Theme Park Visitor Nightmare, Cedar Point Turns People Away, Operates At Full Capacity.

On this day the 19th of October, we’ve participated in something I thought I would never see happen with any Theme Park. It was frustrating and really did light the anger fire underneath us.

In the 25+ years of going to Cedar Point, I have NEVER seen a scene like we saw today as we tried to make it to the 2nd to the last day of operation for the 2019 season at Cedar Point.

We failed!

We left Michigan around 9 Am an arrived in Sandusky, Ohio around 1 pm. We quickly found ourselves in one of the many stationary traffic jams that were near Cedar Point and throughout the Sandusky area.

We tried to be smart and cut through the side streets to try to get ahead of the backed up traffic, but we would end up behind a long line of cars that were stationary no matter where we went. Most of them were out of the car chatting with other drivers. We probably could of held a giant block party at that point.

With over 2 hours of trying to gain an edge and find a way over to the main entrance of Cedar point, we couldn’t get close. With the car off we sat, nothing was moving. The frustration began to mount.

We saw people getting frustrated and getting angry. They were hollering at each other. Word was there were several accidents on various routes to Cedar Point as people became impatient. At one point we had a man with white hair and a long bear get out yelling “you cannot block the road” Several times he yelled as he exited his truck behind us.

He continued to walk to the street that was about 4 cars ahead of us and started yelling at everyone “you cannot block the rode!” and a few other obscenities.

Although I’m not sure why, everyone was stuck, no one could go anywhere. So if he had a problem, he should of headed to the front of the line to take out his rage. After all Cedar Point was the center of this madness.

The closest we could get was 51 minutes from the place, which according to this was around 3 miles. From what I was hearing this wasn’t even close as the cars were not moving at all.

Why Was Cedar Point Over Capacity Today?

The reason could be a combination of many. These many reasons could include the fact they only had 2 days left. The sun was out and the day was beautiful. The third reason, a little thing called a Gold Pass.

Who knows if this is the sole reason. I’m not sure, but logically with the combination of the wonderful weather, a perfect storm hit Cedar Point on October 19th, 2019.

The Gold Pass is a special Cedar Point Is Running for next years 150 celebration year, which they say will have events and extra’s through out the year to celebrate their history.

The problem is it’s super cheap for the benefits. You get unlimited visits the rest of this season, FREE parking, and unlimited access to both the theme park and water park in 2020 season, plus FREE parking.

That price isn’t really much more than a standard one day pass. For one who looks at value, the Gold Pass is that value. But did they make it too affordable?

Will capacity and traffic issues be something we’ll see through out the 2020 season?

It could very well happen. So what now?

No one likes an over populated theme park, Cedar Point should know that. Their weekends are usually pretty tough to deal with at times as it is. It’s not fun. No one enjoys paying the extra money for fast passes when you still have to wait in the line anyway.

No one enjoys going to get food or drink refills and waiting 20 – 45 minutes in line. No one wins. If that is the case, there are way too many other theme parks in the United States that I am going to spend my money with.

An then the season and platinum pass holders. They feel slighted. They feel screwed. The value isn’t there compared to the $99 dollar counterpart.

With the Gold pass it should of been limited. I think they oversold it, and I wonder the money this will cost them. I wonder what overall view of Cedar Point will be moving forward. Especially for first timers.

There are WAY too many ways for families to spend their entertainment dollars. And when they do they want value, but they don’t expect to have to wait most of their day away. Unfortunately walking shoulder to shoulder, and waiting hours to do something isn’t going to cut it in the long run.

In The End Cedar Point Loses And We Lost.

So by the evening Cedar Point said they were at or near capacity and starting turning people away. We never made it close enough to be actually told to go away.

I think the negative publicity of this may hurt. They may survive since it’s so late in the season, but if the 2020 season becomes a problem I fear there could be some problems that Cedar Point will have to account for.

For us, it did make us angry. In fact I was extremely Pissed. We drove 3 1/2 hours and bought an extra ticket to take one of my daughters friends there for the first time. We spent hours of frustration trying to find a way in to Cedar Point only to fail and we headed back home for a 3 1/2 hour drive.

When you spend the entire day in a car because you simply are not able to get to your destination, it’s hard. You waste time. You waste Money, none of which I’m okay losing.

Tonight I’m sure I wasn’t the only one going home angry and was disgusted with Cedar Point. Today I’m sure they broke the heart of hundreds of Children who thought today was going to a fun time at a theme park. I’m sure thousand of hard earn dollars were lost today for nothing. Because Cedar Point may have made a major blunder without thinking it through.

SHAME ON YOU CEDAR POINT…