CedarPointer

Interesting that this time only "unused" tickets can be used another day. I guess, too bad if you wanted to make the most of a day with bad weather not expecting them to close 5 hours early.

The park being clean and well-maintained is a bare minimum expectation, though, not something that new additions should be getting sacrificed for.

Oh, I should have been more specific, I was talking about Alpenfury. Didn't realize Siren's Curse also had terrible capacity (but, of course, they could have just, y'know, put it at literally any other park).

I mean, they did just build a coaster at one of their busiest parks that only has 2 trains of 12 riders each. Low capacity and long wait times are great for Fast Lane sales. Not so great for your brand reputation or repeat business, but that's a problem for tomorrow.

The sad thing is that Cedar Fair was always TERRIBLE about creating programs and benefits that all have different rules and restrictions (like the old gold pass perks that were like "get 10% off a Cinnabon between 4pm-4:30pm on odd numbered days of even numbered months), then not explaining it to the front line associates or telling them when anything changed. When I worked at the park, we often found out about changes because guests would ask us about them, and we'd look foolish because no one had told us that anything had changed. Six Flags has always been better in this regard. Things were clearly stated, and when they weren't, there never seemed to be an issue getting an answer. It's sad that now the whole company behaves like Cedar Fair, except with the added wrinkle of them not caring about your experience whatsoever once they have your money.

Sounds like something the park should have communicated to people when they took their money, instead of expecting everyone to know about a random policy change that wasn't communicated anywhere except "unofficial" Facebook groups. Apparently, you're supposed to "refer to the instructions on the ticket" to figure out how to redeem it... which, of course, you don't have because it's "on your pass".

Cedar Fair ALWAYS had issues with promotions being totally unclear and not particularly caring if the guest has any clue what is available to them. My favorite was the "voucher" for a Fast Lane wristband you would get for renewing early, but they actually only needed the pass and not the voucher, so people would give them to a friend or whatever and send them to the park, and they were out of luck. Six Flags generally was very clear about what you were entitled to and how you could use it. They really did combine the worst of both companies, didn't they?

It's supposed to be any ride, apparently. For example, at Canada's Wonderland, they say single use is "not available" for AlpenFury since they don't sell them, but I was able to use the one on my pass for AlpenFury. Explaining how benefits work has never really been Cedar Fair's strong suit.

It was a pretty common theme this year that I (and other people I know with prestige passes) would go and try to use their skip the line and, even though the scanner turned green, the ride op "never heard of it being on the pass" so you'd get turned away, and of course, by that point you'd already used it according to the system so you couldn't try again somewhere else, and having to hike up to GR to complain kind of defeats the purpose of the benefit. I think it's a side effect of the small number of people who buy the prestige pass and the fact that basically everyone else has a wristband they're scanning and so they think you're trying to pull one over on them when you scan your pass instead. I was usually able to get around it by scanning my pass on the kiosk and printing out the receipt, but those rarely actually work anymore.

Maybe the ride associates will finally be trained about the single-use so paying guests don't keep getting turned away after scanning their pass.

It's pretty widespread on social media, I can't imagine how many complaints the various parks have been fielding about it. It's going to be even worse when Haunt starts and you have the people who don't follow every nuance of the park's website showing up just to find an employee with their hand out asking for $99 for something that's been included with their passes for years. Yes, the website didn't necessarily say they were included when renewals went on sale in 2024, but no one would have expected it to- mazes have been included with event admission for decades. Of course, you're going to have the park cheerleaders telling everyone how paragraph 17 subsection 12 of the terms and conditions says they can take away whatever they want whenever they want, but that really only makes things worse. The fact is that, at best, a lot of people feel they were misled when they purchased their passes, especially since many people already paid for 2026 passes before the changes were publicized. Excuses from the parks and their supporters aren't going to help with that. Teaching people that you may or may not get what you paid for when you make a purchase from their company is not a good move.

Pre-merger Six Flags tried eliminating meal plans. Didn't work. You are NEVER going to get passholders to pay full price for food in the park again once you got them used to enjoying two meals every visit for one price. Just look at the widespread backlash with the Haunt money grab. I just can't believe that giving away the gate, constant ride closures, dirty parks, poor customer service, and taking away things people already paid for hasn't been a formula for success. Really shocking.

They already fell down.

The park responded to a Facebook comment and said it's not AI. I think it suffers from the fact that the style is so similar to the slop AI puts out when you say "generate an image of X in Pixar style".

The description and the way the "flashlights" are depicted in the promo art reminds me a lot of Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek at Tokyo Disneyland, where you point an actual light at the props to set them off. That would be a nice alternative to the current blasters, although I feel like that won't be how it actually works.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but I feel like the effects will work for about the same amount of time as the flag waving Snoopy on Soapbox Racers or, at best, the fog curtain in Boo Blasters. It's a huge relief that it's not screen-based.

I think the thing with all of this is, who can justify dropping money on anything at Six Flags when they've proven that they can and will change the rules on you whenever they please? I can't imagine dropping a grand on an All Season Fast Lane when, for all you know, you won't be able to use it on any coasters without paying an extra $10 per visit for your Coasters and More Access Pass. They blew through decades worth of goodwill with their most loyal customers in a desperate attempt to make a quick buck. And it's a lot harder to earn goodwill and good word of mouth than it is to lose it.

Coasterstock "sold out" too.

Seems like an excuse to get rid of the event when, predictably, people are unhappy with this.

I'm sure it's really going to help matters that people are figuring out that making a purchase from Six Flags is like flushing your money down the toilet, because they can and will change the rules on you at any time. Customers LOVE feeling like they were misled!

It's starting to remind me of MoviePass toward the end. Charge too little for your product, then come up with desperate money grabs and change the rules on your customers when your poor business decisions come back to haunt you.

Hopefully this brings some business to the other local haunted attractions. Can't imagine lots of people will be willing to pay extra for something that was advertised as being included with the passes they already purchased.

It's hilarious because it only would have benefited the shareholders, and it turns out it's not even benefiting them. Oops! I really would like to see more shows on the scale of Phantom Theater Encore, especially if it means the park's main theater is occupied for more than a month. I think the problem with outside shows like the Cirque shows and Gazillion Bubbles is that they eat up a good chunk of the year's entertainment budget, so while those shows are great, it means we're missing out on, say, a daytime bandstand show or a kids' show. KI is a lot better off with entertainment than, say, KD, but it's also extremely important when the park doesn't have anything else exciting and new to offer its guests.

Well, I like it because it's never busy. Guess I could have worked on the phrasing on that one! I think the big issue with cleanliness this year is that I don't think they powerwash the walkways at night anymore (which I think started last year), or at least not as often as they used to. Combined with how Park Services seems to be scaled back significantly this year, it means everything feels much grungier than previous years. It's one of those things that people won't necessarily go to GR and complain about, but it sticks in their mind when it's time to renew their pass or choose between KI and other entertainment options.

I always like the restroom by WindSeeker that has a giant mirror at the end of the dividerless urinals, I guess in case anyone wants to take a "sneak peek".