4 hours ago, super7 said:

These parks have a horrible pricing structure.  
 

if one buys a season, pass and dining plan with drinks and uses it a lot, it’s cheap entertainment 

But if one goes a single time, it’s ridiculously expensive. I think they gouged the people that go one time to make up for the small profits on all these season passes.

it would be much better just to have decent pricing on everything and not give away the house with these season passes
 

And i’m on a season pass.   I spend as little over that as possible at Cedar Fair Parks, because of the way they treat their customers and their employees. 
 

I don’t think the merger is going to fix anything. Out of the two companies Cedar Fair (as bad as they are) is actually the better one and has nothing to gain from being involved with Six Flags.   Cedar Fair is all about cutting cost now and will probably just continue to degrade the customer experience until it’s like a Six Flags experience.

Wow, such a miserable time it's sounds like you have whenever you go to a park. 

Have you considered that folks who don't open up the wallet and spend money contribute to the problems you constantly bemoan?

1 hour ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Wow, such a miserable time it's sounds like you have whenever you go to a park. 

Have you considered that folks who don't open up the wallet and spend money contribute to the problems you constantly bemoan?

Agree but at the same time, CF doesn’t do much to reward those who do spend money. 

1 hour ago, Tr0y said:

Agree but at the same time, CF doesn’t do much to reward those who do spend money. 

I agree.  They either need to **** or get off the pot with the PassPerks disaster.

Since when has any place like amusement parks or professional sports, circus, etc. had "reasonable" pricing?

It is part of the supply and demand and park strategy.  If it costs the same as going thru McD's (even though that pricing is starting to not be reasonable), then the food lines would be even longer.

Lower food prices in the park would create a bigger demand for food.  With that increased demand would come new supply (restaurants) to meet that demand.  Then that potentially means space for a ride is now taken up by a food place.  Do you want yet another food place or a new attraction?

Would everyone be happy if The Vortex spot became a food place instead of a new coaster?

The higher prices help balance out the demands.  People are paying for the convenience of not having to leave the park.  

48 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Since when has any place like amusement parks or professional sports, circus, etc. had "reasonable" pricing?

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, gets this right: https://sports.yahoo.com/cheap-beer-good-press-falcons-fan-friendly-pricing-win-win-191626117.html

They slashed concession prices by 50%, and as a result, fans spent more than before.

31 minutes ago, jcgoble3 said:

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, gets this right: https://sports.yahoo.com/cheap-beer-good-press-falcons-fan-friendly-pricing-win-win-191626117.html

They slashed concession prices by 50%, and as a result, fans spent more than before.

That article is from 2019 when they sucked and this quote says it all "a $2 hot dog buys you more goodwill than a 7-9 season ever could." 

In other words they were trying to keep ticket holders as further in the article it says "to even get into the stadium for a standard Falcons game without hitting the secondary market, you’ve got to pay for a Personal Seat License that runs from $500 for the highest levels to $45,000 for club levels. The Falcons don’t offer any single-game tickets for sale; everything’s controlled by those PSLs."  Then the cost of the ticket is on top of that. 

Apparently selling $2 hot dogs will entice people to spend $45K for a PSL lol.

And they said "from the Falcons’ perspective, you get them in the door and you can get them opening their wallet for pricier markups like merch."

It is all a shell game and it is where do you put the mark-up.  Would you rather KI charge $400 to get in for the day and then sell $2 hot dogs?

If KI costs $45k just for the ability to buy a pass, I would hope the food is free 

Think about it at this stadium - people are paying $45,000 just for the ability to purchase seats for usually 8 games.  Or even the cheap seats at $500 just for the ability to buy 8 tickets.  So they make it up before you are even in the door.

So they gouge you to get in and then when the season is in the tank, drop prices to try to encourage those same folks to renew PSLs.  And then they benefitted from the tactic that people feel like they got a good deal on a hot dog, so they spend more than they planned to.

As a side note, most football games are played on Sundays, and that stadium is home to a Chic-Fil-A, which is closed on Sundays....go figure LOL.

Granted they still offer the $2 hot dog.

But it is essentially the game CF plays - have a cheap gate and cheap meal plans and hope that entices people to spend more on other stuff.  Plus, plenty of single day guests buy the $30ish daily meal plan and not fork out $15-20$ per meal.  And many then will buy a snack or other merch because of said single day meal plan.

47 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

That article is from 2019 when they sucked and this quote says it all "a $2 hot dog buys you more goodwill than a 7-9 season ever could." 

In other words they were trying to keep ticket holders as further in the article it says "to even get into the stadium for a standard Falcons game without hitting the secondary market, you’ve got to pay for a Personal Seat License that runs from $500 for the highest levels to $45,000 for club levels. The Falcons don’t offer any single-game tickets for sale; everything’s controlled by those PSLs."  Then the cost of the ticket is on top of that. 

