CF season passes get stranger and stranger

OK, a Pass to CEDAR POINT is $110. No Problem.

A pass to MI Adventure is $85. No Problem

Here is where it gets weird. A pass that will get you in to both Mi Adventure and Cedar Point is $105!!!!!

You can get a dual pass cheaper than a pass for just Cedar Point!! They also offer the Max Pass. Why on earth would they do away with the CP/GL combo, but sell a CP/MA pass CHEAPER than a CP pass???

http://miadventure.com/spass.shtml

*** Edited 1/30/2007 1:59:49 AM UTC by 1EyedJack***

Don't you have to go through some stupid hoops to get into a park other than your "home" park? If that were the case, it would be a pain to get your pass at CP if MiA was your home park. But, for a little bit more than just a MiA pass, they can entice you to go to CP more often. Sorta makes sense to me.

I'd snap that up - seems like a deal if I lived in Michigan (which thankfully I don't). :-)

If you buy the combo pass at MIA,it's cheaper, but if you buy it at CP, it's more. It's even cheaper if you buy the combo pass at Worlds of Fun or Valleyfair.

I had the Cp?GL combo pass last year, and it swiped at both places. No hastles. CP does not offer a CP/MA pass. Yet they (Michaganites) can get the pass cheaper. Hell, If I lived in Detroit, I would go get my pass at MA, and save some $$$. Of course we ARE talking Michagan people. ;)

A season pass at Valleyfair! is only $75, with a Maxxpass going for $85. Hard to beat that.

I had a good laugh reading someone's bashing of people from Michigan while incorrectly spelling the name of the state twice.

Maybe they want to raise the number of season passes they sell at MA. While doing that in turn you are telling people to go to CP if you live in Michigan.

Why is it so hard to understand? It's not like people who have passes at one park are going to make frequent trips to the other parks.

WoF's are the same (now) as VF's. $75 and $85 -- which really is not a bad deal.

Speaking of Season Passes -- I'm stoked that my SDC/CC/WWB pass will get me into DW/DSC for FREE this year as opposed to 1/2 off like it has been in the past. :)

---

Acoustic Viscosity said:
If you buy the combo pass at MIA,it's cheaper, but if you buy it at CP, it's more. It's even cheaper if you buy the combo pass at Worlds of Fun or Valleyfair.

---

True, The MaxxPass was only $84.95 online at the WoF site. Just when I think I understand the logic in pricing something comes up to change my mind.

I know why CP passes are higher but I don't understand the pricing on the Maxx Passes at all. Does Cedar Fair use distance requirements or anything as far as where you can buy season passes from.

I've bought my SP online from WoF for the past several years. All you have to do is have it processed in person once. After that, when you renew online you have the option of sending in a form and $5 and they'll process it that way. You don't even have to visit the park.

^If you HAD bought it before the 2006 season was over you could have said $10. ;)

You can buy the pass at MIA, but you have to process it at MIA before you use it at CP. THAT is the catch.

I am getting mine at King's Dominion in late March....$89. What a STEAL just to visit the Ohio parks alone, not to mention all the other CF parks I plan on visiting this year. :)

I personally think it would be crazy to live in Ohio and NOT get a MaxPass, even if you never leave the state. But, I guess there are a lot of non-enthusiast King's Island season passholders that never venture to Sandusky/Aurora and vice versa?

Now THAT is strange in my book. ;)

-Tina

*** Edited 1/30/2007 6:18:30 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

WOW... Maybe I should have bought my MaxPass somewhere other then CP. Oh well...

Let's see.. MiA is in Muskegon, Michigan. CP is in Sandusky, Ohio.

According to mapquest, that's approximately "Total Est. Time: 4 hours, 28 minutes Total Est. Distance: 286.89 miles" (That's plugging in the cities).

So you're telling me that the average season-pass-holding park-goer is going to drive 4 1/2 hours to save $5? I defer to Gonch to explain why that is a bad move financially, even if you're getting a Maxx Pass instead of a "regular" pass. Especially since you have to process your pass AT MiA before you can use it at CP (and I believe you have to have a CP pass in order to get a CP Parking Pass.. although I could be wrong).

