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

Do they still have the MIA/CP pass?

GregLeg, I know this may be hard for you to believe but there are those of us who live <2 hours from Cedar Point (Im 1hr 15min) and would never stay at the resort because, well I prefer my own bed (its cheaper, more comfy, and I dont have to pack.) Throw us locals a bone, not everyone (in fact its very few) sees Sandusky as a vacation destination (to me its a glorious day trip.) We deserve a pass with parking included as much as the people living in Allentown, Doswell, Shakopee, Kansas City, etc. etc.

Also, lets face it, if you were staying at a CP resort before, and even if you have a Platnum Pass you still will because of location, location, location. When I didnt live so close it was always worth it to pay extra to stay at the Breakers, not because of the early entry, not because of the free parking, but because I could literally wake up and walk to the park entrance.

Touchdown, I didn't SAY they shouldn't offer a pass with parking at all. I said I found it interesting that the pass with parking is the ONLY option -- it's just not that difficult to put a checkbox on a form, and it just might drum up even more sales.

^ Isn't that the same as saying they should offer a pass without parking?

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CPLady said:
Sure, those of us in the Ohio market felt screwed when we saw others getting the Maxx pass for $90 while the rest of us were stuck with the $125 plan because we WERE close to other parks. The Maxx pass, Joe Cool and parking would have cost me $190. And that's without the water park. Even the regular CP pass was $90, plus $50 for parking and $15 for Joe Cool...$155. And that was CP ONLY!

So yeah...I'm all over the new Platinum pass even if I only go to CP because the water park is now included. The fact I have MiA and GL 3 hours from me and KI 4 hours away, I'm even happier and it's wiped away that feeling of being screwed over last year...and the Ohio/Michigan people WERE screwed over last year.

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screwed over? since the Ohio parks see much more capital investment doesn't it make sense that the primary users of those parks pay more?

hmmmm, for 2007 cedar point gets a multi million dollar ride, same as kings island. Dorney got new bins for Steel Force...next year we get an 8 year old coaster, but i suppose that is fair too.
last year our improvement was a new wave pool. so see, wwk is included, as such Dorney must spread the capital around, whereas Cp and soak city with seperate gates both see improvements each year.

so chances are next year will be the first time in 12 years i will not buy a season pass at Dorney and instead make more trips to Knoebels. I know I'll end up spending more in the long run but it'll be worth it.

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...so chances are next year will be the first time in 12 years i will not buy a season pass at Dorney...

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And yet, I'll bet the higher pricing sticks in 2009.

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alfundo said:
so chances are next year will be the first time in 12 years i will not buy a season pass at Dorney and instead make more trips to Knoebels. I know I'll end up spending more in the long run but it'll be worth it.

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So you won't by a new pass because it costs yoo much, but you'll spend more at Knoebels than you would with your pass?

????????

-Tambo

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halltd said:
^ Isn't that the same as saying they should offer a pass without parking?

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Sigh...

YES, that's EXACTLY what I'm saying. They should offer a pass without the parking option. But I DIDN'T say they shouldn't ALSO offer a pass WITH parking option, which is what Touchdown seemed to think I was saying.

Once more, to make myself perfectly clear: I have no problem with the $140 pass that gives you all the parks and includes parking at them. I just think that for some people, especially families, a slightly less expensive pass that DOESN'T include the parking would be a nice bone to throw. Why should a family of 5 (for example) end up with 5 passes that include parking?

Which is the exact same thing Gonch has been saying about the admission at certain other parks for years, and I actually DO agree with him there.

The Cedar Point only pass doesn't include parking. So, there's your less expensive pass without parking.

If you want to go to other Cedar Fair parks, you need to get the more expensive pass. If it makes you feel better, you're paying more for the ability to visit other parks, not parking. Just imagine you don't really have parking on the other passes! :)

I'm sure they came up with this option to benefit themselves too. The logistics behind the infinite number of pass combinations they had this year had to have been an accounting and operations nightmare. So, now with two passes for the entire chain, it is probably easier on everyone.

Of course they did. But it does show a bit of laziness on their part, IMHO. It wouldn't be difficult to have a total of 4 passes:

1. Local Park
2. Local Park including parking
3. National Parks
4. National Parks including parking

#3 takes the sting away a bit from families. Necessary? No. A nice touch? Yes.

Due to the psychology of looking at pricing, they could probably even get away with charging MORE for #4 than they are now.

I still don't like paying more to visit other parks within the chain. Its not like I can be visiting a far away park and be at my home park at the same time.

I think CF should be happy with people visiting from far away. I believe that people traveling from afar spend more in the park and it is locals that are most likely to pack a lunch or leave for lunch.

I most likely will not get a Dorney pass next season. Not so much because of the price increase but because I didn't use mine much this season. I only went to Dorney twice and KD once. Plus next season I will be living closer to Knoebels and Hershey, places I enjoy much more than Dorney :)

For someone whose home park is Cedar Point, that's a reasonable thought. After all, you've paid a small fortune to be able to make unlimited visits to Cedar Point; now you're somewhere else on the continent, and you figure that a visit to, say, Worlds of Fun should be a little less of a value than a visit to Cedar Point; why should you pay MORE for it?

