Cedar fair now offers a "all park parking pass".

^^Doesn't beat paying $39.99 for a season pass and having 16 park visits!! (7 parks total)

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alfundo said:
really? 2 years ago the pass got me into 8 parks around the country if I desired for no additional cost. Now it looks like it'll be %50 more for that perceived value.

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Now it gets you into 14 parks and 5 waterparks around the country if you so desire...and you won't pay parking fees when you get there.

I don't see how the value hasn't increased.

What I do see is the same old complaining any time there is a change in the way something is done. Any time a park restructures or changes pricing...it seems like such a big scary deal to so many people who post here.

Trust me, it's not scary...things change. We'll be fine. :)

^ The conceptual value may have increased, yes. But, how many people travel all over the US to attend CF parks? If you're in the Northeast, you have many within driving distance. But, there are other parts of the country where you have to do a good bit of travel to get to their other parks.

I'm not saying it's not a good deal to many people. But, to others, it is not. I think that's all they're saying.

This year my friends and I went to three Six Flags parks and it made sense to get a season pass. We went to three because the season pass was so cheap for the one park we really wanted to attend.

We did not buy a Maxx pass because it didn't benefit us at Cedar Point, and we would have needed to go to too many other Cedar Fair parks to make it pay for itself. So, we got discount tickets to Knott's and skipped the other CF parks. Had the season pass been cheaper, we would have made a point to travel to other CF parks and spent money there.

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I'm not saying it's not a good deal to many people. But, to others, it is not. I think that's all they're saying.

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That's entirely fine.

Keep in mind, no one is making anyone get a MAXX pass, nor is it the only option.

Don't travel enough to justify the Maxx pass (or have other CF parks nearby)? That's why they sell park specific passes as well.

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Had the season pass been cheaper, we would have made a point to travel to other CF parks and spent money there.

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This is a line of logic that gets mentioned for just about any pricing aspect of the industry and I don't understand it one bit.

"I would've spent more if they charged less."

What!?

That must be some kind of new math because I can't figure it out for the life of me. (and I'm pretty handy with numbers ;) )

Let me take a breath from ranting for a second...

I'm good with the Maxx pass. I have the Maxx pass right now. At last season's local pricing deltas, I'd do the Maxx pass again.

But if the the Platinum Pass is my only CF park reciprocity choice? Then I have problems.

If I lived a day's drive from 2, 3 or a half dozen other CF parks? You wouldn't hear a peep from me if the Platinum was my only choice. It would be a great value.

But since all but one are least 700 miles out, you get to hear me (bleep) and wail. In advance, at that.

Speaking of which? Back to raising hell!

-CO

I think it's a damn great idea. It's about time! I am just curious to see how much these Platinum Passes will be at Carowinds (where I got my Maxx Pass this year) or any of the Ohio parks.

Whatever the price is, it's a DREAM of a steal to me!

-Tina

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Lord Gonchar said:
This is a line of logic that gets mentioned for just about any pricing aspect of the industry and I don't understand it one bit.

"I would've spent more if they charged less."

What!?

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Ha ha! I know it sounds weird. But, here was our logic (however flawed it may be) for the 2007 season. Our season started in March with a trip to California which included Magic Mountain and Knott's. They were the two parks we FOR SURE wanted to hit. So, we looked at the chain wide season pass prices for Six Flags and Cedar Fair. $150 for Cedar Fair, $59.99 for Six Flags.

Cedar Point was also in our travel plans for sure, but we were doing VIP. The Maxx pass provides no discount for VIP, so that entire park and pricing structure was out the window for us.

Great Adventure and New England are within driving distance to NYC where some of us live. So, that added a lot of value to the Six Flags season pass so we added those two parks to our travel plans just because we had a season pass. Otherwise, we wouldn't have attended, thus spending no money at those parks. So, because the season pass was so affordable, those two parks gained four people and their associated spending that day which they wouldn't normally have received. That's what I meant by Six Flags got more money out of us in 2007 because of the affordable season pass.

