16 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

Keep in mind that they are selling passes to Kings Island for $109.  That is by comparable to recent years, but still more expensive then ten years ago.  I remember when they were $79.99 a person!

And after seeing the Fast Lane sales line upon entering the park this past Saturday, I think the more people the better for their bottom line. They must have made $10k-$20k on Fast Lane alone in one day.

Six Flags sells dirty cheap passes as well along with dining plans.  They are making money.  CF has struggled since covid hit and it doesn't seem it'll change any time soon.

SEAS is making money.  CF seems like the odd ball out here.

 

But keep in mind that Cedar Fair opened most of their parks later than Six Flags did this year.  Therefore they had less operating days compared to Six Flags to make money.  From what I have seen at KI, people are still showing up and spending money.

16 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

But keep in mind that Cedar Fair opened most of their parks later than Six Flags did this year.  Therefore they had less operating days compared to Six Flags to make money.  From what I have seen at KI, people are still showing up and spending money.

That was their choice. Six Flags and SEAS have done everything possible to generate money and it's been working.  Ol' slow and steady CF has done little to expand their same old, same old. Oh well.  All will probably survive, which is good.  But, CF has just been disappointing by what appears to be a clear lack of effort since last summer.  No disrespect to the workers at these parks.  They are busting their bottoms.  But the company seems to making strange choices now days.

 

We have to consider that Cedar Fair said they are investing 175-200 million into 2022 projects. On the other hand, in 2019, they announced that they were investing $140 million for 2020 projects (I am not sure if this included hotels and adjacent development). Cedar Fair’s 2020 projects included Orion, South Bay Shores at California’s Great America, Camp Snoopy at Michigan’s Adventure, Cedar Point’s anniversary celebration, Knott’s Berry Farm’s anniversary celebration, and tons of water park investments. Cedar Fair supposedly is investing even more this time around. However, it seems like a big chunk of it is going towards renovating hotels. I don’t know if Cedar Fair plans to announce anything else major, but I could see a lot of parks focusing on park improvements which can sometimes be better than getting new rides in my opinion.

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Why are you singling out the Taft parks?  Currently a Gold Pass for Cedar Point: the coaster Mecca, a place like no other, the crown jewel of the chain… is one of the cheapest season passes in the chain. I do agree that the moves strike me as a little desperate though. 

For comparison, a 2-day ride and slide ticket (CP and CPS) with all day drink wristbands is ~$80, not including $20/day parking.  When they have more demand than operational capacity (long, slow lines), that’s basically giving away gold passes.  It’s also less than they used to charge for the base pass that didn’t include Shores, parking, early entry. 

15 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Why are you singling out the Taft parks?  Currently a Gold Pass for Cedar Point: the coaster Mecca, a place like no other, the crown jewel of the chain… is one of the cheapest season passes in the chain. I do agree that the moves strike me as a little desperate though. 

They are underselling (price) /overselling  (quantity = long lines) their product chain wide. 
 

I singled out Taft as where they have done some good things.  Namely putting the theming back into the parks with their new additions.   I guess Knotts could be added to that list.   The others are more or less generic parks and WoF doesn’t get much love. 
 

Its a shame they are taking the Six Flags approach selling passes.  Hopefully the parks don’t end up as crappy as SF parks.