Picnic and Parking

Hey all,

Appreciate help with 2 questions. I used to got to CP all the time as teen and college. Bringing back the family after many years. What is the situation on using the picnic area outside the main gate? Do people leave coolers there all day as they do in other parks I've been to (Kennywood Etc..)? Also, can you get in on a regular ticket through Soak Zone area? Are there picnic tables over there to use? Thanks for help. Jason

The picnic area is still there, and people do leave their coolers all day. You can enter the park through the soak city gate. I don't think there are any picnic tables over in that area though.

There are a few picnic tables outside of the Challenge Golf entrance. They are not tables I would recommend leaving a cooler at all day, as it's an uncovered, high-traffic area. I have very seldom seen them used though, so you would have no problem leaving your cooler in the car and bringing it out to those tables when you are ready to eat, if you wanted to.

If you want to picnic, do it at the front of the park picnic area, unless you like being watched while you eat by the constant flow of traffic by the Magnum gate, in which I have never seen anyone having a "picnic" at those tables.

You can enter through any entrance into CP with a regular ticket.

Usually around the Soak City area, you see people eating in the grass either behind Ripcord's launch towers or by the restrooms near the parking lot. I don't think I've ever seen anyone eating picnic food at the tables in front of Challenge Golf.

We usually park along the fence/tree line on the right side of the Soak City lot. We pack a cooler and some of those camping folding chair things, and just set up behind the car or in the spots nobody can park with the trees in them.