Neophyte seasons pass appreciation question.

Question about extended ride times which start at park closing. Since these start at closing time any of us pass holders will end up in line behind however many people are already in a ride's queue at closing time, correct? I am thinking abut this Friday's extended ride time for the Gatekeeper, seems like the only benefit a pass holder gets is the opportunity to enter the existing line after park closing hours, not necessarily a shorter queue as we'd see o n an early entry..

Sorry if this is obvious to the initiated but I am new to the season pass perks, back when I used to get a pass each year (long before MF was dreamed of) we did not get such benefits.

Just trying to decide if it is worthwhile to drive up to the Point Friday after work since I didn't get to ride Gatekeeper this past Tuesday.

Thanks!

Typically,they close the line and passholders wait at the ride entrance and then let in when the normal line has ridden.

They close the line and run out the "regular line" before the ride night starts, so you get a full hour of ride time.

The real question is just how many people know of it at the moment and how many passholders find out at the park the day of (and are willing to stay). Because it's either going to be a huge crowd or a moderate crowd. I've been to a few of the ride nights and they get pretty crowded (why I stopped going). Though, unless the weather acts up or it goes down mechanical, it should run pretty well and the line should move pretty well. Especially compared to a Millennium or Dragster ride night.

So it's really up to you. You will most likely get a ride or 2 (or more) but I would still expect a good size crowd.

Captain, I guess it depends on your definition of "worthwhile." Since you haven't ridden GK yet, you'd almost certainly have a much shorter wait than the 2-3 hours of a Saturday without Fast Lane, for example.

If you're expecting a quick 5+ laps on GK, that's more of a question mark. They are opening this to ALL passholders (not just Platinum), and it is a brand new coaster.

I've done several of the after-hour bonus ride time events in May/June the last few years (which are only for Platinum passholders), and they've all been awesome. I've been able to get 5-8 rides in the hour. I would not expect that for this bonus Friday appreciation hour though.

I actually have a question as well. Are the benefits (morning and evening ERT specifically) for this weekend only extended to regular season pass holders, or can friends who get in with the special admission discount also participate?

I have a buddy interested in going tomorrow, and knowing this ahead of time will help us plan our day.

I can always check with Park Op or Guest Services in the morning, but was curious if anyone here knew.

Thanks!

I read earlier on the Cedar Point FaceBook page that someone asked this too. They said Yes. I wonder how they'll know for night ride time access? Or if you just have to go with someone with a pass. Hope that helps!

I will look it up on Facebook. I just don't want to get there early if there is no benefit.

Oops- I tried to copy and paste and it didn't show up. Sorry!
It is under the recent posts by others - about 8 hrs ago

I can't figure out how to do that using the iPad app though.

According to cedarpoint.com, non-platinum passholders don't get Early Entry. No idea whether it will apply to after-hours ride times.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/rides/Calendar-of-Events/Passholder-Appr...on-Weekend

"All Passholders can enjoy Platinum Pass benefits all weekend (Early Entry and free parking excluded)."

chris9ty said:
I read earlier on the Cedar Point FaceBook page that someone asked this too. They said Yes. I wonder how they'll know for night ride time access? Or if you just have to go with someone with a pass. Hope that helps!

Thanks! I found it on Facebook and took a screenshot to show the people working the event in case there is an issue!

'Kay, got home a little while ago. Was worth the trip up. Sad part is near the end of the extra ride time we were seated and strapped into the GateKeeper car right as the decision was made to end about 5 minute early due to wind conditions - and they were BRISK off the lake tonight!

Sad to miss that last ride, but we did get two rides in during that extra hour. There were a couple delays just before and during the extra ride time which included a train stopped near the top of he lift.

I got there 10-15 minutes late for the bonus ride time, but I still easily managed 4 GK rides in the 40 minutes available. So, it looks like it would have been on par with the normal bonus ride nights of 5-8 laps if it had been a full hour.

Depending on when you got there, you may not have been late the the ERT. It didn't start until about 10:20 or 10:25. GK was down about 10 and then they had to let the regular line run through. A few dispatches before that happened, they let the ERT line in. I rode 4 times and was in a seat for ride 5 when they pulled us out and shut down for the night. I am not sure there were many more than 3 trains of people left at that point (may not have been that many as the queue was pretty much empty. I figured I could have gottenone more lap after the 5th. Still a good night of ERT though.

It's nice to know when it actually started. I got to GateKeeper right at 10:40. I rode Maverick as the last ride of the night, and I went to the car before walking to GateKeeper, so I was a bit behind. I figured everyone would be riding GK before heading home, making the regular line longer than 30 minutes, but I guess not.

It looks like I missed 15-20 minutes and still managed 4 rides, so you can't beat that. I couldn't have handled too many more anyway; this ride really brings out the motion sickness in me.

Speaking of which, someone else apparently got really sick at the end, and that may have been the real reason why they just didn't finish up those last few minutes. Granted, it was getting quite windy.

Was in line for Millennium Force for the 2nd time, around 9:20, and got up to the station around 9:45. A train stopped on the lift right out of the station, but the issue was fixed within 20 minutes. After waiting a little longer for the front, was the 2nd to last train of the night. This pushed me back a little, but got to GK right as they started to let passholders enter the line. Only went on it once, since riding it at night made me very dizzy. Rode it 5x in a row during the day without a problem, but the night ride wasn't good.