September 11 - Roller Coaster Appreciation Night

Locals, maybe. But someone who has to drive an appreciable distance, say 2+ hours, is more likely to say it is not worth it since it is only 4 hours of riding.

cpnostalgia, if you picture the monsters logo facing you straight on like the cedar point logo

10 years, a stint of Active Duty, a tour in Afghanistan, marriage, and 3 kids later, I'm back from my hiatus from these forums... It's good to be back. But I digress.

I have a few questions regarding Roller Coaster Appreciation Night. If I buy a ticket online, and for whatever reason the event gets canceled (due to weather), will money be reimbursed? Or is like any other operating day, and tickets are non refundable? And that leads to my next question... do you have to buy tickets online? Or are they available at the gate?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. I look forward to discussing Project 2016 with all of you!

I'm presuming that, barring a meteor impact the size of Manfield or a robot uprising, the event will proceed. You buys your ticket, you takes your chances.

From my experience of Preview Night in May, this will be a disaster as well. It's great that some proceeds will be going to charity from those that will pay the $18. The lines for guests obtaining their first time passes will be crazy, as in May. I also see it being under staffed, just like preview night. This COULD possibly be a great opportunity for those that live close. I'm skipping this event. I'll go back after HallowWeekends has started, and gotten into a normal routine, and then on closing day-which was PERFECT last season! That weekend, I may be treating myself to a 2 night stay, because I love Hotel Breakers!

Not sure I would go to this event even if I could. I'm going to an Indians game that night. Plus I have to work usually on Friday night anyway.

I considered it but I'm not going to renew my passes for next year early just for this. I'm still on the fence about the fastlane thing too since it's no good on Saturdays. I just lost my position at work and while it doesn't leave me completely unemployed it's got me mildly feaked out about platinum passes for four being paid for any sooner than they need to be.

We renewed our platinum passes late last month and added the meal plan and souvenir cups with unlimited free refills. We are local to Sandusky, and will be attending the event on Friday. If the lines are short, great! But it won't be a total loss for us if they are not...

We used our free Fast Lane passes this past Sunday which allowed us to jet past all the folks waiting in line for Snake River Falls and Shoot the Rapids during the hottest part of the day; and after we dried off, we got fast rides on Gate Keeper (twice), plus fast single rides on Gemini, Raptor, Rougarou, Mean Streak, Magnum, and Cadillac Cars. It wasn't worth it to us to wait for the Fast Lane on MF, TTD, or Maverick -- all of which were 45 minutes or longer for Fast Lane. (My wife doesn't ride the biggies, so we didn't want her to have to wait for us that long).

But then we did early admission on Monday and did a Maverick walk on, MF 30 minute wait (for the front seat), and about a 30 minute wait for TTD. All three done by 11:00...

It was worth it for us to renew the passes and get those few extra perks, since we were already planning to renew them anyway. I probably wouldn't have ever purchased a Fast Lane pass on its own, but it was nice to have the chance to use it and see how it affected the day. Since it was basically free, we didn't feel like we HAD to ride X number of rides to make it worth it. And because we knew we could still do early admission and had the Sept 11 appreciation night coming up, we didn't feel like it was "wasted" on the rides we used it for.

Two girls on the train saw our wrist bands and asked us about it -- they were only there for the one day for the entire summer and wanted to ride everything and asked if it was worth it. We explained our circumstances and that we wouldn't pay for it otherwise, but that it was probably their only option if they really wanted to ride everything on such a busy Sunday.

Bottom line, neither the Fast Lance nor the Coaster Appreciation night were necessary to entice us to buy 2016 passes, but instead were nice bonus perks. I hope they do something similar in late 2016 for 2017 passholders, but won't be that disappointed if they do not.

I would like to attend this event as well. I haven't renewed my platinum pass but will be doing so this thursday payday. my question is: i will renew online for the 2016 platinum pass, so do I just show up and they scan my pass and it'll show that i've renewed it for 2016? Is that how it works?

Yes, it's as easy as that. To renew your pass online, you will need to enter the bar-code number on the renewal page. When you pay, or set up a payment plan, it will activate your card for 2016.

Oh the joy the Friday after Labor Day has brought me over the years...

The formula always seems to set up about the same:

Combine:

1. A massive group of people that chose Labor Day weekend CP as their goodbye to summer

2. A group skipping one weekend to wait for Halloweekends

3. Students back in school

4. CP advertising as closed all year

5. CP suddenly announcing the park will be open, but with select rides for only 4 hours

and you get some very short lines. Considering CP isn't open Saturday, it's going to be mostly locals...that have 2015 season passes, which aren't valid for admission.

So the audience is going to be mainly locals who feel comfortable renewing or buying 2016 passes about 8 months in advance. Sure the $18 tickets are nice, but how many are willing to travel for 4 hours at the park?

For the record, I don't expect this will be anything like the heavy crowds of the season pass preview earlier this year. There's a chance (especially if the weather is questionable) you might even get to feel like you're buying out the park for an evening.

Edit: Hopefully the Valravn announcement mentioning this night doesn't change my expectations.

Not that we had made a definite decision to go...but we have rain in the area tonight, and looks like it will be raining in Sandusky as well. Gonna be a nope for us, esp with a 100 mile drive. ~It's a 2 hour drive each way.

We'll hold out for better weather and longer hours

ENJOY THE COASTERS! ....for anyone local or lucky enough to be there!

Stacys said:
Not that we had made a definite decision to go...but we have rain in the area tonight, and looks like it will be raining in Sandusky as well. Gonna be a nope for us, esp with a 100 mile drive. ~It's a 2 hour drive each way.

We'll hold out for better weather and longer hours

ENJOY THE COASTERS! ....for anyone local or lucky enough to be there!

My wife and I are still going. Hoping the rain clears up enough to grab a few good rides.

Looks like it's still raining. If only it had cleared up, I bet tonight would have been awesome since the rain would have scared some people away.

Despite the rain, last night was a blast! Everything was a walk-on except MF (only running one train), we waited about 15-20 minutes. Finally got to ride Gatekeeper! Loved it... especially on the right side. At the end of the night we were cold and soaked, but left with smiles on our faces.

We went last night as well. Drove 3 hours from Michigan and had a blast! We picked up kids from school and left got there a little before 7, got our 2016 passes processed and headed in. Was surprised they had add much running as they did. I have been there with less rain and pretty much no coasters running. Rode Maverick a few times, millenium and gate keeper. Got a free Halloweekends pass at the Valravn exhibit for a friend. Great time!