Help us decide when to visit

Okay, well, my awesome and supercute girlfriend <333 [slash travelling partner.. *shifty eyes*] and I will be hitting CP May 16th, 17th, and 18th. We bought Season's Passes with the intent to return to CP in August. However, we then made plans to go to FLA in late August which messed up our CP trip a bit.

Here's where you guys come in. We've narrowed down our possible CP visiting to four options.

1 - Visit in the first week of August.

2 - Visit August 27, 28, 29 - however, we will likely end up paying for this one big time because hotel costs in FLA are massive in early August, which is when FLA will be visited if we choose this option.

3 - Visit September 2, 3, 4 - Labour Day weekend, I believe.

4 - Visit September 11, 12, 13 - shorter hours, but we'd get three full days in.

Now, what I'm asking from you CP vets is to take into account your knowledge of crowd levels on these weeks. We figure early-August would be the absolute worst for crowds, so that is our last choice right now. The 2nd option bothers us because of the Florida thing. The third option bothers us because we don't know how packed it'll be on Labour Day weekend, and the fourth because we are unsure of the crowds/weather I'd be skipping a day of college [on my first week back].

The most important factors in this decision are crowd-levels and hotel prices. We figure both will go down after the summer ends, but we're not sure.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
*** Edited 3/4/2005 7:20:37 PM UTC by grind your soul***
*** Edited 4/2/2005 9:23:30 PM UTC by grind your soul***

I'm guessing the 2,3,4 or 11,12,13 if you don't mind having to where a jacket. First week of August is a definite no go as that may be CP's busiest week. 27,28,29 would be okay but if Florida would be expensive it's not worth it. Longer visiting hours mean fewer crowds, which is good. And with three day's in the park it can get tiring being in the park all three days for 12 hours!

#4 is your best bet (if you want to ride, with short waits).

MrScott

Get a pass and go every week. As long as you dont live to far away.

I am always out of town Labor Day Weekend and have never been to the Point during this weekend, but I have heard nothing, but good things about small crowds on that weekend. Especially Sunday and Monday. Hope this helps.

Only thing about all but the first week of August is...you miss the Laser Show. The trade off is walk on or short lines...crowds are small. We were there last week of August last year and were walking on most rides, with no more than 1/2 hour wait for TTD and MF maybe just slightly longer...

Missing the laser show is a small price to pay despite it being very cool......

Yeah, I was there last week of August last year and was wondering where everyone else was.

Oh, and CPfan, we live in Toronto, Canada - about a 6 hour drive, so it's a bit far :P We have season's passes, as we'll be visiting a few times this year, but to go every weekend is a bit out of our price range.

Thanks for your help, and more opinions are definately welcomed and treasured!

If someone gave me that as a list of choices, I'd flip it upside down and say, "That's my order of preference." Early September doesn't necessarily mean bad - or even cool - weather. With the list inverted, the smallest crowd is probably top to bottom. You might have to switch #2 and #3 as far as that goes. I've been on Sunday of Labor Day weekend and crowds weren't a problem at all. I didn't look at the days of the week your dates fall on, but planning a 3-day trip, regardless of anything else, I'd suggest Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, as you'll hit each of the two least crowded days of any given week.

you miss the Laser Show

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Seriously, as far as night-time theme-park shows go, it's pretty forgettable. I certainly wouldn't plan my trip around it, but that's just me.

Aim for a mid to late October weekend. Yes its cooler but the Halloweekends decorations more than make up for it. The crowds are lighter (depending on the weather of course) and there are much better things to do at night than watch the laser show during this time. They don't open till 6 on Friday's then, so you can leave late morning from Toronto and get there before opening.

If you can swing this, I would highly recommend this over going in early September.

We could always go both weekends [early September + Halloweekends] :P I've always wanted to check out a Halloweekend, and since we have Season's Passes, it'll only cost about $120 - $150 for the three days, in total.

I would definately suggest visiting in September. The crowds will be much lighter than in the height of summer, and temperatures may very well still be in the 70's range. I visited the final Bonus Weekend last year and the longest wait was only 1 hour for Dragster.

One warning about October: don't plan it too far in advance. You want the weather to be "just ok". If the weather is really great (warm and sunny) practically all of the Great Lakes decides to take "one last trip" to the Point, and the place is totally mobbed. There seems to be one weekend like this every year. On the other hand, if the weather is really lousy (cold and rainy) it's just not that much fun.

I used to plan my halloweekends visits in advance---and about half the time the weather would be too good or too lousy. From now on, I'm going to decide the week before whether or not I want to go.

I was there 2 years ago in October when the park had it's biggest day in 3 years. Fun to be a part of that, but not fun if you want to ride.

MrScott