My first time to Cedar Point - What's your top two bits of advice?

Hello everyone. My name is Bret, I've been a Disneyland regular since the mid-70's, I'm not an expert on Disneyland, but I have been there a couple hundred times and I know how to make the most out of a visit. I have a couple Disneyland travel websites and I get a few e-mails a month from people all over the globe, asking for advice to help them make the most out of their visit.

My top 2 bits of advice for anyone visiting Disneyland is to 1- Get up early, get everyone fed and get to the gates 1/2 hour before scheduled park opening time. and 2- Stay for the fireworks! Take a nap in the afternoon so you have the energy to last til 9:25 and witness the most awesome fireworks spectacular you have ever seen.

I came here in an attempt to get some insight that may help me show my Brother a good time. He's been going through some difficult times and I thought a weekend getaway to Cedar Point might be just what the doctor ordered.

My Brother, Mark lives in Wisconsin and I'm out here in California. Mark's 49 and I'll turn 47 at Cedar Point on October 27th. We're flying into Cleveland on Friday the 26th at 2:30. We're booked at the Hotel Breakers in the Bon Aire section. Tickets are included. We'll spend Friday night, all day Saturday and a few hours Sunday morning at the park. We've got to be back in Cleveland by 3:00, our flights leave at 4:40 and 5pm and we're absolutely, positively going to stop at White Castle a few miles from the airport, another first for me!

We've never been before. I've seen it through Rob and Alyssa's videos for years, but we're going to be lost from the moment we walk in the gate.

I'd really appreciate any advice that any of you Cedar Point Experts can share.

Thank you.
*** Edited 9/28/2007 12:48:36 AM UTC by DisneylandGuy***

My Advice:

Be at the rear gate by Soak City 1/2 Hour before early entry begins. Early entry starts 1 hour before the park opens for resort guests. If you run straight to Maverick from the Soak City gate you should be able to get on within 15 minutes. Then I would go to Millennium Force and ride that once or twice. After that look and see if Top Thrill Dragster is running. If it is testing I would try to get in line right before early entry ends. If you want to you could also get on Mantis towards the end of early entry if it is running. A lot of people think it is too rough so if you are going to try it, why would you wait in a long line later in the day.

Also pay attention to breakdowns. If you catch a ride just opening up after a breakdown you can get on it pretty fast. If TTD breaks down I would recommend waiting for around 15 minutes to see if it is minor before leaving the line. Also, riding Iron Dragon is a great way to check the line length for TTD.

My advice:

1.) Under any circumstances - especially if you're drunk -DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, eat White Castle hamburgers.

:)

-Tambo

What in the hell are you talking about? That's the best time to eat them, at 2am after being at the bar for 4-5 hours.

As for tips

1 - Do not try to do it all in one day. Yes you can hit all the coasters, but there are also the show (Monsters Rock), haunted houses and all the other thrill rides.

2 - Don't be in a rush. Use Friday to hit some of the bigger rides. Then Saturday (when it will no doubt be busier) to hit the other stuff. There's a lot of time in that weekend (18 hours just between Friday and Saturday).

If you are going to the White Castle on West 117 Street & I-90 in Cleveland i'd double check to see if it is open. As of two weeks ago it was closed for remodeling. They had a construction fence around the site. It didn't look like it would be open soon, but who knows it might be.

There is one in Elyria right off the Rt 57 exit of I-90 which is on the way back from CP.

1) Take your time and have fun, you'll have plenty of time to hit up the rides on friday and sunday. The shows are actually quite good.

2) make use of the free shuttle to get around the point. You can save alot of walking from front to back that way.

^Is the "free shuttle" something new? The only transportation type rides I knew about were the sky ride and the train.

There is a shuttle bus with stops at Pet Chek, Marina gate, LHP and Breakers (I may have missed one). It is not inside the park and its been around for quite a while.

I'd have to say that your advice for Disneyland could be transferred over to CP also, minus the fireworks.

Get up early, eat and go to the SC gate a half hour early as someone else suggested. Take that nap in the afternoon on Saturday or take in a show. The rides will most likely be very busy in the afternoon. Usually the buses start leaving around 5 or 6 and the park starts to clear out a little. With Halloweekends going on I'm not sure if this will still hold true or not.

If you're going to have a rental vehicle I'd suggest making it out to Chet and Matt's Pizza joint, it's only about 10 minutes outside the gate.

Here's the directions from the front gate.

Enjoy your trip!

DisneylandGuy said:

We're booked at the Hotel Breakers in the Bon Aire section.

