Major Chain Considering Free Parking and/or Free Drinks?

Didn't do parks like that when I was younger either.

Then again, if you're in the park thinking, "I have to get on as many rides as possible to get my money's worth" then you're on an entirely different plane of thinking than I to begin with.

I'll defer to my previous statement:

I must know more interesting people. (or boring ones)

I find getting on every coaster at least once important, but I really like to try to take it easy and notice the details when I am at a park. In some cases, I need more than one full day at a park, because of my non-willingness to rush around. I guess it depends on who I am with and which park I am visiting.

Depends on the park I'm visiting. If it's my first time, I power ride, details come second, though they do enhance the experience. If it's a once a year visit, I ensure I ride what I feel are must-rides, paying more attention the more intimate activities in the park. If it's my home park, I do whatever, mostly because I've seen it all and can just relax and enjoy the day.

My day (at a park Ive been to) starts with me getting there at opening and then "power riding" my "must do rides" (especially those with long lines) which I usually finish around 12-3pm depending on how big the park is. After that I do whatever I feel like (shows, more riding, visiting the waterpark, etc.) until I need to start re riding my "must do night rides" to close out the park.

Maybe me saying that a day's value is only as good as how many rides you get on was a little too specific. More accurately, though, I try to do as many things as I can in a park that I can't do anywhere else. Roller coasters are a big chunk of things I can't do just anywhere. But eating junk food? People-watching? Sitting around on the boardwalk? You can do all those things almost identically in an environment where you aren't paying just to be there.

Want to stand in line? Go to the DMV or something. :-)

^ That's pretty much how I feel. I live near a rather extensive metropark system where I can walk, relax, and people-watch for free. Heck, there's even a place in Berea where you can get carnival food year round. :) If I need to sit down and take a break at an amusement park, I'd rather do it on a ferris wheel than a bench.

But it also depends on the park. At Busch Gardens W, I enjoyed just walking around for a while, and it seemed to have a more pleasant atmosphere than Kings Dominion, where I went the following day. And since BGW had fewer rides, I could re-ride three really good coasters (the B&M's) and take in the movie simulators, whereas KD we were pretty tired after picking up all the coaster credits. At KD, stopping for lunch was "downtime"; at BGW, it was part of the experience. But also consider that at BGW we got the smokehouse sampler platter from Trapper's, whereas at KD we had plain old pizza.

My parents were in the "if we're not going to ride anything, it's not worth the expense" camp when I was a kid, which is why we stopped going to Cedar Point once my older brother started going with friends on his own. I either wasn't tall enough or was too scared to go on most of the rides, so we pretty much stuck to Kiddy Kingdom, Berenstain Bear Country, and shows while my brother waited an hour for Demon Drop.

I'm hoping that once my parents are both 62 I can entice them with the senior price for CP and get them reintroduced to the park. If I can get my brother's family to go with one of the May/June discounts like they had this year, they'd have fun with the grandson too.

I'm not saying that people should run from ride to ride in the hopes of getting 30 laps on coasters in a day. But I'm also saying that for many of the GP, there's going to be some disappointment if they spend more than 200 dollars for the day and all they did was get on one or two coasters, and maybe the train or ferris wheel, and put the kids on a couple of rides. I think they're going to have second thoughts about where to spend their money next time around.

For me, I have a season pass to Hershey, and I can drop by Knoebels whenever the urge strikes, so in those parks I can take it easier and spend more time just walking or browsing. I don't feel the need to ride every coaster because I know I'll be back. Well at Knoebels I can get multi cycles on all my favorite rides within 2-3 hours anyway and still watch the swans...

But when I went to CP last summer, it was my first visit in 15 years, so yeah I did want to ride as much as possible. Who knows when I'll get back again? And lame as it may sound, I was disappointed that I didn't get to ride Iron Dragon or TTD. Also consider that for me, that visit cost my ticket (discounted) but also a couple tanks of gas and two nights in a hotel. So I definitely would not have been satisfied had I ridden only Maverick and the CP&LE and spent the rest of my day sitting on a bench on the midway people watching while I munched on a bag of caramel corn.

But I'm also saying that for many of the GP, there's going to be some disappointment if they spend more than 200 dollars for the day and all they did was get on one or two coasters, and maybe the train or ferris wheel, and put the kids on a couple of rides.

I think if a family goes to a park and they spend a bunch of money and they don't get to ride much, they don't get to see the shows, it's over crowded, and their day just sucks, then, yeah, they're going to be disappointed.

