Questions ahead of CP Trip

Hello forum members!

I apologize if this belongs in the trip planning forum, but that one doesn't seem to be read or updated as much as the General forum.

A group of us are coming for a trip in two weekends and need help planning some things based on what I am reading here and in the news. I understand CP is challenged with service labor like many industries and that is impacting the operation of CP. Given that...

1. Our group is arriving later in the afternoon on Sat, June 12th. We have purchased 1/2 day passes for the day we arrive, but with the park closing at 8PM on a Saturday and reading strict closing of ride lines, it is worth it to plan to be there for 3 or so hours from 5pm-8pm on a Saturday? Or are lines going to be too long at that time to really enjoy the park? If the park closed at 10pm like in the past, this would be a no-brainer. Now, I am not so sure.

2. I read that lines for Fast Lane pass holders on opening weekend were long. We are going to be at the park for two days (Sun/Mon) and the debated Sat couple of hours. We have purchased Fast Lane for one of the two days in the past. Is it worth it if the Fast Lane lines are still long, too?

3. Suggestions for good food places on the all-day dining plan?

Having been to CP a few times in the past, I wouldn't have to ask these questions except that I don't know how the current challenges are impacting some of the logistics our group ponders. Thanks, in advance, for your experiences and opinions based on the park to date and what you think will happen in the next couple of weeks.

2. If the FLP lines are long, the standby lines would presumably be even longer.

1. Take this with a large grain of salt (as I have not visited on a Saturday, only Friday/Sunday), but I have found that the lines at the front of the park (especially Raptor) and the less-in-demand rides (like Magnum and Rougarou) drop to pretty manageable levels in the last 2-3 hours of the day (in my experience, 20-30min tops). Therefore, if you are not dead-set on hitting the headliner rides, you can probably get quite a few second-tier rides in during those 3 hours. Plus, with the reservation system right now I am fairly sure your tickets are irrevocably tied to the day you purchased them for, unless you cancel them. So, if you already have Saturday 1/2 day tickets, you might as well use them and get something out of that time.

2. I agree with Cargo Shorts, but I will add that I have a hunch that Fast Lane is being oversold, so your mileage may vary with Fast Lane from day-to-day and even from ride-to-ride. If you were to buy it for a day, I would suggest Sunday over Monday, as weekend crowds are likely going to be larger.

3. Number one place in the park hands-down for me is BackBeatQue, right at the base of Top Thrill Dragster's tower, where the Witches' Wheel used to be. The brisket is really good, but so is the half chicken. (Basically, everything is good there!) Admittedly, I have not eaten anywhere else in the park in a long time (BBQ's food is that good), but I think Hugo's Italian Kitchen (next to Raptor), the renovated Corral (next to Cedar Downs), and the Crystal Rock Cafe in the waterpark (if you go there during your trip) are all honorable mentions.

Hope you have a great time!

1. With two full days in the park (Sun and Mon) with one of those days having fastlane (which I think IS worth it in your situation for Sunday) I say cancel the Saturday pass and find something else to enjoy that evening in the area.

Hey guys I am headed there Monday. Think it will be busy?? Also I have fast pass and platinum pass. Do you still have to go to front desk to get your season pass registered? or just need the code and can go to Magnum entrance? Just want to plan it out.

If all you have is your paper voucher you should be able to get processed, your photo and card right at the gate if things are working properly. At a minimum they will let you in and you can go to season pass processing at your convenience.

Thanks for all the replies. Our group is looking forward to being there. Will definitely have to check out the BBQ place near TTD.

Is the Magnum gate available to be used for early entry and is Steel Vengeance open when early entry starts?

tvbman said:

Is the Magnum gate available to be used for early entry

Only if you are staying at Breakers or the campground. Outside of that you must use the main entrance this year.

and is Steel Vengeance open when early entry starts?

No. It's technically scheduled to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, but don't count on it happening.

In a bit of a rush, fastest thread I could find that might be relevant.

Is anyone else having issues making season pass reservations? I have a platinum pass and it's telling me barcode verification error when I try and confirm and when I go to my online account to try and check the details it's not showing anything on the account like the account was wiped out but I still have a login.

I sent their contact us portal information but I'm trying to see if I'm the only one or if there's an assesso ticketing issue.

Thanks y'all!

No issues here. I just made my rez for this Sat. after reading your post.
I'm on the PC using Chrome.

Try it again directly from brave on my phone and not through the cedar point app on lunch and it worked this time. I'm wondering if there's either an issue with the web browser in the app or with the ticketing system this morning? Either way it's working now and their support team responded quite quickly!

Not to take over this thread but this also seemed to be an appropriate place to put a question. A large group of us consisting of 10 riders are planning to go this Sunday. We all will have FL+. I know it isn't easy to make the call simply based on forecast/ predict what exactly will happen with the weather, but does anyone have any thoughts on the outlook:

-chance of thunderstorms. For some reason I'm not really too worried about this, based on the duration I suppose. It hopefully doesn't look like the day will be a washout. Other issue could be lightning lingering in the area.

-wind = 14 mph with 20 mph gusts. I think I'm actually more concerned with this. Does anyone have any input on what rides could be significantly impacted by this? Dragster ? SV ? MF potentially. Or should this not really be a big concern?

Going with some out of town family & the trip has been in the works for a year+. I'd feel terrible if the day ended up being a bust. Another consideration is we don't have very much flexibility with changing the date..

Predicted wind speeds are often the go/no go criteria for me. Once they start hitting the upper teens there are going to be closures of the tall rides and CP likes tall rides.

NOAA just now, “Southwest wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.” If this holds your team is going to need to play their ground game for at least part of the day.

The "chance of thunderstorms" is actually a blessing in disguise. We are also headed to the Point Sunday - Tuesday, and it's the same forecast every day. This leads to a couple possibilities: 1) it scares enough people without solid plans away, and 2) often just before/during a strong storm many people just give up and leave as if the park is just going to unplug and call it quits...even if it's 3:00 in the afternoon. This happened to us down at Busch Gardens Williamsburg a few weeks ago, and the park was dead at 4:00 after just a 30-minute rain.

What Cargo Shorts said is true, though; although those winds will die down, and CP will be waiting to open things when they can. Still, most things are going even in those conditions. Just don't plan on Seeking Wind or getting your Top Thrill on until it dies down.

Thank you both for your thoughts. I did notice Thursday from the cameras it seemed certain rides were still running in a bit of rain.. saw trains running on Valravn (likely 1 train ops from what I've heard on here in the past?), MF, and Maverick.

Seems to be a slight improvement in the forecast since yesterday. Breezy in the morning, humid with times of sun and clouds with a thunderstorm in the area late in the afternoon. Hours of precipitation only indicating .5 so hopefully the scenario as discussed by Kevin plays out. We are pretty much locked on a full day open-close so it'd be incredible if the park cleared out a bit for the evening especially being a Sunday. Now that we've hit summer as well as full daily operation the crowds might be a little more persistent, but we'll see.

Cargo- I imagine the group is fine with doing some flats/not as tall coasters, so that will hopefully be a good plan. Really just riding whatever is open I'm sure will be fine with them. I didn't mention there's a bunch of first-timers too so the thought is to of course hit a wide variety of attractions.

Been there done that with TTD and can't be too windy seeker. I remember a few years back over a couple visits windseeker was pretty consistently closed for wind.. bit of a misnomer eh? I get it, the thing is quite tall after all. :)

Excuse the double- I hope you have an awesome time, Kevinj!!

Kevinj - I'll also be out Tuesday with some family too. Not huge coaster enthusiasts so hoping the weather holds for just a nice day in the park for them. Maybe a slower empty day.