Cedar Point sees historic crowd, forced to turn visitors away for first time ever

By: Tyler Sebree

Posted: Oct 19, 2019 7:10 PM EST

NOW: Cedar Point sees historic crowd, forced to turn visitors away for first time ever

Weekends in October are typically busy times for Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It's that way every year. Part of it is the very popular HalloWeekends. The other part is October marks the end of the operating year, so everyone wants to get their last coaster fix in before the park shuts down.

The crowds this Saturday, though, were way beyond "busy." In an extremely rare occurrence, Cedar Point posted to Facebook and Twitter saying the park is "nearing capacity."

The post went on to say the entryways to Cedar Point had been temporarily closed, and that guests are encouraged to come back on Sunday.

Heavy to virtually standstill traffic for miles attempting to get into Cedar Point Saturday afternoon.

It's the first time in the park's history that guests had to be turned away due to the park being so full.

Not sure if this was history making but sat for 2.5 hours...only to get 2 miles from @cedarpoint and they closed the park. We will pass on the invite to “come back tomorrow.” What is the actual capacity for the park?...and parking lot? pic.twitter.com/ypikOeRu6d
— Tacie Kerr (@TacieKerr) October 19, 2019

Many park visitors took to social media to share photos of the traffic and express their opinions on the park closing the roadways to its entrance.

A simple "Cedar Point" search on Twitter or Facebook will deliver plenty of results.

Approximate wait times around 7 p.m. Saturday evening.

Despite it being HalloWeekends, the park's decision to close the entryways to its parking lot occurred when only the rides were open. No haunted attractions were open at the time, likely making the lines for its roller coasters even longer.

In fact, according to "queue-times.com," the estimated wait times for the most popular rides ranged from one to three hours, if not longer!

Once the haunted attractions opened up for the evening, the crowds were dispersed a bit. This could have been a reason behind the park deciding to reopen the roadways that lead to it just before 6 p.m.

Even after the haunted attractions opened up, estimated wait times for many of the larger rides remained at 2-3 hours.

Cedar Point closes for the year on Sunday, October 27th.