We were excited to take a family road trip recently. We live 45 minutes from Sandusky, Ohio and were excited to be given tickets for a day at Cedar Point.
While we know the amusement park is full of coasters and thrill rides, we were also impressed by how much Cedar Point has to offer for little kids.
My family and I attended Opening Day and it was an incredible way to kick off summer. Everyone else must have thought so too, because it was very busy.
In fact, we arrived a little after 10 am and the wait time for obtaining season passes was over an hour long. It stretched out into the parking lot and then wrapped around the back of the building.
People purchasing their season passes that day had to wait in a short line at a ticket window for about 15 minutes and then get into the very long line to get their pictures taken and obtain their passes.
It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized the long line could have been avoided had we been aware of it. The Cedar Point Season Pass Center was open at varied times and hours in the weeks before the park itself opened.
A quick remedy to this slow start to our day would have been a simple Google search by us or even notification directly from Cedar Point about the center’s hours.
The tickets for one day admission seemed to be moving very quickly and I would estimate that people waited about 15 minutes to purchase their tickets. Very impressive considering it was the first day of the season.
Once we were able to get into Cedar Point everyone in our group had a fabulous day. The weather hovered at 70 degrees and while it was a bit chillier in the early evening we simply donned light jackets and were comfortable.
Our group consisted of myself, my husband, our 4-year-old daughter, our 3-year-old son, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and their 6- and 3-year-old daughters.
The main corridors of the park were packed at times but we spent most of our day in the kiddie lands where the crowd was pleasantly thin. The kids rode and loved every single ride they were tall enough for. The lines were all very short which kept everyone happy and excited.
Cedar Point had been hoping to debut it’s new family water ride Shoot the Rapids on Opening Day, but due to technical difficulties it’s launch has been delayed until May 29th.
Located along the Frontier Trail, the ride’s first hill, its largest, will be 85 feet tall. It will be three feet taller than the park’s Snake River Falls. After plunging down the first hill, riders will travel through a rustic setting with wooded areas and canyon walls that spray water. The second hill will carry riders up nearly five stories before sending them to the ride’s grand finale — a splash landing through churning rapids and spraying water from all directions.
The ride wasn’t even open and it was garnering a lot of excitement. The landing from where I took these photos was continually packed throughout the day with people simply imagining what Shoot the Rapids will look like when it’s running. Judging from the eagerness of the crowds gazing at the non-running ride, this will be one of the most popular rides at Cedar Point over Memorial Day weekend.
Keep in mind that if the weather is a bit on the chilly side, don’t rule the water rides out, simply bring along an extra $5 and use the Family Dryers installed throughout Frontier Land.
While we spent the majority of the day in the Cedar Point kiddie areas, the guys in our group did sneak off a couple of times. They knew the line for Wicked Twister was about 30 minutes long and were ready to wait.
Unfortunately after 40 minutes of waiting the ride experienced technical difficulties and was halted. They were disappointed to discover that after standing in line for that length of time they were simply told to check back later in the day to see if it was running.
Once this happened we were discussing why Cedar Point doesn’t offer a Fast Pass system similar to the Disney parks. It seems like a simple solution to eliminating the extensive, and in this case futile, wait times and keep everyone happy.
The frustration of standing in line with no ride at the end immediately eased, however, when we walked by the Magnum and noticed the wait was only 15 minutes long. The guys rode the ride, came back smiling, and remarked that they couldn’t believe the Magnum is over 20 years old and still such an excellent roller coaster.
While there seemed to be a number of rides experience minor glitches throughout the day, we were pleased to find that the overall crowd sentiment was a simple shoulder shrug. Everyone seemed to understand that after a long cold winter, some of the rides might experience a bit of a rougher start than others.
We were so pleased with the overall atmosphere at Cedar Point and had such a wonderful day that we can’t wait to go back again. We do hope to squeeze in a few more rides for the adults next time and we can’t wait to see Shoot the Rapids up and running. At the same time, we don’t want to miss out on opportunities to see smiles this big:
If you liked this post, check out:
- Cedar Point Trip Review #2
- Geuaga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom Trip Review
- Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Trip Review
What about you? Will you be taking your family to an amusement park this summer?
Looks like a super fun place to visit!
I haven’t been in years. Haven’t been much of anywhere in the years since losing my daughter. Hearing you talk about it all makes me want to take my son. I think the family dryers are a clever idea!
I love rollercoasters. Esp. Montezuma’s Revenge at Knott’s Berry Farm. (several other parks have the same coaster with different names.)
There used to be this ‘ride’ at Great America in Santa Clara, CA called “The Edge>” You got strapped in, they raised you up about three stories and then let you go. You are in free fall for about 3 seconds. It is/was wild.
To anyone who is afraid of coasters. I used to be. Then I realized these coasters are used by, literally, thousands of people and there are very few accidents. Once I realized I, probably, wasn’t going to die, I raised my arms, hung on with my toes and enjoyed the ride….
I’ve read a little about Cedar Point and would love to take a trip there … maybe later this summer! Thanks for your review. I love reading “trip reports” and yours helps a lot. I never knew there was such a thing as a Family Dryer! We could have used one at Hershey Park when we got so soaked that I had to buy new t-shirts for us to change into!
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
my cousin lives in oh- i have to recommend this place to her. looks like a lot of fun!
we went to Cedar Point once about 12 years ago. It was great! Our only close amusement park now is Dollywood. It doesn’t even compare :(.
Cedar Point looks a lot like the Kenny Wood Park I remember as a kid. While I went to Sea World up where you are, I never once went to Cedar Point. (This was the park my husband frequented when he was a young lad…) This might be worth a trip when we are at grandmas in June…
Cedar Point looks a lot like the Kenny Wood Park I remember as a kid. While I went to Sea World up where you are, I never once went to Cedar Point. (This was the park my husband frequented when he was a young lad…) This might be worth a trip when we are at grandmas in June…
We are trying to find a weekend to go to Cedar Point!! Your post made me really excited! I am sure we wont leave the kiddie area either!
Love Cedar Point, but I definitely agree that they need some sort of FastPass system. They did have those hand stamps a few years ago, but that didn’t last very long. I went for Halloweekends in ’08, and the average wait time was literally two hours. Miserable.
I love Cedar Point. I can’t wait to go this summer.
So fun! Yes, short lines equals happy people…always. That really sucks about the line to nowhere though. The last picture is complete happiness!
We are going to Disney in the Fall, but we’ll see for this summer…we’ll see…
I wanna go to Cedar Point too! I love their roller coasters but I’m afraid of that one with the giant drop!
That sounds like a GREAT time. We have a small amusement park in our area. It’s always pretty busy through the summer. It doesn’t have rollercoasters and majority of the rides are for smaller kids, but a day there is pretty cheap and it’s alot of fun for the kids :)