Advice after learning about CF's silly platinum pass policies

I never have been a big fan of Cedar Fair, and before I go into detail about this, I have to say that we all know that Six Flags is not immune to the stupidity department either, but Cedar Fair takes the cake with this one.

September 25th and 26th, I am planning a weekend at Cedar Point, my plan is or was to purchase a 2011 platinum pass and then use it at Cedar Point the 2 days I go there.

Well that WAS the plan, however 2011 passes for Cedar Fair are ONLY good in 2011, so what i'll have to do in order to attend the Point on those days is..

Buy a two day ticket AND THEN Buy the platinum pass.

With a handful of days left in the season, Why in the name of god does it have to be like this? Not only will I have to buy a general admission ticket AFTER I bought a platinum pass, but also I will have to pay parking for the two days as well.

Cedar Fair fails its customers once again with this one.

Even if Cedar Point does what Kings Island is doing (giving ONE free admission ticket with a pass) ill still have to pay a general admission ticket, and two days of parking ON TOP of the $150 for the platinum pass.

I have no clue what I should do now.

I should point out that this is my first time getting a platinum pass for Cedar Fair, and I figured that the new years pass would be good for the remaining handful of dates in 2010(a la Six Flags) , I guess common sense isnt always the best idea.

As if a pass that pays for itself in 3 to 4 visits wasn't enough, you want to be able to use it in the Fall of the previous season as well?

The park is uber crouded during Halloween as it is now. Do they really need to put an incentive out there for bringing in additional guests during this portion of their season? I think not. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. I don't see it changing any time soon.

So by your logic, Six Flags parks arent busy also? I mean Fright Fest is one of SFGAm's busiest times.

And they are letting you in on the 2011 pass.

Isn't this where our mothers say, "If everyone jumped off of a bridge would you do it too?" :)

That is to say, just because SF does it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Heck, I'd be willing to guess that SF is the exception.

Hang on, the 2011 pass is only valid for 2011? What madness. Kinzel strikes again...

The point is, i could show up at the SF gate tomorrow, and buy a 2011 pass and get into the park that day.

Anyway, Im looking for a cost effective way to attend CP on the two dates, while still buying the Platinum pass.

Thanks in advance.

The point is, your point is irrelevant since the two companies are unrelated and their policies differ.

Ok, at Carowinds if you purchase a ticket you can apply the cost of the ticket towards the cost of a pass. Since Cedar Point and Carowinds are owned by the same company the policy may be an option there too. It doesn't get you the absolute cheapest way to get into the park this year and next, as you planned, but the cost of a 2 day ticket subtracted from next years pass will be cheaper than buying them separately. Call them and check the policy.

Oh and while you are on the phone with them complain about the Platinum Pass policy if you do not like it. Complaining here will do no good because no one here will lose any money if you chose not to go to the park because of their policy. I know that in the past a pass bought at Carowinds for the next season could be used the remainder of the current season.

I did call CP, and I cannot apply a ticket price to the 2011 pass.

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. We can't change their policies for you. It looks like you're going to have to pay for the two day admission for 2010 and then buy the 2011 platinum pass. Or don't go. Or go to SF instead.

Cedar Fair fails its customers once again with this one.

Yeah, it always ticks me off when companies don't give me crap for free either. I was really steamed that Busch Gardens didn't give me my own pony when I bought my bounce pass this summer. I mean, I was in Williamsburg! Everyone should have a pony!

I have no clue what I should do now.

It's pretty simple. Decide if you are going for two days this year, and/or if you are going often enough next year to make a 2011 pass pay, and buy the appropriate tickets.

(Freakin' whiner.)

So Six Flags offers a perk that Cedar Fair doesn't. I can understand why you are upset, but you should just bite the bullet and pay up, or forget about it.

Cedar Fair's pass is already a good value, and the two-day admission price is also a good value.

You could probably find some discounts for Cedar Point for the few days in this season that you want to go. You could just go to your local Six Flags park instead, if you want to put up with Six Flags for a whole season next year,,, Never mind. That's not a good option.

Bottom line is that it is a perk that SF is offering. CF is in no way obligated to do what SF is doing. Be happy, like me, and appreciate that you can afford to go to a park sometimes.

Kindly, whining that you want even more when you already have enough seems a little childish. I know from experience. :)

Edit - I didn't read Nobles post before I finished this one, which is funny. We both called you a whiner... Kindly, of course.

