Visitors Guide to Cedar Point

Cedar Point

Cedar Point first welcomed its first guests as a public bathing beach in 1870. The park's modern era began with the installation of the Blue Streak roller coster in 1964 - the first of a line-up that has earned the lakeside park the nickname, "America's Roller Coast." Cedar Point's daily operating season typically runs from early May through Labor Day, with the park then opening on weekends through the end of October for its HalloWeekends Halloween event.

Our recommendations below come from our ongoing survey of Theme Park Insider readers. Locations with star ratings ranked especially highly among our readers. Vote here to submit your picks for top attractions at Cedar Point and other parks around the world.

New for 2025

  • Siren's Curse - North America's tallest, longest and fastest Vekoma tilt coaster opens in 2025.

  • Top Thrill 2 - Cedar Point will try again to open this Zamperla redesign of the former Top Thrill Dragster. Opened last year for just a few days before closing, Top Thrill 2 replaces the original hydraulic launch with a multi-pass LSM launch, adding a new spike track to the 420-foot-tall, 120-mph Strata coaster.

What to Do

Roller Coasters

  1. Steel Vengeance ★ ★ ★
    A 5,740-foot Rocky Mountain Construction IBox rebuild of the former Mean Streak wooden coaster, with a 200-foot drop, top speed of 74 mph and 4 inversions. Height requirement: 52 inches
  2. Maverick ★ ★ ★
    A 4,450-foot Intamin blitz coaster with a 100-foot beyond-vertical drop, top speed of 70 mph and two inversions. Height requirement: 52 inches
  3. Millennium Force
    A 6,595-foot Intamin giga coaster with a 300-foot drop and top speed of 93 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  4. GateKeeper
    A 4,164-foot Bolliger & Mabillard wing coaster with a 164-foot drop, top speed of 67 mph and six inversions. Height requirement: 52 inches
  5. Magnum XL-200
    A 5,106-foot Arrow Dynamics hyper coaster with a 195-foot drop and top speed of 72 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  6. Valravn
    A 3,415-foot Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster with a 214-foot drop, top speed of 75 mph and three inversions. Height requirement: 54 inches
  7. Raptor
    A 3,790-foot Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster with a 119-foot drop, top speed of 57 mph and six inversions. Height requirement: 54 inches
  8. Wild Mouse
    A Zamperla Twister coaster with a height of 52 feet and top speed of 35 miles per hour. Height requirement: 42 inches
  9. Rougarou
    A 3,900-foot Bolliger & Mabillard floorless coaster with a 137-foot drop, top speed of 60 mph and four inversions. This is a 2015 conversion of the former Mantis stand-up coaster. Height requirement: 54 inches
  10. Gemini
    A 3,935-foot Arrow Dynamics racing coaster with a 118-foot drop and top speed of 60 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  11. Blue Streak
    The park's oldest coaster, this Philadelphia Toboggan classic runs 2,558 feet with a 72-foot drop and top speed of 40 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  12. Iron Dragon
    A 2,800-foot Arrow Dynamics suspended coaster with a height of 76 feet and top speed of 40 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  13. Cedar Creek Mine Ride
    A 2,540-foot Arrow Dynamics mine train with a height of 48 feet and top speed of 42 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
  14. Corkscrew
    A 2,050-foot Arrow Dynamics custom looping coaster with a height of 85 feet, top speed of 48 mph and three inversions. Height requirement: 48 inches

In addition to the "grown up" coasters, in the Camp Snoopy children's area Cedar Point offers Wilderness Run, an Intamin children's coaster with a height requirement of 36 inches, and Woodstock Express, a Vekoma junior coaster with a height requirement of 36 inches with supervising companion and 48 inches otherwise.

Other Rides and Shows

  • Camp Snoopy: children's play area
  • Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad: train ride around Frontier Trail
  • Giant Wheel: Schwarzkopf Ferris Wheel. Infants and single riders not permitted.
  • MaXair: Huss Frisbee. Height requirement: 52 inches
  • Power Tower: S&S Drop Tower. Height requirement: 48 inches
  • Skyhawk: S&S Screamin' Swing. Height requirement: 48 inches
  • Sky Ride: gondola down the Main Midway

In addition, you can find dozens of carnival rides throughout the park.

Park Map

Cedar Point is located in Sandusky, Ohio - on a peninsula in Lake Erie about an hour west of Cleveland.

Strategy

Cedar Point offers one hour of Early Entry to guests staying at its hotels. Last year's coasters eligible for Early Entry were Millennium Force, GateKeeper, Iron Dragon, and Wild Mouse. So if you do not have Early Entry, save those for later in the day as their queue will be filled when you arrive. But if you are staying on site, take advantage and check off at least Millennium Force and Wild Mouse before the park opens.

Otherwise, Steel Vengeance is the long wait time here, so if you can beat everyone back to the far end of the park (no running!) and rope drop this for little-to-no wait, go for it. You will have to store loose items in a locker, so factor in that time, too. Parking in the water park lot is a huge advantage here.

Plan B is to leave Steel Vengeance for later in the day and hit Maverick first. In general, working your way from back to front with the coasters helps. Leave the carnival rides for last, or just skip them to focus on Cedar Point's many top rides.

Cedar Point's line-skip pass is called Fast Lane and it's probably worth the investment if you are visiting on a weekend. There are no single-rider queues here, so that's out as a time-saving strategy. But if you visit on a weekday, you should be able to ride at least the park's top 10 coasters without needing Fast Lane or Early Entry.

The debut of Siren's Curse and return of Top Thrill 2 will shake up crowd patterns in the park, especially if one of them is offered for Early Entry. We will update this Strategy plan once the park opens for the season in May.