Major Chain Considering Free Parking and/or Free Drinks?

The most fulfilling drinks come in little fruit shaped plastic containers.

What about Gatorade G2? I think that it's only "Low calorie", but, well, people NEED some calories to be able to do stuff. :)

I am pickie, see, because sugar makes me fat, caffeine makes me dizzy, and Aspartame gives me cancer.

I still partake in all of the above except for caffeine.

Mike, are those still available anywhere?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I totally remember those as a kid, not just at Cedar Point, but also the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Good memories. They remind me of zoo keys as well.

Those were great! Working on the railroad at the park a few years ago we would find pieces of those containers along the tracks even though I'm pretty sure it had been a long time since they were available in the park.

The drinks were usually sold from those big wooden carts full of ice, the ones with the awning and little window cut out in the back for the employee to see when they pushed the cart around. The last place I remember seeing one of them was as a prop in Fear Faire for HalloWeekends.

Touchdown said:
Parents think they are, besides what really is "healthy?"

Water-Very dangerous on a hot day, because it doesn't replenish electrolytes

Milk-Unless its skim, has saturated fat. Not to mention a lot of this country is allergic to it

Soda: Loaded with fructose and has a fair amount of sodium too.

Diet Soda: Has a lot of sodium, phenylalanine, and some think is a cancer risk.

Any fruit drink: Weither its natural or not is again loaded with sugar

You know what we just shouldnt drink anything.

Or maybe you should know you should have all of these in moderation...

What about those very popular energy drinks like Rockstar and Red Bull? Even though most adults don't want to admit it, more younger people drink far more energy drinks than either Coke or Pepsi but one never really hear anything negative about them. Last year at Elitch Gardens it seemed just about everyone under the age of 30 had either a Rockstar or a Red Bull with them. Then again maybe Elitches was a bad example. In the parking lot I myself saw several people smoking marijuana in the parking lot, well for the most part its legal in Denver anyway. I guess for many that is healthy living 2010 style..a Red Bull and a joint.

DaveStroem said:
Epcot already has free sodas as long as you want some Beverly.

I filled my girlfriends sprite bottle with this stuff... :)

I am assuming former girl friend.

High fructose corn syrup in any food or drink is really bad news. Don't do it.

RideMan said:
Mike, are those still available anywhere?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Alas, no -- as far as I know. That's why they're so fulfilling....they're from my childhood. :)

Oh, by the way, has anybody noticed the promotion that Cedar Point is running on Sunday? Not quite free parking or free drink, but it's a step in that direction...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I love powerade zero. I get it at Subway with my 6" Turkey on wheat.

On my drive into work this morning I heard a story on NPR's Marketplace Morning Report regarding a soda tax. Many lawmakers are considering it (a tax was removed from the healthcare reform bill). However, the report says the tax significantly effects consumption only when it's a major hike, like 30-35%. Imagine buying a soda at the park then. Yikes.

You can hear the report here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/

d_port_12E said:
However, the report says the tax significantly effects consumption only when it's a major hike, like 30-35%. Imagine buying a soda at the park then. Yikes.

They are considering a tax on sugar drinks here in Pittsburgh. Sadly they want to use the money to catch up on pensions and not something that would benefit the city as a whole.

Washington just added one, and convenience store owners were flipping out. Now no one cares. Pretty sure we had one in Cleveland to pay for stadiums or something. You're right though, it has to be significant to reduce consumption.

There was a lot of talk of "outrage" over the drink tax which I think was 10% and reduced to like 7% around Pittsburgh when they went to put it in and you don't here much about it any more.

I hate taxes like that, even if I don't like the product that's being taxed, like cigarettes. They get billed as a way to simultaneously raise revenues and change some undesirable behavior. Problem is, they estimate future revenues based on current consumption.

But if the price becomes prohibitive and people stop buying the product, they don't collect the revenue they predicted (and already budgeted somewhere else). And if people shrug at the price increase and keep buying, then they haven't changed enough people's bad behavior.

You can't have it both ways. You can't eliminate people drinking sugary drinks while at the same time collecting millions of dollars from the sale of sugary drinks.

I was talking to Pat Koch at HWN. She told me that the year they instituted the free drinks program that their per-cap actually went up.

Yep... I think Will mentioned that in one of the podcasts we did with him. I was surprised at first, but then I'm the one who is always talking about perceived value, and even with the cost of soda rolled into the gate, it's still an obvious good deal. I spend pretty liberally on food at Holiday World (it doesn't hurt that most of it is pretty yummy either).

That was also widely reported in interviews in the industry rags (Amusement Business, and I think it was also in Amusement Today). The price increase was based on their existing per-cap, which was something like $2.85, and they increased the gate by $4...$1 for the Legend, $3 for the drinks, meaning their drink per-cap went up $0.15. Then they watched a couple of things happen...and again, all of this was widely reported.

o Food per-caps went up dramatically.
o Complaints in general, especially nuisance complaints (like those people who complain because it's too hot/cold/rainy/sunny/whatever, or the lines are too long, or whatever) went down significantly, with the nuisance complaints almost completely going away.

Basically, the program succeeded in almost every possible way.

Now forgive me if I have mentioned this before; this is a rather old thread, and I have not recently re-read the earlier entries...

Somewhere on the Web there is an essay which describes in great detail the craft of the carnival sideshow talker. The piece is beautifully written in such a style that one can read it directly from the page and hear the classic cadence, the particular sound, and the overall feel of exactly this craft. If I had a URL available I would certainly provide it, but I leave finding it as an exercise for the reader. But the essay explains that the work of the talker is, in fact, a sales pitch in its most blatant and purified form, and for that reason it begins with a very important observation. The author explains, right up front, that the most powerful word in advertising, the word that Holiday World has milked for all it is worth and then some, is the word "FREE". It doesn't matter if it's crap, it doesn't matter if it's already been paid for, it doesn't matter what it's really worth, people will attach some value to it and will appreciate it if you give it to them for free!

Of course, Kennywood has taken this a step further. It seems that when you give some things away for "free", there are those who are willing to pay an upcharge to get some kind of improvement. Otherwise, how do you explain how Kennywood has had to repeatedly expand its paid parking lot *to accommodate the demand* even though they have an ample supply of free parking?

What is even more interesting is that while Kennywood will let you park right next to the upper chairlift station for free and ride down to the gate (or pay a small fee to walk the full length of the parking lot), their paid parking area frequently sells out. Meanwhile, Kings Island charges a very large fee for parking, and a roughly 50% upcharge for "preferred" parking. A few people pay the upcharge; and I wonder how many of those people are people who get "free" parking with their season passes and then pay the upcharge to park closer. But by and large, even on the busiest days, the "preferred" parking area seldom if ever "sells out".

I'm still not sure what kind of conclusion I can draw from that. All I know is that to me, there is no value added at all for parking, so you can probably guess where I "prefer" to park.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.