Do you take advantage of early entry when visiting Cedar Point? If you want to get a jump on the rest of the population heading to Cedar Point for the day, you can get in early to ride select attraction, but only by staying in a Cedar Point Resort or by owning a Platinum season pass.

Early entry gets you into the park one hour ahead of normal operating hours. Participating rides are subject to weather or maintenance issues.

The new list of 2019 Cedar Point early entry rides is now available and includes the following:

• Ocean Motion
• Midway Carousel
• Cadillac Cars
• Cedar Downs Racing Derby
• Camp Snoopy
• GateKeeper
• Valravn
• Millennium Force
• Maverick
• Steel Vengeance
• Skyhawk

So as we began to ponder the list and daydream about summer days in the park, we wondered if one could ride all of the early entry attractions within an hour. To do the Early Entry Challenge, one must obey all park rules and not get special ride access including Fast Lane. For the sake of the challenge, we are going to assume you must be in line for the final ride before the park opens to the general public.

Lets see if the challenge is feasible.

At first we starting calculating if we could fit ALL of the early entry rides into an hour (counting Tilt-a-Whirl as the only ride within Camp Snoopy). We quickly realized there is no way to account for riding and walking between rides all within an hour. Even if one was really lucky, fitting Ocean Motion, Midway Carousel, and GateKeeper within 15 minutes would be a real challenge.

Valravn, Cedar Downs, and Cadillac Cars would easily eat up another 25 minutes. Walking to and riding Millennium Force would be another 15 minutes, leaving only minutes to get in Skyhawk, Tilt-a-Whirl, Maverick and Steel Vengeance. The goal would just not be obtainable even in the best conditions.

Therefore, we have quickly amended the 2019 Cedar Point Early Entry Challenge to better fit expectations. The new goal is to fit all five roller coasters within the one hour early entry window. Bonus points for fitting in any of the other early entry rides!

GateKeeper

Starting at the front of the park, go immediately towards GateKeeper. Taking into account walking to the attraction and the 2-minute ride duration, assume 10 minutes off the clock. Does flying through the keyholes count as time travel?

Valravn

Immediately head to Valravn across the midway. The 2 minute and 23 ride plus travel time takes another 10 minutes. Time to hustle!

Millennium Force

The walk back to Millennium Force from Valravn is gonna take a little bit of time. Plus we have to assume there are a couple people in line. Unfortunately, this ride could take as long as 15 minutes off the clock when factoring in the 2-minute ride time. Time is of the essence.

Maverick

To make the Cedar Point Early Entry Challenge work, one needs to get really lucky and hope there is minimal wait for Maverick (tough, we know). Maverick is notorious for long waits, even with a Fast Lane Plus. Assuming all the stars are aligned, there is a chance to get onto the ride with a couple minutes to spare. Including the walk from Millennium and 2 minute, 30 second ride duration, lets assume 20 minutes off the clock.

Steel Vengeance

If all the stars are aligned, and crowds are light, there is a chance to make it into line for Steel Vengeance before the park opens to the general public. Yes the wait for Steel Vengeance even at park opening could be 60-90 minutes, but at least you are ahead of the masses about to come into the queue behind you!

Have you completed the Cedar Point Early Entry Challenge? Have a better strategy? Let us know below in the comments.

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