Season Pass Holder Perks

I'm sure some of you have already read my Cedar Point TR. I was just wondering how you feel about the perks the park offers for Season Pass holders. Though the only perk that I find attractive is the early ride time, the rest is all just fluff, to make you think you are getting a good deal, and tempting you to buy something in the park, with a very minimal discount.

I went to get my "design your own t-shirt." for $9.99 perk, only to find out that they only have large sizes available to purchase, and that this would be the last year the park would even offer the design shop for any guest. It seems to me, that they are just trying to cash in on something they are going to get rid of anyways.

Their other merchandise perks, are not really perks at all, but smart advertising to get you to spend more money in their stores. One shop clerk told me, that season pass holders can buy a t-shirt at regular price and buy a "select" shirt for only $5.99, which is probably something they are trying to get rid of, and that you would not normally buy anyways.

Also, the buy one get one frees. I wonder if you could still use that perk if you were by yourself. (as I often go to the parks alone) I might look into that on my next trip to MA, if I go to any park again, with the remainder of the year.

I also think the night time ride thing is a joke. When does this occur? I tried to get on Gate Keeper after the park closed on Thursday, and was not allowed to enter the line, even though it was not quite an 11 pm. If I am not mistaken, ride time is for 1 hour after the park closes? People were already waiting in huge lines for the rides at the end of the night, so where, and how do they offer this perk to season pass holders if everyone is already in line when the park closes? Seems kind of pointless to say it's a perk, when anyone can ride.

It just seems to me that the perks are generalized, and really available to anyone. I was very shocked by the huge number of people involved with early entry. Just thousands of people. You would think that the park would throw season pass holders a better bone. Maybe allow them at least one or two rides of their choice, where they can skip the line with the fast lane folks, or give deeper discounts on park merchandise.

Maybe they should hire me as a perks planner. I have some ideas that would make guests more happy with the season pass purchases, and might even sell more season passes as a result. I just think they aren't doing enough to impress their big money spenders.

I buy a season pass because I want to go X amount of times to a park and it makes the most financial sense for me to buy one. Any perk I get is just icing on the cake. Some of the most useful perks for me however have been:

1. CP and KIs morning ERT. It is such a huge bonus, and allows me to ride all of the big rides early without lines.

2. Free Parking: I go to parks alone most of the time, so this is a huge bonus for me.

3. Dollywood's and BGW's % discount on food: I love the food there, and its nice to get that 10-20% off

3. Free Fries at Coasters: Best meal deal at CP, makes the burger price tollerable knowing you got the fries for free.

4. Night Ride Nights: Especially if they have 2 coasters running. 15 times in a row without getting off on Magnum during a Magnum/TTD ERT one year, magical.

About the multitude of people during ert: if you stay at a hotel owned by the Point, you get a variety of the season pass perks for your day at the park. One of those is ert. The ert includes pass holders and hotel guests, which marked it not an ert at all. The lines are still short, though.

Yes. free parking is a really great perk. I forgot to mention that. Thanks.

If I get a season pass again next year, I will hope that the other perks are better. Maybe they could also off us a free mug, or at least one at half price with free refills. Or, maybe give us season pass holders a mug with a meal purchase. That would certainly keep me from wanting to eat at McDonalds. And, with a deal like that, I'm sure a lot more people would be likely to eat in the park.

I know one thing for sure. They are selling a ton of those mugs, almost every other person I saw in the park on Thursday had one. We are talking thousands of them. at $12.99 a pop. That's a hell of a lot of cash, for cheap plastic, and carbonated soda.

Cedar Point is a money making machine.

Cedar Point is a money making machine? Well, duh....

That's kind of the point of a for-profit business.

The after-hours ERT is only on certain days of the year, and begins once the regular line has finished. The dates are listed here (click on the 4th blue tab) or even better, here.

Pro tip: As with all Cedar Fair websites, I just end up googling whatever info I'm looking for rather than use their built-in search. And God help you if you try to use their site on a smartphone.

