Questions from first timer

- What can I expect on Friday-July 10th. Very crowded or Average?
- How long a line will be for Meverick?

- I am travelling on a tight budget with 3 kids. Do they allow to take water bottles inside?
- Do they have water fountains in the park?

- I heard the food is very expensive, We are vegetarian. What is the cheapest place to eat inside the park ?

Any other advice for the first timers is welcome.

Most of the answers to these questions can be found elsewhere on the site, but I'll take a stab at these for you.

- It's impossible to predict crowds. We are in the part of the summer where any day can have any size of a crowd.
- Even if Maverick has a full queue, the line is only around 90 minutes. If it's only in the queue house, you are looking at around 30 minutes.
- No outside food or drink is allowed in the park, however...
- They do have water fountains around the park, and free ice water can be picked up at any stand that has fountain soda.
- The food is outrageously priced, and not very good. I recommend eating at one of the sit down chains (Fridays / Famous Daves) for the best bang for your buck (I think Fridays has some vegetarian options)

The line for Maverick may vary between 45 miunutes to 1 and a half hours. The line will probably be shortest right after opening and near closing. Afternoon it will be longer.

You are allowed to take in one unopened water bottle per person. There are many fountains and most concession stands will give you free cups of water just for the asking. They are rather small cups. It takes almost two to refill my water bottle.

The food is expensive. There are not many vegetarian choices. Cheese pizza, the burrito at Los Gatos ask to hold the meat. The sit down places have salads and some may have meatless entrees, placed like Fridays in the Breakers Hotel. As for cheapest it hard to say. I know it is not Subway.

Start the morning at the back of the park in Frontier Town by Maverick and work your way to the front. That back is less crowded early. Most people enter through the front gate and those rides near it are crowded early. After maybe 1-2 pm the front thins out. Raptor, Blue Streak, Demon Drop have extremely short lines after 9pm.

You may want to park at the Soak City lot in back to get to Maverick early. However if you finish near the front the Soak City lot will be far away. I guess you have to weigh your priorities there.

July is CP's busiest month. Friday is one of their 2 biggest days of the week. A Friday in July? Do the math. :)

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY second Cleveland Kid's suggestion: Part in the Soak City lot, and start at the Mean Streak end of the park.

Waits for Blue Streak, Magnum & Gemini are generally reasonable, save those rides for the afternoon when everything will be at its busiest

I don't know how old your kids are, but the best time to be in the park is after 6:30 or 7pm. Crowds really die down then.

I wouldnt say its the busiest. Dont forget HW.

Bring your own lunch/dinner in a cooler, park by soak city, eat under a tree outside of Gemini's 1st hill, on the beach, or on a blanket in the grass between Breakers Hotel and the beach. It'll save you lots of money, be much healthier, and on a hot busy day its nice to escape the crazy park atmosphere and eat in a nice quiet (relatively) area.

-The park will be pretty crowded but not so much that you cant walk around. I ussualy can tell by looking at hotel pricing. The hotels are pretty expensive like Hojo at $90. I usualy see it around $69 at this time on hotels.com.

-Mavericks quene on crowded days is from 1hour to 1 hour&45( i think the maximum what can fit in the quene is 105min). do it at night before park closing

-If you are on a tight budget, you can bring yuor own unopened bottles of water. The best way to eliminate cost &storage, consider just drinking the *FREE* ice water. Its good & cold so can take a cup or 2 while waiting in line.

- You can get a salad in various food stands aroundthe park. Food is expensive but it is good.

-If you need lodging, Red Roof from 92 and La Quinta from $99.

- Use soak city/ breakers entrance to beat crowds.

Hopefully I helped you somewhat!:)

Yes bring your lunch, and dinner in a cooler. You'll save a a lot of money!

I've brought plenty of food into the park, I just put it in the kid's stroller and walk right in. They don't search the strollers at all.

I like to bring a jumbo bag of M&M's or a variety bag of mini candy bars with me and my kids, then when they see the ice cream stand and start begging for it I can offer them some of the candy I brought in the park with me.

A relatively cheap meal that I like to get for myself is the Johnsonville Brat, bag and chips and 12 oz pop for $6.00. These are sold at small stand alone vendors, one is back in Frontierland by Skyhawk/First Aid station. I think there are 1 or 2 others elsewhere in the park.

^ There was one right near Wildcat last season, don't know if they moved it. Plus, they are vegetarian. Brats are great!

Crowds will most likely be fairly high, but not ridiculous. Expect to wait around a hour for most of the major rides, and up to 2 for MF, Raptor, TTD and Maverick.

Here is what you should do: If you have children who are close to 48", take them somewhere where they can be measured like a first aid building or guest relations and get them a wristband so they dont have to be checked every time. Drink lots of water, but not too much.

Ride the rides in order of least popular to most popular, and feel free to insert riding a lesser popular ride into your schedule if lines are too long. If you have short children, get a parent swap slip from the entrance to a coaster so you all dont have to wait in line and get less rides.

I wouldn't waste my time in Soak City. Don't go all the way across the park for just one ride. I wouldn't waste energy if you are going from O-C, either. Pace yourself. CP is a lot bigger than you might think.

I've never been stopped at the gate with an open bottle. Whether it be Coke, Full Throttle or water. At first I hid whatever I had in a cargo pocket and then just started carrying it in my hands out in the open and no one looked twice at me.