Mitch's coaster poll

A weekday in May or early June (Monday through Thursday) has always been very light on the crowds when I've visited. The weekend after Labor Day can be really good too. My first visit was in the middle of August on a Monday and Tuesday in 1990. The longest wait was one hour for Magnum (about 1:45 for the front seat).

If you HAVE to go on a weekend, go in May, early June, or early September. I'd avoid the Sunday of Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, as those two days tend to be the busiest of the three day weekends at other parks from my experience.

Stay away from the park in the middle of summer school break, and you'll probably be fine. Also stay away on Saturdays, except when the park is only open on the weekends early in the season. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is a great day to go, as far as I remember.

As important as WHEN you visit Cedar Point can be HOW you visit Cedar Point. Some years ago, a reporter visited the park on a Sunday. He waited an hour for Raptor, and a couple hours for Mantis:TCFKAB and Millennium Force. Then he wrote a review for a nationally circulated newspaper (I forget which one) and complained that Cedar Point didn't have a virtual queue system.

It turns out that I was in the park the same day. While the reporter was cooling his heels in the Raptor queue, I got a whole bunch of rides on Magnum. The reporter went on to Mantis:TCFKAB while I went on to ride every adult coaster in the park (including Woodstock) except for Raptor, Mantis:TCFKAB and Millennium Force...before 2:00pm. Later in the day, I waited less than ten minutes for Raptor and less than 30 minutes for Millennium Force (I do not ride Mantis:TCFKAB anymore).

At Cedar Point, a little situational awareness will go a long way. Try to notice how crowded the park is, not just how long the lines are. If the park isn't ridiculously crowded, if you see a long line for something other than the newest coaster, go do something else and come back later, when all those people waiting in line have moved on to something else.

(btw: for Raptor, try around 4pm, Millennium Force about 6pm, Maverick about 8pm...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Heading to Raptor first is a biggest "rookie mistake" you can make at CP. It's pretty big and right at the front, so the line is more than an hour when the park opens and less than 5 minutes by the mid to late afternoon.

I think what Dave said applies to pretty much all parks. Just because a ride has a terribly long line when you walk up to it, doesn't mean it will later on in the day.

Stay at breakers express so you can get a hour of ERT on Maverick Millie and Magnum :) Thats how you do it!

Magnum is practically ERT all year while Millennium and Maverick continue to have long lines throughout the majority of the season.

It's interesting because when you look at the coasters Cedar Point has added in the last decade (Millennium, Wicked Twister, Dragster, and Maverick) Wicked Twister has become a year round walkon and Dragster is on average a 15 minute wait. Meanwhile Millenium has retained a large portion of its line over the years, through a combination of slower operations (in my opinion relative to 2000) and the fact that it still has such a broad appeal.

Maverick is more of a mystery to me. I feel like it has good capacity but it still is getting the "newest coaster at CP" bump in popularity. While I think that it deserves the crowds it pulls in because its a great, innovative coaster, I continue to wonder what the effect of the next major coaster installation will have on Maverick's lines.

Cedar Point will tend to have shorter waits on most rides because there are so many of them. That's kind of the beauty of that park. It's a world of difference (the waiting) compared to 1999 or so.

Maverick1983 said:
Stay at breakers express so you can get a hour of ERT on Maverick Millie and Magnum :) Thats how you do it!

I was at CP 8 times last year and never did I see MF operating at 9 in the morning. More like 9:30. And is Magnum an ERT ride? I thought it was Raptor, Millie, Maverick.

Raptor, Maverick, Windseeker, Millennium, Iron Dragon and Planet Snoopy make up the 2011 ERT rides

That's a really good point, person. :p

Is the park's first attempt at opening a kid's area for early morning ERT? That's a fantastic idea for the families with little one's.

Boy, this topic is all over the place. lol

Planet Snoopy was open for morning ERT last year as well, along with Iron Dragon. Apparently too many parents were complaining there wasn't anything they could take their little kids to do during that early hour.

That is really awesome. Why couldn't park operations have figured out to open family rides during early morning ERT before getting complaints, if that is true? They need more creative employees who think outside the box. Perhaps creative ideas are discouraged, and area managers and supervisors are to just do their job without thinking? (That's the vibe I got when I worked there.)

Either way, it's cool that they get they are opening a few family attractions early now.

And the winner is:

http://www.ushsho.com/detailedsteelrollercoasterpollresults2010.htm

I'm only surprised that 305 did as well as it did and I'm perpetually surprised Phantom doesn't place higher. Otherwise it's pretty normal. Unlike this years wood poll.

^Agreed! My #1 steelie is at #54 (Mind Bender) and I-305 falls into the category of 'un-rankable' for me (NO excitement/fun, but all intensity).

Seems there was a campaign to 'get I-305 to #1' by some coaster groups. What's the point? Then what's the point of list - we all have our own likes. I guess it makes sense that big rides at BIG parks get higher placement.

This just in... TPR likes Intamin.

I'm surprised that S:RoS SFA (51) placed so much lower than RoS DL (24). Is the setting at DL better? For sure. Is the ride experience that much better? Not in my book.

And yes Jeff, you have told us about the time you had to walk down.

Dammit! Foiled again!

Acoustic Viscosity said:
This just in... TPR likes Intamin.

I LOVE Intamin(s old trains).