Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

I would hate to see any of those changes. It wouldn't accomplish anything except cause complaints and bad PR. If people suggesting that are hoping to make ride lines shorter, it probably won't have much effect. I'm sure the park wants as many people in the park as possible, they probably made an incredible amount of money these last two weekends.

Pete said:

It wouldn't accomplish anything except cause complaints and bad PR.

Which people would eventually get over, just like when Cedar Point raises admission prices every few years. And really who would complain about more options especially for those who want to visit but are on a budget? Having price range options for everyone is better in the long run isn't it?

I disagree, a season pass should be just that a pass for the entire season. Just because they have a Halloween event still makes it the same season, just like Brew & BBQ or Beach blast.

And there would be a pass for the entire season in at least my hypothetical plan. Nobody is suggesting taking away the fall season completely.

A pass just for CP and not CP Shores would be nice if it was cheaper of course.

But I think you're looking at the fall as a separate season, I'm not, it's still the same season. No need to segregate fall any more than the need to segregate a May through June season for example. Halloweekends is just an extension of the bonus weekends they've always had, I have never looked at it as a separate season because it isn't.

Well, it's not really an extension in terms of shows, as those completely change.

Sure they do, but the shows have different run times throughout the season like Luminosity for example. The fall shows are date specific just like the shows that run earlier in the season. May for example has very few shows. I don't find that significant as far as separating things.

BTW, the regular CP Season Pass is CP only, it does not include Shores.

Pete said:

I disagree, a season pass should be just that a pass for the entire season. Just because they have a Halloween event still makes it the same season, just like Brew & BBQ or Beach blast.

Say that to all the parks who do a Haunt-type event as a separate charge. (Also why I said "Haunt" and not "Halloweekends".)

I think those parks have day operations and night operations and passes are good during the day, is that correct? That is still a little messed up in my opinion but at least you can use your pass for part of the day.

Yeah that's correct. I'm not a fan of it, but as an extension of the discussion that's where I see it possibly going.

The separate day and night events are probably fine for the small to mid size Parks in the chain . Not sure how well that would go over at CP given it's more of an all day park and resort. Telling resort guests they have to leave at a specific time and sit in their rooms for a few hours while the park clears would really diminish the value of the resort.

Parks like Knott's, Carowinds and Universal do Day/Night events with no problems. When I went last October to Hollywood Horror Nights I purchased a day/night combo pass. At the gate I received a wristband that entitled me to stay inside the park during the 1 hour in which the park cleared the day visitors out. During this hour those with the combo ticket wristbands had early access to haunted houses before the park reopened at 6pm. There was no issue as to how it was handled. And this ended up being a huge benefit as I was able to knock out 4 haunted houses in that hour. They also closed entire sections of the park for the event, mainly The Wizarding World of Harry Potter which had just opened at the Hollywood park a month or 2 prior.

Just because this isn't the current set up does not mean it can't work. Resort guests could be entitled to stay inside the park during the changeover. They receive what is now 1-2 hours worth of early access to indoor haunts. You now also increased the value of staying onsite. Platinum pass holders could have a similar benefit as will as offering a day/night combo ticket.

All these parks that handle their seasonal event in this matter have the same issues Point would have and worked through them. It's not impossible, it's just a different line of thinking then how it's currently run. IF a change would be made, sure it may suck the first season as people and the event changes but soon enough it would be the new norm and we, as enthusiasts would fine new things to bitch and complain about. :)

If they advertise correctly, they can utilize staff from the kids areas at night as well. So long as customers know that the evening half does not cater to children.

Joe E said:

Telling resort guests they have to leave at a specific time and sit in their rooms for a few hours while the park clears would really diminish the value of the resort.

Except that the two largest resort theme parks in the country do this with no problem. In fact they often sell out those events that they close early for. However I don't think it could work as well at Cedar Point and I am in fact not in favor of that kind of operation for Cedar Point. Instead I am in favor of having a tiered season pass plan that would include/not include Halloweekends as I have already mentioned.

Comparing a regional seasonal park to a major year-round world destination park isn't a good comparison. Flushing the park in the evening would probably just cause traffic nightmares with a horde going out and another horde coming in since the local infrastructure isn't really built for it. Tiered passes might work. In a way they already do that with season, gold and platinum.

There really isn't a good idea I like that been out there yet. Don't even like my own idea. But it's better than 8 different passes or cutting passes in half for available weekends. Disney is $100. Raise the price of a single day ticket during the Halloweekends events at least on Saturday. Make it $90. No bargains or discounted tickets for single day tickets. Two day ticket $110. Encourage guests to either stay and play, or they got priced out. Passes should go up. I payed $189 for 2. I go to KI a lot along with our trips to CP for multiple days. I'd pay $289 for it. Fastlane is still not priced right. Should be more. They could always offer discounts only on days the weather is bad. This fall was unique in that the weather was perfect the last 2 weeks.

If they did these things and possibly increased the benefits of staying at one of their resorts. That would decrease the amount of complaints and hit the bottom line. Add a off point camping location that compares to what is onpoint. With a shuttle to and from. But do we want to price people out of happyness.

Or quit building. Other only logical choice. Quit attracting people to their park. They keep attracting so many people to the park and the money they put into it. It's quite the investment. And people keep coming and coming to enjoy the new and old attractions. But if there weren't any new ones maybe everyone would have their best day ever!!

Anecdotal story:

When we were shopping for suppliers for luxury seating, one of the sales reps tried convincing us that losing 2/3 of our capacity would just make the customers that normally come on Saturday decide to come on Wednesday instead. Our seating capacity will not change the fact that people have work and school on weekdays. Some business people do not understand things like this.

Now, a business needs to continually invest in order to maintain or grow their customer base. The two metrics we look most often are attendance and per cap. You never want to see attendance drop, and per cap tracks how and where people are spending their money. Customer satisfaction is correlated to how willing people are to spend money.

People were willing to spend their money the last two weekends. Me included. Like I said I don't like my ideas. Either one. Especially the one about not attracting people with new attractions. I was very happy with my weekend. Bookings for Lighthouse Point camping is very limited. You have to plan and book way in advance. Very happy with the weather! But then again I can go whenever I want too. So I can handle rain all day or very windy and very crowded too. Had to laugh when I was going to bed Saturday night at 230 and I could still hear people honking in the front of the park.

My wife and I were at Six Flags Great Adventure last weekend.

They have a separate charge for their haunts.

You can pay for a one day ticket,or if you have a season pass you can pay $45.00 for the season.

They also offer a "Fast Pass" for the haunts.

Based on the wait times for the rides ,with Ka down,it seemed most people were there for the haunts.