Cedar Point Vacation

[Digicasey]

Me and a friend are planning a trip from Texas up to Sandusky to visit Cedar Point. We've never been before and are trying to decide how many days you need to ride all the rides and enjoy everything. I figured this would be the best place to post something like this. We were originally thinking one day, but now I'm not so sure.

Any suggestions or trip advice would be great too!

:-)
Casey

[Harpo]

It depends on your definition of "everything," and whether or not you're going during the week or on the weekend.

If you're looking to go at a fairly leisurely pace and you're there during the week, I'd plan for about a day for the coasters, about a day for the non-coaster rides, about a day for the shows, and about a day for the Soak City water park/Challenge Park attractions plus some time at the beach.

Four days would allow you to do pretty much everything at the park, including having some time to play a few games and re-ride your favorite rides.

Naturally, if you narrow down your definition of "everything," you can delete the appropriate days mentioned in the second paragraph above. Also, if you go at a frantic pace rather than a fairly leisurely pace, you could cut down on the time. (The frantic pace would forget the rest stops, forget playing games, grab really quick meals or eat after the park is closed. At such a pace, you could come close to doing everything in 2 days, although you'd probably miss some of the shows.)

Something that would help optimize your time would be to stay at one of the Cedar Point resort hotels. By staying at those hotels, you'll be able to get into the park 1 hour earlier than the general public. A couple of rides open early for the resort guests (and Joe Cool Club season pass holders, which is a season pass add-on).

If you want to see more detail of what there is to do at the park, you could visit my Cedar Point Virtual Tour (http://www.tour-the-point.com). I've not yet finished updating it for 2007, but it gives a pretty good idea of what there is to do throughout Cedar Point.

Oh, wow! I just realized that my Cedar Point Virtual Tour will be 10 years old on Monday! It's hard to believe I created it so long ago!

[Cedar Point]

Two. Absolutely two. There are 68 rides, and 17 coasters, and if you want to ride more than half of the coasters, you need two days. It depends on when you're going, but I'd certainly say two. Or threee, just for insurance. One glance at my username and you will see I love my park dearly. :D

[fathorse]

Well to be fair only 16 of the coasters can be ridden unless you have a child under 48" traveling with you.

[BoRJoYZeE]

Yeah, 2 at least to ride everything. Takes almost a full day to ride the roller coasters (for me at least).

[Alpengeist]

Like Harpo said, 3 or 4 days for your first visit. It all depends on if you want to see the shows, do the water park, play games, etc.

[Digicasey]

Thanks.....that really helps :)

[CoasterMan3130]

Yep.. This is my eighteenth year going to CP with my family. We go once a year, since we live far away. Most of the years have been the same, but this is how this year's trip will be (end of June): -Arrive Day 1, around 5pm. Unpack the bags and get settled a bit, put on some comfy clothes, head in the park for a few hours. The crowds may be intense or not, but it's fun to ride the rides at night the first "day". -Wake up day 2, eat at the little poolside cafe in Breakers East, and walk down to the entrance (or shuttle, depending entrance). Head into park all day, eat somewhere for lunch, dinner somewhere off park, like Famous Dave's, or Fridays. Back into the park, ride at night. Get back to the hotel and relax by the pool or take a walk, some down time before bed. -Day 3...another full day at the park, ride and re ride. Pretty much same as Day 2... -Day 4...This day changes each year. For the past few though, we wake up late, then drive with the family (and who ever is with us) to a restaurant on the way to the airport. There are lots of good ones, prefer Cracker Barrel (hehe). That's my trip in a nutshell. We do it once a year. My family love coasters, but we don't need to go to CP that much, even though its a great family tradition.

[Cedar Point]

^That's almost exactly what I do, except Day 3 is coasters in the morning, and be packed and on the road by early afternoon.

[SnooSnoo]

Yeah... so... about all that 3 day thingys... :)

[Digicasey]

This will be our first trip and we've been looking online and are SOOOOOOOO excited. I've been to lots of places, but my step-brother has only been to Six Flags in Fiesta Texas. We never would have even heard about the place except a co-worker of mine lived in Indiana and use to go up there.

:-)
Casey

[Harpo]

Fiesta Texas is a decent sized park, but there's a lot more to do at Cedar Point, so plan accordingly! I rode all the rides (well, the ones that were open) at Fiesta Texas in a little over 1/2 of a day, and it was fairly crowded that day. (I spent the morning at Sea World, then the afternoon at Fiesta Texas.)

On a really slow day, I could do most of Cedar Point's rides in 1 day, but it requires some hustle.

[Digicasey]

We've been the lucky. The last two times we've gone to Fiesta Texas, it looks rainy so not many people show up. Both times we've gone we've gotten to ride everything 2 or 3 times on the same day. I've got another stupid question, is the food & drinks expensive (like typical theme park expensive)?

:-)
Casey

[Harpo]

Yes, unfortunately, food and drinks are expensive. When I worked at the park in the late 1980's, my coworkers and I would joke (behind the scenes, of course), "They don't call it Cedar Profit for nothing!"

The best food deals, in my opinion, are the all-you-can-eat buffet at Midway Market (which really is a very good deal), and Game Day Grille. The Sacrifice sandwich at Game Day is huge, and I usually pay the same price for that and a beverage as what I pay for lunch at Quizno's at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. The Sacrifice is an open-face roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy.

In the evenings, there's also an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet at Mamma Cheta's at the Hotel Breakers. The Breakers is right on The Point, but outside of the park gates.