We considered King's Island, Geauga Lake and Dorney in our thought process too. However, I've been to Geauga Lake and didn't want to subject my friends to its nastiness. Half of us had been to Dorney and considered it a mini Cedar Point. So, since we were doing CP already, why "waste" a day at Dorney? So, it came down to King's Island. But, that only left two total Cedar Fair parks (Knott's and King's Island) and the Maxx pass at that point wasn't even close to being worth the money. Instead, we drove eight hours out of our way to visit Holiday World instead because of their coasters. :)

All I was trying to say was if the Maxx pass was more affordable (like the Six Flags one), we most likely would have hit up Dorney, Geauga Lake, King's Island, Knott's AND Cedar Point just because we had the pass. So, that is an additional three parks we would have attended just because we had a pass in our hands. Since the pass was "expensive", we chose to visit parks like Holiday World and Hershey Park and spend our money there.

That's what I was trying to say. Hopefully that makes a little more sense. :)

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CoastaPlaya said:If I lived a day's drive from 2, 3 or a half dozen other CF parks? You wouldn't hear a peep from me if the Platinum was my only choice. It would be a great value.

But since all but one are least 700 miles out, you get to hear me (bleep) and wail.

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All but one? Hey, you got one within an 8-hour drive....and a pretty good one at that! :)

All kidding aside, it seems that now the Ohio people are the ones making out. At the expense of people WoF and ValleyFair it seems...

If ONLY they'd let High Roller fly... ;)

^^But that's what happens when most CF employees and exec's have OH plates!!

Next year my girlfriend and I were planning to get Maxx Passes from Dorney and at some point go on a multi-day trip to Cedar Point. But we were going to stay at one of the park's hotels, which means free parking. So why should we have to pay extra for two passes which include free parking if we're going to get free parking anyway? The only other Cedar Fair park we were thinking about visiting was Geauga Lake because it would be close to our route, but if they take out more coasters it'll hardly be worth the extra day away from home.

If in fact the pass is uniform in design at all parks, then it will be plus for some locations and not so much for others. But that said, if it wasn't that useful before, it won't be now, so nothing really changes. The net result though is that it's uniform and easy to understand.

There will be something more official to tell you in a day or two.

It was just brought to my attention that the non-Ohio parks had much lower Maxx pass prices than the Ohio parks. I did not know this. Now I at least understand much of the animosity better.

But I still don't agree. :)

Compared to 2007's prices, the 2008 prices look ridiculous. But 2007's Maxx passes at the non-ohio parks were clearly underpriced (like almost SF bad).

Just play along with me for a minute and assume that 2007 was a fluke. CF screwed up hard on their price points.

Go back to 2006. What would have it cost to have passes to get into all the Paramount parks and all the CF parks and waterparks and include parking at all of them? What about 2005? 2004? And so on.

Now imagine this new price scheme continues on into the future - 2009, 2010, 2011 and so on.

Come 2015 (just 7 seasons away) - you'll be able to look back and easily see a pattern. You'll see that 2007 was a partial fluke. There will be one big dip in the line chart for non-Ohio parks in 2007.

You're not getting ripped off in 2008. You got lucky in 2007. :)

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With that said, here's why this Ohio resident is pleased as punch. For 2007 we paid for:

3 adult Maxx passes without waterpark @ $125 each
1 junior Maxx pass without waterpark @ $79.95 each
1 parking pass good at Kings Island @ $34.95 each

It cost us $489.90 for our passes this year (plus parking at the other CF parks - include that and we paid a total of $528.90). If I score four platinum passes for 2008, the price will be $509.95 (going off of the MIA pricing) and will include parking at all parks and the waterparks.

The real question is, will they set it up so that you can go to Knott's with your Cedar Fair all-park pass and NOT have to wait in line for an hour at the Guest Relations booth to get into the park. Knott's clearly has huge problems with park admissions (given the length of the line of people who had ticket problems) and their inability to come up with a quick way of dealing with the relatively quick problem of an out-of-market season pass really did bad things to my last visit there...

