Okay, let's not waste time in undercutting that headline by stating the obvious fact that every year is a good year to visit Cedar Point.
America's Roller Coast offers perhaps the best setting for what might be the best collection of roller coasters in the world. And I write this as a Los Angeles native and resident, so... yeah. Sorry, Six Flags Magic Mountain, you're great, and I love you. But you're not Cedar Point.
Hold that thought, though, because we will get back to Six Flags in a minute.
Anyway, about that setting. Cedar Point earns its name as a peninsula extending into Lake Erie from the town of Sandusky, Ohio, about an hour west of Cleveland. That means gorgeous lake views from many of the coasters and tower rides around the park, including its top three.
Those are our first three reasons to visit the park this season: Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millennium Force, which together hold half of the positions among our readers' top six roller coasters in the world.
This summer, that amazing trio will be joined by Cedar Point's "newest" roller coaster, Top Thrill 2. The successor to the former Top Thrill Dragster will retain that coaster's iconic Top Hat tower, adding a second tower that will transform the old Intamin Accelerator hydraulic launch coaster into a Zamperla triple-LSM launch Lightning coaster.
And if you missed it last year, Cedar Point has a new Boardwalk section, which is home to the park's new Wild Mouse, which debuted last summer.
The Boardwalk celebrates beachside amusements, but if you head across the park, Cedar Point will transport you into the past with its Frontier Trail. Celebrating Ohio history, this is the section of the park that connects Millennium Force with Maverick, but it's worth exploring on its own.
And that brings us our final reason to visit Cedar Point this year. Depending upon when the deal closes, this will be your final opportunity to visit Cedar Point before it officially becomes a Six Flags park.
Yes, parent company Cedar Fair's CEO will remain in charge of the merged company. But that company will adopt the Six Flags name. I cannot imagine that the company will prepend "Six Flags" in front of Cedar Point's name, but in 2025 - assuming the deal goes through - visitors probably should expect to see "A Six Flags park" printed under the Cedar Point name throughout the property and on its advertising. So if you want one last visit for nostalgia's sake before that happens, you'd better hurry up and plan to go.
And then you can come back again next year to enjoy the park under its new/old ownership, too.
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"Personally, I think every year is a great year to visit Cedar Point, because it is a model of what a regional theme park can become when it has sound operations"
Correction: Cedar Point has sound operations after school gets out and they have a sufficient amount of employees. Until then it has many closed rides and many rides around the park have delayed openings as they scramble for employees, which puts people that visit in a "walk around and look for an open ride" situation.
Six Flags will run it into the ground like everything they touch
Cedar Fairs corporate management is in charge of it and taking the majority ownership. CF's shareholders got 51% of the combined company. Cedar Fair's current CEO is going to be the CEO of the merged company. The combined companies HQ is going to be in Charlotte where Cedar Fair's [real] HQ currently is (though they say its Sandusky for local subsidy agreement purposes...which begs the question, does this mean Cedar Fair is going to have to stop lying to Sandusky about where the company is really headquartered lol).
So if its ran into the ground you have CF to thank for it more than SF.
Except, now they have the burden of many more parks, many which are run down and in need of infrastructure and maintenance attention not to mention new attractions AND deliver on supposed cost savings to increase shareholder value - yes, they’ll run it in the ground
I'm less worried about Cedar Point being "run into the ground" by new management and more about it losing its flagship status and the preferential treatment that comes along with that. What I instead foresee is the difference between Cedar Point and the other big parks in the chain shrinking as investment is shifted toward parks in more marketable locations with longer operating seasons, which is something that we've been seeing even before the merger came out. The reality is that the Point is pretty much saturated when it comes to thrill rides and lower capital investments like seasonal events don't draw crowds there the same way they do at parks in more urban environments, so we'll likely see it maintained as a vacation destination banking on reliable annual visitors with infrequent investment while other parks see shiny new attractions and other sorts of activities aimed at frequent visits from passholders.
As for visiting, if you're a coaster fan you've got plenty of reasons to trek out to Cedar Point, and if you're not big on thrill rides it's probably not worth a sizable detour to experience the place.
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Frankly, I don't see any threat of the merger to Cedar Point. Six Flags has long admired the success of Cedar Point, so even if their brass were to start pulling the strings at the Sandusky park, I think they would understand that any changes would need to be kept to a minimum. I highly doubt we'll see any change to the name (same with Knott's), and that includes adding Six Flags to the beginning or end of the park's formal name. Cedar Point is an iconic brand, and even the morons at Six Flags probably know enough to not mess with a good thing.
The one big change that will inevitably happen will be with season passes/memberships. The combined company is going to have to make some tough decisions on how they are going to integrate the chain's two very different pass programs. Six Flags has products all over the map, while Cedar Fair has a much more simplified system, though Cedar Point has offered additional tiers that perhaps indicate what the combined company may do following the merger. I can definitely see the chain offering regional passes as a tier between single park and full chain annual passes. Not only would this generate additional revenue from a higher price point for a more broadly valuable regional pass, but would also drive interest/attendance in underperforming parks (like Dorney, Great America, SFA, LaRonde, and Darian Lake), particularly those that could face extinction given the current climate.
Personally, I think every year is a great year to visit Cedar Point, because it is a model of what a regional theme park can become when it has sound operations, consistent investment, and a clear sense of what the park is trying to be.