How long until we get spring weekends?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like every park is opening earlier than normal this year. Six Flags Great America opened this past weekend, as did Great Adventure & SFA. King's Island opens next week.

This isn't a comment on how late they open this year. The number of operating days is pretty much the same as 2008. It's an observation that Spring is the new Fall for parks.

I know a lot has to do with the unique climate of the Point, but it isn't always perfect for Halloweekends either. With more and more parks extending their seasons into spring (having mostly maxed out on the fall end of things) how long can it really be until Cedar Point is open for some "bonus weekends" in April?

I'm with you. I would love to be able to go their for spring break instead of having to resort to Florida.

YeeHaw said:
How long can it really be until Cedar Point is open for some "bonus weekends" in April?

I think you answered that yourself when you said "Spring is the new Fall for parks." When do you ever see crowds in May like you do for Halloweekends? The answer would be never. The weather in October has been much better than May can be. Both can be harsh, but the Halloweekends appeal is higher than ever.

It's really a more a matter of staffing rather than weather.

^Exactly. Kings Island and SFGAm are both in the vicinity of rather large suburban areas, and most of their staff comes from the high school students in the area. That way they can work on the weekends.

Whereas CP gets the majority of its staff from college students and employees from overseas, who are still in school and can't just come for the weekends.

DumaKey12122 said:
I'm with you. I would love to be able to go their for spring break instead of having to resort to Florida.

Resort to Florida?

Wow. Here I am looking to move down there to get away from this God-forsaken bi-polar weather having state...

"I think you answered that yourself when you said "Spring is the new Fall for parks." When do you ever see crowds in May like you do for Halloweekends? "

I'm not following you. I said that because parks are now opening in the Spring like they slowly expanded into Fall a little over a decade ago.

It wasn't too long ago that some of us would have said that Cedar Point would never be open in October because it was too cold, not enough staff, etc.

I re-read everything and I didn't make much sense. I misinterpreted what you meant.

Staffing, weather and off season maintenance are undeniably the biggest reasons we don't see CP try for an earlier spring opening. Weather at the point is significantly better in the fall than the spring because in the fall, the lake water is still somewhat warm and that helps tremendously with things like wind chill. In the spring the lake is still very cold and as a result the slightest breeze feels significantly colder.

Staffing reasons are pretty obvious for reasons mentioned above. As hard as it is to keep people in the fall, it's a lot easier to keep someone through the weekends in the fall than to coax them to come early. Plus in the fall they get lots of "ride pride" groups working in the park, many of which would probably not be available in the spring since most college groups do their fundraising in the fall.

After seeing how down to the wire things get when putting the park back together in the spring, I'm not sure it would be very possible to open earlier without either getting more full time maintence people or only opening some rides. Neither of which are things I could forsee CP doing.

I know that it seems like it stays cooler up here later, but the fall has been much warmer! My son said that spring break should be called winter II. break!

The other thing to think about with staffing: Exams. In the fall, school is just starting, so leaving on weekends isn't a big deal.

In the spring though, you have exams to worry about, and some aren't going to sacrifice grades to come work at the park for a weekend.

Cedar Point used to do Spring weekends before Memorial Day, then abruptly one year they decided to push opening day back a little later, but go for daily operation from the start. Does anybody remember what year that was?

(Where's Walt when we need him? He probably knows off the top of his head...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It would be nice to see Cedar Point open for weekends in April.

April? It's still snowing in April as of late. Even if it wasn't snowing, it's still typically atypically cold this early into the year/spring season.

Most people don't want to vacation near Lake Eerie until at least Memorial Day. For those who are supporters of this idea, take a trip to Sandusky/Toledo during April and go to the lakeshore. I think you'll find it doesn't feel as 'nice' as April at KI.