Trip review, family of 4 w/ 2 young kids
Just got back from our 2 day trip. This is my overall breakdown of our stay so this might be long but hopefully it's helpful. I'm not generally a picking person but I am a details person. I'm not expecting Disney here. My home park is MI Adventure for reference here so standards aren't high. Kids had a great time overall but mom & dad were stressed majority of the time due to so many small details/inconveniences popping up around every corner. We adapt and we carry on but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't difficult. We did expect more from Cedar Point than what we are used to at MI Adventure. CP didn't deliver that but we will make the trip again next summer for another chance knowing what we know now.
We stayed at Cedar Point Express. Checked in Sunday night, park all day Monday, checked out Tuesday morning, another day at the park, then 5 hour drive home. CP Express is located just before the peninsula to get to the park. Close but not walkable. McDonald's and Dairy Queen across the street but both are packed. We waited 45 min inside Dairy Queen for 4 blizzards. That's another story.
Staying at a CP resort allowed us to get early entry but found out the early entry really only gets you in to the park so you can stand in line for a coaster. Basically everything is closed until 10am, some rides 11am, and kiddie rides until noon. Most dining and drink stops didn't open until 11.
You do get a better parking spot this way and also avoid the crazy crowd that starts to form around 9:30am. Early entry was smooth. Arrived at 8:55, got second row parking and walked right in to the park. We arrived at 9:45 the first day and experienced total chaos.
The hotel itself was clean enough. We paid $120 a night with our season pass discount. No breakfast but there's a mini fridge and microwave so we bought some frozen breakfast sandwiches at Meijer. The splash pad area no longer works. The pool was way too warm and full of bugs and debris. Chlorine was overwhelming. I appreciate that the pool at its deepest is 3'6 so my 4 year old didn't need a life jacket. We spent about 20 min in the pool area. Beds were hard and the blankets were paper thin, practically just two sheets. Employees were quick, friendly and helpful which is rare these days.
After getting to the park we really wished we had splurged to stay on site at the campground in the cabin or even at Breakers. The cabins are very nice and have everything plus some that a hotel has. You don't need to bring anything extra when you stay at the cabin. I thought we would need to bring bedding but that is provided. Parking the car right in front of the cabin makes unpacking so much easier. At the hotel we had to make multiple trips to the car from our hotel room on the second floor just to get our stuff inside. Limited luggage carts available and scanning our room key in and out, taking the elevator, all that fun stuff makes a trip to the car take 5 minutes. All of that avoided if you stay in a cabin. The option to walk into the park without carrying around a day bag would have been magical especially since you have to get a locker if you plan on riding coasters. While standing in lines we watched people walk back to their rooms/cabins and return a little while later and we were so jealous. The park is huge and hard to navigate but the campground entrance on the west side and the Breakers entrance on the north east side put you closer to the action than the main entrance does. Main entry has you walking .5 mile to get to Camp Snoopy. Not ideal. Being able to go cool down and take a break right there at your room/cabin would have been awesome, especially with small kids who need a nap. If you want to do the water park or beach I would 100% recommend staying at Breakers or campground.
We also have all park season pass dining plan through our home park which gets us a 2 meals a day, but have to wait 4 hours between meals. Only entrees. The daily premium dining pass at CP that is $55 gets you food every 90 min and you can get dippin dots, pretzels, cotton candy, popcorn, ect snacks with that plan and the drinks every 15 min. That would have been better for our family and even though it says "no sharing" I don't know how they could ever enforce that or if they even would so for a family of 4, mom and dad get the pass and share with the young kids.
The drink stations are all questionable. The coke free style machines throughout the park need better care and monitoring. Always taste test your drink before filling up. Every time one of us would get a drink that didn't have any syrup/was empty. Dump it out and try again. Machines not working, machines without ice, machines that don't have the same offerings. I tried to drink Iced Tea because it was the best tasting but found only half of the spots have it. We have the drink plan with a paper cup and wished we had a souvenir cup with a lid so I recommend bringing your own bottle in with you and pouring into that. Day 2 they allowed us to walk in with water bottles no problem. The water in the machines also sucks and the bottled water there is $5.49 a bottle.
