2013 Cedar Fair Season pass question

Gonch, to be fair, it's not just that I don't want to plan my summer right now. It also fits my "style" a lot more closely---we make plans, but we somehow never really stick to them. With day-by-day tickets, I always have to ask whether the change is "worth it". Here, I don't have to. We also prefer to do our park visits in shorter bursts---five hours here, four hours there---than to spend "a day" at the park. Sure, I could fit in the same amount of "stuff" in fewer days, and maybe spend less overall, but it will be that much less pleasant.

But, your overall point might well be valid---I'm likely on a different point on the time/money curve.

Brian Noble said:

wn on the side of: "I just don't want to have to think about it." A summer's worth of park admission and parking for the family is $700. Done. That's a little different than "The pass is the cheapest way to do what I want to do." Instead it's "I don't want to have to plan what I'm going to do, and this is a fine price for that."

I totally agree. In fact, when I go to Knoebel's I always get a POP, even if I'm pretty sure I won't get my money's worth because I just don't want to have to make a decision every time I get on a ride.

From an economics standpoint, the cost of making a decision adds up enough over all the rides I ride to make up the difference between the POP and the individual tickets. What I'm suggesting (to myself) is an alternative approach which is to make the decision cost a lot less (i.e. just care less about it either way) and stick to the individual ride tickets and have more money without all the worry by the end of the day.

Brian Noble said:

This conversation is yet another example of the "time/money" curve. Both are finite things you can spend, and the one that is most constrained dictates whether you do this sort of deal chasing or not. For some people, the time is just worth more. For others, the money is the more important thing to conserve.

I'm fortune enough to win on both sides of this. My fiancee is into the couponing/deal hunting, and I'm into spending as little time in the grocery store as possible. So all I have to do is follow the list and then hand over coupons at the checkout. If I can do that at a time of day when the store isn't overrun by pushy soccer moms (I'll never enter a store on a Sunday afternoon again) then that's even better!

Yeah - when did the Sunday afternoon shopping thing happen? I usually go early Saturday morning and am rewarded with few people in the stores. Recently had to go a couple of Sunday afternoons and was amazed. Where did all those people come from?

When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much...

The worst? Wegmans during...well, during the day. ANY day. All those rich bored housewives are SCARY aggressive and rude.

I like the 24hr grocery stores. Go at around 11-1 and you can get so much done so much quicker. I'm definitely a convenience over cost person.

We have those same rich housewives here in our Giant Eagle Market District store. I don't know that I'd call them bored as much as entitled.

Yes, shopping post-midnight is absolutely the way to go. Except for Walmart. They somehow manage to suck even when very few people are there.

I just need to find someone who has a 24 hour deli and I'd be set.

We always get Hersheypark passes every year since we are so close. Just the free parking for other events(concerts etc) we attend there almost pays for 1 pass in a season.

We have been getting Cedar Fair passes every season for the last 5 or so years. Where we live we visit kings dominion 2x, dorney 2x, and a multi day cedar point trip, so that alone easily covers the cost of the pass. Add in the additional occasional park. Last year it was carowinds. This year will be Kings island for at least 2 days.

At the average of $40 per admission that's over $300 for admissions alone per pass. Add in parking and other discounts and they're a really good value for us.

Six Flags is the pass we don't buy every year. We used to get those at SF America, but can't stand to go there anymore. Last year we bought them at SFNE, the only other park we visited was great adventure.

So now Wal-Mart is running a TV spot in our market where they explicitly compare their prices to Kroger's and then direct you to this webpage.

Our closest Kroger is a brand new store built in the last two years and our Wal-Mart design/layout is probably 6 or 7 generations ago. Using the historical images in Google Earth shows it's at least 20 years old.

The way I see it, the price difference is just a 15% surcharge to not have to step foot into Wal-Mart. More than fair.

