Cedar Fair attendance and revenue up through Labor Day

Yeah, the big price cut was the famous "Cotton Candy for a Quarter" Marketing plan. Of course, no one realized at Cedar Point that there would be bugs that would get in the cotton candy stalls that were located throughout the park. By the end of May, all the roving cotton candy stalls were gone.

Like Jeff said, prices on drinks never went down, and that probably would have been the most valuable cut they could have made. I know I'd spend more on drinks if they weren't $3+ per drink. That's definitely a spot where they could have made it up on volume.

I was there three or four times that year throughout the season and never saw any cotton candy. Food prices every else seemed super high still. They need a nice fat drop across the board.

If they want to sell more souvenirs they need some better gear. I haven't found anything I have wanted to buy since I was a teenager and I collect pint glasses from every park I go to. Cedar Point's are mostly plastic crap!

Jeff said:
I disagree. The price cuts were half-assed and sporadic at best, and didn't include soda.

Jeff Young said:
Yeah, the big price cut was the famous "Cotton Candy for a Quarter" Marketing plan. Like Jeff said, prices on drinks never went down, and that probably would have been the most valuable cut they could have made. I know I'd spend more on drinks if they weren't $3+ per drink. That's definitely a spot where they could have made it up on volume.

Wait a sec.

Prices on everything were lowered that season. (see here)

I didn't say anything about cutting prices. I meant they should improve the quality of what they're offering now. If this forum is an indication of the situation, a large number of people who attend CF parks avoid buying food of any kind while there.

If they could entice the people already going to the park to purchase some decent quality food, they could increase their revenues substantially without having to install a $20 million attraction, or trying to increase overall attendance.

Gonch, you can't believe everything you read on the internet. ;)

I stand corrected. Perhaps it didn't feel like less because it was still too much.

Although that tells you an interesting story... that by the end of the very next year, soda went up in price by nearly a buck.

Jeff said:
Furthermore, flat per-cap this year, not running with inflation, is a pretty clear sign that they're pricing themselves out of sales.

The more I thought about this the less I agree with it too.

Inflation doesn't magically make people spend more. In fact, it basically makes people buy less. (your dollar has less buying power)

The only way CP's per cap would keep pace with inflation is if their prices do - and as far as I know they didn't raise everything 3-5% this season.

The bottom line is that if prices stayed flat (and feel free to correct me if they didn't), then people spent exactly what they spent last year inside the park (based on this report of flat per caps). The high prices didn't make people spend any less..and the per caps under the higher prices are higher than under previous prices (as evidenced by prior reports showing per caps up recently).

I dunno. Based on what I see, my opinion and reports like this - I don't think the members of this forum are representative of the average park-goer when it comes to willingness (and/or ability?) to spend inside the park.

The cost of goods goes up with inflation. If sales don't rise with inflation, cost of goods still goes up. So on an inflation adjusted basis, they made less.

"The price of regular one-day admission is $39.95, down $5 from last year's $44.95."

And it still isn't back up to $44.95

Jeff said:
The cost of goods goes up with inflation. If sales don't rise with inflation, cost of goods still goes up. So on an inflation adjusted basis, they made less.

Yeah, I'm with you for the most part. I'm looking at it more along the angle of people's willingness to spend.

I'm still not sure I buy the idea that people buy more than twice as many $2 drinks than $4 drinks. Or 33% more $3 than $4 - or whatever we think the sweet spot is.

Captain Hawkeye said:
"The price of regular one-day admission is $39.95, down $5 from last year's $44.95."

And it still isn't back up to $44.95

And if you ask me, this is where they continue to drop the ball.

Well, it's a buck less, but I would tend to agree that I think cutting that price wasn't what they needed to do. I still think that's a pretty good value proposition.

I mean honestly, a 5 gallon box of Syrup for A Soda Machine is Roughly $50. That has nearly 300 servings in it. 17 cents per soda, plus cup cost. People understand they are making a $3+ profit on a pop and it kills them.

Obviously the CF philosophy is get them into the park with low admission and make up for it on in-park margins.

I have no idea if the opposite approach--jack up admission prices and cut in-park prices--would work or not, but with total revenue up 3% in a down economy their current approach seems to be working.

It works okay for Disney---admission is sharply higher, and in-park food pricing is a surprising value, particularly for the quality. But, Cedar Fair ain't no Disney.