Can Geauga Lake truly answer this question.

Chitown,

Former owner and competitor are two different things. Geauga Lake isn't competing with any Six Flags park, so there's no reason to accept old Six Flags vouchers. It's not like you could go to the gate of Geauga Lake and find out that yor coupons are no good and then just drive a short distance to a place that does honor the reading program. Cedar Fair has a captive audience... they have very little competition in their Ohio Parks, save for one another.

-seth

Regardless,,,

The Read To Succeed program should be honored at GL. These kids won these tickets thinking they were going to attend this park. I understand the "giving the gate away" business aspect of this, but I am sure CF has programs set up for people to win tickets for accomplishing certain things. It won't hurt them to honor these tickets and no-one can convince me otherwise.

I never knew amusement parks were in the business of encouraging children to read.

There's a ton of reasons this would be a pain for CF as new owners (bottom line, additional administrative work (on several levels), making sure every employee working the gate was familiar with and accepted the vouchers, etc)

They're under no obligation and the handful of kids affected learn a valuable lesson that life is full of disappointments - eat a cookie.

And since Jeff isn't around...

Somebody call the waaaaaambulance :)

I never said they were obligated Gonch.

I just feel they should honor these tickets. You are right that children shouldn't have to be rewarded for reading, but hey, if it works, it's still a good thing.

It's just for this season. Next season, it won't even be offered (unless CF does a similar thing).

A temporary thing to please the kids who won these tickets isn't asking much.

Well, that wasn't a direct reply to you so much, Chitown, as it was to the idea.

Crap is confusing enough in the GL offices right now I'm sure and the last thing on their minds is some kid clutching a little pieve of paper that says he (or she) read a few books and asking to get in for free because they read.

In fact, I'm going to go totally against VolvanoTBC's take on it and play devil's advocate...

It doesn't encourage kids to read, it teaches them that there's no point in reading unless there is a payoff.

Yeah, it sucks, but turn it into a lesson on enjoying books not on how "the man" will screw you every chance he gets.

I must be looking at this differently:

If I were GM of Geauga Lake, I would look at this as one HECK of an opportunity.

Most of you are forgeting. The read to suceed program is for little kids. Little kids have parents (at least most should.) Parents have to PAY to come into the park.

This is a VERY VERY common successful business practice with MANY companies that has worked for years if done right (key words "done right".) Let's say the Joe Smoe family had no intention of visiting a park this year. That means no money for the park or repeat customer in the future. Joe Smoe's kid then does a good job in school and gets a free pass to a nice park (aka PKI, GL, BGW.) Now Joe Smoe's family will (more than likely) take their kid because they see it as a better deal.

It's a win win situation for everyone. And in the end the park makes a lot more money than no vouchers.

It's the same pricipal of SFWoA Bring a Friend Free days. Get them to spend money inside the park and give them a great experience. They will come back paying next time. In 2003 the park started to see it to work...somewhat ;)

Now before people say, "Well that's why SFWoA went under." MANY other parks do this also. A big VERY profitable park that does this is PKI. Like I said if it's done right. It'll work.

The only logical thing I can think of. SF told CP they weren't aloud to except them for their own legal reasoning (aka: Why let the Joe Smoe's family go to CP when we want them to come to SFDL or Wyandot Lake?)

A wise professor once told me, "Think of what the world would be like with out Happy Meals." ;)

Either way, I don't blame anyone but I do think it could be handle better. Maybe CF coming in and giving out kiddie vouchers for a certain grade point average in the local schools (kind of like a a replacement ticket.) Kids do well, school season ends. They get a ticket. And guess who is spending money at the park now?

"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
http://OhioThemeParks.com

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.... and the handful of kids affected learn a valuable lesson that life is full of disappointments - eat a cookie.

It doesn't encourage kids to read, it teaches them that there's no point in reading unless there is a payoff.

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Gonchar.. I always liked you.. hehe

You are right. Kids these days (my own included) are under the impression that they should be rewarded for every little thing they do (something she gets from her mother). Life isn't easy kids and it doesn't alway go how you want it. Nothing is for free and this is a bussiness people. Alot of you seem to be forgetting that.

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A wise professor once told me, "Think of what the world would be like with out Happy Meals."

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Um, thinner?

-brian, who may not be wise, but is a professor.

In my case:

1) CF/GL wants to totally erase that this park was owned by SF.

2) GL will hosts these things also, in time, they can't accept all these free tickets at the time because they need to turn this park that 'wasn't up to full capability' and turn it into a money maker and a success.

3) Red Garter Rob and Gonch-I agree. These tickets were just for good PR and SF didn't take any pride in these kids (probably-I can't speak for every employee.) But these tickets were just P.R, just cause they read doesn't mean they should get in free. They need focus into making this park better!

That's just my view point, I have no relation to CF. *** Edited 4/10/2004 12:06:31 PM UTC by EastCoastRider***

I think that everyone is forgetting the bottom line here.

These tickets were only for the children (a $20 value). These kids were most likely going to go with their parents to the park. Don't you think that if a trip was planned to GL/WoA the parents would come up with the $20 for their kid to go anyway. Sheesh.

I'm all for CF getting GL back on track, even if the little kids have to pay for their own ticket. *** Edited 4/10/2004 2:05:56 PM UTC by Neuski***

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Chitown said:
Businesses accept competitor coupons regularly. That's not a good comparison CoasterDad.

