Nestled away in Sandusky, Ohio are the Cedar Point theme park and sister property Cedar Point Shores Waterpark. Thrill seekers and theme park junkies will love this great water park.
Sandusky is not just about brake pads
For years I had heard stories of or was asked if I’d made it to the Cedar Point properties. Last summer, my travel companions and I finally made it to these family-friendly destinations. Situated on a small peninsula jutting out into Lake Erie, the two parks bring travelers from all over the country.
The parent company of the park, formerly known as Cedar Fair, now merged with Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, is known for having record-breaking attractions and roller coasters.
Sandusky is known for being a family friendly destination.
During our 2024 trip to Sandusky, we did visit Cedar Point and Cedar Point Shores Waterpark, however we did not experience Castaway Bay by Cedar Point Resorts.
About Cedar Point Shores
Cedar Point Shores–formerly known as Soak City–is an outdoor water park that’s home to 18 different slides and attractions. The property opened in 1988 and it was announced in 2016 that the property would be renamed to Cedar Point Shores.
The property occupies 16 acres and has five pools.
Attractions
There’s a fair amount to do at Cedar Point Shores. The attractions have multiple thrill levels and depending on what your jam is, you’ll probably be plenty entertained if you’re a water park junkie.
Slides
- Crosscurrent: Two tube slides and one wide tube slide
- Lake Erie Nor’easter: Three enclosed water slides
- Perch Plunge: Three body slides and three tube slides
- Point Plummet: Four trapdoor AquaDrop slides
- Portside Plunge: Tube slide
- Riptide Raceway: Racer with six lanes
- Storm Surge: Raft slide
- Wild Walleye:Two tube slides
Other attractions
- Breakwater Bay: Wave pool
- Cedar Creek: Lazy river
- Great Lakes Cove and Lily Pad Walk: Children’s area with lily pad floats
- Lakeslide Landing: Playground
- Lemmy’s Lagoon: Water playground
- Runaway Rapids: Activity “flume,” not-so-lazy river
- SplasH20: Interactive water playground
- The Sandlot: Beach area
- Waterin’ Hole: Water playground “splash pad”
Dining
Well, for theme park food, Cedar Point Shores had some pretty good selections. All of the dining locations on the property are quick service. But, there’s a good enough variety. There are two primary restaurants; Crystal Rock Cafe and Dockside Grill. The locations serve BBQ and assorted American fare respectively.
There’s also Lemmy’s Walking Tacos, good for a grab and go, as well as a few snack locations. Feel like bellying up? Head to Schooner’s Bayside Bar for a drink.
Feel like having ice cream? They’ve got you covered there too.
Premium All Day Dining
Planning our adventure to the Cedar Point parks, we originally signed up for the Premium All Day Dining plan for our time at Cedar Point proper. There are other packages available too, we just went with the Cadillac plan. After spending the day eating our way across the theme park, we did not think that we needed a dining package.
Naturally, though, when we got to Cedar Point Shores, we hung a uey, and went all in on a second day of unlimited dining. What does that mean though?
“Add food and drinks to your fun all day long!” the Cedar Point Shores dining page asserts. “Enjoy an entrée and side, or a snack, as often as every 90 minutes during your visit in 2025. PLUS, enjoy refreshing Coca-Cola fountain beverages all day long as often as every 15 minutes! Not valid for special events or non-operating days.”
Value?
The price for this plan in 2025 is $45.99, the same as 2024’s.
Did we get our money’s worth? Considering the plans included a drink bracelet, yes. But, in order to cash in, you gotta use these kinds of plans. Multiple visits to the drink machines, as well as a couple of meals and snacks. If you’re like me, and your BMI is close to your age, you can do it!
Did we overeat? Yeah. Did we hear our junior adventurers say, “We’re eating again?” Yeah. But we persevered.
Refresh stations
Even if you don’t have an all-day drink bracelet or plan, you’re still probably going to want to grab something to drink. There are three, centrally located, easy to access “refresh stations.” These areas have fountain Coke products available for refills or purchase. The refresh stations are nice, but not as great as the superior locations that have Coke Freestyle machines.
Shower facilities
There are two shower facilities located at Cedar Point Shores. One on each side of the park–flanking the entrance. We did not avail ourselves of the facilities, but overall, the restrooms and other public areas were pretty clean.
Lockers
Cedar Point Shores has several areas where there are lockers for rent. This is always a great option while visiting water parks and theme parks. Depending on what we’ve brought with us and what we’re doing, we’ll avail ourselves to such lockers about 50 percent of the time a property has them.
One of the things we usually bring with us to water parks in particular, is a mobile safe. The ones we use are made by a company named Vaultz. The two that we use are the small field gear pouch or the money bag. They’re both lockable and include a tether. If those don’t tickle your fancy, just look for locking zippered pouches and see what you find.
We’ll put our valuables in the pouches, put them in our backpack or beach bag, run the tether through the handles of the bag it’s in, and lock them to a beach chair or other suitable spot. We’ve never had an issue doing this–not that I’m saying you won’t, but our stuff has stayed secured for those times when you’re not using a locker.
Cabanas
There are a number of cabanas available for rent if you’re interested. We’ve never secured a private cabana at any of these locations before, but we’re not against it if the price is right.
Our trip to Sandusky
I had three other travel companions during my 2024 trip to Cedar Point Resorts. Sandusky was our third and final stop of our trip to the Buckeye State. We visited the Cincinnati Zoo and the Wilds prior to hitting the home of Callahan Auto.
My companions consisted of my eldest roommate and youngest–a junior adventurer. And, we had a ginger junior adventurer on loan from another tribe.