Likewise, How often are people from Michigan going to make the drive to Cedar Point?

It goes back to the discussion when GL was purchased and the proximity "problem" arose - how do you keep it the same/competetive without undercutting pass sales at one place? You can't charge the same chain-wide for a season pass because CP's would have to be ridiculously low or MiA's ridiculously high (and similarly affecting all the passes, with most people not even thinking of going to another park).

I'm sure they poured over data from the past few years (or at the very least 2005, since that was the most recent full year when they came up with the Maxx option) and looked at how often passes from certain parks were used at others. Granted, that wouldn't count for the Paramount Properties, but still, you get my point.

If park X's pass was used at ANOTHER PARK (who cares where) on average once per pass sold, and park Y's pass was used at ANOTHER PARK (again, we don't care where) on average twice per pass sold, then park Y's Maxx option should/would cost twice as much to add on to the season pass as park X. The fun part is anticipating the draw from nearby paramount properties (GL/CP to PKI, DP to PKD, KBF to PGAm, etc.)

Edit: Pasting the quote from mapquest killed the formatting, so I had to fix it.

*** Edited 1/30/2007 12:17:41 PM UTC by dannerman***

I didn't want to get this mixed in with the edit:

I still say that in addition to the MaxxPass, they should give half-price admissions for one-day tickets to non-Maxx season passes.

In other words, if you buy a CP Pass without the Maxx Option, and you happen to find out later that your cousin is getting married 10 minutes away from PKD, you can still get some sort of discount on tickets for a day of fun while you're in the area. That way, people still get some "perceived value" out of the pass without having to gamble on it when they purchased the pass.

My PKI MaxxPass set me back $125, and that's the "pre-sale" price. A PKI pass is $85 pre-sale, so the extra $40 for the extras is not extreme. It's what the market will bear.

Why is this so hard to understand?

Us Ohio people are more likely to use our MaxxPasses more often - hence the higher price. I personally will be spending a week in Northern Ohio in early June and PKI is my home park. To that end, the extra $40 now represents roughly $150-200 (5-6 days at CP/GL) that I would have spent later between CP and GL. Had the price been $85 for the MaxxPass, CF would have lost some revenue that I was providing, regardless of the pass.

Think of gas prices. Why is one station $1.99 and other - only 2 miles away - $2.19? It's because that's what the market allows.

I know at Dorney the pass can be renewed by mail each season unless your last name falls in a different range of letters each year. It's a good idea because it makes you get a new photo every so many years. This year I think the letters are I through Q that have to get new photos.

I have bought my maxx pass already since I plan on hitting Car, KD, CP, DP, MiA, VF, and KI this season. I might stop at GL but been there and they haven't added much that makes me want to go back but it is on my drive to VF so maybe I'll add a stop there.

Apparently Dick and the gang don't buy into the "Keep It Simple Stupid" formula.

If it takes me more than five minutes to figure out what pass I'm going to buy, then I'm going to be starting my Cedar Fair year on a negative. That isn't what you want.

In fact, Disney was getting that way and they have tried to simplify their ticket prices to some extent as a result.

If it takes you more than five minutes to figure out what pass you're going to buy, you're wasting your time.

Buy the one closest to you. If there are 2 parks equidistant, than buy the one that's cheaper. Period. End of sentence, it's that simple. If you're analyzing it more than that, that's on you - not on Cedar Fair, et. al. Don't try shirking that responsibility for YOUR actions.

Plus, if you actually do compare all the options just to get the one that lowest dollar value, I can almost GUARANTEE you that you are spending more for that "cheaper" pass. First spending your time, and then also actual $$ out of your pocket. It's just OPEC that's getting your extra, wasted, dollars instead of CFECo.

I'll never understand the logic of people who will drive 10 miles out of their way to save $.02 on a gallon of gas, $.20 on a gallon of milk, etc. (you're spending more to go there than you are "saving")