Good Idea/Bad Idea?? You Decide...

I heard somewhere that there are parks, Six Flags ones I think, that limit the amount of guests allowed in the park on any given day. I was thinking about this and wondered not only how they would do this but if it would really show in the length of lines and such.

I was wondering if you guys think this is a good idea or a bad idea - and also if it would be something cool at Cedar Point.

Personally I think it might be cool but at the same time I think it is a bad idea financially and from a customer service standpoint - turning away guests would not be a good thing.

I've heard of parks having a max capacity. I think I've heard of Busch and Disney parks having to not allow more people in because they'd reached capacity. The number is outrageously high though that lines are still going to be very very long. CP might even have a number such as this, but with the park being as big as it is, it's probably nearly unreachable. BGW feels packed with probably 15,000 people, but CP seems rather average or even empty with that number. I'm pretty sure CP has had over 50,000 people in the park on a few occasions. I've heard stories of the lot being completely full and them having to park people along side of the causeway or at the mall and shuttle them to the park. Not sure how accurate that last one is though.

There is a maximum capacity at most parks. I know for a fact that Disney has shut down it's parks many times, particularly on holidays such as New Year's Eve. Even then, though, they keep parks open for resort guests even though they might close them to day guests.

Discovery Cove...the sister park to Sea World Orlando...limites guests per day in order to enhance the experience. But, they do charge more for admission.

I am not aware of Cedar Point ever shutting down due to attendance. 1994, the year of Raptor, had the highest attendances on record and I don't recall the gates ever closing.

Matt, I don't believe Cedar Point has ever shuttled guests from off property but they have parked day visitors back at Soak City, the hotel lots, the campground, etc.

I was told by Magic Kindgom management that they have had nearly 90,000 in the park before. I was there on a New Year's Eve back in '89 or '90 and it was miserable. You literally could not walk the midways unless you were shoulder to shoulder. We planted ourselves at the castle stage around 6:00 and waited there the rest of the night to have a good view of the activities. I think it took more than 2 hours to get from the stage, out the park and over to the TTC. We might have ridden less than 10 rides that day - no joke.

I know that Cedar Point has been in the high 40's during peak times but I'm not sure if they ever crossed the 50K mark. I think Geauga Lake's biggest days may have been in the high 30's...back in the 80's and early 90's. When Sea World and Geauga Lake were both at their peak and when Aurora Farms was in full swing it wasn't uncommon for there to be bumper to bumper traffic from the Streetsboro turnpike exit all the way to the park entrances...which would explain some of the residents complaints.
*** Edited 5/27/2005 1:49:36 PM UTC by Chief Wahoo***

It's not a bad idea, but like others have said, it's almost unreachable. I've only been able to make it down to CP on packed July Saturdays, but even then, it was nothing compared to the two times I've been at Disney when they shut down the park. Epcot + New Year's Eve=total gridlock. Not a pleasant experience.

CP is a big place, with wide midways and high capacity rides so I would imagine their capacity is insane.

I'm curious about that Halloweekend last year at CP. I was told they were turning people away from the causeway by early afternoon that day.

I have no idea how many they had that day, or anything about them turning people away from the causeway. I do know that at the time I went to get in costume at 4:00 it had already been decided that Fright Zone was going to be one way traffic. That night was insane, but it's a lot easier to scare people when they're only coming from one direction. :)

*Edit- I do remember that the Soak City lot was crowded, but definately not full.
*** Edited 5/27/2005 5:34:53 PM UTC by Ralph Wiggum***

In '94 I remember a couple of days when we parked people on the sides of the road that leads through the campground, in between campsites, in the gravel area near Mean Streak; basically anywhere we could find a spot. It was brutal and it seemed there was no end to the line of traffic.

Since you brought it up, at what point do they make the FrightZone's one way?

When we went last year, Friday was wide open, but then I noticed on Saturday it was a bit busier and the zone was one way.

OldCPer said:
I'm curious about that Halloweekend last year at CP. I was told they were turning people away from the causeway by early afternoon that day.

