Family Guide to Cedar Point

Here’s everything you need to know about making your yearly trip to America's Rockin' Roller Coast in 2023.

Are you a roller coaster fanatic? If so, you’re probably already planning your 2023 trip to Cedar Point, and you’re probably wondering: When is Cedar Point open this year? How much are tickets? Plus, where are Cedar Point’s best hotels located, and — wait! Doesn’t Cedar Point have a water park? Well, metro Detroit families, look no further.

We know a lot of families take an annual trip to this Sandusky, Ohio, hotspot, so we’ve gathered all the important details and little-known tips and tricks, all in this one convenient family guide.

Not familiar with this midwest attraction for thrill seekers? This amusement park has a 152-year history since opening in 1870. The park’s first coaster, The Switchback Railway, debuted in 1892.

Today, Cedar Point boasts more than 70 rides for thrill seekers of all ages, including 17 of the world’s best record-breaking coasters, four kiddie areas, tons of live shows, beachfront fun on the shores of Lake Erie, a water park, food, games and much more.
If this sounds like the perfect vacation spot, you’re in the right place.

Cedar Point 2023 Season

Photo credit: Cedar Point

Opening Day is May 6, 2023. Cedar Point Shores Waterpark will reopen on May 26, 2023. 

The 2023 season will conclude with the park’s fright-tastic Halloweekends, which runs Sept. 14-Oct. 29.

New attractions for 2023

Cedar Point welcomes a new boardwalk, updates to the Grand Pavilion and the Wild Mouse Roller Coaster to the park this season. The new coaster has six mouse-themed cars that cheese a cheese-themed car around a track that’s filled with hairpin turns, hills and dives, and twists and turns that will keep you on your toes. 

Cedar Point Tickets

Families who purchase their tickets through Cedar Point’s website enjoy tickets for just $45. Purchasing tickets at the gate will incur an additional fee. The park also offers special ticketing deals for Michigan residents.

Season pass options are available for $105-$350, which includes free entry for up to two kiddos ages 3-5.  

Driving and parking

Cedar Point is located at 1 Cedar Point Drive in Sandusky, Ohio. It’s accessible to Michiganders via the Ohio Turnpike or Route 2. If you hop on the turnpike in Toledo and exit in Sandusky, the toll is around $4 per vehicle. Route 2 is free.

Parking at Cedar Point is $25 per vehicle, or $35 for preferred parking.

Lockers, pets and food

All-day lockers are available for rent near the main gate and in Cedar Point Shores. Locker costs vary based on the locker size. You have the option of moving these lockers from location to location if you rent it out for the day.

Need a place to stow a pet? Cedar Point also offers a pet check available near Bay Harbor Restaurant before you enter the park. No overnight guests allowed.

And when your tummy is rumbly, there are also tons of spots to find food in the park, including BackBeatQue, Chickie’s & Pete’s, Coasters Drive-In, Red Garter Saloon and more.

The park also offers kids’ meals at various locations and has a list of where to find food for special diets online so that you know where to find gluten-free, vegetarian-friendly and allergy-safe options.

If you prefer to avoid the concession stand costs, public picnic centers are located outside of the park. Pack a picnic lunch and keep a cooler in your vehicle for a mid-day break. 

Roller coasters and thrill rides

Photo credit: Cedar Point

Thrill seekers flock to the park’s record-breaking and high-flying rides, including Valravn, GateKeeper, Maverick and the world’s first ever giga-coaster, Millennium Force.

Or if you’re really looking for a thrill, tackle the park’s newest coaster attraction, Steel Vengeance.

This award-winning hyper-hybrid coaster is built on the skeleton of Mean Streak in Frontier Town and takes riders up 205 feet and then drops them straight down 200 feet at 74 miles an hour. From there, riders scream through a 2-minute and 30-second twist of wood and steel, around tight turns, over hills and and through four inversions before arriving back into the station.

If that’s too much for you or your child, there are also plenty of great transition coasters, like Blue Streak, Iron Dragon and Corkscrew, for younger coaster lovers above 48 inches tall but below the 52-54 inches required for bigger rides.

 
 

You’ll also find thrill rides like Windseeker, Power Tower, MaXair and, for an additional fee, SlingShot and Professor Delbert’s Frontier Fling; plus family rides including the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad, Giant Wheel, Carousels, the Snake River Expedition boat ride and two water rides: Snake River Falls and Thunder Canyon.

Cedar Point Shores

Cedar Point Shores Waterpark is set to open for the season on Friday, May 26. 

This family-friendly waterpark sits just under Magnum XL 200 and features 18 acres of wet and wild fun for all ages.

Among the attractions at this spot is the gut-wrenching Point Plummet, which offers four nearly vertical, six-story drop body slides; plus the Portside Plunge water slide and the Riptide Raceway.

You’ll also find Lakeslide Landing and Lemmy’s Lagoon for kids — and for those looking to kick back and relax there’s a half-million gallon pool and the Cedar Creek lazy river.

Family and special needs offerings

With so much to do, you’re going to want to bring the entire family. For parents with smaller kids who want to take advantage of the thrills, the park offers several programs to make it easy for everyone to enjoy everything.

The first is the free Parent Swap program, which, works like this: One parent waits in line for the bigger coasters, or another height-restricted ride, while the other takes the kids to one of the four kids areas: Camp Snoopy, Planet Snoopy, Kiddy Kingdom and the Gemini Midway Area. (Find a full list of kiddie rides here). 

Parent No. 1 rides their ride, hands off the pass to a ride attendant at the exit, and finds Parent No. 2. Parent No. 2 goes up the exit and hops on the ride while Parent No. 1 watches the kids. Once Parent No. 2 is off the ride, the family continues their day.

The park also offers two family care centers for nursing moms or dads with dirty diapers to change, and there’s a KidTrac” program to reunite lost kids with their parents.

Cedar Point has a Boarding Pass Program, which is designed for visitors with disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. This program allows for these guests to get a set boarding time for specific rides, rather than waiting in the long lines. 

Guests with special needs or limited mobility can take advantage of wheelchair rentals and accessibility options for stage shows and rides. Find a full list of the parks accessibility programming here

Parents also have the option to get their child officially measured at guest services to find out which rides they can enjoy and which lines to bypass until next year.

All of these programs and services are available at guest services, which is located near the park entrance, or Town Hall, located near Mine Ride. 

Cedar Point hotels

If you’re looking to do it all and need a place to stay, try one of Cedar Point’s hotels:

Guests that choose to stay in one of the park’s lodging options enjoy added bonuses including early entry to the park, discounted park tickets and free tickets to Cedar Point Shores.

Cedar Point Halloweekends 

Zombie stature in front of Kiddie Kingdom at Cedar Point
Photo credit: Cedar Point

This year, Halloweekends will occur on select days and nights from Sept. 14-Oct. 29, 2023. Enjoy not-so-scary fall activities and live entertainment, or brave scare zones and terrifying mazes once the sun goes down. 

Learn more about Cedar Point’s annual Halloweekends event here.

Looking for more amusement park fun this summer? Check out our roundup of the best family-friendly parks in the country and our guide to tackling Michigan’s Adventure.


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4 COMMENTS

  1. Don’t know where you got your info about needing health screening but on their website it says. “Health screenings will not be required for guests at the park.”

    • Hi there! Thanks for the comment. We updated this post in early May when the park was still requiring health screenings. They made the change to get rid of health screenings in mid-June. We just haven’t updated our post yet, but we will ASAP.

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