Major Chain Considering Free Parking and/or Free Drinks?

Heck, you pay $75 for 2-3 hours entertainment at a concert and have to pay the same outrageous prices for food/drink. $75 for a 10-12 hour day, PLUS food? Really isn't all that bad. I don't eat a lot at parks simply because for whatever reason, be it parks, hiking, beach, whatever, if it's an all day thing, I just don't usually eat a lot, but there are times that I've been in a park and easily spent $30 on food just for myself. July 4 at carowinds I spent $13 on food and drink, and that was after eating before I left my house.

Lord Gonchar said:
Let me add a "me too" to this as well.

I love it when you "me too" me :)

Agreed. Having just gotten back from BGW, $25 per person per day sounds just about right if you're having two meals in the park.

Yes. $300 for a family of four to visit the park for ONE day? That is simply ridiculous.

I won't claim to be representative, but I wouldn't call this ridiculous at all---especially considering that it includes food and drink. Compare it to some of the other "one day" things we could do:

* Skiing up at Boyne, one of our "local" places. Not really skiing if you've been to Colorado or Utah, but you can drive to it from here. Lift tickets plus ski rentals for the four of us, midweek: $304. That's without food.

* Going to a college football game. UM has two games with single-game tickets available. $50 per ticket. $200, to which you can add food (it wouldn't be hard to hit $50) and that's only for a part of a day, not a full one.

* Going to a show. Nosebleed seats at Lion King in Chicago are $45---add in ticketmaster fees, etc. etc. and you're easily over $200. That's just an evening, not a full day, and includes no food.

Gotta "me too" Brian too. (sorry Moosh)

My most recent wake up call came on out park trip last month. We had a night free in Charlotte and everyone decided to go see Toy Story. We found a place nearby showing in in IMAX 3D and since we were on vavcation, we went for it.

4 tickets, 4 medium drinks and 2 large popcorns came to $99.50.

$100 for a movie...and the theatre was about half full...on a Thursday at 9:30...at those prices.

I figure that's about $1 per minute to see Toy Story 3.

EDIT - Curiosity got the best of me. Looked it up and did the actual math. It works out to around 91 cents per minute to see the movie that night. At that rate, 10 hours at an amusement park would cost almost $550.

If you go to a park and are there for 10 hours, and pay $75 to eat and get in, you're essentially paying minimum wage per hour to be there and partake of rides and food. Paying $7.50 per hour is nothing.

Thats why some of us have stopped going to non matinee movies...

I saw it in 3-D, and bought no food for $6.50.

As a not-hungry single person able to see movies in the middle of the day, that was probably a good choice for you if value was a concern. :)

Unfortunately, my situation met none of the same criteria.

I see about one movie per week for work. I have to pay for it out-of-pocket, so I almost always go to a matinee, unless friends want to make an evening out of it.

I rarely buy popcorn, or a drink. It just way too expensive.

But I am not cheap. Any time that I go to a park, I make sure to take at least $50, for meals, goodies, and whatever else. I've been known to spend more than that if I see something that I just have to have. Out of that $50, probably $30 is for meals and drinks, and I usually drink water fountain water all day. If the food is not good, I'll buy less.

The other BG park, BGW offers a dining plan add-on. (Checking website...) Looks like their best dining plan is almost $15, and includes ONE meal. Keeping that in mind, at BGT, an extra $25 for all-you-can-eat, all day long, along with the not-too-arguable fact that BG is known for very good food, and it seems like a fantastic deal!

Also add me in the camp of "at least $25/day for food if I'm spending the entire day".

And that's at a Kennywood or Knoebel's or Holiday World, let alone a Six Cedar Gardens Mouse park.

Given the increasing gate, $75 for admission and all you can eat does indeed sound like something I'd jump on, especially at a park with decent food.

If Im planning a day trip to a park, Im bringing along a lunch. Dinner however, will be bought there. If its a place with bad food and high costs (Cedar Fair/Six Flags) Im getting a snack with no drink ($5-$10.) If the food is better or the cost lower, Im spending for a full meal and maybe even springing for desert ($25-40.)

Oh my...I need to get a better job.

These cheap Kentucky barn dances have spoiled me.

Most of us, except for Gonch and Jeff, need a better job, Daniel. :)

Wait...Kentucky barn dances? That sounds really unpleasant. I'd be miserable.

LostKause said:
Most of us, except for Gonch and Jeff, need a better job, Daniel. :)

That's a hell of a thing considering I don't technically have a 'real' job. (or so I've been told :) )

I can't complain. My wife and I have come a long way from where we were when we got married.

Which is probably why I tend to believe anyone can do it if they really try...personal experience. To think that someone would say something like that about me (or her) back then would have been laughable.

Thanks for the feel good moment. :)

I am super cheapskate deluxe, but when we went to KI just before HWN, we had me, wife, 9 month old son, grandma, and grandpa and we spent less than $20 total in park. I was there morning and late afternoon/evening and everyone else was there late afternoon/evening.

There's a pretty big difference between seeing a movie and going to an amusement park, though. In the theater, there might be 200 people all together all getting entertained at the same time. At the park, you're essentially competing with 10,000 other people for your entertainment as you can't all be accommodated at the same time. Waiting in line is always my biggest gripe with amusement park prices: they stay the exact same no matter how many attractions you get to visit.

When you go to a movie, you have one option, and if that option sucks, you're out of your money. If you go to a theme park, there are literally dozens of options, including rides, shows, scenery, shopping. Still not a big difference to me. I'm entertained the entire time I'm at a park.

Waiting in line is always my biggest gripe with amusement park prices: they stay the exact same no matter how many attractions you get to visit.

Why would you charge less when more people go? That just encourages *more* people to go and makes the lines worse. When demand is high, you should charge *more*.

Just like matinees vs. evening shows.

As another comparison point: a week at Disney. Seven days. quick service dining plan (two meals in the park per day, plus snacks), base tickets, family of four (two adults, one "Disney adult" 10 or over, one "Disney kid" 9 or under): about $240/day (but you have to buy food separately for one of those days. But, you have to do a seven day trip for that. If you want to do a four day trip, with one day in each park, the per-day cost goes up to about $338. If you wanted to do just *one* day: $430.

SFoGswim said:
Waiting in line is always my biggest gripe with amusement park prices: they stay the exact same no matter how many attractions you get to visit.

That assumes the only value to a day at the park is the number of rides you can get.

I suppose it depends on the individual, but nothing could be further from the truth for me.

My hatred for lines comes from the fact that it's a brutal waste of my time and often the value ratio of time spent in the line compared to what you get at the end isn't worth it. Hence, my love of VQ systems. I'd rather just pay and get on the coasters quickly and spend my day doing all the other things that make a day at the park a valuable thing to me.

That assumes the only value to a day at the park is the number of rides you can get.

I suppose it depends on the individual, but nothing could be further from the truth for me.

My turn: "Me too."