Anyway, going back to the numbers, in 2006, I paid something like $125 for a Cedar Point pass, 2-park parking pass, and Geauga Lake endorsement (making my pass good at all Cedar Fair parks). Then I spent another $90 on a Kings Island pass with included parking for a total of $215 for what are now all of the Cedar Fair parks. In 2007, I spent $125 on a Kings Island Maxx Pass with parking, and another $40 on Ohio parking. That's $165, which means I got a deal. Now you're telling me that for $140 I can get a Cedar Fair pass that includes parking at all their parks? Sign me up!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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RideMan said:
The real question is, will they set it up so that you can go to Knott's with your Cedar Fair all-park pass and NOT have to wait in line for an hour at the Guest Relations booth to get into the park. Knott's clearly has huge problems with park admissions (given the length of the line of people who had ticket problems) and their inability to come up with a quick way of dealing with the relatively quick problem of an out-of-market season pass really did bad things to my last visit there...

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I had similar issues in May, but on my last trip to CP 4 weeks ago a couple in line for Maverick *from CA with CP-based Maxx Passes!?!* (don't ask me why!?) Said those issues have now been resolved...

This is what baffles me about CF. How come SF can make a season pass system so simple? I am not talking about the pricing but the simple technology to make it work without needing an instruction booklet to figure it out.

SF season pass: You pay what the SF park you visit charges. Some SF parks more expensive then others.

SF parking pass: if you opt for the parking option, its printed on your season pass. No more window stickers, no more stickers placed on your season pass. No more hanging tags on your rear view mirror.

Both SF season pass and parking pass are good at all SF parks.

It's not rocket science.

For 2007, I spent $89 for my King's Dominion Maxx pass, which I've used at King's Dominion, Great America, Geauga Lake, and Cedar Point (x3).

So far I've paid a total of $20 on parking due to carpooling and staying on-site at Cedar Point. The new "toss the parking in" structure is actually MORE expensive for me, and will also be for most families buying multiple passes. For the residents in Ohio, I'm sure this looks like a great deal, but to those of us in the other areas, if the pricing is the same across the board, it's a bum deal (relatively speaking)

I'd rather have the option to get a less expensive pass without the included parking. Pull out the useless-to-me waterparks, too.

I generally make about the same number of trips every year. Factored into that is a rough estimate of travel, hotel, park admission, and meals. Season passes reduce the cost of park admission, letting me shift the balance a bit, but the number of trips I take generally remains about the same.

Jacking up the cost of the season pass by THAT much changes the balance -- I get less value out of the pass, or I "need" to make more trips to get the same return, which means more hotel costs, etc. At that point, I start looking at other trips I can do instead.

At $140, I could be better off paying gate admission at King's Dominion and Cedar Point (especially with all the discounts one can find) and saying "screw the rest". Let's say those two visits cost me the same amount as last year's Maxx pass -- that $50 I'd need to spend on the Platinum pass is two more trips to Kennywood.

It IS all about "perceived value". $140 for the Platinum Pass isn't a bad deal, but they're telling us that to get a pass good at the other parks, we HAVE to take the parking whether we want it or not. Yes, that's the same thing as Holiday World including parking in their ticket price, BUT Holiday World doesn't blatantly STATE it that way -- they just say "parking is free for everyone, the price to get in the gate is $X". Cedar Fair is saying "Parking is $A, admission is $B, a season pass is $C, a season pass good at the other parks is $D where D is a huge number that also includes parking even if you weren't paying $A to begin with..."

MAYBE (hopefully) the parks farther away from Ohio will still be cheaper, we'll see. If they are, at that point my complaints disappear.

Busch ALSO has a Platinum pass. It includes all the parks, free parking (preferred when available), is good for 2 years, and at the time I got it, it cost me $280. Doing the math, it's not hard to see the new Cedar Fair pass is at that level. BUT, the Busch parks are nicer, have MUCH better food, and the passes offered extra little perks inside the park (discounts on merchandise, etc.) that that made them easier to swallow.