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That's not always true. Businesses accept competitor’s coupons when the competition is rough. Where's the competition?

The simple matter is that CF is cleaning house and eliminating the remnants of SF. One of the remnants is a program that provides ONE free ticket to a child that reads a certain number of books. I would be curious as to how many of these are actually used.

There may also be a stipulation in the sales contract regarding the use of SF programs etc. Maybe it is SF that is not allowing CF to honor the "free" tickets.

Wow, you guys are all truly disappointing.

It's a SMALL program geared toward ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN! And while I can agree that kids shouldn't be rewarded to read, that's just an argument for discontinuing the program in the future, which is fine with me.

I'm talking about this season. The season where children were encouraged to read with the anticipation of getting a nice trip to Six Flags at the end of the school year.

The administration excuse is absolute crap. It would not take more than 10 minutes to make everyone familiar with a "Read to Succeed" voucher.

There is no reason--at all--for Cedar Fair to not honor those passes. I can see that Chitown and RollerCoasterGod are the only other people in this thread with a good conscience and practical business sense.

Sure there is a reason. They've decided it's better for them not to, and since the vouchers are for a Six Flags park, they don't have to. Sure, it would be nice if they honored them, but they won't. If you don't like it, write them a letter, and be sure to mention that you won't be patronizing the park.

Then, don't go.

Edit: By the way, claiming it's "bad business sense" doesn't seem to be supported by the facts. The record is clear that the company with the better business sense is not Six Flags (the company that ran the program) but Cedar Fair (the company that won't run it.) *** Edited 4/10/2004 5:03:54 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

Come on, that's such a bad argument. There are a variety of reasons why Six Flags failed in operating that property. Six Flags is successfully operating a lot of their other big properties. "Giving away the gate" is not the reason why the Worlds of Adventure project failed. I hope you don't honestly believe the "Read to Succeed" program was a factor in the failure of Worlds of Adventure. How do you know it wasn't one of the successful things Six Flags did?

Who cares? They're not running it. We didn't get to make the decision. If you don't like it, vote with your feet. As Scoop Nisker says:

"If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."

http://www.kfog.com/MorningShow/Scoop.asp

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It's a SMALL program geared toward ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN!

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Exactly. So while it wouldn't affect the park much it also isn't affecting PR much. A few school age kids are a little let down. It's irrelevant to all involved.

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The administration excuse is absolute crap. It would not take more than 10 minutes to make everyone familiar with a "Read to Succeed" voucher.

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Perhaps, but there's also gate figures, attendance figures and God only knows what else that the park keeps tabs on that would have to be changed to accomodate this form of entry. Which goes back to the point above - it's such a small program (your words) that it's not worth the trouble vs potentially disappointing some kids.

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There is no reason--at all--for Cedar Fair to not honor those passes.

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Yes there is - they don't want to. They don't have to. They made no promises to anyone. They bought an amusement park and now they're horrible people because Six Flags promised a free day to some kids who can read? They can still go to Six Flags and have their voucher honored. They can't go to Geauga Lake. They were never promised a free trip to Geauga Lake. How hard is that to understand?

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I can see that Chitown and RollerCoasterGod are the only other people in this thread with a good conscience and practical business sense.

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Aww. I'd have let that slide and given you the free jab if it weren't for those last three words - "practical business sense"

Many of the people disagreeing have real world business experience and one even works for one of the companies in question. Practical business sense is exactly what's going on here. It has nothing to do with "good conscience". Apples and oranges.

Honestly, I can't see ANY reason they should feel obligated to honor these vouchers other than the whole "feel good" aspect, but as we established earlier, the program is such a small one that it really isn't going to have much effect on the park, the kids or anyone...

...other than a few people with nothing better to do on a Staurday afternoon on an amusement park forum.

"Sorry, Billy. Geauga Lake said they don't care if you read some books. They think you're stupid and ugly and probably have cooties."

It can be looked at on both sides with credibility.

Like I said, CF isn't entitled to honor these but I just felt it would be a good gesture. The kids with the tickets should be able to go to Guest Relations and exchange the SF voucher for a GL ticket. That would avoid the mass confusion at the gate.

I can see where you guys don't agree with allowing them. Heck, I work in the service field for a medical manufacturing company and constantly try to please customers even if it means giving something away for future repeat business. It's just something you have to do on occasion. We know we are losing short term revenue but in the long run, we will benefit from future big money purchases.

This is just something I thought CF should just let one slide. Honor the tickets and watch the families spend inside the park.

As long as we are on the subject of "giving away the gate" and "the bottomline", why is CF allowing current SFWoA passholders to exchange their current passes for a GL pass? CF did not receive this revenue, SF did. Isn't that giving away the gate as well?

Just having a friendly debate folks. It's all in good fun. :)

That's a good question. I'd suspect that the purchase agreement included some accounting of season pass holders, transferring the revenue from PKS to FUN. That would explain why SF no longer accepts WoA passes as of the closing date, and why CF is responsible for refunding the costs for those customers who want one.

it's always a possibility they might change the policy once they realize people/families showing up with the tickets and being rejected at the gate (only after paying parking) --> guests/parents = disgruntled/angry, kids = sad --> or give tickets on a need-be basis?

-- alan j

Well i guess i can stop reading now.