Apparently selling $2 hot dogs will entice people to spend $45K for a PSL lol.

And they said "from the Falcons’ perspective, you get them in the door and you can get them opening their wallet for pricier markups like merch."

It is all a shell game and it is where do you put the mark-up.  Would you rather KI charge $400 to get in for the day and then sell $2 hot dogs?

If KI costs $45k just for the ability to buy a pass, I would hope the food is free 

Think about it at this stadium - people are paying $45,000 just for the ability to purchase seats for usually 8 games.  Or even the cheap seats at $500 just for the ability to buy 8 tickets.  So they make it up before you are even in the door.

So they gouge you to get in and then when the season is in the tank, drop prices to try to encourage those same folks to renew PSLs.  And then they benefitted from the tactic that people feel like they got a good deal on a hot dog, so they spend more than they planned to.

As a side note, most football games are played on Sundays, and that stadium is home to a Chic-Fil-A, which is closed on Sundays....go figure LOL.

Granted they still offer the $2 hot dog.

But it is essentially the game CF plays - have a cheap gate and cheap meal plans and hope that entices people to spend more on other stuff.  Plus, plenty of single day guests buy the $30ish daily meal plan and not fork out $15-20$ per meal.  And many then will buy a snack or other merch because of said single day meal plan.

Yeah but do most ball parks charge you separately for cheese to go along with chips? 

 

Kings Island believes so. 

Afterburner Chips $8.99
Add Beer Cheese $2.99

 

 

3 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

Yeah but do most ball parks charge you separately for cheese to go along with chips? 

 

Kings Island believes so. 

Afterburner Chips $8.99
Add Beer Cheese $2.99

 

 

Not if you have the all-season cheese/condiment plan 

There are two types of parks:

Park 1: 

Guests: “Hey, I paid $400 for this VIP season pass and the benefits are only about 40% of what was advertised.”

SPX: “You got to get into the park didn’t you? What else do you want? You’re so entitled. Your complaint is as adorable as it is predictable.”

Park 2:

Guest: “The park has been really busy for the Christmas event.”

Park:

 

…just remember that Park One greatly reduced hours in 2024 as well. 

3 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

There are two types of parks:

Park 1: 

Guests: “Hey, I paid $400 for this VIP season pass and the benefits are only about 40% of what was advertised.”

SPX: “You got to get into the park didn’t you? What else do you want? You’re so entitled. Your complaint is as adorable as it is predictable.”

Park 2:

Guest: “The park has been really busy for the Christmas event.”

Park:

 

…just remember that Park One greatly reduced hours in 2024 as well. 

The extended hours garnered a lot of news media stories in Pennsylvania. Dutch Winter Wonderland also extended its hours. 

Dollywood has often been know to extend hours "day of" based on attendance. KI needs to be able to respond more quickly. I get closing early, but last Friday December 8 (with almost 2 hr waits for train) should've definitely been oushed to a 11 pm close. Im a little confused why this week of daily ops (with mostly decent looking weather) isn't set for 4pm opens and 11 close at least Friday and Saturday for the last 2 nights before Christmas. 

^Cedar Point used to do that on occasion as well.  I think it has been several years since they have last done that though.

Would be extremely difficult to extend hours with all of the minors that work at Kings Island.  CP doesn't have that issue as much.
 

You'd almost have to plan ahead with schedules.

2 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Dollywood has often been know to extend hours "day of" based on attendance. KI needs to be able to respond more quickly. I get closing early, but last Friday December 8 (with almost 2 hr waits for train) should've definitely been oushed to a 11 pm close. Im a little confused why this week of daily ops (with mostly decent looking weather) isn't set for 4pm opens and 11 close at least Friday and Saturday for the last 2 nights before Christmas. 

What time did you do the train with a 2 hour wait?  We were there that night as well.  Watched the parade in Coney by the arcade then went to the train.  Waited 10 minutes.

With that said, I am not disagreeing with you at all.  I totally would love to see extended ours, particularly with the nicer weather we have been having this year.

1 hour ago, chad_1138 said:

What time did you do the train with a 2 hour wait?  We were there that night as well.  Watched the parade in Coney by the arcade then went to the train.  Waited 10 minutes.

With that said, I am not disagreeing with you at all.  I totally would love to see extended ours, particularly with the nicer weather we have been having this year.

I didn’t personally-that was just what I heard people were experiencing (and looking at the line of full switchbacks in the vine tunnel and it coming all the way to the actual station along the midway I believe it. I think we were in that area pre-parade maybe. 

2 hours ago, teenageninja said:

Would be extremely difficult to extend hours with all of the minors that work at Kings Island.  CP doesn't have that issue as much.
 

You'd almost have to plan ahead with schedules.

True. I feel like with weather predictions they’d almost need to be “unofficially” open till 11 (like have scheduled coverage) but internally communicate that depending on crowd levels, people may be sent home at the “publicized” closing time.