Nov 11 Kinzel Article

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Touchdown said:
(much like the Orlando Parks, which do not get a weekend "bump" in attendance.)

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I disagree.

Everytime Ive been down there I have never experienced a "weekend bump" at Universal or Disney World, they seem to operate on their own schedules and the individual parks depend on which ones have EMH and as a general rule MK is busy on Fri-Mon (peoples first and last park as part of a week trip) and Epcot, MGM and AK are more busy Tues-Thur. Universal to me has had fairly steady crowds (ie from day to day it did not change on that trip.)

When I to Universal in 2004 I was there on a Friday and Saturday (April). The average wait times for the major attractions on Friday was 20-30 minutes most of the time. On Saturday it was 1-1.5 hours.

Disney and Universal are usually a different ballgame. They are destination parks. And tourists travel on Saturday and Sunday, so the tourists aren't there on the weekends in such numbers, when the locals fill in.

In low seasons, the weekends get a bump. During busy seasons, it's just busy. ;)

I like the idea of higher weekend prices. Let's face it, the parks are open in the summer. Kids are out of school. Families take trips. Mom and/or dad can take a day off during the week to attend CP if they wanted to. Teenagers already aren't in school, so it doesn't matter to them (if they can drive). Thirty-somethings can normally afford to take a day off too.

Like was mentioned, CP is a regional park, which means most people can get there and back in one day. So, if it was a lot cheaper to attend during the week, people would make it happen.

I enjoy waiting in the queues at parks. It's part of the experience of going to a park. I spoiled myself this year with VIP, and now I'm hooked. So, I'm not sure we'll be waiting in queues very much at Cedar Point anymore. But, that park is also a different animal to the other parks we visit. We love coasters too much to wait in that many queues - plus we always happen to land at CP on a Saturday. But at other parks, we're totally fine not using Q-bot and just queuing up with all the others.

I can totally see where other people would pay an increase in admission if the queues were going to be smaller across the board. If not, at least the parks would be making more off of admission. :) I agree with the raise admission across the board and offer midweek discounts. That would be a tad simpler to administer I think.

higher fees do not guarantee lower wait times. Not when 70 percent visit on weekends to regionals. It's still gonna be higher on the weekends.

Chuck

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Charles Nungester said:
higher fees do not guarantee lower wait times. Not when 70 percent visit on weekends to regionals. It's still gonna be higher on the weekends.

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So then you're saying pricing doesn't affect visitation?

Where have I heard that before? ;)

Seriously though, there's nothing here that hasn't been thrown around in the countless price discussions. I think using pricing to control attendance is a great idea...and have been saying such for way too long now. :)

Sorry for the back-to-backs, but I just saw this article over at Jim Hill.

Here's an example of a theme park raising the price of something (in this case restaurant prices) to maximize profits during peak times.

In this case it's Disney making the most of the influx of holiday season visitors by adding a 'holiday premium' to meal prices during the peak times of year.

Give it a read. :)

LG, I agree with you that a price hike during peak times would be good for the park (make more money) but I highly doubt it would affect attendance at regional parks. Tell me how $10-20 a ticket is going to make Joe Blue Collar choose to go on a weekday (and lose a day of work) over a weekend. Hes not, he is either not going to go or complain about the "tax on the working man" or he is just going to suck it up and pay it.

People who can afford to go on the weekdays all ready do, because they know that there are smaller lines then.

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Tell me how $10-20 a ticket is going to make Joe Blue Collar choose to go on a weekday (and lose a day of work) over a weekend.

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If $10 won't do it, make it $20. If $20 won't do it, make it $30. If $30 won't do it...

You get the point. There will be a price point where a percentage of people will refuse to pay. Just have to find it. :)

^Whatever the market will bear... ;)

I still maintain no price is going to get more people to come on the weekdays instead of the weekends. Is there a price where you will start seeing less people through the gates? Absolutely, but that drop will not be made up in weekday peeps, they will just stop coming to the park.

Notice, I don't say this isn't a bad idea (honestly I don't know long term for big parks if the Discovery Cove model can work) but I do think that short term it will piss some people off (not me) and to suggest that a price increase on weekends will get more people to come during the weekdays is wrong.

For example, take movie theaters, matinées are less expensive then evening tickets, but what times sell out quicker? Evening tickets, why? Because people are not going to take off of work to see a movie.

I don't think the idea is to get more people on the weekdays. The idea is to get less on the weekends.

Do you lose guests overall? Yes, but that's made up in the higher weekend ticket prices (assuming you find the right price point).

Less guests, same money.

Which all goes back to what I said on page 1 of this thread - attendance is no longer the measure of success, nor should it be the source of growth. These 'old man' parks needs to switch up the way they think.

Related to the theater tickets idea, most theaters charge an extra dollar or two for evening tickets on the weekends compared to weeknights. I could still validity in the idea of charging an extra amount (maybe around $5) of attending on a Friday or Saturday rather than the other days of the week.

Nothing wrong with having more people on the weekdays. It still brings you in more money, and it's not like Tuesday is suddenly going to have a Saturday crowd. The park isn't going to be overtaxed, and they'll easily make enough to cover the few additional employees they'd need.

Fewer guests, same money. Isn't that the story we've been hearing from both CF and SF for the past 4-5 years now? Attendance down 2, 3, 5 percent... but per caps were up, so revenues went up about 1 percent each year.

If people are still complaining that the parks are still too crowded, maybe it suggests that it's not the weekends where they're losing attendance. If that's the case, doing something to increase weekday attendance-- plus spread out attendance across the week-- would be a good thing.

I don't have a problem with a staggered price schedule. But for Pete's sake, I would hope they advertise it as weekday discounts and not a premium price on the weekend (like some here are advocating). Business is about making money, but it's also about having the customer think he's getting a good deal while he's giving you his money, not getting shafted.

Oh, without a doubt, RGB. It's definitely a weekday discount. :)

If I've learned one thing through all of these discussions it's that people want to be lied to...and I'm not being sarcastic.

^ do like holidayworld does, offer discounts on certain days, if I'm not mistaken weekdays are larger discounts than weekends with your pepsi can of course.

Wait, so you want to bring the same people in on a weekday and charge them less, when they were already coming in that weekend? I don't get it.

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Lord Gonchar said:

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Tell me how $10-20 a ticket is going to make Joe Blue Collar choose to go on a weekday (and lose a day of work) over a weekend.

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If $10 won't do it, make it $20. If $20 won't do it, make it $30. If $30 won't do it...You get the point. There will be a price point where a percentage of people will refuse to pay. Just have to find it.

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Gonch, You don't get it and aparently never will. You seem to think people are stupid.

All a price raise like that does is Piss people off and they are more likely to loose the buisness altogether than get it at all. Sure your getting more from the people that DO visit but you'll never get that money from people who don't because of it.

Chuck, saying some sporting events and stuff can get away with it Like Sox/Yankees but a day at a park is no more special on saturday than it is on monday.

I miss quoted what I was replying too. Discounts at parks are no trade secret. Many do it in may and june. Some smaller parks offer 50 dollar carload ect.

Chuck