But for the GP, if they go to a park, ride a few rides, see a show or 2, get a decent meal or 2, play in the waterpark, etc., they aren't going to be too disappointed.

Tekwardo said:
But for the GP, if they go to a park, ride a few rides, see a show or 2, get a decent meal or 2, play in the waterpark, etc., they aren't going to be too disappointed.

Says who?

I'm sorry, but definitive posts where people put words into others' mouths (in this case, the general public's) like this really bug me. :)

As someone stated earlier...it all comes down to the individual(s). I wish we would just leave it at that. (Yet I'm fairly positive we won't. ;))

I'm not putting words in other people's mouths, I'm going on personal experience, combined with talking to others, along with comments made by people here.

Are there individuals that go to parks just to power ride? Yes. But facts back up my statement that the General (thats the key term here, General, as in generally) Public go to parks, ride a few rides, see a few shows, eat, hang out, and aren't disappointed. Otherwise theme parks would fail.

Who says so? The parks staying open says so. You don't really think they make bank just off of ticket sales, do you? They make money off of food, merchandise, games, and upcharges. So, yeah, I think it's pretty factual to say that the GP do exactly that.

Oh, and BTW, I started my post out saying "I think", which means I was giving my personal opinion anywho, and wasn't putting words in anyone's mouth, so don't put words in mine (or take any away). You say we should just leave it to the individuals, what do you mean, that we shouldn't discuss it on a discussion forum?

I enjoy people watching and relaxing. Say what you will about doing it at the park or the mall, but there's also something enjoyable about watching roller coasters complete their circuits. The sights, and sounds of that, cannot be replicated elsewhere.

I do as well. When I'm with other geeks, I'll go to a park that I've been to before and 'power ride' or at least focus on riding. But when I go with my non-geek friends to the same park, since I'm with the GP kind of people, it's a totally different experience. When I go by myself, I do a mixture of both.

Regardless, if the GP were there to power ride, and weren't there for other things, the park wouldn't provide other experiences because there would be no point, and the parks would likely go out of business due to lack of money.

I went through an "enthusiast" phase where I thought it was all about riding, but these days I'm more in tune with the supposed General Public, and I have a FAR more enjoyable day.

To each their own, and if I was somewhere with you, and you wanted to power-ride, I'd do it. It's just not my "goal" anymore.

Same here. When I was a teen, if I was at a park on a school trip, I HAD to ride every ride, and re-ride the ones that I liked, or the ones that I could handle that didn't have a line (cough*hurler*cough).

But even then, if I was with family, we did the typical things most families do, which was ride, play, waterpark, shows, eat, shop, relax, etc.

I make it a point to go to parks that are new or I don't get to often when there is the best chance it won't be crowded or in some cases like Dollywood, when it'll be crowded, but lines won't be long. Heck, last year at Dorney I was by myself most of the day, and I was most upset that their new theater with the Snoopy show wasn't finished because I wanted to watch it. Didn't hit the water park up, but I did eat, sit around, window shop, ride, and watch a show or 2.

Unless I have a limited time at the park, that's my normal day, and since there's usually quite a few people eating, or in the shops, or at the shows, well, then, I'd say most people do that too. And if they were upset that they didn't get to ride everythign in the park, the line to complain when leaving would be much longer.

What I like to do, is just to make sure my favorite park has no coasters. Can't complain if there's nothing there to miss! :-D

I kid, I kid - though my favorite park really doesn't have any coasters.

CoasterBuzz... serving the anti-enthusiast coaster enthusiast since 2000! :)

It has a nice ring to it. Though, in 2000, I'll admit, I thought coasters were like, the greatest. I guess I'm late to the anti-party. :)

I still love to ride, and if I were at Great Adventure and had El Toro all to myself, I'd totally stay on till I couldn't ride anymore. I think part of the issue I have with power riding now, aside from generally liking other things, is that when I was young, any coaster was great, but now that I'm older, I only really want to park myself on my favorite coasters.

And I plan to park myself on Afterburn and Intimidator this weekend at CoasterStock.

Jeff said:
CoasterBuzz... serving the anti-enthusiast coaster enthusiast since 2000! :)

That's why I'm here.

Add me to the list of those who went through that phase too.

It wasn't until I discovered parks like Holiday World, Knoebels, Indiana Beach and such that I began to slow down, stopped overplanning ("OK...this coaster first, then run over and do that coaster, then run back across the park and do that one, then criss-cross back and do that one...") and started to enjoy a day riding, people watching, seeing shows, having a meal, etc.