The new Boardwalk... What is the point?

Let me start by saying I think it's very nice, and well built, with plenty of benches along the way.

But what is the point? It "connects the main parking lot with the beach and Hotel Breakers", but only 'kind-of'.

Yesterday, I parked in main parking, row 23E. This is within a couple of rows of the very closest public parking available to walk to the entrance of the boardwalk. And it is -FAR- away. From there, you have to walk along the fence dividing the parking lot from the beach. You walk through an enormous, empty bus parking area, a ridiculously large, 95% empty valet parking lot, and a large half empty employee parking area. This fence area has all the charm of an abandoned construction zone, with the beach covered in mounds of debris visible through the decrepit chain link fence.

Because of the non-public nature of these parking areas, you can't even pull up to the boardwalk entrance and drop off your group and 'take one for the team', parking far out and meeting them later. It's a long walk to the boardwalk for everyone.

I'm sure it's a nice addition for guests who 'have' to get a vigorous walk in before the park opens, but otherwise it's kind of a path to nowhere from the resort gate to the non-public parking that leaves people thinking "why did they build this?" once they walk it. The view is identical the entire way, with no added points of interest along the nondescript length of bland beachfront between the parking lot and windseeker.

Probably part of future planning.

I don't expect I will use it much if at all but it does give you the option of parking in the front lot to enter at the resort gate for early entry since you can't park at Shores for early entry anymore.

Good point, Paisley.

I thought it would have been better if they brought it adjacent to the front gate, but if you know it's there, just walk to it. I'm not sure if they intended for the masses to really use it regularly and the extra expense to bring a nice landscaped path over to the gate might not have been worth it. I've used it three times so far to get to the back entrance while not being able to park back there. It alleviates the annoyance that I had when they started doing that last year. And it's a really nice, peaceful walk early in the morning.

Rugrats2001 said:

Let me start by saying I think it's very nice, and well built, with plenty of benches along the way.

But what is the point?

It's very nice and well built with plenty of benches along the way.

That was the point.

Well.... one time I parked in the front lot and mid day I had to return to the truck and had the bright idea to check out the new walkway. It had nothing to do with early entry, or anything else, I was just curious and thought it would be pleasant. When I got to the corner of the front fence and saw how far I had to walk across the parking lot just to get to it I said “aw, hell no” and decided my trip would be better spent walking through the actual park. So back to the front gate I went.
Another time I thought I’d check out the new construction from the lake side of the fence. And my plan was to walk down the new walk after that. So I went out by Windseeker, looked at the new stage area, then looked down a boardwalk that was about to take me nowhere. Once again I decided to save my energy for the midway.

I can see a couple of reasons for the extension, though. One, is in answer to those that can’t get access to the Shores lot in time for early entry, or for those that want access to the free beach from the front lot. It allows patrons to walk to either one of those middle-of-the-park entrance gates. Which to me seems like a laborious and costly accommodation, btw.
And two, it provides a nice and extended stroll for resort guests who want to get away from the noise and hubbub of The Breakers’ backyard, especially at night. Whenever I’ve stayed at the hotel I’ve always enjoyed walking along, looking out onto a dark lake, and listening to the waves so this extends that opportunity. But otherwise I don’t see it getting a lot of use. Maybe the roller chairs have been popular, I can’t say.

Utilizing the Boardwalk for Early Entry can have mixed results, depending on what your motivation for using it is. I have used it 4-5 times with the intention of riding Maverick for a couple rides as my son is still intimidated by Steel Vengeance and I won't pressure him. We park at main lot at 8:40, don't want to stand at main midway near Raptor for 15 minutes so the Boardwalk stroll is nice. The Gatekeeper crew is warming up and cranking the music pretty loud. The lake & beach is very beautiful (except for the large dead fish). There are a handful of patrons entering at Windseeker. There are numerous employees tidying up & prepping the beach, hotel areas, pool and doing a fine job. Arrive at Magnum area gate at 8:55 and there is usually a logjam of patrons stretching across the roadway. There are 2 Security screeners and most guest groups have bags to rummage through. Timing-wise it is about equal to walking through the park, so choose whichever your heart desires. Most at the Resort gate are trying to sprint to Steel Vengeance. If that isn't open Maverick fills up quickly. If that is an issue or it isn't open the masses will be walking Frontier Trail towards MF.

I like the Boardwalk....errrrrr......cementwalk.

Last year parking at Shores would reach max capacity. When this happened, there was virtually no way to get guests who wanted to go to Shores to the gate.

The Boardwalk is to get guests to Shores from main parking lot. I am sure there are other reasons, but I believe this was one of the biggest reasons it was greenlighted.

Connecting the boardwalk to the main parking lot was a great idea. There maybe people that don’t want to go to the park, but use the beach. The park will still make money from them, from the parking fees. I’ve enjoyed a couple of nice walks on the newly extended path.

The Gatekeeper employee lot is actually for Boardwalk guests now. They just haven’t changed the signs.

Then I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to know.
But being able to use that lot would sure make it less of a hike. I think of parks like Kings Island that made a separate water park entrance and “designated” parking at that end of the lot and it’s a great idea. And there’s always a little crowd of cars way down there.
And the Boardwalk will certainly do in a pinch if Shores lot is full, but my hope is that there’s some sort of heads up so hapless drivers don’t make the trip all the way around just to have to come back and then walk a half mile to Shores dragging all their crap.

CoasterKyle1121 said:

The Gatekeeper employee lot is actually for Boardwalk guests now. They just haven’t changed the signs.

Isn't that preferred parking for boardwalk guests?

CoasterKyle1121 said:
The Gatekeeper employee lot is actually for Boardwalk guests now. They just haven’t changed the signs.

Call me ignorant, but what the heck are 'Boardwalk guests'?

People who are going to use the Boardwalk/Beach?

After the park closes you can hang out on the beach or go to Fridays and still get to the main lot once they lock up the park. Not a bad idea on days where it could take hours to get out of the main lot.

The lot in front (closest to GK) of preferred parking is meant for those going to the boardwalk. I had no idea until I parked there one day (a bunch of us parked there thinking it was employee parking still) and they put a piece of paper on my windshield saying I can’t park there anymore and an email was sent out about how they were going to start towing any employee cars out of that lot. When I asked about it, they said it is meant for the boardwalk guests. But I agree, I don’t know how guests are suppose to know that they can park there.

If you are seeing the 10pm showing of Fire and Ice at the end of your night, I think the boardwalk mainly was meant to get you out of the park easier (via the boardwalk to the main parking lot instead of treking it down the main midway of the park ) and 2. Definitely an easier alternative to get back to CPS (from the main lot) when the back lot is full, which it seems to be more and more this year.

We’ve used it several times this year already. Paid for preferred parking so we can get a close spot, grabbed our beach chairs and towels out of the trunk, and hiked on down to the beach by the sand bar for the day. 2 or 3 times we’ve done that and not even gone into the park. It’s quite nice

e x i t english said:
We’ve used it several times this year already. Paid for preferred parking...

Does anyone know the answers to the following questions:

(1) How much is preferred parking?
(2) Is there a platinum pass discount for preferred parking? And,
(3) If you leave, do you lose the privilege of parking in the preferred lot when you return?

Thanks!