Preferred Parking

Wondering what the general consensus was on preferred parking. I went on Tuesday and noticed it was a rather odd section of the lot that was closed off for this. Also, I noticed it wasn't very full. I figured there was no time I'd ever use this unless it was Halloweekends and I had to choose between parking in grass or parking up close. Also, one could argue that being in the back of preferred parking was not much better than some non-PP spots (not talking about employee or handicap rows). Just wondering if this is a Pass, Fail, or Work in Progress??

I think whoever uses it is a complete dunce. It's not even all that much closer to the park than the general parking. But then again, I am in the park at 9:00 am for early entry so I am close no matter what.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but the last time I rode Raptor it appeared they had made the preferred parking area slightly smaller than it was earlier in the season. Either way, if there's a new ride running through the parking lot next year, I suspect the whole area will be reconfigured.

^ I noticed that today as well. It looked like they cut it down to about half the size it usually is.

Never used it and never will. I don't mind the walk but I always park in the Soak City lot anyway.

It would be nice to see the park use this opportunity to significantly alter the layout of their parking lot.

The incident with the boy hit by a car, while not necessarily indicative of a problem, does bring to light that a parking lot isn't very safe. Especially one that has no physically-isolated pedestrian walkway.

Building a nice walkway, complete with curbs and other such safety barriers, would help immensely. Of course, doing this would reduce parking capacity, so that's a concern.

Actually the kid was hit in the Breakers lot, not the main lot.

When I was on Windseeker yesterday it did seem smaller and was pretty empty. But this was 10:15 in the morning, first ride I went on.

Adding pedestrian walkways in the parking lot wild not be terribly effective because invariably when pedestrian walkways are added to large parking lots they are always configured to force the pedestrians to take the longest possible route from the car to the gate (usually so as to not block vehicle traffic) with the predictable result that the pedestrians refuse to use them.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Does Cedar Point have much experience with issues in its parking lots which would merit any type of changes to the parking lots (understanding that any time you have transitions from vehicles to walking you have risks)?

What do you mean? Cedar Point has been operating parking lots for the past 98 years, which suggests to me that they have had ample opportunity to figure out what works and what does not. That doesn't mean they always get it right. But it does mean that they should have a pretty good idea of what causes problems in the parking lots, and what does not.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

What causes problems this year is traffic people who suck at their jobs. Second weekend, I was nearly broadsided, with the kid in my car, entering from the chaussee entrance and going to Soak City, when the kid directing traffic waved me through. Fortunately, I saw some jackass coming in from the main gates who clearly wasn't going to stop, and that was three seconds ahead. The traffic guy had noodle arms and wasn't using his whistle at all. I've seen the same thing during the nightly exodus. I can't believe there haven't been any serious accident this year (that I'm aware of).

RideMan said:
What do you mean? Cedar Point has been operating parking lots for the past 98 years, which suggests to me that they have had ample opportunity to figure out what works and what does not. That doesn't mean they always get it right. But it does mean that they should have a pretty good idea of what causes problems in the parking lots, and what does not.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Sorry Dave. I should have been clearer. My point was that before the park would look at making the changes suggested in this thread to the parking lot, the park would need to determine if there is a problem in the parking lot. If no one has been hit by a car in the parking lot in the last 20 years (I have no idea if that is correct), there isn't a problem and no changes would need to be made. And you do not even get to the issue which you raised about the proposed changes being ineffective (with which I agree).

And having properly trained staff in the parking lot (and enough of them) should be a no brainer. At Kings Island last Saturday, the problem was not having enough (they had next to none after you passed the booths when we entered the park from the south on I-71. People did not know where to go and were breaking off at different points with some people doing u-turns. All while people were parking and getting out of their cars and walking across the parking lot. Seems to me that in large lots like that, the park wants to guide people where to go so they can efficiently fill the spots and avoid the semi-chaos that existed.

Bring back the trams!

Yes that would be good. As I understand, (and if anybody knows more please chime in) it was a combination of factors that lead to the cessation of tram service. At the time they were having to either retrofit or replace the fleet to accommadate the ADA, and there was some insurance issues which included the requirement for the drivers to have CDL's. Now how much of this is fact and how much of this was just the person who told me this was just venting I don't know, he was usually pretty reliable.

Well without verifying the above statement. It does make perfect sense to me. Considering in today's world.

All I have to say, is 3 mill. for a person to put coffee between her legs.

I would rather walk than take a tram.

Sledge4cp said:
Bring back the trams!

Interesting to think how CP, much like many other parks, used to provide parking lot transportation for the convenience of it customers, and now they only provide an upcharge parking lot for those who don't want to be as inconvenienced as everyboy else.

Times change.

I used to pay a lot less for guess too and them pumped it for me, checked my oil, cleaned my windshield and put air in my tires. Times do change.

Autocorrect much? ;)