Cedar Fair Platinum Pass?

So this is my first year as a Cedar Fair home parker (Great America) and I don't really understand who the Platinum Pass is for. For the price of a Platinum Pass, ($210) I can get a gold pass at CGA and KBF (~$90 a piece), or I can get a Gold pass at CGA and a daily admission to KD and Canada's Wonderland, which is what I actually need. Who is the Platinum Pass for? Are there benefits that I'm missing? Do you get free parking at the other parks? And if so, do I need more than 1 Platinum Pass?

CF platinum passes get you admission, free parking and all the gold/platinum benefits at every cedar fair park (morning ERT, food discounts, etc.). Also if you buy the platinum season dining plan that will work at every park as well.

I live in Wisconsin but I always swing through Ohio at least 2 times a year so it gets me into CP and KI with free parking and morning ERT at both parks. Next year buy your pass in the fall, it will be cheaper, I want to say I paid $180 this year.

People like me that live within reasonable driving distance of five of their parks. For a Californian..not such a value

I suppose you cold buy 1 Platinum pass to cover the parking, in-park discounts, etc, and regular passes for the rest of the family. Then buy tickets online for the far away parks for the rest of your party.

Keep in mind though that if other members go to CGA without you, they will have to cough up the parking fee. You cannot just give someone else your pass for parking. They do check to see that the face of the Platinum passholder is indeed riding in the car.

Depending on the price difference, you may just want to buy Platinum for everyone for simplicity and peace of mind. Who knows, you may find yourself with extra time at KD or CW and wish you had the extra day. Or you could get rained out and want to return. Just my $.02.

Yep. We're platinum holders, and live in NE Ohio. For the sheer amount of times we go to Cedar Point alone, the pass is worth it.

With "just" a season pass, we would not get Cedar Point Shores, Free Parking, Early ride times, etc...

Not to mention we use it when we travel. We often plan toad trips to other destinations so that along the way we can hit up other Cedar Fair parks. This year's trip to VA Beach and (along the way) Kings Dominion is a great example. It's the branching out to the other parks where we really get the biggest value. Kings Island and Dorney Park (although a bit further) are all within "road trip" distance. And when you get there you get all the same perks; free dinosaurs (muffled hooray), parking, early entry, etc...

It sounds like it's not the best option for you.

Platinum at Carowinds is $180. Last year I used it for multiple trips to Carowinds and (separately ticketed) SCarowinds, two days at CP, two at KD, a day at KI, two at Knotts, a discount on Scary Farm Tix, and a trip to Dorney. With included parking and a 10% discount on purchases, it was well worth it.

But if you're not doing enough parks platinum isn't worth it. A buddy of mine was going to get platinum because we are going to KD in a couple weeks, I told him it wouldn't be worth it since KD is likely the only other CF park he'd get to this year.

Living in Orlando, I still make it home to NE Ohio for 2-3 Cedar Point visits a year when I go visit my folks. 2 summer trips and a Halloweekends day. Last year we made it four times and blew almost $80 on parking. When I renewed on closing day last year I upgraded to Platinum simply for the free parking. When I do my annual trip home for closing weekend, I will hit the park Friday night as well as Sunday, which I have never done before simply because of the parking fee. If it gets me to take a road trip to Carowinds for Fury (haven't been since 2012) then all the more worth it!

Entire family had Platinum Passes a couple years when we were traveling and Cedar Fair parks were along the way. Wife took the kids to Wildwater Kingdom once a year too. My son has had one for years because he went to Cedar Point enough for it to make sense. We also made a trip to Kings Island several years. No one in the family has one this year.

I know families who have just one platinum pass (for parking) and the rest of the family has seasons passes. They only go to Cedar Point. Deal was better when they could get a junior platinum pass.

Need to look at the benefits and see how you will use them. And then understand your circumstances may change and you may end up on the plus or negative side in terms of $$. Kids can make it tough because their schedules and interests change so much as they grow up.

I imagine that most parks don’t sell many Platinum Passes. At most parks, the Gold Pass and the Platinum Pass have the same benefits, except that the Platinum Pass also gets you those benefits at other parks. There’s no reason to go for the Platinum Pass unless you’re going to be traveling to several other parks over the course of the year.

Cedar Point and Canada’s Wonderland are a bit different though, because they don’t have Gold Passes. The only way to get free parking and other benefits there is to get the Platinum Pass, so it could make sense to go Platinum even if you aren’t going to be traveling anywhere.

Ah. That makes sense. I was going to say that CGA's gold passes include parking and I couldn't figure out why everyone was so worked up about parking.

The only additional benefit of a CGA platinum over a CGA gold is access to other parks and it comes at a cost of $120.

If Cedar Point had a gold pass that is absolutely would I would get. But for the early renewal price of $180 that I did last year, it will encourage me to get 4 or 5 Cedar Point when I go up to Ohio this summer instead of 2 or 3, and hopefully get me to commit to a Carowinds trip.

It's been a few years since we had Platinum passes. We bought ours at Kings Island this past fall for $180 each and got a free day at the park for 2016 with the purchase.

We are going to BGW, and Kings Dominion this weekend. We also plan on visiting Dorney Park, Cedar Point(for a few days,) and Carowinds to ride Fury. I shoot for 4 visits to feel as though we got our moneys worth. When we get to 6 to 8 visits that's when I really feel like I got my moneys worth.

We will typically go to Dorney and KD in the Spring and fall when we have passes. It pushes me to make more trips to feel as though I got a value out if it.

The trick I have heard of is to get the pass with parking on it for one of the kids, figuring no matter who is going to the park, the kid is likely to be there. I thought that a pretty clever hack for a family of four.

In my case the platinum pass was pretty much a no-brainer. Originally purchased at Kings Island, used mostly at Cedar Point, and last renewed while waiting to get into Knott's...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I think I have a very different use case: My wife is super duper unlikely to take my kids to the park without me, but there's a decent chance I'll go without the kids. If anyone is getting the platinum, it's me, though it looks like getting a round of gold passes for all of us is the correct choice here.

So starting to plan my trip to KD and CW: Is Fast Pass or Fast Pass Plus transferrable? i.e. can I just get two and rotate who uses it? How is it actually implemented?

Fast Lane uses a tyvek wristband that can't be removed without tearing or cutting the wristband.

So bring tape!