Cedar Point - Fast Lane - worth the $$?

[DizneyLizzy]

I haven't been to Cedar Point in a few years - honestly because I can't handle the crowds and the lines there anymore. I used to go every year as a kid when visiting my family in Toledo, but the crowds have gotten bigger and bigger to the point where I don't even have the energy anymore. The last time I went, I arrived well before regular opening and still faced lines of an hour plus at Maverick and Millenium Force within 5 minutes of opening. I'm going to try and go this week and I noticed they are now offering something called "Fast Lane" for about $50. Anyone out here tried it? Is it worth the money?

 

[Colleen27]

I'm curious about this too. Disney has totally ruined me for Cedar Point; even going on a weekday and getting there at opening the best we seem to be able to do is one "headliner" ride without a ridiculous wait and then we're right back to an hour or more line for a 60 second ride. We haven't been back in 8 or 9 years and that's the biggest reason. But now DD10 is tall enough and brave enough for the big rides so we're thinking it is time to go back so she can experience it once.

 

[kellia]

I'd like to know, also! We are going in a week or two, first time in 10 years, since my sons are finally tall enough for the big rides! I don't think I can justify paying $40/ticket and then $50 for a fast pass, though. Nope, they sure don't compare to Disney!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I'd like to know, also! We are going in a week or two, first time in 10 years, since my sons are finally tall enough for the big rides! I don't think I can justify paying $40/ticket and then $50 for a fast pass, though. Nope, they sure don't compare to Disney!

If you go on a weekday and buy your tickets online you can save a few bucks and the actual tickets are $36.99...but the Fast Lane thing is an extra $50

I'm going this week so I will report back whether I buy the pass or not!

 

[Colleen27]

For those of you going soon, CP is running a ticket promo with the announcement of their new coaster - http://www.cedarpoint.com/gatekeeper and click the "Unlock the Gate" link for $25 adult tickets.

 

[StacyMarie]

Up until 4 years ago (when we started going to Disney every year instead), we went to Cedar Point twice a year. IMO, I DEFINITELY think the extra $$ for the fast lane passes would be worth it and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase them. We have waited in line upwards of 2+ hours in the blazing sun for most of the popular roller coasters. My daughter went to CP a few weeks ago with a friend and she said that there was hardly every anybody in any of the fast lane pass line, virtually walk on for the people that did buy them. They only sell so may per day. I would definitely splurge and get them.

 

[penjen]

I guess it totally depends on when you go. We went on a Thursday and Friday at the end of June and the lines were manageable. Only one ride had a line longer than 1/2 hour the whole time we were there. So, It wasn't worth it those 2 days.

 

[rcpae]

My daughter and a group of friends purchased these on a trip this year. I just asked her and she said it was GREAT and well worth the cost. They got to ride everything and they were even done before the park closed...in fact well before.

Enjoy!

 

[StacyMarie]

I guess it totally depends on when you go. We went on a Thursday and Friday at the end of June and the lines were manageable. Only one ride had a line longer than 1/2 hour the whole time we were there. So, It wasn't worth it those 2 days.

Agree with this too! If you go on a weekend, especially one around a holiday, you can expect LONG lines. If you go during the week, I would expect the lines to e much better.

 

[tracyz]

We went a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday and bought the fast lane passes. It was totally worth the money! We seriously saved HOURS of waiting in line. At many of the big rides the lines were an hour long, and we never waited more than 15 minutes in the fast lane, even at Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster and even in the busiest part of the afternoon. I was hesitant about the price, but in the end I was soooo glad we bought them! We were really able to get the most out of our day.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Update - okay CP people...I'm going tomorrow (Wednesday) and springing for the Fast Lane. I'll report back here tomorrow night or Thursday and let you know how it goes!

 

[dimimi]

We used them Friday. My son had used them a few weeks ago at King's Island and loved it....but the Friday we went looked like rain. We heard the passes sold out, so we bought them the night before. We didn't need the passes at all. It might have saved us time on the really big coasters, but for the most part...they weren't needed. (It never did rain the entire time we were there, but it must have scared people away.)

I will say one of the ride operators told us that Fridays are usually not crowded.

We still had a lot of fun...just spent a lot of money!

 

[Mom_Rides]

I'm going to be in the minority and say you don't need them. People run to the bigger coasters first thing in the morning or hit the front of the park coasters on the way out increasing wait times. So head to Magnum or Gemini first and then try some smaller rides then hit a big one. Sure you might have an hour wait for one or two of the biggies but most everything else should be a 20-30 minute wait at best.

We see 30-40 minute waits at Disney and think eh that's nothing compared to CP...lol!

