Cedar Point?

[jellybeans0607]

Does anyone go often?

We were brainstorming ideas for next summers vacation. I think we plan to not go to disney, but do something similiar, yet less expensive. We thought 3 nights at cedar point could be fun, we have never been.

We picked the resort with the water park in it.

so, anyone been to that hotel? Would 3 nights be enough to do the water park and cedar point? How many days do you feel are necsessary for cedar point. Do they sell multiday tickets, or have i been spoiled by disney?

Any info in accomidations, how to buy tickets, where to eat, etc...would be appriciated.
thanks.

 

[WDW08]

I think one day is more than sufficient for Cedar Point. I was raised in Ohio and have been there many many times. If you think you may want to ride some of the big roller-coasters more than once, then maybe think of a second half day or so. You could go to Kelley's Island or Put-in-Bay one day. That's fun too

 

[Sandi]

DD13 and I just went for a quick trip Friday and Saturday. We were trying to figure out something fun to do for the weekend and came up with the idea Thursday night. She didn't have school on Friday (in-service day for teachers), so I went into work really early on Friday and left a little after noon. I called at 1:30 p.m. and made a reservation at the Hotel Breakers, which is a Cedar Point hotel, we left around 3:00 and were there at about 6:30. We dropped our stuff off at our room and went to the park for their special "HalloWeekend" night. The hotel itself was okay. We paid $149 for one night in a decent sized room with two double beds, a refrigerator, and a coffee maker (neither of which we used). Saturday morning we actually slept in -- something I've never done at WDW -- and were in line to get into the park for early entry by about 10:40. CP resort guests get entry one hour earlier than day guests. So, we were walking into the main park at 11:01 a.m. and headed straight over to the Maverick roller coaster. We stayed in the park until about 5:45, walked over to get our car from the hotel lot and were headed out of CP at 6:00. Home by 9:30 p.m.

When I was a kid, we would go to CP every summer. We'd camp at the CP campground and I always thought it was a blast. Since I married and had a child, however, I hadn't been. My DD13 has been to WDW 17 times, but we'd not given CP a try in her lifetime.

While CP is clearly different from WDW, we had a lot of fun. There is a water park, SoakCity, that is a CP park. It has a separate admission. Obviously, it wasn't open in October! There are a couple of hotels in Sandusky that have water parks -- Great Wolf Lodge and Kalahari. I've never stayed at either, but we passed by them. They're huge. I really wanted the convenience of being at CP, so we chose a CP hotel. That worked brilliantly for our quick trip. To me, a couple of days (or even a day and a half) was plenty at CP although we did not get to ride all of the rides. There are a couple of headliners for which waits were up to 1.5 hours -- even in October. I can only imagine how long waits are in the summer. Let me tell you, we truly missed FastPasses! We also did not go into the little kids' rides sections of CP and didn't see any of the shows.

We bought our tickets at the hotel. Because we were CP resort guests, we got a $10 discount on the day tickets. Entry is less expensive after 5:00 anyway, so there was no extra discount for the Friday night. Our evening admission was about $24; the full day was $33 (for off-site guests, it's $43). I'm sure their prices will go up for 2009. It's still a pretty good deal. I do not know whether they sell multi-day tickets, but you can check their website for ticketing information. I know that in some areas, Meijer's and several credit unions have discounted tickets for Cedar Point and Michigan's Adventure (a Muskegon theme park operated by the same company).

In the park, there are standard hamburger, french fry, dessert vendors. Plus, there is a Johnny Rockets, a Panda Express, and other chain type restaurants. There aren't any "nice" restaurants in the park like there are at WDW. In our hotel, there was a teppan Japanese restaurant. We didn't eat there and it didn't look busy when we walked by. Also in our hotel was a TGIFridays. In Sandusky there is every chain restaurant you can think of.

