Halloweekends

I have noticed the last couple of years everyone is saying halloweekends are just as crowded as a July, August weekend. If I remember right, not long ago halloweekends was just a few weeks long, like all in Oct.? Now, it is pretty much all of Sept. and Oct. If im wrong please correct me.

My question is when you all say halloweekends is as crowded as a July, August weekend, is this true with Sept. and Oct. or are we just talking about Oct. weekends for the most part? My back up is because as you all know, the Cedar Point website does not include Sept. as one of the most crowded months.

So, are Oct. Halloweekends more crowded than Sept. Halloweekends on average?

It completely depends on the weather. Closing weekend is always a bit busier on its own despite the weather.

After that, a nice weekend (temps in the upper 50's or 60's and no precipitation) are going to get really busy, especially the later you go. They have a tendency for drawing out people who want to get that one last trip in.

After that, Columbus day weekend tends to be busier because of the long Sunday hours and the resorts being open till Monday.

The biggest factor, I think more-so than the rest of the year because of the time of year, is the weather. You get that Indian Summer weekend and the park will get busy in a hurry.

It all depends on the weather when it comes to a HalloWeekend Saturday. But if you go for the weekend Friday will have good crowds and Sunday should be dead.

IMO It's quite an experience to be there when the crowd hits 45k and up. But that might just be me. :)

John beat me to it.

*** Edited 7/3/2007 4:48:42 AM UTC by CP4eva'04***

I'll echo the other responses about weather being the main factor. It seems ever year there are one or two really really nice weekends in October, and it brings out the crowds in proportions I've never seen any other time. However, if the weather is gloomy, chilly and has a chance of precipitation, the crowds will usually be small, usually almost non-existent if it's a Friday evening or Sunday. For what it's worth, the first couple of Halloweekends in September are generally the least crowded, regardless of the weather. I'm not sure if it's because people just aren't thinking about Halloween that early or what, but the crowds generally pick up at the end of September and stay strong.

CP4eva isn't too far from the truth on the attendance figures. Last year the Columbus Day Saturday and the Saturday before it were nuts. Every turnstile at the front gate had a solid stream of people coming through non-stop between when the gates opened at 11:00 until 3:30 in the afternoon. For much of that time, it was a solid sea of people filling the entire space between the gate and the ticket booths. The only reason it abruptly stopped around 3:30 was because the front parking lot filled up.

That being said, Halloweekends is by far the greatest time of the year at CP. Even if you don't ride anything, the atmosphere is just so incredible to walk around and take in the Halloween festivities (except for when it's so crowded that we have one way traffic in the Fright Zone, but the addition of Fear Faire helped to take some people away last year). So don't worry about the crowds, just come to the park and have fun. If you really want to ride stuff, come on a Friday or Sunday.

Now all this talk about Halloweekends has me sitting here in my cube getting all anxious about working there again this fall. I'm excited that I get to scare for 7 weekends this year instead of 6. Just a little over two months to go! :)