Cedar Point and African Safari Trip Report for Families (Part 2)

This is my second post on our outing last weekend to the Sandusky, OH region to visit the African Safari and Cedar Point. In the first part of this trip report I detailed the Safari. This part of the report highlights our time at Cedar Point, thru the eyes of a family.

I somehow had a change in mind as soon as entering the park to not rent a wheelchair. I figured since we had the double stroller, I could slowly walk and sit when needed while our son rides or we watch shows. For the most part that worked for the day, since we had a family itinerary planned.

On a quick side note, Cedar Point does rent strollers, that are the same ones available at Disney Parks.

Neither my wife or I had been to Cedar Point in years (me since college 10+ years ago). We were at the park simply to enjoy everything through our kids eyes. We had little to no interest in riding the major coasters Cedar Point is so known for in the theme park industry.

I was overwhelmed by how family friendly Cedar Point has become, or maybe it is only because I see things differently with kids. There were four separate areas exclusively dedicated for kid rides. Most could accommodate adults if needed for those nervous kid passengers. While lots of them had height requirements, if the child was with an adult, they let them ride. I was actually quite surprised by how they actually had height requirements for rides designed for kids. Is it just me, or shouldn’t all kids be able to ride the rides if they choose?

The really disappointing part of the children rides is the protocol for securing the children in the seats. Every single safety belt had to be unlocked with a special tool by the attendant. I can understand the purpose of the safety system to prevent little ones from pushing the seat belt buttons prematurely, and possibly getting hurt. However, what the system did was take a normal child ride and extend the time required to load and unload each time. Children are impatient by nature, and the safety system added a horrible amount of time to the process. We saw countless parents get frustrated with how long it took to get in and out of the rides. Surely there has to be some automatic safety belt locking system that could be implemented in lieu of the special tool, and slow high school to college aged attendants that do not want to be there.

While we did not have a need to use them, there are special family areas if needed within the park.

A couple quick pointers that we learned from friends and our time in the park.

1) The bathroom/first aid area in Planet Snoopy is wonderful. There are two private spaces for breastfeeding. There are bottle warmers and a microwave. There is also a really nice diaper changing area.
2) All food stands that have fountain pop will give you free cups of water. We took advantage of this all day once we had a cup/bottle.
3) The Cedar Point website is excellent for pre-planning the rides that your little ones can ride.
4) No food at Cedar Point is a great value but we have found that the Midway Market really isn’t too bad (buffet style includes drink and dessert).

Overall though, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of activities for kids. While Cedar Point is marketed towards the big rides, we found it nice to have an overwhelming amount of choices for little ones. Unfortunately we did not even get to see any of the shows.