So, I hope this is helpful to you. Your timing for asking this question was truly amazing since we just returned from a totally unplanned trip to somewhere I hadn't been in 20 years. All in all, we had a good time. It's certainly not WDW, but it was a nice little respite. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[hmontgomry]

I have a season pass and go quite often. It is really fun!! They have a two day ride and slide pass that will get you into the park and water park for two days and you could do the 3rd at your hotel waterpark-did you book Castaway BaY?? There are 3-4 indoor water parks in Sandusky, but only one owned by Cedar Point. It is nice (although I prefer a few other indoor water parks to this one)You will have a great time!

 

[jellybeans0607]

I have a season pass and go quite often. It is really fun!! They have a two day ride and slide pass that will get you into the park and water park for two days and you could do the 3rd at your hotel waterpark-did you book Castaway BaY?? There are 3-4 indoor water parks in Sandusky, but only one owned by Cedar Point. It is nice (although I prefer a few other indoor water parks to this one)You will have a great time!

No, we havent booked. We are planning for maybe june. I don't think they are even booking this early, I doubt their prices for next year are out yet.
I didn't know there was a great wolf there, i'll be checking that out now!!

Thanks everyone. From your responses it sounds like we could make this a quick trip and 3 nights would probably be plenty.

I'll have to start researching hotels. anyone have a fave?

 

[stitch63]

Cedar Point is a great park to visit. Three days should be plenty of time. If you love roller coasters, this is the coaster mecca!!! Make sure to do the Top Thrill Dragster and Millenium Force. Top Thrill Dragster literally leaves you breathless!! The park is also very clean and have improved some of their food options. We have stayed at the Sandcastle Suites and the older hotel (the name escapes me right now). The rooms are not very large. We had four adults and two children in the Suites and we were cramped. Have a great time!! I would be envying you even more if I wasn't leave for Disney in five days

 

[hmontgomry]

Sandi-we were there Saturday, too! It was the busiest I have EVER seen it! I can't believe you rode much of anything!! We rode a few things in the morning since we get in early for having a season pass. It is best to go during the week or on a weekend when school is in session (except for October as that is when the Halloweekend starts and it is so busy if it is nice weather.

We have stayed at Great Wolf, Kalahari (my favorite) and Castaway. THey are all very fun!! You'll have a great time!

 

[SLK1]

We live in Orlando but try to go to CP every summer with the cousins. The kids have a BLAST (being in Orlando, they get a little Disneyed out). I think one day is enough, but maybe in the summer give yourself an extra half-day to re-do what you really liked. Millenium Force is by far the best roller coaster I have ever been on.

You mentioned June...be careful. They have these swarming bugs that come out in June I believe (maybe early June). They are disgusting, and made us really concentrate on keeping our mouths SHUT during the rides!!! You might want to check on when those are in season.

 

[jellybeans0607]

We live in Orlando but try to go to CP every summer with the cousins. The kids have a BLAST (being in Orlando, they get a little Disneyed out). I think one day is enough, but maybe in the summer give yourself an extra half-day to re-do what you really liked. Millenium Force is by far the best roller coaster I have ever been on.

You mentioned June...be careful. They have these swarming bugs that come out in June I believe (maybe early June). They are disgusting, and made us really concentrate on keeping our mouths SHUT during the rides!!! You might want to check on when those are in season.

Really! Good to know. June isn't solid. I'm just thinking of sometime during the summer vacation. June was the first month I thought of, lol. I'll for sure look into that bug thing, thanks!!

 

[Sandi]

Sandi-we were there Saturday, too! It was the busiest I have EVER seen it! I can't believe you rode much of anything!! We rode a few things in the morning since we get in early for having a season pass. It is best to go during the week or on a weekend when school is in session (except for October as that is when the Halloweekend starts and it is so busy if it is nice weather.

Having not been there in 20 years, I wasn't sure what to make of the crowds. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so I'm sure that added to the numbers. We'll definitely be back.

 

[we're all mad here]

We went in July this past summer. Got there 10:00ish am till 10:00ish pm. We only rode 6 rides. That's right, 6. We ate while walking even. It was fun, but you'll really need more than 1 day during the summer. Most big rides had a 2+hour wait. Even smaller ones were 45min or more. CRAZY! I kept saying to my family (who have never been to WDW) "Man, I really miss fastpass!"

