The Far East Parking Lot Exit

Is there any rhyme or reason to when the park opens it and when they keep it shut? Obviously they have to wait until closing or near closing to open it to prevent people from sneaking in but it seems they open it some nights and then don't bother others so you can never know that it's an option for sure until you actually get there. It's nice to duck out quickly down the chausee since I'm going home to the east without waiting behind the huge line of cars all going towards the causeway but I can never be sure that it is actually open. It seems on about two thirds of my visits this year it has been open but last night again it wasn't. Is there any reasoning used or is it just a matter of whether or not someone remembered to open the gate?

I'd assume there's a reason; controlling egress doesn't strike me as something that would be left to someone remembering to open the gate.

Couldn't hurt to reach out to the park and ask -- let them know how much you enjoy the convenience of heading home to the east via the Chausee.

If you lived on the Chausee, would you want an endless parade of traffic down your road every night (plus Bonus and Halloweekends!) for 5 months? In the interest of neighborly relations, Cedar Point likely tries to keep usage of the road low and the 35 MPH helps (I'm surprised it's that high, actually).

I'll hazard a guess it's a judgement call (and nothing more) by those monitoring the parking lot as to whether the Chausee gate is open, and the default decision is to keep it closed.

I've never had a problem indicating I want to turn left to go to the Chausee with my turn signal. What I do most often is go to the gate and, when I see it closed, turn onto the "main" parking lot road and turn left off of that. I cannot think of one time where I've been forced to turn right at that junction when I indicate I want to go left instead.

I don't think the gate attracts anyone who already doesn't know that it is there. Those of us that are going through it will be turning left whether it's open or not I don't see why they would want us sitting in the traffic that is mostly turning right. It just adds to the time everyone waits no matter what direction they are going. It is often open I'm just wondering why not regularly. So long as the park doesn't encourage large amounts of people to enter and exit through the chausee and clog it with traffic I don't think the residents really have too much to complain about. They knew the park was there when they bought their houses. The reason the road even exists in the first place is because it was the original main entrance to the park.

The original driving entrance, to be precise. The original 'main' entrance was the bay side of the peninsula.

Yes, the original driving entrance. Which means people have been driving to and from the park on that road since before the homes were built.

Any time I've left the park the exit to the Chausee has never actually been blocked off, so I go that way any ways. I understand why they don't want people going that way (people living on the Chausee probably get mad), but it's more convenient for me as well. I believe the large "exit" sign pointing the other way out of the park is only a suggestion.

Fun fact: after the Chausee opened to traffic, cars were parked inside the Cyclone's structure.

I usually make it a point to take one of the trips to or from the park via the Chausee. Nice drive.