Knott's Berry Farm to reopen with inexpensive season pass option

I can't understand why they're pricing these so low. The Disneyland passes that included parking and only had a couple of weeks of blackout dates were $1,200. Even if you get the platinum pass, with parking and discounts and entry to the other Cedar Fair passes, you're still talking about $202. If there is pent up demand and you have reduced capacity, charging less seems like a bad idea.

I guess the experts know something we don’t😀

I can only assume they are doing some research that suggest that demand is not going to be what they are hoping for. I agree the price seems low on its surface. At the same time, people may be eager to go back once but perhaps they are not showing that they will subject themselves to large crowds regularly for a while.

Seems like a lot of speculation of motivation, piled on top of a single fact. I wonder if there will be a substantial difference in demand between the two upon reopening, though. I've heard a non-trivial number of normal people say, "As soon as this thing is over, I'm going to Disney" and basically nobody say, "As soon as this thing is over, I'm going to Knott's."

We went to SFDK last Wednesday (a few days after reopening, but right in the middle of spring break) and literally half the rides were down (staffing, I presume) and if it weren't for the terrible capacity restrictions, everything would have been a walk on anyway. There were very, very few people moving through the gates.

The article says the passes are available until June 20 - maybe they're trying to normalize going to amusement parks while the public are still cautious. (I still would agree the price seems low. Surely there would be ways to provide a deep discount now without having to admit large numbers of people for free nine months from now. But what do I know?)

If the public are still cautious, that suggests there wasn't/isn't a real way to reopen without getting infections under control, but that's a subject for another, 200-page thread.

[Edited to note correct page count. Congratulations Andy for putting the thread over the top.]

I believe in past years the entry level season pass cost about $95 or $99. Perhaps they've always been undercharging, but it's not like this is some new discount compared to past seasons.

That other thread is 203 pages for moderators, because all the racism we removed was soft-deleted.

High five!

ApolloAndy said:

"As soon as this thing is over, I'm going to Disney" and basically nobody say, "As soon as this thing is over, I'm going to Knott's."

I've been going to Disney. I'm ready for an Ohio trip to Cedar Point and Kings Island and also a potential trip to BGW and Kings Dominion.

Admittedly, I haven't said "As soon as this thing is over, I'm going to Six Flags America"

While I’m excited to return, I will not go to parks that aren’t running their rides (here’s looking at you BGW) and there has to be enough open to justify the trip. I’m going to WDW, CP, KI, Holiday World and Universal Orlando in the next 6 months. I still have plans to go to BGW as well by have been disturbed by the reports of nothing being open for food, very little rides running and the park being overly busy because of it this spring. There either needs to be a major change or that trip will be canceled, DL/KBF being the likely backup.

My rule of thumb on traveling I think will be loading all rows on coasters. We know enough now that skipping a row on a coaster train isn't going to protect anyone, but it's sure going to interfere with the park experience.

Then you should try Dollywood.
I was there today (I may or may not trip report) and they ran full capacity. The absolute requirement, however, was masks for all riders over age 2 on all rides, and that included the tram. And any queue, indoors or out. The only exceptions were the water rides.
I think masks were ‘strongly suggested’ for open outdoor areas like the midways, and just about everyone I saw complied.

Something something Gold Pass.

It worked.

I'll be curious to see how the $99 CP Gold Pass experiment ends up helping (or hurting) them in the next few years. Will it increase more expensive passholder purchases down the road? Or did the subpar guest experience in Fall 2019 leave a sour taste for too many people?

I imagine the whole COVID-19 thing will make it a little trickier to see how it affects things.

The new management team did this in Australia. It didn't end well

The Fall of 2019 Gold Pass crowds were the reason I did not renew for 2020. Based on those crowds and the May/June $60 pass they did in Spring of 2019, it was a miserable year to visit so I decided to take a year off.

Haven't bought my 2021 pass yet, but I most likely will.

As for the Gold Pass I have no idea what became of them. Are they extended through 2021? Or was 2020 it for them?

All Cedar Fair 2020 season passes were extended through the 2021 season.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/park-update

For all the hoopla about Disneyland tickets yesterday, there are VERY few dates that actually sold out both parks (2 Saturdays in June) and more than half of the dates still have availability for Disneyland. The presumption is that at 25% capacity they're selling around 21,000 tickets for Disneyland and around 12,500 for California Adventure. Now Disney has the problem that everyone believes they are completely sold out for May-June but they appear to be sitting on several hundred thousand available reservations for the 60 day period. And that's before the likely situation where the 25% capacity restriction gets relaxed. I think what Disney just discovered and what Knotts has already sniffed out is that there is NOT a huge pent up demand for theme park admission in Southern California. So Knotts is trying to lure people out of their homes with this deal knowing that otherwise they may have a summer where they may as well be closed again.
As for Disney, I believe the AP program is going to be back sooner than anyone expected. If Disneyland can't sell out Tuesdays in June at 25% capacity they're going to be hurting come September without APs.

That's interesting, because we've obviously had quite a bit of demand here in Orlando, Cedar Point and Kings Island seemed to do well last summer, and it seems like events like the Busch Gardens Williamsburg food fest have been selling out.

Are the folks in California more leery to come out? Or are the locals simply mad at Disney because they can't have the old Annual Pass structure right now?