So I was looking at renewing my Six Flags Season Pass that I got at over Texas for 2012 (got it in 2011), and noticed that that park offers "membership". It's like a Gym membership, in that they take out each month and it acts like a Season Pass with all the same benefits, but they just take out of your account each month until you cancel. I was going to do it thru SFoG, my 'Home' SF park, but they don't have the option.

Thoughts? Discuss amongst yourselves.

http://content.sixflags.com/overtexas/tickets/memberships/

At least over Georgia has a Gold Pass with payment options and gives free parking at ALL Six Flags parks. Nice.

Do u get early entry to all cedar fair parks?

It used to be that you got early admission to all Cedar Fair parks on designated days with a Platinum Pass. Don't know how that works now.

Except for Knott's Haunt black out dates, I don't think there has ever been any designated days when a platinum pass could be used at a certain park.

Lord Gonchar said:

The way I see it, the price difference is just a 15% surcharge to not have to step foot into Wal-Mart.

:-) There is no surcharge required at Kroger if you shop smart (focus on buying their advertised Plus Card specials). This is a great example of a hoop-jumping grocery store (Kroger) vs the static-priced, hoop-less (Walmart). Walmart's price comparisons are misleading.

Kroger is a grocery chain that tends to have some high regular prices and some excellent weekly sale prices and promotions that require their Plus Card. These sale item prices are often significantly cheaper than Walmart's static prices. The concept is lure shoppers in with deep sale prices, and then profit when the shoppers finish their grocery shopping, buying all the high, regular-priced items. Additionally, those that don't care about pricing will likely not scan a Plus Card and pay regular price on everything.

In the price comparisons, Walmart is strategically selecting a mix of Kroger's high regular prices against their lower static prices. They could manipulate that 15% savings to just about any number they wanted.

I saw the inverse of this a couple years back at Meijer. Each week, Meijer was putting an insert in their ad of how you'd save 10-20% more grocery-shopping at Meijer over Walmart. Again misleading...Meijer showcased a strong mix of their excellent weekly sale items vs Walmart's static prices.

Jeph said:
There is no surcharge required at Kroger if you shop smart (focus on buying their advertised Plus Card specials). This is a great example of a hoop-jumping grocery store (Kroger) vs the static-priced, hoop-less (Walmart). Walmart's price comparisons are misleading.

Most certainly true to some degree. However, what if that list of items is what I'm actually shopping for?

Anyone can pick and choose examples and manipulate the truth to suit their needs, no doubt. You're even doing in suggesting buying sale items and using the Plus Card.

The point is, for the example given, Kroger is about 15% more expensive. For other examples, other price differentials might appear. But we're not talking about other examples. We're talking about the given example.

So to clarify for your what-slowly-seems-to-be-revealing-itself-as-an-almost-OCD nature:

The way I see it, if I'm buying that exact list of items, the price difference is just a 15% surcharge to not have to step foot into Wal-Mart. More than fair.

How about 20%? 25%? Curious as to where your break point is?

And in 20 years when that shiny new Kroger is 22 years old and Walmart has replaced its aged store with a shiny new one are you still OK with paying the 15% premium to go to the out of date Kroger store?

I must be in the minority here. I shop with a list, get my stuff, and get out. I am not looking for ambiance in a grocery store or a department store. I don't care what pattern the floor tile is or if the signs use an eye catching font. Stores are a necessary evil so as long as they are functional that is good enough for me.

Yes, you're referring to the "Walmarting of America." Human dignity and business ethics are secondary to get the cheapest price.

Is that qualitatively better than what Apple (or any of a billion tech companies) do in using Chinese sweatshops to make you a device which they then turn around and sell for $600?

That feels like a strawman question. I was talking about people being cheap as possible in a crappy retail environment to save a few bucks. Regardless of where Apple products are made, they offer the exact opposite experience. High end retail selling high margin devices that you know aren't cheap, and people give you legendary service (most of the time, anyway). It's like comparing going to Disney World staying in the Grand Floridian to going to Conneaut Lake.