Parking Prices : How high can they go?

Hey everyone,

I was just thinking to myself as I was reading a CP 2003 thread.

With so many parks adding so many huge attractions, every year the parking fees tend to go up a buck or so ($2-3 for SFWoA) How high can they go?

I know there are a few SF parks that charge $10 to park, CP Charges $8, smaller SF parks are $7 and then SFKK is $3.

Is there a point when people will just stop going? I, for one know that I am purchasing a parking pass at every park I get the opportunity to (maybe Holiday World :-P..oh yeah..it's free).

Discuss....

--Josh (if this thread has been brought up, I'm sorry..I didn't feel like sifting through 338 pages :-) ) Wozny

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-*Coaster Count 178 #1 MF, #2 SROS (SFDL), #3 Kumba, DOMINATED by Intamin (and an older B&M)*-

Hopefully SF's wont go over $10, but this is why small family parks (canobie lake park) are good because they dont charge to park.

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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK

I hate parking fees. The Rose Garden in Portland (where the Blazers play) charges $14. I think they are getting much to high, but if people continue to pay. the prices will continue to rise.

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84 coasters and counting

i for one finaly gave up on paying every time i went to afgam. the price went last year from $7 to$9 between july and september.i hear that parking is now $10.

this year i got the parking pass and it has saved be so much $. its definity worth the money besides for $105 i got my season pass and the parking pass together.

just my thoughts

Ondrew,

Must be nice, SFWoA dont offer a parking pass, thus the reason I only went twice this year.

1ej

SFWOA doesn't offer a parking pass?? That really does sucks. Maybe the whole Six flags chain should adopt that policy.

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Cornball Express- America's first stand up woodie.

Parking prices at some parks can pay for POP and a meal at some smaller parks.

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My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com
The World of Thrills

Accually, Ondrew, it was 7 to 10, not 9. I was there the day they raised it to 10 in early July... And it's never gone down since. It's very surprising to pay 9 one day, and come back less than 24 hours later and see it costs 10. Gee, if someone that lives in Gurnee would rent out cheap parking spots on their lawn, and provide a shuttle to the park, they could make quite a bit of money, the only expense being they will have no more lawn.

Here's a thought: Pay $10 for one of those blue parking "tickets" (SFGAm), and during the rest of the season, just come a little later in the day and show the guy at the gate the ticket. I've never tried it, but it seems it might work. They allow you to leave and reenter the park during the day without paying twice for parking, and all those tickets look the same...

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SFGAm: 1)DV 2)V2 3)AE Blue 4)Viper 5)Bull

If you take Cedar Point, for example, the parking isn't as expensive as it could be. Thus, the rise in soda prices.

Just a little thought I had.

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Cedar Point 2003, and it begins...

Parking pays for security, lot upkeep lot employees and more. Remember with ticket prices 80% of your admission goes out the window for insurance

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Its easy to be objective to my home park(S). Good bad and ugly its all there. Small or big. coporate or privately owned its all the same to me.

SFEG's parking costs $8, but the city put in some meters right behind the waterpark and they make a fortune with them. I always use them though as it is still cheaper, unless I stay past 4 hours because the meters expire.

I imagine SF can go pretty high. But it also depends at what park, they aren't going to have parking be $20 when the admission ticket is $30-$40, people would then recognize how much they are getting ripped off. I don't think they will ever go above $20 in our lifetime, but I could be wrong.

*** This post was edited by RubberDucky on 9/2/2002. ***

Yeah, SFGAm began offering a parking pass this year. I purchased one on a whim during the preseason, and it was $27.00 I believe. Not sure if it went up or down since then, but I can tell you that it was a great investment.

I have driven to the park 10+ times this year (at $10 a pop, that'd clear $100 easily), and some times (e.g. Memorial Day) I drove in, parked, saw a complete sea of humanity, and promptly turned around. You just don't get that sort of insurance any other way. :)

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"Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation." - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
http://www.loopscrew.com

hear hear I-Nar

SFNE charges $10. All Six Flags Parks charge high prices. They care to much about money. I could see charging 2 or 3 dollars but 10? That is too much. Their admission and food prices are high enough so why charge so much to park your car? Imagine how much money they make just on parking.It's sad.:(

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My SFNE Site-Newly Updated

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My Canobie Lake Park Site

SFNE Dude said:

SFNE charges $10. All Six Flags Parks charge high prices. They care to much about money. I could see charging 2 or 3 dollars but 10? That is too much. Their admission and food prices are high enough so why charge so much to park your car? Imagine how much money they make just on parking.It's sad.
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That's SF for ya. But when you think about how much the chain brings in a year, then minus staff for all the parks, maintnance, trash cans, benches, new rides, power, water, food, and everything else, they aren't making as much as we think. Sure it's a lot, but it's not like they are microsoft are anything.

Parking prices at parks is getting up there. But everytime I pay my $8 to park at CP, I remember paying that same amount to park at Jacobs field and then having to walk forever to get to the field. The closer parking lots can charge over $20. Some people even pay that much to park downtown every day. So I guess although parking prices seem bad, they could be a lot worse.

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Just sit back, and enjoy your record breaking ride on Millennium Force!

Parks have a monopoly on parking. Where else are you going to park. You pretty much have to use their lot. If a family of three goes to PKI, it adds three dollars to each persons admission. I think the parking fees have gotten out of control.

Eric

Hmmm....HW's parking is free......good idea!

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"Air time is not a crime. Take a click, you're a prick" - Kris Allen (Jul 2002, HW)

I think we've talked about this before (earlier this summer I believe, when everyone raised their parking prices and everyone got pissed off). Its going to happen whether we like it or not.

I for one won't quit going to parks because of higher parking prices. I will gladly complain to anyone who'll listen, though.

Bull fan said:
Here's a thought: Pay $10 for one of those blue parking "tickets" (SFGAm), and during the rest of the season, just come a little later in the day and show the guy at the gate the ticket.

I don't think you plan will work unless the park uses the same ticket every day every week for the entire summer. Most parks change theirs every day to a different color. Most parks do the same with wristbands too. I imangine if you got one for every color you might get away with it! The only problem is to figure out what color is the color of the day!

It would be funny to pull upto the guard with about 10 of them sitting on your dash. "I know I have the right one here someplace." The guard would probably either beat you senseless or just let you pass.

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Visits to Knoebels in 2002: 10