Crowd Level Questions...

I have noticed a number of "What's the crowd level like on fill in the blank date at fill in the blank park?"

This information I first posted over on GTTP (because it is CP specific) can help give you a GUIDELINE as to be able to tell ahead of time what the crowd level will be like on the day you plan to visit any park.

The best "clue" is the park hours of operation...If the park is open later it is probably because the crowd levels warrant it, not because the park likes to provide us with ERT;)

Hope this helps and we can see and end to the "What's the crowd level like posts"

Most of all GET OUTSIDE AND VISIT A PARK SOON...THE COASTER SEASON IS IN FULL SWING;)

Originally posted on GTTP

IT IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO "PREDICT CROWD LEVELS"...Please let's refrain from a whole bunch of "What will the crowd be like on fill in the blank date"

First regarding this specific question...Memorial Day Weekend is "busy" compared to the rest of MAY but is only a small portion of the overall attendance. The SUNDAY (5/25) of the holiday weekend will be the busiest of the three days, followed by Saturday and then Monday. THIS IS ALL RELIENT ON DRY WEATHER ALL THREE DAYS.

Now for my annual crowd level rant (someday I'll save this from the previous year or have Jeff put it in the Feature Section of the site)

Anyhow,

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE CROWD BE ON A SPECIFIC DAY, HOWEVER THERE ARE SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES WHICH CAN BE USED TO "PICK" THE BEST DAY FOR YOUR VISIT.

1. Start by checking the Cedar Point operating schedule. If the park closes at 8:00p.m. it isn't because the midway is jammed with people. Lower hours of operation meaans LOWER CROWD LEVELS.

2. Busiest time of the year is from July 4- Mid- August. Notice the longer hours of opertion during this time.

3. Basically, all things being equal (ie DRY WEATHER) here is a breakdown of the Busiest days in order...Saturday, Wednesday/Monday/Friday/Thursday/Tuesday/Sunday. There are exception to this "rule" if it RAINS...if it rains on one day, the NEXT DRY day will see a bump in attendance.

4. This is a "tip" for people who plan a day trip and are trying to find a goodtime to go. WATCH THE WEATHER FORECAST IN THE MORNING FOR DETROIT AND CLEVELAND, if it is RAINING and looks like it won't be an ALL DAY rain...GO to the PARK...Don't waste time get there...CP will be"empty" that day. The two key markets for CP, Detroit and Cleveland, both being just a few hours or less away, are directly effected by the early morning weather in each city. I am sure there is more than one person on this board who heard Mom or Dad say at nighttime, "If it's nice in the morning we are going to CP", if it was raining the next morning, the family would wait until the next day to then go to CP, hence the "bump" in attendance on the first dry day after rain.

Hopefully you can make sense of this infomation and make and educated guess on the crowd level. Even if you go to CP during a "Busy Time" CP is staffed to handle the crowd levels throughout that period. There have been a few blips to this "system" over the past few years, Closing Day in 2001(?) comes to mind...it was an incredibly nice day in October and EVRYONE seemed to have the same idea of one last coaster ride. But for the most part this will help you.

Don't fall prey to "other websites" which claim the have "crowd predictors" or other fancy gizmos.

Most of all remeber ANY DAY AT CP IS BETTER THAN BEING AT WORK.

Excellent guide. This should be a link from the main page or something, otherwise, we'll still have the threads, they'll just all get closed with a link to this thread in them ...

I have also found AM showers is the best forecast possible for a day at the park. Also, (at least at GAdv.) most nights of fright fest are almost always packed.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph

I don't hardly ever have a problem with crowds, as long as the park is willing to run their rides at full capacity. Parks do try to predict the crowd levels based on Historic Crowd records from the previous years.

Those days that were really crowded you saw that the park does indeed had longer hours. For example you would notice that an odd June day on the Worlds Of Fun Operating Schedule shows the park open to 11:00 PM. This is due to the fact that WOF has been notified that there's a convention that will be going to WOF that day. Therefore they're expecting well over 20,000 that day. They extended the hours for that day because of the crowds they expect. I can still say that is still a good day to go to WOF based on my expericences with that day. WOF does run their rides at full capacity all day even though that convention wont show up until around 2:00 PM. After that time the park gets real busy and the long lines do show up.

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Chris Knight
The best thing to do around Kansas City is to go to Branson, MO and ride the Ozark Wildcat.

also some things to note... parks like disney and seaworld will always have a bigger crowd in the off season, this is because they attract international visitors.

however this doesn't play much of a factor anymore as international travel has decreased significantly

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Colossus [1]
Nemesis: Inferno [6]

Good point about the decline in international travel....shoot, when *The Mouse* not only OFFERS discounts, but advertises them too.....amazing!

Couldn't believe when I saw the discount mentioned on the MSN home page yesterday...certainly hope the LOCAL parks are doing better, 'cause WDW is not *typically* in need of customers...;)
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