Planning a big Cedar Point trip in July. Advice?

Jeph said:

ERT is sort of like an hour of Fast Lane Plus at no additional cost...

Is it really, though?

The morning rides aren't exactly empty.

I would say for MF and TTD, the morning lines don't go past or very far past the point where the Fast Laners enter the line.

If you have a platinum pass you can design your own Cedar Point T-shirt at the Cedar Creek Trading Co., in Frontiertown, for $9.99. Sure beats Cedar Point ready made t-shirt prices.

djDaemon said:

Well, sure, but not enough to make that budget any less insane to me. Don't get me wrong - if you can do a "vacation" on that budget, more power to ya'. :-)

Again, not trying to pass judgment or anything. I just find it fascinating that someone can squeeze 4 days of vacation out of what others might spend per day.

It is interesting how many different budgets an amusement park trip can accomodate.

I'd tell you an actual number for how much we spent on 2 1/2 days at the Point earlier this month, but if everyone is questioning T-R's budget, I'm not sure anyone will even believe me.

I just did Coastermania, Waldameer, drove to Pittsburgh where I had an ATM problem that cut my trip by 1 park, and only spent about $260 for gas, admission, and 2 nites of hotel (Not counting the 3rd nite because I hotwired it before I went, but it was only around $60 at the Sheraton). And that's not what I had budgeted, per se (I didn't really have a 'budget') but that's what I did for 3 days.

Edit: come to think of it, when I did ATL a few weeks back, I spent $70 on the room (thank you hotwire), and would have spent $50 in gas had I not had a last minute person go with me to pay for that, and then spent about $50 for dinner and drinks, and around $60 for entertainment that nite. A $200 budget really isn't too low.

I spent $1.05 at Cedar Point on Sunday.

I have to ask...on what?

Souvenir drink refill.

I shoulda guessed that...DUH!

My brain must still be fried from Monday at Hershey, when I actually passed out in the heat and had to be carted to the First Aid Station. Never did THAT before!

Lost K. - Mike G. - Raven - - - > I have not been to Cedar Point in a long time and I am only really familiar with the fast lanes and Q bots of Dorney and Great Adventure.

I know that at Great Ad. you have to wait on the line and watch the video about how to use the bot before you get to the counter and get one. The line for the service builds early and (I don't think there is any early opening).

While I love Cedar Point, it's very hard for me to get there. If I stay on-site I wouldn't want to loose the extra riding time at the expense of getting the pass and I wouldn't want to miss out on the pass at the expense of the early riding time. I admit, it's gree to want both...but I forgive myself.

Aside from on-line, are there multiple locations to buy these in the park? Can you get them from a hotel?

Thanks

There are no videos and I don't think you can purchase it anywhere but online and inside the park. When we did Fastlane at KI last yar we went in to one of the several places to purchase, got our bracelet, and went to ride. Took as long as it takes to ring it up, put it on, and pay.

I bought FastLane at the ticket booth for the beach entrance by Windseeker. There was an irritating delay, though, as the computers were down, or the credit card machine didn't work, or something like that. I'm sure it was just a random snafu, though, and not a daily occurrence.

It would be worth checking at the hotel desk bright and early before you leave for the day. I can't imagine CP letting that opportunity for a sale pass by.

Edit to add: I don't think I was in a shop in the park where I didn't see FastLane advertised and for sale.

Lord Gonchar said:
I'd tell you an actual number for how much we spent on 2 1/2 days at the Point earlier this month, but if everyone is questioning T-R's budget, I'm not sure anyone will even believe me.

Oh, I'd believe you. But only because I'm convinced your wife belongs to an exclusive club of hotel management types that provide free rooms to one another, provided they know some secret handshake or whatever. ;-)

Tekwardo said:

A $200 budget really isn't too low.

Your two night, multi-park trip cost you $260. Subtract Waldameer's $25 admission (and assuming you have a CF PP) and you're down to $235 for two nights - an average of $117.50/night, for lodging, food, and gas.

Your ATL trip cost you $230/night, for lodging, food, and gas.