Best dining option was the Pavilion behind the ferris wheel. Air conditioning, bigger plates, and better tasting. There's burrito bowls/nachos upstairs by the bar (and the good bathrooms!) and chicken drumsticks, battered shrimp, chicken tenders, flank steak in the main lobby. We did Panda Express day 1 and while it was good they only offer Orange Chicken, Beijing Beef, and Sweet Fire Chicken. Pizza at Hugo's was mediocre. My biggest complaint about dining is that they don't have trays anywhere. Not a single place! So if you have small children be prepared to balance and juggle food on paper plates. It was so annoying and I had to literally leave my food at the register, go out to find a seat to make multiple trips and the workers thought I was inconveniencing them. So make sure you have enough people present to carry the food you order. A lot of the food felt like the same thing but different. A lot of smokehouse/bbq fusion style options. Brisket nachos at one place then next door BBQ pulled pork loaded fries, next stop Smoked Chicken burrito bowls, then BBQ hotdogs. Same flavors with different names.
Park desperately needs painting. Rides are faded and color schemes of the coasters are all too similar making it hard to tell them apart/stand out from one another. Why so many orange coasters?
Cobwebs everywhere. Even in high traffic areas and main entrances. Trash accumulated under ride steps (especially Iron Dragon) and trash along ledges and dropped on roofs (especially sky train/gondola). All easily fixed with a broom.
While standing in line for Pipe Scream we watched a worker come around with a gallon of Round Up and spray the signs, fences, flowers around the entrance and then continue on down the walkway. At 1pm, park full of people, with little kids running around 5 ft away. If we weren't getting ready to board the ride I would have said something. Spraying poison around the main entrances of kid rides during operating hours is unacceptable.
Lack of seating in Camp Snoopy was annoying but at least it's shaded. Found a swing bench in Camp Snoopy and when sitting down found the screws sticking out in multiple spot just waiting to ruin your day. Lack of shade in Kiddie Kingdom was disappointing. The middle of the park in direct sun without any sun sails or umbrellas or fans is crazy.
Our home park is a quarter of the size of Cedar Point so it was overwhelming at times. Big annoyance - the park lacks signage. I had my phone out all day checking the map on the app using the navigation tool to get around. You don't know where the ride is or what it's called until you walk up to the entrance of it. A few arrows or "Maverick this way" or "this way to A, B, and C" would have made life a lot easier. Unless you're a seasoned veteran you're gonna get lost. Layout makes zero sense. I guess that happens when you have limited space and rides changing over the years you build where you can. It unfortunately has segmented the park.
Notable rides:
Mom's favorite ride was Sirens Curse. The smoothest coaster ever and so much fun, it was different and exciting! Coming from a coaster enthusiast who doesn't ride much anymore due to autoimmune disease making it harder to tolerate the physical beating most coasters cause. 7yo enjoys coasters so Mom had to suck it up. Valraven was fun too and 7yo loved it after initially being a little scared due to the seat design.
4yo and 7yo - both said their favorite rides were Iron Dragon and Pipe Scream. 4yo needed a parent to ride but 7yo could ride alone. We rode both at least 4 times.
We enjoyed Wild Mouse too because our favorite ride is actually Mad Mouse at Michigan Adventure. This is the sister ride but with spinning. Mad Mouse gives you air time in the seat while Wild Mouse gives you the element of surprise as the car is simultaneously spinning, so no ride is the same.
The park lacks in the small midway style, thrill rides. Lots of coasters and lots of kiddie rides, like the 3yo and under type. My 4yo was bored with the majority of the kid rides and wanted more of the Troika/Pipe Scream type rides.
40 min wait to get on the Giant Ferris Wheel on a slow Tuesday. Why?!
Coasters run fast - I mean getting on and off these things. I'm sure the operators are timed. Some coasters had 6 operators on the platform! So you are on, buckled, checked, ride begins under 30 sec. The gates are opening for onboarding riders before the riders are even out of the seat. I love it. Our home park is sloooow. Everyone has to be out of the exit gate before they open the gates for oncoming riders.
Small rides board so slowly. I swear Calypso was 5 min getting everyone on, 1 min of ride, 3 min to get off. My kids were like "get me off this thing!" One operator on these small rides measuring kids, checking restraints, checking the gates, locking the cars, starting the ride, unbuckling every guest with the pin, unlocking the cars, opening the gate.... OMG it takes forever! If you are first on and then last off expect it to take 10 min. Not including any time waiting in line.
The train ride was helpful when we had to get to the other side of the park but there were some loud bang/pewpew surprises from the skeleton towns/sights along the way that scared my 4yo.
Tip: There's a Build A Bear Workshop near Maverick in the Frontier area. It's just like a regular BAB as far as pricing and selection. Something to keep in mind because it's better than buying a stuffie in the gift shop and about the same price or can even be cheaper depending on the bear you pick. They honor all coupons, promos, and even do the birthday bear discount during your birth month so you only pay your age for the basic bear.