Whoa!! SFKK employee perk? HW and Dollywood.

This one surprised me. Here is one of the benefits of being a SFKK employee.

VISITING THE SIX FLAGS FAMILY OF PARKS AND BEYOND
"You and one Guest are also invited to visit all the other Six Flags Parks and parks that are members of the Six Flags family for free! In addition, Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN and DollyWood in Pigeon Forge, TN will admit you and a friend free of charge."

This is straight from the SF website. Am I missing something here? Why would your competition allow free access into their park being an employee of another company? Does SFKK allow HW and Dollywood employees in for free as well?

I work for a golf course (St. Andrews, West Chicago) and can visit any golf course run by the Jemsek family, and also can visit Klein Creek and Old Wayne free of charge. This is a great thing for me, because I golf more than I visit theme parks in the summer.

I've heard the same is true around here in Central PA. I guess Knoebels employees get in Hershey, Dorney, and SFGadv at lower prices or even free. I could be wrong, but one of my friends worked at Knoebels last summer and was telling me about it. I wouldn't be suprised if this was a pretty common thing. I don't know why it would be common, but tis' just a hunch. :)

Yup, they have regional park deals all around the country, especially with Six Flags parks. For example, being an employee at SFGAdv gets you and a guest free into all other Six Flags parks. You also get admission just for the employee (no guest) to Hershey Park, Dorney Park, Clementon Park, Sesame Place :-) Knoebels, and I believe thats it. Last year I went to Hershey once and Dorney twice for free. It really is a good deal.

That kind of stuff has been going on for a while. Around my neck of the woods if you work at Knoebels you can visit Great Adventure, Hersheypark, or Dorney for free. I'm sure it works the other way around too.

When I was at Eastcoaster I several of the park reps enjoying dinner together after the event. Sure it's business but it doesn't have to be cut throat all the time.

This is very common. It happens all the time. Enthusiasts think parks are highly competitive, and they are to an extent, but the industry is like one big family. Everyone knows everyone else.

I never knew this was common but it is a nice gesture.

It reminds me of the food service industry. A buddy of mine used to wait tables and when we went to any other restaurant, he would show proof of employment and usually get a 50% discount on his meal.

Working at SFWoA you get in free to Kennywood. Its one of the biggest perks to work there. Groups of employees go there on days off. we also have taken field trips to PKI, and SFDL only paying for the bus costs.

So X-Flight??

As a SFWoA employee, will CP let you in for free? Or is that rivalry to bitter to allow such a thing? :)

I work at a park in northern California and I can purchase tickets at the group rates for parks all over California, from Sea World of California to Disneyland to Six Flags Marine World. The parks may all be competition but employees of an amusement park usually do not want to spend more time then they have to at their park they work at. As a result, the parks offer discounts to employees of other parks in the area.

Pretty well every theme park employee in Australia is able to trade their employee entrance tickets for their own park, with most other parks in Australia, most of which are entirely independently owned and operated. The idea is that employees don't want to spend time at their own parks, so essentially each park trades them, and there are no losses at the end of the day to anyone.

I knew this went on as well. Parks, as well as a group within the same region usually know each other and share ideas and keep it each other "in the know". Perks such as free admission to a neighboring park is a nice gesture. :-)

It's not cut throat at all.

-Tina

And besides, if say, SFWoA employees could get into PKD and Vice Versa, Admission is more expendable, I'd say, than the food, drinks, parking(if they charge that), and souviners they sell would make up for it, I would think, to the other parks employee.

It's called "Professional Courtesy" and is quite common in this and other industries (such as professional theater).

Too bad we're all working so much we don't have time to visit many other parks! :)

Paula

Umm we actually send CP so many free tickets and they send us so many free tickets and we hand them out as rewards for doing a good job, or getting a compliment or something of that nature. However, we can't just show our ID at CP and get in like we can at Kennywood. The Kennywood and SFWoA relationship has carried over from the GL days.

I work at Cedar Point and they hand out free tickets to Kings Island, Kennywod, as well as SF Worlds of Adventure, and actually plan day trips to go to these parks on CP busses. It's quite a nice little perk.

I know my buddy that worked at Kennywood was able to follow me to SFWoA and Hershey for free. It was rumored he could get into Cedar Point, and SFDL for free too from other people he worked with, but we didn't have the time to test either of those theories.

I have a feeling SF and CF dont get along too well. Every year theres a group of WoF employees that travel to sfstl and they have to pay to get in. However SFSTL employees and other people that work there can goto SDC,CC, HW, and there like a huge list. We use to get a %50 discount at a local Burger King, well unfourtunatly someone ordered 400 tacos and that kinda made them decide to drop it too %10.

And while were on the subject of employee perks. What are the employee discount at other park. SFSTL its 35% of food, %40 off merchandise and usally %50 or free on upcharge attractions.

I'd imagine that it's pretty common in the business. It's not really about competition, since you're sending your employees and not your customers.

Honestly, the amusement business is more of a big family than a competition anyhow. Six Flags has overnighted us parts for rides before. "Just send it back whenever you're done." We have no affiliation with them, but the industry takes care of its own.

Kennywood has had reciprocal agreements with parks for years. It can't match the many Six Flags parks, but almost every park within a few hours is a freebie for Kennywood employees, and vice versa in that those parks' employees get in free to Kennywood.

Last I checked, we get in free to SFWoA, Knoebel's, Dutch Wonderland, Hersheypark, SFKK, SFDL, Lakemont, DelGrosso's, and of course Idlewild and Lake Compounce. We used to get discounts to PKI, too, but I can't remember if that's still set up.

Things like that are common. For example while in high school I worked at an AMC movie theater. In addition to being able to go see any movie at my chain I also was able to go to Loews or any of the other chains in the area as well to see movies and they could come to AMC.

PS: To the younger C-buzz readers...working at a movie theater is by dar the best job to have in high school and college...it's not busy all the time and you get to see al the movies you want for free!

Have Fun!

Paul Drabek