We stayed at the Cedar Point Express Hotel and the accommodations were nice enough. When we were checking in, however, there was a kerfuffle with another guest and the front desk staff. That made us inspect our room and mattresses very closely when we did get our room–if you know what I mean. We did not find any signs of anything “weird,” but this is something to always keep in mind when traveling.
Overall the cleanliness of the property was satisfactory, but the angry Karen in the lobby did give us the heebie-jeebies.
Our stay at a Cedar Point Resort property did get us early entry into the parks, which is a massive plus if you want to capitalize on your time.
Hitting the water park
Our plans included hitting the park at open, and we did. We also got some prime real estate at some open lounge chairs.
I took off with the junior adventurers while my eldest roommate staked a claim. The first few places we hit were the slides and attractions to the right of the entrance of the park. The park wasn’t too crowded the first hour we were there and there was plenty of time to get a ton outta the way before the general public got into the park.
After the big slides, we hit as many of the rest of the attractions and slides on the other side of the property.
Point Plummet
Point Plummet was the first area the kiddos hit when we arrived. They loved those slides and hit them several times before moving onto the next attraction. The plummet was the first time our junior adventurers experienced a trapdoor-style drop slide. The system that Cedar Point Shores uses is manufactured by WhiteWater West and is the AquaDrop.
Portside Plunge
This was a fun tube slide that everyone enjoyed.
Plunge Slide
When we visited the park, we did not get to experience the Plunge Slide. Also note that when we were at the park, there was only the one main slide. Ephemera as well as photos from other reviews show that there used to be two other slides flanking the Plunge Slide.
Perch Plunge
The Perch Plunge is a slide tower that has three enclosed body slides.
Wild Walleye
What I loved about the Wild Walleye is that my junior adventurers splashed down at the exact same time when they went down this slide series. The junior adventurer that lives with me gave it a thumbs up. The ginger on loan gave it a thumbs down. So, was this a success? Sure.
Wild Walleye is a two-slide tower and looks fast.
Riptide Raceway
The Riptide Raceway is a six-lane mat racer slide. We did not get down with this attraction, as cool as it looks. We’re just not always in the mood for a mat race.
Watrin’ Hole
This neat little splash pad area is perfect for the little kiddos
Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek is the property’s lazy river. Not to be confused with the Runaway Rapids, which is not lazy at all.
The Sandlot
You go to water parks like a girl! Couldn’t help myself. Relax, it’s a joke. Little levity here. We love everyone. The Sandlot is a little beach oasis in the middle of the Cedar Creek area. Pretty chill spot to hang out.
Lakeside Landing and Lemmy’s Lagoon
We did not even make it over to this area. It looks like a great spot to go with the little kiddos. Our junior adventurers were looking for something a bit more thrilling, but hey, it looks like a cool area to frolic.
Storm Surge
This was the final attraction we hit when we were visiting the park. The whole entire ram dam family, red-headed loaner child and all got into the raft. It was borderline too thrilling for me. But we survived. Awesome raft ride for groups.
SplashH20
The SplashH20 is one of those cool water park playgrounds. We did not play in that area, however the folks that were there seemed like they had a blast. These playground structures are iconic at water parks and are generally topped with a branded bucket.
Great Lake Cove and Lilypad Walk
These lilypad obstacle courses are awesome. There’s no doubt that your little adventurer will have a blast challenging themselves to traverse the treacherous chlorinated waters of the pool.
We spent enough time there to eat a meal on a trashcan table while the kiddos played. I think this is when the child on loan said, “We’re eating again?” Hey, look kid, we gotta get our money’s worth. We’re the holders of the tube of sunscreen gingy, so watch the tude!
The spot where we had our bags and towels overlooked this neat area. We did not play too much in the cove area, but that Lilypad Walk? Yeah, watched the kids eat sh*t more than once sliding into their doom.
I’m told catcalling insults helps build character when they fail? I’m kidding. Relax. We softly address them when we tell them they’ve failed miserably.
Runaway Rapids
I’m a sucker for lazy rivers. Runaway Rapids is not a lazy river. It’s a near exercise in water survival. Okay, that might be a little hyperbolic, but still, it was a hell of an attraction. Fun to zip around in tubes.
Lake Erie Nor’easter
This is a tower of three tube slides. The junior adventurers and my eldest roommate took a couple spins down these slides. Er, I sat this one out due to being a little bit over the weight limit. Sitting it out wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as doing the walk of shame off of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure™ ride–two years in a row–because you’re just too damned juicy to fit in the seats. Be-that-as-it-may, Nor’easter looked fun.
Breakwater Bay Wave Pool
The Breakwater Bay Wave Pool is pretty cool. Now, saved this one for last to talk about because it caused little points of contention with a junior traveler. Under 52”? Life jacket is required.
Some other attractions may have had similar requirements, this was the first wave pool we’ve been to where that was the policy. So this turned into a “thing.” It was easily reconciled though. Put it on or don’t go in.
The wave pool was a bit aggressive though. Not as aggressive as the DreamWorks wave pool. But still, a formidable attraction.
Overall experience
We’re theme and water park junkies. Getting a chance to go to Cedar Point Shores and Cedar Point proper was right up our alley.
The water park was clean and the people were pretty friendly. Overall this is a great park to visit and I highly recommend adding it to your list of locations to check out. We’ve put it on our list of locations to return to–especially since the junior adventurers could not ride everything they wanted to over at Cedar Point. Being vertically challenged is a thing with our crew.
Cedar Point Shores is located at: 1 Cedar Point Dr, Sandusky, OH 44870
