2027 Dining Plans

BrettV:

Social media is going to be fun

Lots of "there's NO WAY I'm going to pay that much for all-season fast lane".

Which, of course, was the point.

Social media has been everything I figured it would be. Who knew raising prices for premium add on products would be such a blow to good family values in the Greater Sandusky area.

The Fast Lane move combined with closing the "abuse the meal-plan" loopholes is a sign of intelligent life in the chain. It's almost like they read Coasterbuzz.

Complaint department in full-social-media glory

Interesting with the new pricing structure, we'd pay basically the same amount in 2027 vs 2026, but would trade away CP fastlane access for a lot more access to food (unlimited meals at any park, 2 hour interval).

Feels kinda like exchanging a bishop/knight for a rook/pawn in chess. KI still has some good food options and we're planning on hitting other SF parks next year (gotta try purple) so leaning towards buying at this time. We're not even considering buying CP's FL with it's crummy merge points...

I assume the $6 per meal is if you consume every meal, but the actual average is presumably higher, since not everyone is going to max out the plan. Or some people will spend a "meal" on an overpriced waffle cake or pretzel. It's still a good deal even at $12 a meal, and surely profitable for the chain at that level.

In any event, an incremental increase is probably the right marketing strategy. (The Fast Lane price is a different matter; they clearly had a problem to solve at Cedar Point.)

What interests me is that on the one hand, $6 to $12 a meal is profitable and something they promote, but they don't think they're turning away (many) customers at the walk-up price of $20 a meal. I'm not saying that's wrong - captive audience and all that, plus capacity, etc., etc. - but I'm not assuming that price point is correct, either. It's certainly a deterrent to the once-a-year guest who is calculating the total cost of bringing the family, so they're potentially losing the (full-price) gate and parking income, too.

Do you have to be physically in the park for the dining plan to work? We don't eat in the park nearly often enough to make a plan worth it but if we bought one plan and let the kids share it when they go to KI with their friends it would make sense.

But I thought there was some sort of geofencing in place.

That person must have the pass scanned and has photo verification at the register.

^ Correct. None of the pass add-ons are activated until the specific pass is scanned into the park entry gate.

First, I'm glad to see they are doing something to address the fastlane use at Cedar Point. I have long felt that they should try to limit the number of fastlanes to ~20% of the rides capacity. In my back-of-the-envelope calculations, 20% is about the most that can go to fastlane before there is a significant hit to the perceived wait time. (How fast the line feels like its moving, wait time from this point.)

I don't have an issue with them making a tiered dining plan, where the low levels have per-year caps. It may have been too easy to abuse the dining plan and get too many meals for the price. I just wish that the middle dining plan was valid at all parks. So: entry level: 20 meals at your home park. Mid level: 30 meals at all parks. Top level: unlimited meals at all parks. Right now, there isn't much of an option for people who make say 5 visits to the home park, and another 2-3 visits to other parks. But I guess those people must be a slim minority.

I saw on another site "oh noes this means the standby lines will be longer!" but in fact, if it allows them to reduce the number of Fast Lane entries, the standby line will move much faster. (As well, not all the former Fast Lane folks are going to join the standby line, at least not as much. You might ride Maverick five times via Fast Lane, but you're not likely to do that waiting in the standby line.)

Yeah. The main goal of the price hike is to shorten the Fastlane line, and the biggest side effect will be that the regular line moves faster rather than slower. In theory there will be moments now where there will be no one in Fastlane and therefore the regular line won't have to stop to let them in. And other moments where it stops to let 5 or 6 people in at a time rather than a continued stream from a backed up line.

0g:

Right now, there isn't much of an option for people who make say 5 visits to the home park, and another 2-3 visits to other parks. But I guess those people must be a slim minority.

And truthfully this is where I sit as well and I suspect a large number of customers do too, so this change is the biggest impact, moreso than limiting the number of meals. I'm not upset about it really and I understand something had to be done so they take less of a loss on locals going in multiple times a week just to eat, but I'm not sure the home park only component of it was necessary. It does potentially drive more people to buy the unlimited, but I don't think I visit enough parks to pay that difference. I will probaly shoot low and go for the 20 meal plan at CP and then just get daily meal plans if I visit KI or Canada's Wonderland or something. It wouldn't be the end of the world to go and get something in town either like I always used to before the meal plans came onto the scene. I likely would have bought the 30 if it allowed use at other parks.

One thing I haven't seen them address is if you happen to run out if they will let you buy another 20 or 30 halfway through the season? Seems hard to beiieve they'd turn away money. Maybe they'd let you pay the difference between what you paid and the unlimited price at the time.

I’d bet that five-visit-per-season guests weren’t buying the All-Season Dining Plan anyway. But with the new 20-meal plan, eating just twice per visit is still a much better deal than paying at the register. If they’re there all day, they can easily get in a third or fourth meal, especially if they are sharing.

Well with my CP pass I have had:

4 days worth of meals (8) at CP

2 days worth of meals (4) at KI

4 meals over 4 days at Schlitterbahn

1 day of meals (2) at SFFT

and will have

3 more days of meals at CP (6)

3 more meals at KI

27 total meals. If the 30 meal plan was all parks it would be appealing to me (at least this year) I’m not going to many SF parks next year so I might only get the base pass.

If you are visiting multiple parks maybe the 30 home park meals makes sense with the double discount especially if that works on the all day wrist band at a non home park.

^ That's a good idea. I'll probably end up adding the 30-meal plan once the '27 season starts.
I eat at my home park (CP) all the time; however, when visiting other parks, I usually just have a light snack inside and eat my meals elsewhere. There are just so many better places I’d rather eat, and I can’t really do many rides on a full stomach anyway.

hambone:

they don't think they're turning away (many) customers at the walk-up price of $20 a meal

I don't think $20 is over the top for an entertainment venue--especially not at some of the newer places that have upped the food game at CP.