 

[budbeerlady]

FYI I dont know when in June you were looking at but the first week is going to be alot of students. In Mi we went for 8th grade, 9th grade and 12th grade trips during the last week of school. They load up the buses at 5am and you sleep on the way and then we would leave again at 9pm. We often met up with friends from other school districts who were also there the same day was us.

 

[Aristomommy]

We usually stay at Castaway Bay so we can do the indoor waterpark and cedar point at the same time. We were also able to get into CP an hour early by staying there. DH was able to do Top Thrill Dragster before most of the crowds formed.

We go in August and the crowds are manageable. I am not sure how crowded it will be in June, but I do know there will be school groups the first week or two.

 

[brattosa]

Growing up on the Lake, I spent quite a few days at the Point and now take our son there. Our last trip was at the end of June last year. We stayed at the Breakers Express hotel which is owned by Cedar Fair (Cedar Point's parent company). The hotel was your typical run of the mill, Days Inn type of place. It's a bed to crash in after a hot, sweaty day in the park.

I've found only one easy way to beat the crowds and that's to head to the big rides a the back of the park first and then work your way forward. Most people hit the bigger coasters at the front of the park and then wait line their way back. Starting from the back works against the crowd a bit. When you get mid-park the path splits: go to the left for Iron Dragon, Mantis and Millennium Force; to the right for the Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster, Camp Snoopy, Magnum XL2000 and the Gemini. The paths merge in Frontier Town at the back so you can make a loop of it.

I've seen the park go through many changes through the year. Last year, I saw that the pizza place in Frontier Town which had the best pizza in the park is now a Chick-Fil-A. It was a bummer seeing one of my favorite places to eat being replaced but we stopped there for lunch. Let me just say, "OUCH!" One chicken sandwich, a 10-piece nuggets, an order of waffle fries and two drinks set us back about $25. We found similar over-priced food items throughout the park so keep that in mind.

A few good & favorite rides that are easily overlooked are the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, the Blue Streak and Cedar Downs. And the Happy Frier has the best french fries in the park (located at the front midway by the Raptor and across from the old aquarium building that sits behind the Wicked Twister).

 

[o2bnoz]

As a cedar point pass holder and a past employee (during college summers) I can tell you that those bugs really ARE annoying! I worked in the games area and we would open up our games and the stuffed animals would be completely covered with those bugs!! They are harmless, luckily, and they only stay around for a day or two and then they're gone. We call them muffleheads. They don't have mouths, so they are born, reproduce and then die because they can't eat. At least that's what I've been told many times. They're attracted to the light. The hard part is that you might know when the "season" is supposed to be but there is no sure way to know what day or days they will be around.

As far as water parks go.. I think Kalahari is the best of the group. Cedar Point itself has been experiencing lows in their attendance. They were not busy this past summer until Fourth of July weekend, and then a couple of weekends after that. Usually when we go, during the week, in the summer, it is really slow. It's great for those of us who can go easily and spend the day on the beach if the lines are too long! Halloweekends have become a really big event. There are extras for adults and kids, but sometimes it's not the best time to be able to ride a lot of rides.

I'm sure you'll have fun whatever you do. I second the opinion that you might want to visit Put-in-Bay or Kelly's Island while you're in the area. It really is beautiful and can be a lot of fun!

Dee

P.S. Leaving for Disney in the morning.... SO EXCITED!!!!!!

 

[Kaler131]

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Cedar Point!! We are major coaster junkies!! We go every year and get season passes every year. We are going there next weekend and staying at Castaway Bay (the CP indoor waterpark hotel). We have stayed there before and like it. We like to go there in the winter too so we can sit in the outside hottub while it's snowing....too cool! We have also stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and Kalahari as well. We liked them, but CAB and GWL are better if you have smaller kids in your party because we found that there was not a lot to do for a kid under 48 inches.
In the summer, w try to do a week where we go to King's Island for three days/night and then up to CP for 3-4 days/nights (in early June). We have been staying the past two summers at the cabins at CP (Lighthouse Point). We loved it the first year, but not as much this year....so we will probably try another CP hotel next sumer.