Sat 9/7/19 : Is CP parking now always this bad on Saturdays?

Best I can do.

It's not just the amusement park "GP" that I'm thinking about. Try any school pick up or drop off line and see how the majority of parents have no clue how to efficiently drop off their children in a safe manner. I've worked at lots of schools and seen how it's done well and seen the disasters. I see people doing all sorts of weird stuff putting theirs and other peoples' kids in danger or just making things take longer than they need to.

What we did is exactly what Cargo Shorts described. Vehicles in a grid and after the other cars parked around us and the people had left we backed the ones that pulled in behind out and turned them around. When lunch time came we went a step further and clipped sheets between all the open tailgates for shade. I can't remember the last time I was able to park a reasonable distance form the picnic shelter. Staying at the cars also allowed some of the kids to take naps. If you open all the doors but the front and open the windows on a minivan and you can get a slight breeze it can be pretty comfortable. If everyone parked like this no, it wouldn't be efficient but the vast majority of people coming to the park on any given day aren't coming as groups of 19 split between 5 vehicles so lining up in straight rows works fine for them. Allowing the few groups of cars that want to do this on any given day to arrange themselves isn't going to kill parking lot efficiency and organization or compromise safety. Some aspects of the best day ever experience happen outside of the gates. Sometimes giving this little bit of wiggle room without an attitude makes a family's day much more pleasant.

djDaemon said:

I completely get what Paisley's doing, and, whatever, it's fine. It's inefficient and if everyone did it the lot would be a huge mess, but the act of self-parking is not at all a big deal.

But for Paisely to criticize "the GP" as being uniquely part of the "inefficiency" that Paisely is contributing to represents pretty much everything I dislike about the "enthusiast" community.

If anything I probably criticize the general public at the park far less than the majority of people on this forum do and when I referred to the GP I did not mean non coaster enthusiasts, I meant the general public at large. The same people who don't manage to park properly at the grocery store are not going to do a better job at the park and some of them are probably bigger coaster enthusiasts than me.

In my trips on the way to walking to the gate I have seen many, many (thank you Commandant Lassard) empty parking spaces. Not always right next to each other, just a single here and a single there. That's probably due to people opening their door immediately so the next car has to skip a space. You add up all those single spaces and I'm sure that makes a couple rows of empty parking spaces. Not a lot in the long run but on a busy day it sure does.

PSA time kids. Wait until the cars on both sides of you have pulled in before you open your door! And when you do open your door, GET OUT OF THE CAR AND SHUT THE DOOR! If you have a bunch of crap to grab do that before you open the door or after the people in the car next to you have started walking in.

NBC cares: the more you know... End of PSA

Dan that is extremely inefficient, so much wasted time waiting. A much better plan is for every car to skip a space allowing everyone plenty of room to get their junk out, apply sunscreen to all the kids and make sure everyone has their passes. Once the next row is 1/2 filled then direct the cars to the previous row to fill in all the spaces as those people will be walking in by then. :D

I've had parking attendants at the park give me dirty looks for skipping that spot that has people hopping out of their car like I'm supposed to just run them over or just sit there and wait so nobody behind me can park either.

I thought I read gates didn’t open for that show until 4...is it an extra entry charge? I’m so not interested in 3 hour lines. I saw on another website that “predicts” guest count that it’s not as busy early on in the fall season, but ramps up big time in October. Should we expect 3 hour ride lines an 20 minute bathroom lines?! That’s utterly ridiculous. But, my daughter wants to go.....she’s never been there. On these busier days, are rides like Gemini and Corkscrew just as long? Whenever I’ve been there, they were in and off rides...and not even enough riders to open the second train. I always try to find out ahead of time. There was a big rumor that seatbelts on rides were shortened. I called them today and she said that is false. So, I always try to understand things ahead of time. So rides make you empty your pockets before boarding? I’ve read that in various places, too. LOL

Yesterday, there were cars parked on the blue path up in the front on the park. All overflow lots were filled and there were vehicles parked on the grass. It was insane yesterday.

Yesterday Cedar Point was up to its figurative arsehole in people. When I went in, people were parked on the striped areas that tell you not to park! Not to mention I tried to get home using Cedar Point Road and what a drag that was. I live only a half hour away and often end up home at usually 1:30 in the morning if the park is closed at midnight, but I got home at 2:40 in the morning from yesterday.

I heard yesterday around 5 pm they were turning people away. They said no more room for parking.

I was just looking at the webcam for today, the front lot has a lot of people but is the back lot still closed from Point Fest? If it's closed that might not be a horrible amount in the front but if both lots are open and it's that full that's a decent crowd. Not awful but still pretty full.

We almost always park in what is now the Cedar Point Shores lot. We used to park next to Gemini but I believe that is employee parking now. We've always enjoyed the drive around the park, seeing the rides from a different perspective.

I park in the CP Shores lot because I often make Steel Vengeance my last ride of the night and I often drive home alone. That way, I don't have to walk as much to get to my car and can get home earlier.

Today was pretty busy for the first weekend of Halloweekends. The CPS lot was mostly empty and they were still tearing down Pointfest when I was back on Gemini around 1pm. Though very crowded for HW Sunday, the lines were not horrible when I left at 215. All of TTD’s trains were on the storage tracks and no crew in the station when I walked by around 1130, just a greeter at the entrance.

We liked parking behind Gemini so we could carry the cooler to the grassy area by the Breakers entrance and picnic under the trees. I used to lay a sheet down and nap in the shade.

I was reading this post and then reading the book forever cedar point and about died laughing when I came across this part regarding not letting the general public park themselves.

<img src= http://imgur.com/a/UaBl67M/>

^ In defense of John's statement, the parking lot used to be a well-oiled machine. The recent problems related to parking are in the last 5-10 years and probably directly related to staffing shortages. In the 1990's and early 2000's parking was handled more like Disney and I do not remember any problems like have been reported in recent years.

I learned more about human behavior working in the Epcot parking lot than I did in any college Psych class. I also learned how critical it is to have competent staff directing traffic and filling parking spaces in a theme park.

To the OP....Oh it's going to get way worse....In about 3 more weekends after this one. Get there early. It will be a spectacle to watch. LMAO!

I wonder if the McClure mentioned in the book passage about the parking is related to Jason McClure?

If so, perhaps a family conversation on parking operations could be of great assistance.

Some of the recent changes at the main gate are perplexing and seemingly counter productive (they may have a reason for them).

The far left lane is for oversized vehicles and resorts guests and leads in a straight line to perimeter road.

The last few years the traffic in this lane is directed to merge right into the rest of the lanes of traffic, only to have to take a hard left at the traffic director and then a hard right onto Perimeter rd. For oversized vehicles, some over 50' long, the merging is extremely difficult which creates bigger bottlenecks and the 90 degree turns are also problematic without a lot of turning radius that can damage vehicles and park property. The lane directly into Perimeter rd. is clearly available and only blocked by cones leaving it unused.

Directing resort traffic into the main lot parking merging mess is also counterproductive, as there is no need for them to go into that area only to be directed back onto Perimeter Rd.

And it's all that more perplexing that the park maintains signs and electronic reader-boards to direct resort and oversize traffic into the far left booth.

It also isn't a staffing issue, as the far left booth is always staffed and there isn't a need for any other employee to direct traffic straight onto perimeter rd.

Regardless of the rationale behind the decision for this change, it was clearly not made by anyone that maneuvers a $400,000 motorhome through the traffic nightmare at the toll booths.