Parking charges have gotten out of hand

kpjb, the really neat thing is that if you get to Kennywood in the right time window, you can park right next to the aerial tramway station for $0.00, ride the tramway for $0.00, and while it will take you longer to get into the park than someone who paid the $4.00 for "preferred parking," you will have a lot less walking to do to get to the gate!

Naturally the lower parking fee is reflected in my per-caps elsewhere in the park, although the lack of season passes and the 200 mile drive means I don't get there as often as I would like...

Perhaps Kennywood should sell an 'out of market' season pass or multiple-visit ticket....perhaps 5 RAD visits for $80 or something like that...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The worst thing about SFOG's $10 parking is that a.) You park at the back of the park and have to wal almost a mile AROUND the park to the front, and b.) they removed the parking lot trams in the 2001 season.

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My two favorite coasters are named Superman.

I'll tell you what's out of hand!! $53.00 to get in to Dollywood!!!

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smile...it's cheap, and people will wonder what you're up to. :)

Thanks to everyone so far that have supported my opinion. I appreciate the fact that I am not in here alone.

I agree, parking prices are out of hand. BUT, some basic economics should clear this up...

Let's face it. As long as we keep paying it, they'll keep raising it. The number one goal for any business is to be as profitable as possible. The fact that they keep raising the price and we keep paying it, shows us a very inelastic demand curve for parking. The only way that parking rates will go down is if the park's attendance drops dramatically as the price of parking continues to rise. Also known as a consumer "strike."

If indeed, we quit going to parks, they will realize that they're demand curve has changed from inelastic to an elastic demand curve, thus forcing the parks to lower price to where the supply hits the demand curve, otherwise known as equilibrium.

This is a watered down explaination, but basically its as simple as that.

Danimales, that scares me.....here I was thinking I'm the only resident economist on this here board....LOL. Guess the supply of economists has further out-stripped demand....;)

While Dani's explanation is indeed spot on, it has dawned on me that there has been a recent proliferation of Buzz-onomics around here. Funny, because this time last year it seemed that Buzz-ineering was the preferred profession.
lata,
jeremy
--who should probably shut the hell up now...

Sure, parks can go ahead and charge outrageous prices because...well...they can. People aren't going to travel to the park and turn around because of a $10 parking fee. But, I'm sure they will remember that parking price the next time they are thinking of coming. My dad for example would love to go to Kennywood again, but he has no desire to return to SFWoA. This of course is also because of atmosphere, service, ride selection, but parking/food prices definitely factors into it. The point is, eventually, parks will hit a price where people will pay the high price once, but they will never return again unless it goes down. Another thing to think about: If parking is $10 at a park with $40 admission, that is pretty much $50 for admission with some creative ways of advertising.

jeremy, PLEASE don't get me thinking I started a bad trend.....economists are a boring lot, by and large...the shame is, those damned folks who live "on the margin" make the decisions the rest of us have to live with...

bill, saying that this level of coaster-induced insanity definitely makes me "an outlier"...

Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not an economist; I'm a designer. I've just taken a few economics classes--maybe a side hobby? Anyway, point being, the only reason parking is so high is because we keep paying for it, and the parks have yet to see any negative effects--at least to my knowlege.

...I get to do a *bit* of forecasting and such, but not nearly enough for my tastes....having a Bachelor's in Econ. is kinda like having a really nice car, but no gas (looks better in the driveway than it performs on the road....)....

I think that SFWOA did see the impact on their $9 parking charge from last year, because they lowered it to $7 for this year.

Just throwing this out there. There is also the possibility that the parks are using increased parking fees to help keep the admission costs down (if that's what you want to call them). Instead of each patrons ticket prices escalating out of control they instead increase the cost to park at the lot. This doesn't affect the patrons as much as the individual cost increases of tickets because several people tend to ride together to the park and can thus split the cost of parking. Again it also allows some people to avoid the cost altogether (if they can absolutely not afford it they will find another way). As mentioned before it is a convenience, although that convenience changes according to the respective park. I may be way off base here, but I don't think anyone else has brought up this point. It's also a way to get a little more money from the season pass holders who tend to get more than their money's worth out of their pass.

While I can understand why a park would up it's parking fee so that prices at the ticket booth dont go up, I dont understand the logic behind it. Everyone I have talked to about parking at an amusement park gets really pissy about it and gets angry that they had to pay 10 bucks to park. Unfortunately people are getting angry before they even set foot in the park which makes everyone elses job in the park that much more difficult to deal with moody people that feel like they got robbed at the entrance to the park.

I can see when a park adds some value to it like adding a tram or a moving walkway that people seem less upset about paying the extreme fee to park their cars.

