Cedar Point has implemented a new ride reservation system as it looks to manage crowd sizes during the pandemic.
Like all major theme parks that have reopened around the country, Cedar Point is limiting its daily attendance as it looks to promote safe physical distancing inside the park. Advance reservations are required to visit the Ohio park, but that hasn't kept crowds from forming in the queues for some of the parks' world-famous roller coasters.
As a result, Cedar Point is now using an "Access Pass" system for Millennium Force, Maverick, Steel Vengeance, and - when it reopens - Top Thrill Dragster. Cedar Point will distribute times Access Passes for those rides twice daily, at 11am and 3:30pm. You can get just one Access Pass per person for each ride. And once the passes are gone for the day, that's it.
You'll still have to wait to ride, even with an Access Pass. The system simply allows the park to manage the number of people in each coaster's queue so that it can maintain physical distancing requirements.
Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millennium Force are the top three rides in the park, according to Theme Park Insider readers, so obviously they're a top priority for many Cedar Point visitors. But there's extra pressure on the queues for these rides since several Cedar Point attractions are not operating. Here's the current list of closed attractions, as provided by the park.
Cedar Point previously announced that it would not open its planned new Snake River Expedition and Celebrate 150 Spectacular attractions this summer, as it delays its 150th anniversary celebration until next year. Our James Koehl previewed Cedar Point's new health and safety procedures earlier this month.
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I don't want to nit pick, but Cedar Point is an amusement park, not a theme park. I'm not saying that amusement parks should not be covered on this site, but it would be nice if TPI acknowledged the difference.
What’s the point in acknowledging the difference?
I don't understand your objection Still a fan. Cedar Point is the flagship of Cedar Fair, which is a major player in the theme park industry. Whether you consider the Sandusky, Ohio park an amusement park or theme park doesn't devalue its worthiness for coverage on this site. It ranks among the top 20 most attended parks in the country, despite not operating year-round, so a critical change in its operation is definitely noteworthy.
As far as this change, I think the fan sites definitely had some impact on the last minute change to this policy that now allows for multiple distributions throughout the day. The word quickly got out that Cedar Point was going to release all of the reservations for the top coasters at the beginning of the day, which caused a serious uproar on the park's fan and coaster fan sites. Before making the official announcement, the park smartly pivoted to this multiple distribution plan (just as Disney has done with RotR), which seems to be far more equitable. It's still not perfect, especially if and when TTD comes back online, since guests have no way to ride all of the top coasters in a single day even if you'd be willing to wait in massive lines. However, getting a ride on 2 of the 4 highest demand (and lowest throughput) coasters is an improvement.
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Thanks for the updated information as I've been hearing the past few days have been hectic. It's also worth noting that SV, MF and Maverick have the worst ride capacity per hour when compared to the B&M queue eaters. Apparently the online backlash/suggestions of having more than one access time being distributed paid off.