Six Flags drops surcharges at legacy parks

I remember a few decades ago Cedar Point used to have signs posted at all of their food stands saying they had an agreement with the state that allowed them to roll sales tax into the price of their food. Definitely in the '70s and I think at least into the '80s.

It was nice because everything had a nice round cost and you didn't need to deal with pennies. It was the only place I ever remember seeing anything like that.

I think that was even a thing into the 90's, I remember it too. The reasoning I think was so everything rounded to a nickel or quarter or something, because it made cash transactions faster. Obviously being cashless now, that wouldn't matter.

The 5% surcharge and the cutback of operating hours at BGW this year were the final factors that caused me to drop my BGW membership this year along with all the other cutbacks over the years.

Enough of these bad management decisions add up to degrade the experience too much.

BGT got rid of the 5% surcharge earlier this year but there were price increases to make up for it. Items like shot glasses went up $2 - $3, and some shirts went up as much as $7 compared to a year ago.

The cutbacks on hours at various parks got me wondering if the crazy long hours I enjoyed at parks in my youth were only possible by not paying folks a reasonable wage.

When I worked at a park ~15 years ago I earned an hourly wage that would be illegal now, even if you if you multiplied it by 2.5.

In my college years (let's say 1992), working at CP would have been a huge score. It was minimum wage, about $10 in today's dollars, with a contract finishing bonus that was retroactive to about $3 in today's money. $13 isn't a ton of money, but at 50 hours a week when you're in college, you'd get nearly $10k for a summer (2024 dollars). It's close to what they offer today, so not only legal by comparison, but relatively competitive.

I worked at Geauga Lake, Disney and Cedar Point as "seasonal labor" before getting hired on at CP full time. I would have liked to make more money, of course, but compared to other typical teen jobs in fast food, summer camps, etc, it was so much more enjoyable. Even with dorms that were not great at Cedar Point the overall experience was almost entirely positive. I stay in touch with former coworkers. To a person, we would all love to go back and relive those years.

I never walked away with much money (and in fact I came back from my Disney experience with a lot of credit card debt). That was due more to personal habits and a lack of self-control. Going to Pleasure Island every night, other theme parks (without free tickets) on days off, driving over to the beaches...all taxed my wallet and my plastic. I'd do it all over again.