Though I always go to the park early in the morning, I couldn't tell you how mad I'd be after driving 2.5 hours to the park and be turned away. I'd understand why but still mad.

You would understand?? I don't think ANYONE would be very understanding at that moment. After thinking about it for a while (and realizing that if they were at capacity, parking and lines would be a total CF) you'd start to understand, but I can't see anyone pulling up the causeway and seeing a "Sorry, we're full" sign and being very understanding.

Was at Disney Magic Kingdom on July 4th last year. The park was miserably crowded. Just like Chief Wahoo said, you could not walk down the midways. Was told by an employee that on big holidays, they do not have a cutoff. We went to guest services and complained and they gave us a 2 day hopper for free!!!

I was there that day during Halloweekends 2 years ago when we had a Saturday with sunshine and 75 degrees. Thank God we were staying at Lighthouse Point for the weekend. That Saturday was incredible! We decided to bag it and head back to the cabin (and pool) at 1 in the afternoon. Rumors I heard at the time (mainly here) were it was the busiest day in 3 YEARS and attendance was between 50,000-60,000 that day.

Something that I, for one, do not find hard to believe.

I'm glad we got our riding in on that Friday and Sunday. We got one ride in on Saturday (Dragster), before calling it quits. There were lines just to get in lines!

MrScott

Isnt it like a law to have a maximum compacity? Im sure there is one but like others have said the park it just to huge to be able to reach that amount of people.

The park was FULL that day. It was just crazy. Lines to the bathrooms were hours and I saw people peeing outside them just to relieve themselves.

There was line for EVERTHING!

MrScott
*** Edited 5/27/2005 7:36:21 PM UTC by MrScott***
*** Edited 5/27/2005 8:28:53 PM UTC by MrScott***

villiageidiot said:
Was at Disney Magic Kingdom on July 4th last year. The park was miserably crowded. Just like Chief Wahoo said, you could not walk down the midways. Was told by an employee that on big holidays, they do not have a cutoff. We went to guest services and complained and they gave us a 2 day hopper for free!!!

I find that hard to believe. There's numerous sources in books, the internet, and straight from Disney themselves stating that holiday times are highly crowded and the parks generally reach capacity. It's also common knowledge that Disney World has triple the crowds in the summer versus the spring, fall, and winter (minus the week between Christmas and New Years which is always gridlock).

Why would they give you free 2-day park hoppers just because you complained because you decided to come during a time that is notorious for being packed?

And by the by, Cedar Point and Epcot are roughly the same size in terms of acres of land. And since Epcot is bigger than Magic Kingdom and their max capacity is about 100,000 people (even though they usually cut it off at about 75,000) you can assume that the max capacity of Cedar Point is well over 100,000.
*** Edited 5/27/2005 8:17:11 PM UTC by CPMatt***

You will NEVER get 100,000 people into Cedar Point because there would be no place to park all those cars/busses. They will not have people walk across the Causeway and you can be sure they wouldn't park them on the Chausee.

If they all swim over to the Peninsula then we might approach that figure but until that happens you will be hard pressed to find a day nearing 50K.

Years ago PKI used to have a sign on I-71 stating that park gates were closed because the place was filled to capacity.

Chief Wahoo said:
You will NEVER get 100,000 people into Cedar Point because there would be no place to park all those cars/busses. They will not have people walk across the Causeway and you can be sure they wouldn't park them on the Chausee.

If they all swim over to the Peninsula then we might approach that figure but until that happens you will be hard pressed to find a day nearing 50K.

Although, if they ever decide to build additional parking structures à la Universal Orlando, it could make the chances of it higher.

JuggaLotus said:
Since you brought it up, at what point do they make the FrightZone's one way?

When we went last year, Friday was wide open, but then I noticed on Saturday it was a bit busier and the zone was one way.

I'm not really sure what is the ultimate factor in making the zone one way. They had predicted on Friday that we could see one way action on Saturday based on how full the hotels in the area (not just the CP resorts) were that weekend. I'm sure they have a certain attendence figure they reach to make that decision, but I don't know what it would be.