Ride 'Em All

Here's a free marketing idea for the parks out there:

Develop an exclusive "club" (lack of better term) for people who have ridden all the coasters at a park (the chains like CF, SF, etc. could even have an 'Elite' level for all the coasters in a chain).

You could have some sort of "collection card" that would have all the coasters listed, with a place for a unique stamp which would be administered by ride personnel after riding. This would serve as a guide for credit whores (not mentioning any names! :) ) to make sure you don't accidently forget a coaster. Alternatively, you could have business-card-sized cards from each coaster (which could be lamenated and reused) to be turned in later. The latter option could serve as souvenirs in and of themselves. Free for the guest for riding, low-cost for the park, and the guest has something to remind them of the trip (chalk one up for 'perceived value')

Upon completion of all the coasters and thus "membership" into the club, you could be eligible for exclusive merchandise (a la "I've ridden them all! shirts/hats/mugs"), discount coupons and/or a rebate on their admission. They could even offer a discount on a single non-exclusive item of their choosing (still more $$ for the company, and the guest feels like they're getting a good deal... that 'perceived value' thing)

Granted, there's nothing stopping someone from riding a coaster for someone else to get the stamp/card, but the benefits would outweigh this small concern.

Think of it - kids in school would come in with their "I've ridden them all!" shirt, and other kids would want to prove they're not scared, and go to get their own. Alternatively, you could create an underground collector's set - the Ride-Them-All cards! :)

Didn't Kennywood do something like that with Phantom's Revenge when it first opened?

Sounds kind of like Old Chicago's Around The World Beer Tour thingy.

Was that based on all their coasters, or just Phantom's Revenge? (I wasn't into coasters near as much back then)

I think it was just PR. You got a card that you could swipe or something ever time you rode. Then there was a website that kept the stats. Not sure what the benefits were, if any.

Something along those lines. Someone has to remember the details and/or know much more about it than I do.

I still think they should have a shirt for the people who've been stuck on the top hat of top thrill dragster. It could say something like, "I defied physics when I got stuck on TTD"

Hmm.. that would be intriguing, especially for the chains - a card to swipe and a corresponding website with stats...

...But my idea is strictly a boolean indication on each coaster.. and you get all sorts of cheap/free (for the park) "benefits" for riding all the coasters.

Lol

I have my old Phantoms Revenge Frequent Phanatic card on top of my computer. There was a reader in the line and every time you went through you just scanned the barcode on your card and it did the rest. The old website was phantomphanatic.com

I believe that you received discounts on pr merchandise after you collected so many laps. I think i ended up with three laps.

maybe it's time for me to make some contacts in the Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and Paramounts Marketing department.. ;)

Let's see...I have ridden all the coasters in

• Cedar Fair
• Herschend Family Entertainment Company
• Busch (except SheiKra and JTA-West)

*** Edited 10/6/2005 2:42:37 PM UTC by Swoosh***

Well I've gotten Knott's, Cedar Point (sans woodstock express), and Dorney.. and I'm hitting all the parks next year, so barring downtime on a coaster while I go, I will get that as well.

Kennywood offered different prizes for different levels.

I know a hat and a shirt were two levels... there were more, though.

Didn't the person who rode the most in one season get a car from Cochran Pontiac? Or am I getting my contests confused? I know the person who rode the most got something, anyhow.

Let's see....I had all the HFEC coasters until Veggie Tales and P-Keg came along...

Busch parks, had 'em until SWSD built their JTA.

Paramount, got 'em for except Terra Mitica and a kiddie at PGA...and the IJ:ST at PKI...

Cedar Fair, still need ValleyFair (and the unnatainable, thus far, Lil Laser)!

KennyCorp, need Idlewild...

SF, still have several entire parks....but if they sell some more, then that might get easier... ;)

Great American Family Parks (or whatever)....ridden 'em all! ;) What do I win?? LOL :)

*** Edited 10/6/2005 3:44:50 AM UTC by rollergator***

Mannerdan, are you kiddin'? This borders on dweebhood. ;)

Yeah Ant...except how many dweebs have just posted in this forum showing off their stats? ;)

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kpjb said:
Kennywood offered different prizes for different levels.

I know a hat and a shirt were two levels... there were more, though.

Didn't the person who rode the most in one season get a car from Cochran Pontiac? Or am I getting my contests confused? I know the person who rode the most got something, anyhow.

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I rode the most, at least based on the website. You were limited to 4 scans per visit.

The grand prize was the top N riders (I forget what N was offhand, or maybe it was everyone who rode more than X times) were entered into a drawing for a trip to Vegas. Christian Bruggerman won that.

If I remember right, the shirt was for 16 rides, the cap for 12. Something like that, anyway. I still have them, actually.

As for "gotta ride them all", not surprisingly we saw something like that in Japan at LaQua. When you bought your ticket you were handed a booklet with places for stamps (think passport-like). At each ride, in the station, was a station with rubber stamps. The kids were going around collecting all the stamps. Not sure if there was a prize beyond just the filled book, though.
*** Edited 10/6/2005 1:35:48 PM UTC by GregLeg***

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dannerman said:

Think of it - kids in school would come in with their "I've ridden them all!" shirt, and other kids would want to prove they're not scared, and go to get their own.

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Most parks do this kind of thing already. It's great marketing. I have a shirt from IOA and my wife has one from BWG. I've seen the Cedar Point shirts (various versions over the years). IOA may alter their shirt designs depending on the season -- my shirt doesn't list Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges -- this attraction was in rehab when I was at the park.

The whole 'club' idea is interesting, but cumbersome. Just sell the T-shirt. Less overhead.

Then the CP and SFMM fans could argue over which park has the longest tunic.

How about a ticket for the CreHo who wants to ride everything quickly. Pay $XX.xx over an above general admission and you'll be guaranteed to ride everything *running* that day?

Why would a park create a program for such a tiny portion of their overall attendence, especially if it takes staffing and other materials [stamps, ink, printed cards]?