Reservations no longer required effective July 1, daily operations extended to Labor Day

https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/exciting-park-news?fbclid=IwAR16g7h...eX_wTGCsco

Correction: Reservations are still required for Cedar Point Shores.

This has to be a huge relief for everyone involved.

...and there was much rejoicing.

yay.

0g said:

...and there was much rejoicing.

yay.

+1 for the "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" quote. :-)

Not sure about the rejoicing. I see comments to the contrary. “That ruins everything”. “Get there super early and don’t plan on leaving” “Now the rides will have 4 hour waits”, all that.
proving there’s no pleasing the amusement park community.

Park requires reservations:

Park gets rid of reservations:

I have commented twice how well the park was able to handle the crowds Thursday but I still think a reservation system has its merits especially as their staffing levels tend to fluctuate as the season progresses.

What would be great for crowd control when reservations are over is to aim a third webcam at the paring lot so when there are too many people we can just look at the webcam and see and decide for ourselves to not go.

That would be helpful for locals maybe, but CP is so much of a multi-day destination, it wouldn't really help much with people coming from over an hour away which is probably 80% of the people. I don't really think they want to spook people from coming either although I do think they'd be wise to try to more evenly spread out the crowds throughout the season. I think what would thin out the crowds is not giving away the gate like the did in 2019 with the gold passes. Also, more dynamic ticket pricing where it's cheaper on weekdays and May/late August and more expensive from July 1 or so through mid August. CP still has some stupid cheap deals even if you didn't take advantage of the gold pass. Something like $54.99 including parking and all day drinks right now with the "Michigan saver." That's honestly stupid cheap when you consider what some other parks with far less to offer are charging.

I'm a little fearful after this season and what has transpired with the labor market that they'll cut out weekdays in May again next year (possibly doing the 5 day per week thing again in June too) and try to really compress the demand into less operating days. It's definitely hard these days to find a day where crowds can be expected to be lower.

I would say that it’s more than difficult to go on days where the park is “slow”, locally speaking. We don’t go much now because the few times we’ve gone the park has been an absolute zoo, regardless of what day we’ve gone. That’s great for the park and Cedar Fair but the days of us locals having less crowded days to visit are long gone. And I don’t want to imagine what will happen starting July 1. With “reservations” the parking lot was nearly full most days, I’m sure July 4 will be pure insanity.

It is what it is. They’ll get their record breaking attendance numbers like they want, no doubt about that.

Noticed today that the reservations for the shores no longer has a time attached to it. I honestly think they are just trying to control the amount of people in the water park which is a good thing for sure. It sucks when it is over capacity.

Anyone know if this may mean starting July 1st we could use the back gate for early entry? My friends and family have almost always exclusively used the back gate for years and its been a real shame we haven't been able to use it for early entry this season.

Don't count on it.

As I understand it, at least part of the reason for limiting that gate to hotel guests in the morning is because early entry people were all parking in the Shores lot and clogging up all the parking spaces...and as it is, that lot isn't big enough to handle the demand for the Shores.

As I found out when I went to the Shores last weekend...spent half an hour cruising the lot looking for a parking space, finally got into the park...and the deluge chased us all out.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

A little off topic, but looking for help from some of the folks that make it to the park more often than I do and might be more local to the area. Friday is supposed to be beautiful temp / dew point wise, but with the passing of the cold front and the upper level trough still hanging around, most of the models are calling for 15-20 knot northerly winds off the lake. The land forecast for Sandusky is calling for 14-16 MPH winds.

The marine forecast is calling for 15-20 knot winds pretty much all day Friday with 2-4 foot seas before tapering off overnight into Saturday. A little far out for a small craft advisory, but those in the area, any experience with these conditions and impact on ride availability (I realize nothing is set in stone, just looking for some anecdotal evidence from past experiences with those that have more local experience than I do). I understand that winds aloft are critical and that surface winds aren't the be all /end all, but looking for some input.

Thanks in advance.

I'll agree with what RideMan said. Pre-pandemic, about the time they did the waterpark rebranding, the back parking lot was closed during early entry. As much as I like parking there, it can be very difficult to get a spot there in the afternoon. That lot just isn't big enough.

Edit: One of the times I tried to park in the waterpark lot, it was pretty much overflowing. Several cars were driving around looking for spaces. Navigating the lot was made even more difficult with people parked on the end of the rows were there weren't any spaces.

Regarding the winds speeds the gusts are important as well. ~20+ gusts will close the tall rides from my observations.

Parking in the CPS lot was fun while it lasted but some practices will just have to become history. With the new configuration there is little walking distance saved anyway. As things stand now leaving that lot for the waterpark guests is just the right thing to do.

Cargo Shorts- What do you mean by “new configuration”?

With the CPS renovation a few years back prefered parking was added so you can’t park as close to the resort gate as before.

I remember the two years leading up to the pandemic that all of the preferred parking equipment was ripped out back there and you could park anywhere.

The preferred parking gates are indeed long gone. You need to be there well before 0900 but if you are you can be closer to the resorts gate than even the Gemini lot can get you.