Does Amusement Park Food Have to Be Low-Quality?

tambo said: Ahh, but you can't walk across the street from CP and get the same sub. It's probably,at least, a half hour round-trip to the nearest Subway and back. ;)

Wiseazz, party of one: your table is ready.

Is it on the patio or inside? :)

Under the heat lamp :)

Lord Gonchar said:

Mamoosh said:
You know...when it comes to the chains like Subway I feel their in-park prices should be no more expensive than their normal in-store prices. If I can walk across the street and get a foot-long Italian BMT for $6.25 including tax I should be able to get one for the same price at Cedar Point.

I disagree. The fact that a guest is in the park and most likely would prefer not to leave changes the dynamics of the transaction.

Your options are to leave (and spend the time & effort for the lower price) or to stay (and pay the price in return for the convenience).

I diagree for a different reason. I feel the park/operator has some right to recoup the extra expenses involved in getting food/drink INTO the park. It would certainly not add up to the general doubling of price we've become accustomed to, but a 25% surcharge should theoretically account for the increased costs of infrastructure and moving food/beverage items around inside an amusement park.

I remember the Quizno's on the Vegas strip. Everything was double the price. I wasn't paying $16 for a sub.

When at an amusement park, you expect to pay a little more for things. That's not the issue.

The problem is that they are scalping you when it comes to food and drink. Not just a buck or two more . The worst offender of this is cedarfair.

This may sound weird, but I started to pay more attention to this when I was at Disneyworld. I got a personal pan pizza, salad, breadstick and a drink for $8 and it was delicious. The week before Disney, we were at cedarpoint. I paid(I was a sucker at the time) $15 for a dry burger, nasty fries and a small sized drink. That's when I started to pay more attention. Not just because of the prices, but for the huge differance in quality as well.

I would not have as much of an issue with cedarfair food prices, if the food was actualy decent. I bet the food at a soup kitchen is better than the slop that they are dishing out at cedarfair. If they made the quality of the food better, and brought the price of the soda down, it would not really be an issue for me.

Allthough I do have to thank cedarfair for one thing, because since they have raised the prices of soda, I have been drinking more healthy things like water, tea, milk. I even bring the little powder packs of tea and poweraid with me now.

Doesn't this all boil down to supply and demand? When I got married in Hawaii the Burger King at the airport was selling whopper combo meals for like $10. But, then again there really wasn't anyplace else to go for the convienence, much like an amusement park.

Also doesn't the subway's, fridays, etc., at amusement parks pay some kind of rent or alotment of profits go to the park itself? I really have no idea at all how the money structure works.

They pay rent at a strip mall as well, but a normal subway does not charge $13 for a footlong. As a matter of fact, they have the $5 footlongs...maybe you have seen the commercial.:)

The subway near me has two footlongs for $9, or 3 footlongs for $12. Not only that, but they have a lot more toppings and bread types to choose from at a normal subway.

Again, I would expect to pay a little more in a theme park, but over 3 times as much as I can get it just down the street?

I understand, and agree with you. But, people pay the prices or else they would lower "em.

That's not been the case as of late.

Per cap is down, while attendace is up. What's that tell you.

I have seen more people drinking the free ice water, than I have seen drinking soda this summer at cedarpoint.

That's true. I don't eat at any of the parks I go to anyway, unless I have a hankering for corn dogs or fries. Other then that I have better things to spend my money on. The wife and I usually just eat in the parking lot.

crazy horse said:

Per cap is down, while attendace is up. What's that tell you.

That people are spending less for a trip to the parks on a per capita basis.

There's a multitude of reasons that could be.

Easiest explanation? More people spending the same overall amount (or possibly technically more even) reduces the per cap.

Just because per caps are down doesn't mean overall revenue is.

With that said, if people not wanting to spend those prices is the reason, then that's the system at work. If it continues CF will be forced to adjust.

Disney counterservice is not all mediocore. MK and AK have great rotisserie chicken, MK also has the Columbia Fish House which is good, and I dont think I even need to talk about Epcot. DHS is the only park thats lacking a quality counter service location, but that park lacks good food in general.

