Taiwanese government says amusement parks have to give refunds for closed rides

Wow, can you even imagine the feds here in the states giving that kind of mandate?

ya I know, Think of the day i could have gotten into SFNE for around 15 bucks. didn't even know any place had regulations like this.

I can't even imagine the logistics of giving refunds for down rides. Do you get more back if the big B&M coaster is down compared to if the Scrambler is down? Do children get refunds if a coaster they aren't tall enough to ride is down (and do adults get refunds if kdis rides are down)?The possibilities are endless.

Well, you'd have to work out a ticket system. The "E" ticket rides warrant X amount of dollars each, and go down from there. The smallest rides could be like 80 cents. :)

I guess it's not so far-fetched. If a park gives a discount to patrons below a certain height then aren't they already offering a discount based on what rides are available to an individual? I don't think you could mandate it here in the US, but I could see parks offering free return trip tickets if a major new attraction is down.

I can see a reduced admission price if the ride is unavailable; for instance, Cedar Point could have, without fanfare, sold tickets at the 2009 price while Shoot the Rapids was not ready. There is even a precedent for that: the year that Indiana Beach installed that weird water flume tube thingy, I visited before it was ready and got a discount on my admission because of it. That much I can totally understand.

But to offer partial refunds because an attraction was down for part of the day? Talk about a logistical nightmare! It sounds like the CPC is trying to actively discourage the whole concept of a P-O-P admission!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Jeff said:
Wow, can you even imagine the feds here in the states giving that kind of mandate?

Yes I can, because they already do.

And yes, I can provide (some) examples if requested.

-Sam

/Examples requested.

:)

Guess I should just email my credit card account details directly to both Intamin and Thorpe Park to save time :)

I hate it when people are like, "Look how smart and knowledgeable I am! Now beg me to tell you why!"

Lame. -1.

Here are some I can think of*:

Labor laws that may require employers to pay time-and-a-half to those working more than 40 hours in a week.

OBAMACARE: (Specifically The upcoming requirement that US Residents have a health plan, even if they don't want one, or be forced to pay.)

Regulations on lead in toys, requiring testing, even if the toy is made of only wood.

CAFE Standards

The CARD Act.

The ADA

The FMLA

The Feds put mandates on American businesses all the time.

Let me know if I made a mistake with any of the above.

-Sam

*NOTE* I am arguing neither for nor against any of the above regulations. They are listed only as examples.

Jeff,

It would be easier for me if I didn't need to provide examples, because I DON'T possess extensive knowledge on government regulation.

-Sam

I fail to see the similarity of any of those things, to a regulation making parks give refunds or discounts on closed rides.

One easy way to do this in a way that requires no thought and is self-regulating:

Pay-per-ride.

There is no off position on the genius switch. :)

See, Gonch - PPR only works when you don't care about the number of laps you take on a particular coaster. So, if one carries a notepad, clicker, early 2000's edition Palm PDA or other device or similar nature, they'll have to pay more to bump up their numbers.

Another -1 assigned for an off-topic rant about how teh guberment is da debil!

Raven-Phile said:
I fail to see the similarity of any of those things, to a regulation making parks give refunds or discounts on closed rides.

Yeah...same here.

Can I plus-one the plus-ones? Or is that bad netiquette?

The Feds put mandates on American businesses all the time.

All of those examples are the government trying to regulate the well being of citizens by mandating logical means to an end when it comes to healtcare and the way companies are required to treat employees.

Even if someone doesn't agree with the CARD act, CAFE standards, the ADA act, or OBAMAcare, the intent is for people to be safe and healthy, or for companies to not take advantage of citizens or employees.

This kind of mandate is somethign else entirely.