I have always been happy with the season pass perks at Great Adventure. You get a coupon book with 5 bring a friend free tickets (only valid select days but they usually have a good range of days they are valid for), a few bring a friend for $19.99 coupons and discounts on food and games. The season passholder ride nights are great. They usually have one in May and one in September and the park is almost always empty with little to no waiting. I'm not sure if it counts as a perk or not but the season pass dining option is one of the best things I have seen a park/chain add. It was a great deal to pay $74.99 to get 1 or 2 meals each time I go to the park.

I was pretty happy with the deals at Cedar Point. I found Kings Island's to be less useful.

Currently trying to find a list of Platinum perks for Michigan's Adventure, but apparently they're a secret.

I asked about that at MA before. The only deals that I know of that they have are:

Free Admission

Free Parking

A Majorly Discounted Price on Rip Cord if Ridden before Noon

I actually like the ERT session at KI a lot. I didn't even have to get out of my seat until it was over. I love The Beast.

In the last 8 hours:

Tyler Boes said:

I usually ride it during ERT. I have waited for it twice not in ERT once this year...

If you marathon the Beast (or Diamondback) during ERT, you can get 3 rides in a row on that ride.

Tyler Boes said:

I usually knock those guys out in the ERT.

Tyler Boes said:

Um, my advice was to ride Millenium during ert

Tyler Boes said:

I actually like the ERT

Do you like the ERT?

^ ERT? It's the -est.... ;~)

And of course, the best MiA perk of all:

Being able to start every morning with a quick sprint to Shivering Timbers with skinny teenagers.

Seems to me I'd come up with a couple other perks on another site. ;)

There is a chance that I may be able to get to go to the Geauga Lake Wildwater Kingdom park this week. I called yesterday evening to ask what the perks were with my Platinum Pass, and was told by the machine to call back during regular office hours, 9am to 4:30pm. I wonder if anyone here can tell me.

Lord Gonchar said:

Do you like the ERT?

I dunno, but he sure likes to post about himself.

The included parking and morning ERT were the most important to me last year when my wife and I had season passes. I would love morning ERT with the Kennywood season pass.

I consider the bonus perks to be just that. I mainly get a pass for the parking and admission. Everything else is just there, and it wouldn't sway my decision to buy one if they didn't exist.

eightdotthree said:

The included parking and morning ERT were the most important to me last year when my wife and I had season passes. I would love morning ERT with the Kennywood season pass.

I love Kennywood to pieces. That being said, the one time I (vaguely) recall getting there for morning ERT several years ago, it wasn't very useful - the wooden coasters took a while to get online, and we mostly waited around. To be sure, there aren't many places in America that I'd rather be, just standing around and hanging out with friends....but extra riding wasn't really on the docket.

The nighttime ERT, on the other hand....glorious!

Actually MA did have some very nice extra perks that Cedar Point doesn't offer. Free Parking was obviously the best. It makes a day at MA reasonable.

Discount on dinner at the family grill. $8.95 vs $12.95 all you can eat.

Buy an on ride video from Thunderhawk, and get a t-shirt at a huge discount. I think it was either. $5.00 or free, but not exactly sure.

Buy 1 get 1 free at various games and eateries.

I think there was also a rider discount for Rip Cord.

They also had bring a friend free on certain days. up to 4 guests.

I took advantage of the dining discount both times I was at the park this year. And, the food was a lot better than I expected. Very reasonable, just $3.00 more than eating at McDonalds.

And, they were also very nice with substitutions. I wanted to do the on ride video and t-shirt deal from the Thunderhawk ride. But, when I went, the photo and video booth was not operating. So, when I went to Shivering Timbers, they threw me a bone, and gave me a buy one get one free deal for two on ride photos of ST. I got two large photos for $12.00. Though I would much rather have had the t-shirt.

They also sell discounted t-shirts at MA at the end of the day, usually $5.00 each or $10.00. They had some that I really liked, but none in my size. I hate generic sizing!!! Get some mediums and smalls!!

Timber-Rider said:

Buy an on ride video from Thunderhawk, and get a t-shirt at a huge discount. I think it was either. $5.00 or free, but not exactly sure.

But they're "probably something they are trying to get rid of, and that you would not normally buy anyways."

(See what I did there!?!)

MA also had a perk listed that if you bought an ice cream cone from a certain place, you got free sprinkles! That one made me laugh, but now i can't find the perks listed on their site.