Now, however, Busch has raised the price on the Platinum pass to a whopping $340 (at Williamsburg; it's $309 at Tampa). At THAT level, I'm not renewing, because the return is no longer worth it to me.

That same "is it still worth it?" debate is what we're talking about on this new Cedar Fair Platinum pass.

Cedar Point just announced their pricing. The Platinum Pass is $140.

-Tambo

OK, so here's the relevant part of the Cedar Point press release they're issuing now:

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Beginning Friday, Sept. 14, guests will also be able to get a “jump start” on the fun at Cedar Point in 2008 by purchasing a season pass, valid for unlimited visits to Cedar Point. For the 2008 season, guests will have two season pass options to choose from: the Cedar Point Regular Season Pass, valid for unlimited admission to Cedar Point only, and the Cedar Fair Platinum Season Pass, valid for unlimited admission to Cedar Point, Soak City Waterpark and all other Cedar Fair amusement parks and outdoor waterparks. Overall, the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company owns 12 amusement parks and five outdoor waterparks.

In addition to admission to some of the best parks in the United States and Canada, the 2008 Cedar Fair Platinum Pass includes several added perks that guests will enjoy. All Platinum Passes will include parking at Cedar Point and all other Cedar Fair parks. Also, all Platinum Passes will include enrollment in the Point Perks program, a “members-only” benefits program that features early entry to Cedar Point each operating day, discounts on food and merchandise and invitations to special events just for Point Perks members. Cedar Point Regular Season Passes will not include parking or enrollment in the Point Perks program. Cedar Point Parking Passes will be $50.

Guests who purchase any season pass (Cedar Point or Platinum) through Nov. 11 will also receive a complimentary Cedar Fair Entertainment Company pullover jacket.

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Now, to go along with what Gonch was saying, the lack of uniform pricing made at advantageous buy at parks not in close proximity to other parks. But that said, you're still not close to those parks anyway. So if you did buy a Maxx, and did go to those other parks, you were beating the system. Now, you can't because it's the same price everywhere. Will they sell a ton at the Ohio parks? You bet. Will they sell a ton at Worlds of Fun? Probably not, but they weren't selling a ton of Maxx passes in the first place. But Dominion and Dorney, for someone living in Baltimore, that would seem to me a good deal.

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RideMan said:
The real question is, will they set it up so that you can go to Knott's with your Cedar Fair all-park pass and NOT have to wait in line for an hour at the Guest Relations booth to get into the park.

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I don't know if it will happen this year for sure, but one of the things they bought with the Paramount Parks was a pretty sweet ticketing system. They are, as fast as they can, trying to implement it on a chain-wide basis. That's a real big step when some parks still weigh tickets to measure admission. This system gives them instantaneous measure of how many people are in the parks at any given moment. The ability to react and evolve in real time is greatly improved.

The bottom line though is that the new system is simple.

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GregLeg said:
It IS all about "perceived value". $140 for the Platinum Pass isn't a bad deal, but they're telling us that to get a pass good at the other parks, we HAVE to take the parking whether we want it or not.

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But see, you're talking about a relatively rare customer in yourself. Along the lines of what Dave was saying, I paid $125 for a Maxx pass plus $75 for Ohio parking. For me, I'm going to make out big time, because it's like buying Maxx (plus water parks, which means Soak City at CP), and another $15 for parking at all parks. That's a steal.

Again, the people who bought in one market to use it mostly in another market 400 miles away were not the typical customer.

You're right, the out-of-market Maxx customer was probably pretty rare, but we existed. This new pass could be a VERY hard sell for, say, King's Dominion, to push on their customers.

I'd love to see hard numbers after this year on sales of Maxx passes at the outlying parks vs. sales of Platinum passes.
*** Edited 8/31/2007 1:57:43 PM UTC by GregLeg***