Lord Gonchar said:
Isn't this where our mothers say, "If everyone jumped off of a bridge would you do it too?" :)

It depends on how deep the water is.:)

I am glad I am not the only one who thinks that the cedarfair pass is priced high for what you get. Six flags offers more incentives for when you buy a season pass. The coupon book alone is worth it. $89 for all of next year, AND the rest of this year free.Not to mention the ease of renewing it at six flags, opposed to cedarpoint.

To me, you are bringing more people back to the park that may not have came back to the park if they did not have a season pass.

Kindly, of course.

Speak for yourself. I wasn't being kind.

Edited to add: I didn't buy a pass this year. Partly, my kids were taking it for granted. But, partly, we just didn't go to CF parks often enough last year to make it pay off---two visits to CP, and one visit to KD. We were just too busy. I could blame CF for charging too much for the passes and whine and pout and stamp my foot, or I could calmly decide to take my business elsewhere.

(PS: Williamsburg and Orlando were both great.)

^And the height of the bridge.

As for the platinum pass being priced too high, in my opinion, if you're buying it, you're planning on using it at least 3-4 times, at which point it will be more than paid for already. If you somehow think that what you're paying is too many 1-day general admission's worth, knowing full well you're going to be basically visiting the parks for free starting with your 5th visit (which you know you'll get to), then you have a pretty screwed-up sense of entitlement.

I just paid $65.99 for a Six Flags 2011 season pass. They could charge me double that and I'd still feel as if I came out ahead. I'm already kicking myself for not picking up a 2010 CF Platinum Pass back in June when I went to KD because I'd have saved a few bucks.

Seriously, how dare CF charge less money than you'd pay on regular admissions on all your visits. The nerve!

Ask and ye shall receive. From CP's home page:

Don't miss out on the best rates for 2011! Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 7, a regular season pass is just $99.99 and renewals are only $95. The best part? When you buy a 2011 season pass, you get a free admission ticket to 2010 HalloWeekends.

Presumably, that would be good for Platinum passes as well. That leaves you with buying one more day ticket.

SkyRider7 said:
The point is, i could show up at the SF gate tomorrow, and buy a 2011 pass and get into the park that day.

So wait, Cedar Fair sucks because they're not stupid enough to leave money on the table? They suck because they don't give away tickets when the park is crazy busy? Yeah, what bastards.

I used my platinum pass 5 times this year...

2x at cedar point, 1 time at michigans adventure, 1 times at kings island, and once at dorney park. I also went to a coaster event at kings dominion that was not coverd by a season pass at all.

Dorney was a bonus park that I may visit once every 3-4 years. The only other time I plan on using it will be for halloween time. I am planning on doing kings island.

With online discounts, I could have bought tickets for all those parks for $178. Like I said, dorney was a bonus park that we would only hit every few years, so we would have spent $141 on tickets if we did not go there. I spent $160 on a platinum pass.By going to kings island, that puts me JUST above what I spent for the pass. This came with no coupon books or rest of the year free type offers Not much of an incentive for me to shell out $160. I would rather that money be in my bank account.

At six flags, I used the pass 3 times this year. I spent almost $100 for the pass(with parking added to it). With online discounts, if I were to buy tickets for my 3 visits, I would have spent $141. I also plan on going out to california to hit magic mountan this fall as well. So add 2 more days to the pass. Plus I get a coupon book, rest of the year free, and bring a friend free tickets. Not to mention that everytime I visit a six flags park, I get an email coupon for something in the six flags parks. I got a few emails with deals like a free front of line pass, and a free souvinier bottle with free refills all day.

Jeff said:

SkyRider7 said:
The point is, i could show up at the SF gate tomorrow, and buy a 2011 pass and get into the park that day.

So wait, Cedar Fair sucks because they're not stupid enough to leave money on the table? They suck because they don't give away tickets when the park is crazy busy? Yeah, what bastards.

Your missing the point....

There is NO incentive for buying a cedarfair platinum pass, opposed to a six flags pass.

I don't understand why we keep comparing it to SF.

SF has the worst season pass approach of any amusement park out there. (in a business sense)

SF is the exception. No other park or chain offers so much for so little.

CF doesn't do it like SF because, well, no one does.

How about comparing it to HW's pass ($150 gets you into HW - end of list) or Hershey's ($140 gets you into Hersheypark - end of list).

Perhaps the problem isn't CF's pricing/policies, but rather SF's ridiculously low, no-one-else-is-stupid-enough-to-devalue-their-product-this-much pass pricing structure.

In the big scheme of things, the CF Platinum pass is one of the best values out there...bested only by SF.