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Should Cedar Point Start Opening in April Instead of May?
Cedar Point has been the most visited seasonal amusement park in North America for years, pulling in nearly 3.51 million guests in 2015. The park opens in early May of every year, attracting guests who want to experience the lakeside park situated on its own peninsula in northern Ohio year after year. Cedar Point is known for its world-class lineup of roller coasters and thrill attractions across the globe, leading to the park calling itself the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World." The 364-acre amusement park is home to sixteen roller coasters and a total of 71 attractions, and among them are record breakers such as Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Magnum XL-200, Valravn, and Raptor. Others include Maverick, GateKeeper, and Rougarou.
Although Cedar Point and most other amusement parks are open from late Spring through October/November, most guests visit amusement parks from late-June through late-August. Cedar Point pulls in its highest attendance numbers not only in July and August, but also May and October. The park's first opening weekends are also one of the busiest times of the year, and so is October, the month where Cedar Point holds its popular Halloween event, HalloWeekends. Because the park only has a few weeks out of the year where it is not packed with guests, this leads to many visitors being upset of long lines and few opportunities to avoid them. One of the most suggested solutions to this issue is that Cedar Point should start opening in April rather than May. There are many pros and cons to this suggestion, but also reasons why it hasn't already happened.
Pros: Less Crowds and Shorter Lines
Cedar Point is notorious for its long lines, so the park offers Fast Lane and Fast Lane Plus. These are wristbands that allow guests who purchase them to wait in shorter alternative queues to avoid the long lines on certain attractions, the latter including four attractions not offered on the regular Fast Lane wristband. These wristbands are not the only way Cedar Point can offer shorter lines. If the park opened in April, crowds during that time (and possibly through May) would be smaller as temperatures would be a little colder on most days and rain would come more often than in May. This could benefit the park as it would provide more time for those who aren't patient enough for the long summer lines to visit Cedar Point.
Cons: Cold Temperatures and Poor Weather
Cedar Point is located on a peninsula that jets into Lake Erie as I mentioned above, so that means the water surrounding the park impacts the temperature and weather park guests experience. Even when the park first opens in May, I can say from personal experience at Cedar Point that the temperature is in the high 70s, even when other parks are still experiencing cold temperatures.
So, Lake Erie can be a blessing but also a curse when it comes to the temperature at Cedar Point. With the possibility of it being very cold and rainy at the park in April, Cedar Point avoids opening at that time and waits until May. To be honest, the park knows that guests will visit no matter how cold it is as shown by HalloWeekends attendance, during which the temperature at the park can be very, very low.
Pro: Higher Attendance
It's common sense. If the park opened earlier in the year, it would have higher attendance. Kings Island, just a few hours downstate from Cedar Point, has increasing attendance and has been catching up with Cedar Point lately, with attendance numbers in 2015 being only just over 170,000 less than that of Cedar Point. Kings Island usually opens in April, and also has been more consistent in opening brand new attractions than Cedar Point has. Cedar Point didn't open a roller coaster from 2008-2012, as Maverick opened in 2007 and GateKeeper opened in 2013. The time between those two coasters' openings was when Kings Island began to catch up with Cedar Point. Since 2013, Cedar Point has continued to open attractions to keep its marginal lead over Kings Island. The park opened Valravn in 2016, and is opening a new hybrid coaster on the structure of the defunct Mean Streak in the near future, most likely 2018. (Read my coverage of Mean Streak's conversion here.)
Con: Not Every Attraction Will Operate
Opening in April would mean colder temperatures and more rain, both of which are leading causes for attractions closing periodically throughout the Cedar Point operating season. Because Cedar Point is located on the water, attractions close often when there are wind speeds slightly higher than normal or low temperatures. If the park were to open in April, attractions would be more prone to closure as the weather differs drastically from day-to-day during the spring, and that can bring high winds and torrential rain. This is by far the most obvious reason Cedar Point doesn't open in April.
So, as you have seen from what I've discussed, the cons by far outweigh the pros, which is why Cedar Point doesn't open in April. Although I guarantee all of us would love it if the park opened earlier, it makes sense why it doesn't.
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Rougarou photo courtesy of Cedar Point
