Park Attendance Figures

When will we hear the next round of attendance numbers?

Being there in August and seeing all the trip reports from others, I wonder if attendance will be up - my guess would be yes.

As bad as high attendance is for queue times, it is very good for the future of the park and capital improvements!

I don't think attendance is up this year. I'd bet it is flat or slightly down. The fact that they did not mention CP's attendance in their last announcement can't be a good sign.

Increased queue times can also be due to less efficient operations.

Traditionally, CF doesn't release park-by-park numbers until after the season is over.

Pointbuzz Attendance News Story
Frole said unless there are material differences, Cedar Fair doesn't break out attendance at its parks. No attendance was given for Cedar Point.

*** Edited 9/5/2006 4:21:58 PM UTC by JuggaLotus***

You know, Matt, the park didn't fall apart when you stopped working there...

...let's wait for the numbers to come out before we argue about efficiency and such.

It's seemed like the majority of the days I have been in the park this year have been considerably more busy than the last few years... and yet attendance is still slightly down.

*** Edited 9/5/2006 7:48:51 PM UTC by DBCP***

Maybe some of their turnstiles are broken? :)

I've actually thought that all the days I've visited so far have been much less crowded.

Do they record the turnstiles at the end of the day only, or at a few times throughout the day? I ask this because last week I went on Dragster and the turnstile said 126 or something of that nature and this was around 2 or 3pm. It seemed to me like there was a little red button that could easily be pressed to reset the numbers.

I think they do it each hour.

Yep, numbers are logged on an hourly basis.

They should have electronic turnstiles that are fed into their main database so someone doesn't have to "log" numbers by hand. That just introduces a human factor into the equation which can be skewed. And yes, I realize that would be expensive. But, I love technology, so I think it would be cool! :)

I usually go to CP 3 times per year for 3 - 4 days each time (400 mile trip one way).
When I visited in early June and early July on Sun - Wed, the lines for MF and TTD were typically 45 min - 1 hr long.
Most other rides were either walk on or 15 min tops.
Whe I visited Aug 13 - 16 (again Sun - Wed), the lines for MF, Raptor and TTD were typically 1.5 hrs or a little more!
Even Magnum was sometimes 30 mins.
Does anyone else keep track of times and is there a comon posting area to help others
try to plan trips for the "best" line times next season?

twisted sister said:
You know, Matt, the park didn't fall apart when you stopped working there...

...let's wait for the numbers to come out before we argue about efficiency and such.

Many things were headed downhill when I was still working there including integrity of management, employee morale, and efficiency. I tried my hardest to make myself and my ride an exception. That is for a different thread though and I find it laughable that people deny it is happening.

I'm basing my attendance on some signs we've seen. They wouldn't be offering deep discounts (see Michigan residents) if attendance was doing well. They wouldn't be opening rides later if they weren't worried about hitting their budget targets. Some goes for opening major rides with two trains the last week in August which I never remember before.

I'm just guessing it is going to take a HUGE Halloweekends to get CP's attendance up from last year. And considering how busy last year's Halloweekends were and how good the weather was, I think expecting to beat those numbers is not really reasonable. When was the last time they were under 3 million? The 80's?

MDOmnis said:
Many things were headed downhill when I was still working there including integrity of management, employee morale, and efficiency.

It's a sad thing, but it's the reality, and anyone who doesn't think so is either in denial, or isn't omniscient in regards to the operation aspect of the park over the last few years.

*** Edited 9/6/2006 2:07:19 AM UTC by DBCP***

You don't even have to work there or go regularly to figure that out. If you know some employees, that's all you need to realize the situation(s). Yes, there are several crews and parts of depts. still hustling and trying, but with the bigger picture, the bar on the graph keeps dropping. I know several (7) employees this year, and knew 3 last season, and I've heard enough to make me think twice about working there from them, let alone what I hear on these boards. But still, I plan on applying as soon as the forms are online.

As for attendance, I don't doubt that it will be slightly under last year's numbers. *** Edited 9/6/2006 3:00:26 AM UTC by BlueStreak64***

I'm sorry if I come off as mean. It's just hard to listen to everyone bash all the employees constantly, when I just spent the last 2 summers working my hardest, moving my fastest, and trying to be the best possible worker. You people don't understand, you really don't, unless you were there.

It's not like it's all of the employees, or anything... I just get this sense that morale is really down (due to issues elsewhere in the park), and that brings down everyone with it, if you know what I mean.

Some of us have actually worked there and know exactly what it's like to deal with guests.

Honestly, I find dealing with some of our idiot customers at my job now is more stressful than guests.

Sometimes it just takes One or Two bad workers to make a park feel like you are unwanted... even if you run into 100 other kind spirited employees. That why I hate PKI sometimes.. because Food Services people just dont seem to care.