I would be willing myself to pay an extra couple of bucks on my admission ticket if the parking fee was waved. It all comes out even in the end but at least I wouldnt feel robbed before I get to the front gate.

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

"So you think your'e really brave, gonna see the DEMONS cave.
You silly dude, your'e only food, for the DEMON"

I understand where you're coming from but how long do most people stay upset about parking? Generally I forget once I've gotten inside the park and I get on a ride. But that's just me.

I think most people remember the admission price as compared to the parking price. Most of my friends don't even think about paying for parking until they get to the park. Sure they have a brief moment where they are upset, but I find that they are generally more upset with the admission prices.

But as you stated, it all comes out equal at the end. It is a perception of the patrons and the park probably felt more people would be upset with higher entrance fees as compaired to parking fees. Remember, there is a way to get around parking fees. It may not be easy and it may take some time, but it is possible. Hence, parking in the lot is a convenience (although it seems like a necessity). If the entrance fees were higher there is no chance to avoid the higher costs. Even with coupons you would still be paying more. In the end I always try to go with as many people as possible in order to cut down on the parking fees.

An interesting case in the whole parking debate is PKI. PKI issues numerous free season parking permits. For the last two years all you had to do was renew your season pass and they gave you a free parking permit.

PKI is also a park that draws a multitude of loyal season passholders.

The upshot of this is that the once a year guest is paying $8 to park ($10 if they want preffered), while a lot of the seasonpassholders are coming to the park several times and parking for free.

I don't know what to make of it, but its an interesting datapoint. Perhaps PKI realizes that parking is a pure gravy train, and a cheap give-away for which they can advertize loud and hard "FREE parking if you renew by insert cutoff date here"Meanwhile other parks, like Cedar Point charge a hideous surcharge for the parking ($50), sure you only have to go to the point 3 times to come ahead on the pass, but you have to go 7 times for your car's go-ahead visit to the parking lot.

(SFWoA for completeness sake, offers no unlimited parking permit, and instead sells a book of parking vouchers)

And for those keeping score, I saw trams servicing PKI's parking lot last week, but no trams servicing the lots at CP or SFWoA.

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

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slithernoggin said:
The parks are profiting off the notion that people will pay for convenience. There are ways around paying for parking-- have someone drop you off at the gate or entrance (done this several time at Michigan's ADventure and Cedar Point, thanks to the folks); take a cab to the gate or entrance; stay in a motel nearby and hoof it in -- but these aren't very convenient options. The same logic is what's behind the cost of everything in the park. Food, for instance. (At SFGAm, my friends and I leave the park and walk to McDonald's for lunch. We get a break, a nice walk, and food for four for far less then what it would cost in-park.) Or souvenir clothing. Or cameras/film. Again, there are ways around these costs, but they're inconvenient. Complaining does no good, really, if you're still paying the cost. If parks discovered that high parking costs were driving people away, those prices would come down.

Another thing to consider: small parks, as a rule, don't have shareholders. A Holiday World, being privately held, can offer free parking as a competitive advantage. Companies like Six Flags or Cedar Fair are legally obligated to maximise shareholder value, and would be foolhardy to ignore such a profitable revenue stream. Companies in other businesses have been sued by activist shareholders for ignoring 'obvious' sources of revenue.

Short comment made long--- but if you don't like the price, walk away, if the issue is of sufficient importance.

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Yet those dume idoits do not realize that the 7 dollars you pay for parking can also be used to buy more expensive stuff in the park.

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See here's where it would be really nice to have Agent Johnson in here.

My take is that parks are basically guaranteed the price of attendance plus parking. So if I'm a business owner I'd prefer to have one in the hand instead of two in the bush.

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Flume & Hydroblaster Crew for 2002!

I didn't read all the posts in this topic so someone has probably already said these points but I will say it anyway:

Parking prices have gotten out of control, but think about it, the more you give to a park, the more money they have to add rides. Sure, a lot of that goes to profit and stuff, but the more profit a park makes, the more attractions they will add to make more of a profit. The only ways to get out of paying for parking is going by Public Transportation or parking outside the parking lot and walking a great distance.

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Consider this--

A parking fee is cash removed from my pocket before I enter the park.

If I were like a large percentage of park-goers, the admission ticket would be a credit-card purchase, which does not remove any cash from my pocket.

The practical upshot of all this is that extracting cash from my pocket before I enter the park reduces the amount of cash I have available once I am inside. Would it not be better to roll the parking charge into the admission price, so that the parking revenue does not cut into the cash that I would otherwise be able to spend inside the park?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.