Shortened Hours

With the park closing at 8:00 pm every night I’m going to miss one of my favorite things at CP- the lights. Especially on the Giant Wheel.

Yep, I enjoy the after daylight hours with CP all lit up.

Could be nice if they delayed opening and stayed open later some days to still maintain limited Hours but have some nights.

YES!!! Why won't parks do this?

I always wondered about that with Wyandot Lake. They would be open from 10am-8pm, then late in the summer they would always cut their hours...and be open from 10-6. Sure that cuts the hours, but it also cuts out the customers who would be able to come later in the day and don't want to or can't be in the park at 10am. Why not open at Noon?

Now that was mostly a water park. But the same applies for places like Cedar Point: why not shorten the hours by *opening later*? Instead of 10-8, why not 12-10? Might sell more food that way, too!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Maybe we should protest. :D

I'll miss the night time ambience of the park as well, but this could be a cost saving measure they are taking to try to recoup some of the losses from the shutdown. If the park closes before dark, that's a lot of electricity they won't be using, thus a lot of money they'll be saving.

Most of the lighting is led at this point from what I've seen. Much lower power usage.

I was wondering if it had anything to do with sun exposure though. I know it's not a complete solution, assuming it's accurate information, but from what I've read the virus doesn't survive well in direct sun?

Just one of musings.

I suspect it has more to do with labor costs and availability. CP had already been scaling back night hours.

I hadn't noticed that over previous years. Do you have some examples to reference as now I'm very curious? I personally love the park at night and definitely will miss that this summer.

I think it was last season they cut the weeknight closings back to 10 from 11 and maybe the weekends from 12 to 11 or something like that.

There was a lot of talk about it on here last summer so someone else will be along with more details than I can recall. I think the July midnight closings were eliminated completely except maybe for Halloweekends. It made sense from a cost perspective as the park really started clearing out around 10 anyway.

We love the park at night as well but when you start the day at 10:30 at CPS my boys were usually begging to go home by 10 or earlier unless we showed up in the afternoon. Wimps. 🤣

^for the 2019 season they eliminated the 11pm closes, returning them to 10pm however the Friday/Saturday 12am closes remained.

Was that for July/August only? I think closings were earlier in May/June in general.

If I remember correctly the May/June close times didn't change, but it's possible the 10pm closes started a week later. The few years with the 11pm closings was only between July 4 and the first week of August.

Back in the mid 1970's 10:00 PM closings were the norm, seven days a week. The only exceptions were the July 4th and Labor Day weekends.

So agreeing with some previous points. If they throw all this money at light packages. Could we please have 12-12 days? I would totally be fine with no park access until lunch if it meant we can be there after sunset.

I'm dreaming I know.

Traditionally the park was open until 10pm.

That changed after the 1995 season when they started running the laser show at 10:00pm. That caused a *huge* problem because instead of trickling out of the park between 8:00pm-11:00pm as was traditionally the case, "everyone" was staying to watch the show at 10:00pm, resulting in monstrous traffic jams as everybody tried to leave at once after the show was over at 10:30pm.

The solution was to keep the park open until 11:00pm. That way, the people who used to leave early would stay until the show ended, then after the show a large number of people would leave. But because shops were still open and rides were still running, the total park exodus was actually spread over the period from 10:30pm-11:30pm resulting in a traffic pattern much more like it was before the laser show. They expanded on this in the years that they had the enhanced decorative lighting on the Frontier Trail, in fact the screen show ended with a promotion to have people walk down the trail (note this is technically after closing!) to see that light show "on their way out" of the park (going the long way 'round as a result).

I believe that's also the rationale for having the Luminosity show devolve into a dance party after it ended, figuring that the extra entertainment would keep the crowd from all leaving at once.

Changes to the nighttime entertainment package have made it unnecessary to retain that extra hour, so going back to a 10pm close most nights kind of makes sense. But 8:00 seems way too early, and the 7:00 closes that Kings Island is planning just seems kind of silly. I understand the labor issues, but I have to think shortening the day at the front end would actually have some advantages and would still allow for single shift staffing.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Wow, that's actually a lot of interesting background that never even would have crossed my mind. And that makes a lot of sense with the way park closes would happen last year as well, something seemed off and yet the traffic wasn't as bad as I thought.

Thank you for the background!

One of the big incentives to staying at the park’s resorts is that you don’t have to drive back home dead tired after 10pm (or midnight). I wonder if they’ll see a drop in overnight visits when people realize they can stay at the park all day, drive back home and still get to bed at a decent hour. I’m sure having the water park closed is already giving people reason to reconsider making a 2 day visit.

And yet, with the combination of short staff and COVID-19 response, you think maybe they will be just as happy if the massive hordes they were hoping for this season *don't* show up? Except with what will probably be an unusually high percentage of season pass visits (moreso than the Gold Pass promotion would have predicted) perhaps the hotel is an even more important revenue source?

I can see them wanting it either way...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

We usually stay at the resort. Anyone saying that they save money on electricity when closing earlier is sadly mistaken. Stay the night on the point and you'll realize how long they keep the lights on after everyone has left the park. Maybe the shops and food stands have the lights off but when the park is open, whatever they sell pays for the electricity they are using.