Cedar Point end of August

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone reading here has been to Cedar Point on a weekend at the end of August.

We missed reservations for Coaster Mania so we were thinking of going on our own during that time.

Knowing how crowded the park can be, we were thinking of September, but noticed they aren't open then.

The next best option is the end of August - traditionally dead week at amusement parks with reduced hours at many parks for that week. We also try to stay away from weekends at parks during July and August.

Cedar Point is only open Fri - Sun for the last 2 weeks in August. which means a weekend.

Anyone with ideas on crowds that might have been there in the past at the end of August?

Thanks

At this point you can't even predict what next week will look like. All reports from Opening Day made it look like a ****show. And as of just today it looks like they will be closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays in June.

I'd honestly advise you to wait and see how the first half of the season goes. 2022 may be the best option.

Thanks BrettV

I have a hard time believing That the park will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. (Or maybe it’s a matter of acceptance). I was planning to snag a reservation or two for one of those very days. Guess not.
But here’s the thing. Why would I, or my college student, choose to pick up employment there if the work week (and I’d assume hours) are being so drastically cut? It seems the park is shooting itself in the foot, or they have some magic crystal ball.

Well, I would assume that part of why hours are being cut is that they can't properly staff 7 days, so by concentrating the employees they have across 5 days they can come closer to being fully staffed. So not fewer hours for any individual, just fewer hours overall.

Did they routinely schedule people full time, 7 days a week? That would be a lot of overtime.

There is no overtime.
6 days is the norm, O-C is likely on a lot of those days.
Unless there’s side work to do for those in the dorms, it’s 2 days off without pay.
Now we may see 7 days operation resume shortly after once all the schools are out and staffing increases.
I remember years ago the waterpark at KI would hire senior part timers to do things like crowd positions at the top of slides. Then they just went to being closed in late August.

How is there no overtime? Isn't that, like, against the law?

No. Seasonal worker working at a seasonal business = no overtime.

It doesn't mean they couldn't do it if they wanted to, they just don't have to. So they don't.

Many decades ago, when Ohio was still a strong heavy industry , strong organized labor state, the then new owners of Cedar Point lobbied, and backed legislation in the Ohio that excluded seasonal employees from the then current labor code. This was no mean feat then, and as I recall there were attempts later on to overturn this, which obviously didn't succeed.

State overtime laws vary greatly, and usually over ride the Federal laws.

https://www.wrapbook.com/blog/complete-list-overtime-laws-by-state

Fascinating. I would have thought the federal law would override the state law.

The state law doesn't override federal law. Federal law creates exemptions for seasonal amusement workers, among others.

RCMAC said:

But here’s the thing. Why would I, or my college student, choose to pick up employment there if the work week (and I’d assume hours) are being so drastically cut?

What others have said. The last couple days it looked like all hands on deck at the park. Everyone needs a day off, and if everyone is working all-day shifts then they probably figured 55-60 hours a week over 5 days is the threshold to burning people out. Besides, at $20/hr that's $1000-1200 per week. If that was me, I'd be fine with the two days off.

We employ a small crew at our state fair (when we had a fair) and one of the nightmares is scheduling. We try to accommodate needs and day off requests but sometimes with limited success.
In our visits to various state fairs around the country an interesting concept that’s been trialed is to extend the run by a few days but go dark once a week, usually Monday. It gives that required day off and also allows for the fair to “rest”, if you will. Any cleaning, stocking, moving in or out, or refreshing that needs done can be accomplished away from the crowds.

TonyVM said:
Knowing how crowded the park can be, we were thinking of September, but noticed they aren't open then.

The website says "fall dates and hours will be released at a later date". I would expect the park to be open on September weekends but of course nothing is 100% certain at this point.

Having two days off instead of one means employees will be better rested. The pay increase of $20 an hour means their wallets will not suffer because of it.

I recall when I worked there, having one day off was not bad, but it did get tiring after a while.

So I think it's great for the employees. Not great for the visitors.

I have reservations to visit the park for this weekend. Wish me luck.

I have been out of the programming loop decades, but are there not algorithms that can do stuff like schedule a staff for a state fair? That seems like a fairly straightforward constraint problem.

Yeah, we’re all fancy like that over there, lol.

Even though I haven''t been to the park in 6 years, everything I have read in recent years on these boards, trends have really changed at the parks making it harder to predict best times to go. Now that we have Covid, it is a crap-shoot at best. There really is no way of knowing what the park will be like.

I feel bad for them today, which was supposed to be Opening Day of Snake River Expedition

https://mobile.twitter.com/cedarpoint/status/1398309049100386304

They close stuff at 51 degrees? Also, 51 degrees? So glad I moved out of Ohio. Twice.