Even removing gas from your per-night average (because one doesn't typically travel great distances during their stay), you're still looking at $105/night (+ gas) for CM/Waldameer, and $180/night (+ gas) for ATL.

Stretch those out to 4 nights (which is what T-R is planning), and you're looking at a total cost in the neighborhood of $470-770. Even if you assume camping-vs-hotel will save $40/night, you're still looking at $310-610.

But my point was more that I didn't have a budget and if I did, $200 could have done it for me.

djDaemon said:
Oh, I'd believe you. But only because I'm convinced your wife belongs to an exclusive club of hotel management types that provide free rooms to one another, provided they know some secret handshake or whatever. ;-)

Well, even if I remove lodging from the equation (and you're semi-correct) the number is still very low.

I don't have the exact number down to the penny...or even the dollar, but looking back and rounding quickly (with lodging removed from the equation) we spent under $300.

That's a family of 4 spending half of Sunday, all of Monday and Tuesday from open until 8pm at the park. It includes gas (one tank will get us to CP and back with some left over) and we played games (scored FOL passes at GateKeeper Plinko and won a GateKeeper at a squirt gun game) and did the Dinosaurs Alive thing.

We kept it simple inside the park. We stopped by Happy Friar for the "Buy a Chili Cheese fry, get a regular fry and two drinks free" deal more than a few times. (Platinum pass perk) Did the usual souvenir cup thing (drinks all day for $9.99) on Monday, a buck each for refills on Tuesday. We'd swing by and get something simple to eat on the way back to the hotel.

If I cut the gas from the total, we did those 2 1/2 days for less than $240. That's $96 per day. $24 per person.

(Now, with that said, I understand that it doesn't necessarily scale down for T-R and his single self. That $10 souvenir bottle doesn't get divided by 4 for him, it's still $10. And those $7 fries don't become $3.50 for him because we were splitting them - hell, the $7 fry deal probably don't make sense for a single person. Things like that.)

But more to the point of how a park trip can accomodate any budget, we wanted to try the Reds Hall of Fame Grille at Kings Island when we visited there the week before the CP trip. Eating there cost the four of us a little over $60 before tip...for one meal.

I guess my point is, no number would really surprise me. I can see a single person doing 4 days for $200 by cutting corners. I can see a family of 5 needing $500 a day (or more) for on site rooms and full meals and stuff. We've done park trips on both ends of the spectrum and everywhere inbetween.

I looked at what I spent in Vegas in December and for one person it came to about $500 a day.

Sarge27 said:

If you have a platinum pass you can design your own Cedar Point T-shirt at the Cedar Creek Trading Co., in Frontiertown, for $9.99. Sure beats Cedar Point ready made t-shirt prices.

I am going to look into that. It sounds like something I would enjoy, more than buying a generic t-shirt. Though it depends on what size they offer, and what kind of t-shirt I can design. If it is one of those that involves air brush art probably not. Though I have created my own t-shirt in other places that specialize in t-shirt screening, and imaging. Very cool, and lasts.

It also depends on what other t-shirt perks they offer. As for meals, I only plan on spending 1 full day at the park, so it will be the only day I would eat there, most likely at the all you can eat place. And, maybe a mug that I can get refills on every day that I am there.

My other meals will be at the campground, where I will be bringing my own food. It is also not unusual for the campground to have a social event, where free food and drinks are provided. I went to another campground, and got invited to a steak dinner. So you never know.

I may end up only going to the park for 2 days. It depends on what the weather is like, and how I feel about driving back and forth form the camp to the park, and how much gas I actually end up using. I have it pretty much planned, so I spend very little money.

As for the comments on ERT. Top Thrill Dragster isn't on the list. Though happy to say that M-force, Raptor, Maverick ,and Gatekeeper are. I think I would most likely hit Gatekeeper and Raptor first. Then work my way back to M-Force and Maverick, then head back to the front. As most people will be mobbing the rides in the front of the park first. I can enjoy the rides in the back of the park until the masses arrive.