Sure Disney's Burger and Fried Chicken meals are mediocre but all you need to do is branch out a bit and you can get some healthy counter service options.

I woulden't say that the park "lacks" good food. It has lot's of great food locations.

Here are a few...

Sci fy cafe

50's Prime time

Hollywood and vine

Brown derby

Mamma melroes

Those are some of the sit down restaurants. There are a ton of counter service locations as well. Here are a few...

Backlot express

Toy story pizza planet

Catalina Eddies

Studio catering company

ABC commissary

There are a lot more places, you just have to know where to look.

For a full listof menus and prices for all Disney parks, look here...

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

Lord Gonchar said:

crazy horse said:

Per cap is down, while attendace is up. What's that tell you.

That people are spending less for a trip to the parks on a per capita basis.

There's a multitude of reasons that could be.

Easiest explanation? More people spending the same overall amount (or possibly technically more even) reduces the per cap.

Just because per caps are down doesn't mean overall revenue is.

With that said, if people not wanting to spend those prices is the reason, then that's the system at work. If it continues CF will be forced to adjust.

CF's per caps have been dropping for several years now, and there haven't been adjustments in either the prices or quality of their food. Is it more an issue of stubbornness-- they'll dictate to the customers what they'll eat and how much they'll pay, rather than vice versa? Or else, a case of this is how they've always done it so they're not going to change.

Corkscrew mentioned places like Subway paying rent or giving a portion of the revenues to the parks. I was actually thinking the reverse might be true. That the parks pay a franchise fee like every other owner along with a "royalty" for using the brand name, which is usually a portion of the revenues. Anybody know what the arrangements really are? Also, are the people working at Subway, for example, park employees or Subway employees? I think in a park, there are more layers of involvement compared to the typical franchise, so that would justify somewhat of a markup.

Notice to parks - do's and don'ts of fixing the per cap situation (regarding food at least):

DON'T charge me less, I kinda expect to pay more - I'm a member of a captive audience. That should be our capitulation to you.

DO, however, serve me in a TIMELY fashion, since I am in your park(s) for a limited time and, like many people these days, tend to keep an eye on the clock. We have things to do, almost all of them more fun than waiting for someone to serve us food or take our money.

DO buy decent quality food and offer good selections. Have some grilled healthy options available, along with fruits and vegetables and salads. Even with candy, confections, and junk food, buy good quality product. We're Americans, we eat a LOT (maybe too much), but it means we have a pretty decent understanding of the food we eat. Charging us premium prices and then serving substandard products really insults us. Apparently, too many of us react by not buying said products.

I really do believe that it's pretty much that simple: Serve me good food, "make it snappy", and charge what you feel is reasonable. See - we can all get along. ;)

Tekwardo said:
I remember the Quizno's on the Vegas strip. Everything was double the price. I wasn't paying $16 for a sub.

The Chipotle on the strip (next to Harrah's) was perhaps 30 cents more than what I was used to in Cleveland. I suppose it all depends.

Bust just answering the initial question, of course it doesn't have to be low quality, since we've all had good quality food at a number of locations. And check out the LA Times article in the news section about USH food.

I was SHOCKED at the prices of that Quiznos. A bunch of us geeks had had a few drinks, rode a few rides, and were heading to the Strat, and we walked right in, and I refused. Had it been like 2 or 3 dollars more, I wouldn't have cared, but It was $16 for a footlong, and that was beyond my limit.

Why in the world they thought they could charge that across the street from a buffet that charges that much for more and better food was beyond me.

RatherGoodBear said:
CF's per caps have been dropping for several years now, and there haven't been adjustments in either the prices or quality of their food. Is it more an issue of stubbornness-- they'll dictate to the customers what they'll eat and how much they'll pay, rather than vice versa? Or else, a case of this is how they've always done it so they're not going to change.

Or a perfect example of how per caps don't tell the whole story?

Well I can tell you that on the 4th of july weekend, the park was packed and the lines that I seen were only a few people deep durring lunch time.

This seemed to be the norm thruout the day, as we were getting our glasses of ice water.

I remember going on the 4th of july a few years ago, and waiting in a line 12 people deep for 45 min just to get some fries.