Park Pop Prices

Although there are subtle difference between brands, a tissue is more or less a tissue and a bandage is more or less a bandage. There is a wide variety in carbonated beverages: Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, Sprite, Crush, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, etc. To label everything as "coke" is silly. My car example is a better analogy than tissues or bandages.

The difference is that all bandages are nearly identical to Band-Aids. All tissues are nearly identical to Kleenex. All cotton swabs are nearly identical to Q-Tips.

Most soft drinks do not look or taste anything like Coke. If you ask someone for a Kleenex, and someone hands you a Puffs, you're not even going to notice. If you ask for a Coke and get a Diet Caffeine Free Mr. Pibb... well, there's obviously a huge difference.

So it's not even comparable.

EDIT: I see I was beaten to the punch.

Swoosh - a float is different. A float is a soft drink (i.e. root beer or Coke) with a scoop of ice cream on top. A soda (or ice cream soda) is ice cream, syrup, whipped cream and soda water. :) At least, that's how Dairy Queen defines them... *** Edited 1/21/2004 7:09:42 PM UTC by Den***

Perhaps 'soft drink' is the best phrase to use ;)

Den's definition of soda was the only one I was familiar with until I went to Penn State (where half of the students are from Pops-burgh and the other half are from Soda-delphia).
*** Edited 1/21/2004 7:18:44 PM UTC by Gemini***

It's all the American product placement that has grinded us in the heads for so long, we refer to generic products by the most common Brand Name that people associate it to... that is a true accomplishment for manufactures, and they strive for that!

Among the previous examples given...
- PC Computers are sometimes referred to 'IBM'.
- Comfortable chairs are referred to as 'Lazy-Boy'.
- Fat in a can is referred to as 'Crisco'.
- Peterolium Jelly is referred to as 'Vaseline'
- Vaporizing Rub for stuffy noses is refrred to as Vicks 'Vapo-Rub'
- Doing something remarkable accidentally is referred to as "pulling a Homer". ;)

I... will always be a "pop" drinker, no matter what state I go in, unless the waitress looks at me baffled and goes "huh?", then I'll go "duh! that bubbly stuff!".

Another one that was ever so popular in NYC is calling all SUV's Jeeps. It's phasing out now since people realise that the actual Jeeps (Cherokee, Wrangler, Liberty) are all crap. Its almost blasphemy to call an ML 420 a jeep nowadays.

---

Agent Johnson said:

Smaller parks should change every few years... It means better equipment for your park.

---

You mean change brand affiliations? I'd disagree there.

Pepsi gives us new equipment regularly anyway. We have a good relationship with the company, are used to their service, and don't have any pop dispensers older than around 3 seasons.

I'm sure that the decades-old loyalty is the cause of some of that.

If it ain't broke...

Is this what the off season insanity is doing to us.Soda Vs pop-I live in the midwest and some people call it one some the other and some call it coke .Im guilty of all three.Whatever comes out of my mouth at the time.You guys forgot- people call a copy a xerox.I want a pop I want a Shasta.That line should settle it.

Pop is very inexpensive for companies. My uncle
owns and ice cream stand and paid 45.00 for the
pop in a bag aka fountain drinks. And this year
he has a contract with Pepsi and is being sold
the bottles of pop/aquafina water for .30 a
bottle. yes I said .30 a bottle! Since i found
this out i have been refusing to buy 20oz bottles
unless i am really thirsty!

In soda pricing the most expensive part is the cup that is why some parks sell cups with lower price refills The mix,ice and water do not cost very much per cup.Plus the cup with the parks name or ride is going home with you so it lowers the amount of trash to dispose of.

What confuses me is that Holiday World can afford to give free pop and places like Cedar Point,Walt Disney World charge so much.Its ridiculous IMO.

Oh yea and I gurantee that they do have some kind of deal with pepsi/coke.

---

Son of Beast Rocks said:
What confuses me is that Holiday World can afford to give free pop and places like Cedar Point,Walt Disney World charge so much.Its ridiculous IMO.

---

Unfortunatly CP and WDW realize that giving soda away for free is not going to increase their vistors that much, nor does price gouging decrease it. Its not about affording to do something it is being able to make a bunch of money while not appearing to be evil to the customer.

NOW SEE why did u have to go and make me look like a jack@$$.

Sorry didnt intend to, just wanted to clarify a point.

In a vague sorta way, CP DOES indeed give away free soft drinks...

...if you're willing to spring the 10 bucks for the Dragster souvineer cup, you could have got it filled for free anywhere in the park at anytime as many times as you wanted...

...that, to me, is great customer service and a great deal! If you're there once, twice, or all season... it's worth it. The only price you truly pay is the obligation to carry that monster with you wherever you go!

Nothing is free at Holiday World. They clearly raised their admission price $2 to cover the lost per caps / revenue on beverages. They did their homework on what the average guest spent, and just basically charged people up front.

That idea was kicked around at IAAPA for years during small park roundtable sessions on taking customer service to another level, since a park like HW would not be adding B&M's every other year in our lifetime.

Their only blunder is that the Koch family is way too nice, and they know it, by letting guests have a cup that was too large, and waste was out of hand. Now, they give out, I think a 10-12 oz cup, which is fine.

That $2 surcharge goes directly to the foodservice budget bottom line.

[sarcasm]

BUT - they said I was getting it FREE! Why do you have to rain on my parade and point out the obvious?!?! I want to be closed minded and overlook the fact that they raised the price $2 to cover it - Whaaaaa!!!!

[/sarcasm]

As I recall, a lot of people thought Will Koch was crazy when he took his beverage per-cap, rounded it up to the next dollar, added it to the ticket price, and advertised the heck out of "FREE SOFT DRINKS!!!". Apparently it worked 'cause I know of at least two other parks that are doing the same thing now.

I wonder how much Holiday World charges for parking.

Which is something else I wonder about...I can understand why the big parks don't go the Holiday World route with drinks, as in a park the size of Cedar Point it could be a logistical pain-in-the-rear just because of the sheer number of people they have to serve. Just look how much trouble they have keeping the vending machines filled even at $2.50/bottle! But what's with the parking? How many people do they have collecting parking fees and delaying entrance traffic...people they could simply eliminate if the parking fee were rolled into the admission. For that matter, people who aren't paying to park won't complain as loudly if they don't get traffic directors or door-to-door tram service........

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(Parking pass at my home parks where it isn't about the money, it's about the traffic jam!)

Well all the HFEC (SDC) parks have free parking, so it's not just HW that has it.

-Dho

CP parked nearly 1 million cars last year. The math is easy. No matter how it shakes, you don't come anywhere near that figure in labor costs, even though they have 1 full time manager year round for the lots.

They resurface the lot every other year or so, and that is a capital project, which leaves some cones, a few flares, some rain suits, and virtually no operating expenses.

Its a revenue cow. and with CP's clientle, they would have nightmare on their hands pushing out free drinks, and think about servicing those lines that show up every weekend.

But, would I pay 3-4 bucks extra at CP for free drinks, sure. Do I pay to get in, no. And I eat at Fridays in the Breakers, but its a nice thought.