On the other hand, what entitles someone who bought a cheap local pass for Michigan's Adventure to go to Kings Island for no upcharge? Take a look at the pricing and see what Cedar Fair has done: They are pricing the local season passes so that they are reasonable for the local parks. Then since the Platinum Pass (note how they have skipped right over the gold pass...) gets you in everywhere, it's the same price everywhere. And look at what that price is: it's a $55 upcharge for Michigan's Adventure, but at Cedar Point it's actually CHEAPER than the $160 you'd pay for a season pass plus parking.

On a related note, I wonder if in the Cedar Point and Kings Island markets they will end up selling a family of four a package consisting of one platinum pass and three local passes, just because the platinum pass is cheaper than local+parking.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

WOF to me makes a poor example of poor value of this passport plan. We "still" have 2 separate gate parks here Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun (which is one of 3 like it in the Cedar Fair chain). The price for both parks plus parking this year was $95 + $35 which made it to around $130 and that did not include the Other CF parks or parking at them. We are not seeing this as a rip off here in the KC area. Now our friends up to our north at Valley Fair probably would fell the most pain with the $140 price tag if they want to go to other CF parks.

So IMO we are only seeing a tiny little less value compared if I was living in Ohio. But I feel that there's way less value if you live in Minnesota and had to buy one of these.

I am looking forward to picking this new pass up as last years plan prevented me from going to Oceans of Fun becasue I didn't see any value in paying $75 more to have a CF Maxx Plus in order to be able to go to OOF, when a separate OOF pass would have cost me $65 more, and it didn't include a Jacket. *** Edited 9/3/2007 7:28:57 AM UTC by Sawblade5***

How exactly is this a bum deal for Valleyfair passholders? Looking at this years pricing structure this year the one park SP is $100, and I'm sure its going to go up next year, but for argument sake lets just keep it there. That means that the upgrade to Platinum is only $40, and I will assume that the parking pass at VF will also be $35 like CP and MIA. That means that if you are a driver to VF 5 trips to the park pays for the the Platinum, or at least one trip using the parking option plus a day at another CF park, and of course if you dont drive, well then you have to goto another CF park for two days.

Looks like an excellent deal to me.

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RideMan said:
On the other hand, what entitles someone who bought a cheap local pass for Michigan's Adventure to go to Kings Island for no upcharge?

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This is exactly the point several of us have made now, and yet there's this vocal minority of people who got a Maxx pass from park X, which was cheaper than their home park, and now they're crying about how it's no longer a good deal. Well duh! You were beating the system before. How would it be right for me to go to MiA, get a pass on the cheap, and use it all year at Cedar Point? From a business standpoint, it's not good for Cedar Fair. And even then, being that I'd just be some dorky enthusiast who would know enough to do that, I'd be in an incredible minority.

So those of you who feel you're not getting the good deal this year, perhaps you're right. But the truth of the matter is that you're not even a blip on their radar. In the big picture, this new plan benefits far more people than it doesn't.

As I said in News, I'm awfully surprised. The total pass/parking bill for my family is going down by almost 20% in 2008, and I'm getting more for that money---without even considering the dorky jacket.

It's going to save me a few bucks this year.

OK, the regular price for a 2007 VF Maxx Pass is $109.95 or $99.95 for the regular pass. So if you add a parking pass to either one you are within $5 of $140 Platinum Pass.

Why even offer the Regular and Platinum Pass at VF? Why not just offer the Platinum with parking for $140 and Platinum w/o parking for $115-$120? I just don't see charging a family with children under 16 a parking fee on each pass.

I'll admit I'm not a fan of this because I always buy my pass for the next year at their discounted rate which is usually posted on the VF website by now. Last September I purchased my 2007 Maxx Pass for $69.95. I guess those days are gone.

Just to add to the drama a bit...found a backdoor to the pass information for Kings Island. They are keeping the Gold Pass. They must not think that many people will spring for the platinum pass if it's the only way to get the bonus benefits.

Go here: http://www3.cedarfair.com/kingsisland/shop/shopping_corporate_partners.cfm

and login using "2008pass"

While I fully understand the need to prevent someone from buying a "cheap" SP from WoF or MiA or even PCar/PKD and then using it all summer long at CP and/or PKI, it also seems a bit drastic for someone who (like me), visited CP once this season (C-Mania trip). My *nearest* CF park is so far away that the new pricing makes me wonder if I'm not better off doing day-tickets at CF parks....esp. since most of my trips inviolve going to *events* where day-ticket prices are relatively cheap.

I'm on the fence as to whether to shell out $140 for next year's CF Platinum Pass...most likely, I'll end up with one anyway, but this pricing really does eliminate the NEED for me to get a pass. In '07, the SP probably saved me a hundred bucks or so on admissions, but would I really have even gone to PKI for a couple night-rides without a SP? Probably not...so in the end, I think we BOTH got more out of me buying the PCar pass. Next year, we may both get less.

The parking fee being added to *every* Platinum Pass, esp. when families often have a few kids under legal driving age, seems a little double-fisted, financially speaking...

Not emotionally involved/attached to either argument, just putting random thoughts into the hopper...