Tip #1: Upgrade to get out of the BonAir section. (Also, spend some time having coffee/tea in the rotonda just chillin out, enjoying the history of the place.)

Tip #2: Ride Dragster :)

Loopy said:
If you're going to have a rental vehicle I'd suggest making it out to Chet and Matt's Pizza joint, it's only about 10 minutes outside the gate.

Heh, it's *exactly* 10 minutes. Best thing I've learned on this site!

Castaway Bay > Breakers

Eat at Famous Daves, the cost of the food is just as over-priced as the rest of the food, but at least this is a good meal. (Or TGI Fridays)

CP is full of thrills next to Lake Erie, and is coaster capital of the world, but it is not entertainment capital of the world. But they do have some amenities (bathrooms at Breakers, bathrooms in the park) that are 1970esque.

Castaway Bay is really nicely themed, and the rooms are very up to date, even $119 rooms have a screened in balcony, fridge, microwave, etc.

You can cover CP in one day IF you have lines that are short and a good sense of efficiency in not backtracking.

For instance from Soak City entrance you have a row of coasters all next to each other. I like to ride for instance you can walk from Magnum to Skyhawk to Maverick to Millennium Force, Mantis, sky-ride to the front of the park to ride Raptor, Blue Streak, Wicked Twister, Disaster Transport, and walk your way up through the park then to Power Tower / Top Thrill Dragster and finally end up back at Magnum.

If you run around with no sense of direction you waste infinite time at this park.

^ See, where's the fun in that?

I like to go and have a good time and ride stuff as I see fit. I really don't think an itinerary is necessary at the place, ever.

If you want to stop and check something out, backtrack a little bit, go to MF before Dragster, do it. It's the same philosophy as doing DL and DCA. Just have fun.

-Josh

I try and have a good idea of where to go in the park. Any park seems like you would try and efficiently use your time to see as much as you can.

If your goal is to ride everything, and see as much as you can then you shouldn't run around from Mean Streak to Blue Streak then to Maverick.
Your feet won't enjoy it either.

Some things just make sense. *** Edited 9/29/2007 12:36:37 AM UTC by factory81***

One thing that I discovered this year and enjoy very much is using the Boardwalk path along the beach to get from the front of the park to the back quickly. It is a nice quiet stroll away form most people. I use it to decompress and regroup.
One major bit of advice get a map now go on youtube.com and watch the POV of the rides. Know where you're going and what you want to ride. It makes it that much easier. If you plan on doing any of the Halloweekend activities do them Friday night when the lines might be a little shorter.
Hope and pray that theyare calling for rain... it will keep alot of people away form the park.
Ride the Space Spiral and listen to the announcer it is interesting.

^^ Again, I just don't see the fun in that. When I go on vacation, or at least to the local amusement park, I go to have fun and spend some time outside.

I have enough of a structured (if you want to call it that, working midnights and/or afternoons..) life as it is. I don't want to have to start scheduling my relaxation, too.

Some things just make sense. :)

Thank you all for all the great advice. Our visit to the Roller-Coaster Capital of the World is going to be better, thanks to you!

Chet and Matt's Pizza joint sounds like a great place, but I can't do dairy, cheese or pizza any more. :o(

The White Castle I was planning on visiting is on 5151 Pearl Rd. in Cleveland, a few miles east of the airport. I searched the White Castle website and Google earth and couldn't find the one that Clevelandkid suggested in Elyria right off the Rt 57 exit of I-90. We're driving right by there and we'll certainly keep our eyes peeled.

I'm stopping by Disneyland for the fireworks on Thursday night. (I see pictures on CP's website of Millenium Force with fireworks going off behind it, but fireworks aren't mentioned anywhere. I'm guessing there are no fireworks.) I'll pick up a nice gift at Downtown Disney and give it to the Front Desk Person at the Hotel Breakers and see if it'll get me an Upgrade to get out of the BonAir section.

Good Grief... We will definitely be riding Top Thrill Dragster. I watched it being built through updates on westcoaster.net and watched every video that exists online of it, If TTD wasn't there, we probably wouldn't be making this trip.

As far as itinerary vs no itinerary, If a plan is going to help me to ride as many rides as many times as I can in the limited amount of time I have to spend there, then I'm going to use the plan. But just like our itineraries when we go to Walt Disney World, we bend and twist them as we see fit when we get there until they look nothing like the plan we made at home and we get to see and do a lot when we're there.

Once again, thanks to you all for your input. This has been very helpful.