 

[goodhartc]

For those of you going soon, CP is running a ticket promo with the announcement of their new coaster - http://www.cedarpoint.com/gatekeeper and click the "Unlock the Gate" link for $25 adult tickets.

Thanks so much for this!! We are going on Friday and you saved me $55 for our family of 5!

 

[laur roo]

another good way to judge if you need it is how full the parking lot looks. If only half the parking lot if full, you can guess that wait times will not be 2+ hours. If the parking lot is jam packed of cars, there will be more people in the park, thus longer lines probably. that way you can wait to decide until you get there. they sell fastlane at a few different spots in the park so its not like you have to get it as soon as you walk in. look at the wait times and then decide if its worth the $$$ for your group.

 

[czycropper]

We're not local or anything but we went at the end of June and the longest we ever waited was an hour and that was because we didn't realize that Top Thrill Dragster didn't open early that day We were there Sunday & Monday, stayed onsite so we had the hour advantage and the lines were all manageable. I spoke with a couple people there and they told me that Saturday is usually their busier days and of course any holiday weekend.

This was our order on Sunday - Millenium Force, Mantis, Maverick, Mean Streak then lunch, then the girls rode Wicked Twister (my DH & I just couldn't handle that one after lunch ), then Magnum, looked at TTD but the line was way too long so we rode some of the other rides - didn't much like Corkscrew but loved Raptor (by that time the line was very short), saw a show and went back to the hotel. Came back later in the evening and rode Millenium and Magnum at night.

Monday we got there at opening and went straight to TTD & waited, waited, then we were the 2nd car to ride went back and rode it again after another 30 minute wait, then we rode all of our favorites again (Millenium, Magnum, Mean Streak) before changing our clothes to ride all the water rides. We finished the day by riding Millenium at dusk in the front car - this one took us about 45 minutes.

Have fun when you go. We'll be going again next year since it will take us that long to gear up to drive the 8-9 hours it takes to get there!

 

[DeepPurple]

First post here.

I think the fast-lane bracelelts were worth the price.

My family visited on a Saturday in July. The crowds were large. We probably rode double the rides because of the shorter lines.


It comes down to this..... Do you want to spend $40 bucks or so and ride 15 to 20 rides for the day or spend $90 and ride 35 to 40 rides during the day. We don't go very often so we were willing to pay extra to ride more. The price per ride works out to be about the same either way. YMMV.

My only complaint was that the bracelets have the date printed on them in an ink that is not quite water proof. Since the dates were being checked at every ride entrance, it was rather important for that date to be available, but after a few water rides, the printing faded, causing us to get reprinted bracelets. That was a hassle.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Okay so I went yesterday (Wednesday, August 15th) and the Fast Lane bracelets were worth every penny. They were only worth the $ because of the following reasons, however:

1. We did not stay on site and have early entry

2. We had not been to Cedar Point for 2 or 3 years mainly because we were sick of the lines there

3. In our experience, August tends to be crowded because of people getting their last minute trips in before school starts

4. The park was indeed - very crowded. 10 minutes after park opening (when we got to Maverick) the standby line was 1 3/4 hours. When we rode again about half an hour later, the line was 2 hours. We walked on both times.

5. We love the big roller coasters and wanted to ride as many as possible.

6. We only paid $25 for our actual tickets because of the "unlock the gate" online special. This made the $50 cost of the Fast Lane bracelets easier to swallow.

7. It takes us about 1.5 hours to get to CP so we don't usually stay late into the afternoon. With the Fast Lane we were able to do everything we wanted to do, and leave before 4 PM.

Because of these 7 things, Fast Lane was great for us, but we are not all people. If you want to ride a lot of the big name coasters and don't want to wait in hour plus lines all day then it's definitely worth the money.

One caveat - the Fast Lane doesn't eliminate the need to ride the biggest names early on - we rode Dragster, Millennium Force, and Maverick before lunch and walked on all three without any sort of wait. After lunch we noticed that even with Fast Lane, some of these had 30 minute posted Fast Lane waits. So for these three, even with Fast Lane, do them early in the day.

That's all...I hope it helps some of you! We had a great day and Fast Lane was definitely a part of the greatness.

 

[Bribrittmom]

For those of you going soon, CP is running a ticket promo with the announcement of their new coaster - http://www.cedarpoint.com/gatekeeper and click the "Unlock the Gate" link for $25 adult tickets.

Where is the link?Would love to get $25 tickets.Thanks

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Where is the link?Would love to get $25 tickets.Thanks

That promotion ended on 8/14...but you should still be able to get them for $36.99 online if you are going during the week