in park food unless you get some ribs and shrimp. Their ribs are pretty interesting tasting as well. I like Famous Daves more, and now in retrospect I wonder why the hell I ordered ribs and shrimp at TGI Fridays haha.

Wow...Four kids under 5, I have a hard time just keeping track of my husband in the park. I bet the kids had a great time. Is going to Cedar Point going to be a family tradition?

JTaylor said:
Maybe they could add another of those rope climbing playscapes like they used to have. I forget what that was called but I remember it being a blast when I was a kid.

You are probably talking about Kid Arthur's Court. I also have great memories of this place as a child. Didn't it have a ball pit? If so, thats probably why it was removed... Those things are a breeding ground for nastiness... I dont even want to think what all I stepped and rolled around in those things when I was a kid...

Regardless, as a child I remember spending a good part of my day there. :)

Since we're talking food, Tomo is open, and I checked it out yesterday. Prices are standard for a hibachi, in fact for anyone who is familiar with Sakura, they are almost identical. I paid $22 for a shrimp hibachi course, which includes rice, miso soup and vegetables.

Not ideal for a big family if you're already spending a lot of money on a vacation, but definitely nice if you're in the mood for good food and a nice sit down/entertaining experience.

For those of you who are familiar with Teppan Edo at Epcot, it's obviously not quite on the same level, but it far exceeded my expectations, and I'll definitely eat there again.

-Josh

^^ - you know, we all grew up with those ball pits, and we all survived and with stronger immune systems. There's nothing about them that would be bad for kids now-a-days.

Idlewild still has one of those. A number of FECs still feature them. My daughter is quite the fan.

mariace said:

"Wow...Four kids under 5, I have a hard time just keeping track of my husband in the park. I bet the kids had a great time. Is going to Cedar Point going to be a family tradition?"

We've gotten the season passes now for about 4 or 5 years. It's starting to get pricey, but what better way to spend some of the tax rebate check than a summer full of CP.

We try to go about 3 or 4 weekends and a couple of 1 day trips between MIA and CP per summer. We're going to try and make it down to KI this summer as well. I don't know with the gas prices though.

Yeah that's what we did our last trip with food prices, we have had enough with park prices. So we stopped off at subway, and picked up the five dollar foot long's which made for two meals. That's the way we saved money.

Nice trip report to. :)