disco2000

While is it good you question these things, not everything is black/white and as straightforward as your mind works. Very few marketing activities can assign an actual dollar amount tied back to it. As @BoddaH1994point out, only items where EVERY purchase is done thru a code that the business can track back how the person heard of the business. Unless KI asks EVERY SINGLE person that enters the park "Where did you hear about KI that made you come today", it is impossible to tie a dollar amount to which advertising/marketing effort it gets attributed to. So since nobody can substantiate how much revenue is brought in from marketing, it appears in your mind that a company should spend ZERO amount on any marketing activities? That is the flip side of your argument.... So you have to go with historical numbers, trends, and rely on those that have been there/done that on the effectiveness of such a program. Does P&G and Coca-Cola and car manufacturers and any well known company have to advertise? How do they tie back that the Xmillions they spend on advertising every year provides the return? Coca-Cola spends $4 Billion, yes billion, every year in marketing, promotions, advertising, etc. Can they accurately say the revenue they received as a result of $4Billion in advertising is bringing in more revenue than the spend? People are creatures of habit and Coca-Cola drinkers will continue to drink Coca-Cola whether ads run or not. The ads are probably only to primarily drive new customers or steer the non-habit consumer - can they say new customers provided in excess of $4B in sales? Of course they cannot. Can every company that shelled out $7 Million for a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl accurately provide numbers to justify the costs? Speaking of the Super Bowl, the half-time performers do not get paid. Most of the time these performers do not have a record coming out so their sales are relatively level. However, after Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show performance, her music the following week experienced a 211% increase in on-demand streams and a 390% increase in digital song sales overall, as the songs she performed saw a similar boost. Was it 100% the result of the performance? Nobody can say for certain, but most will say it was. Staying on the football trend LOL, Kettering Health is the Official Healthcare Provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. Who knows how much they spend annually on it, but when the unfortunate situation happened with Damar Hamlin last year, why was it that UC that took care of him? UC Health got way more free advertising during that ordeal than the healthcare paying to be the "official" provider... I haven't heard any rumblings of Kettering Health looking to terminate that agreement this year or ask for money back....so they must still see value in that partnership even though they didn't provide the healthcare when someone went into cardiac arrest on the field... So a company like KI would look at the trends after an ad or marketing piece airs and like @BoddaH1994said, the uptick following the ad or promotion will be attributed to said ad but nobody can say 100% certainty that the increase is 100% directly related to it. And that is why as soon as a company hits a rough patch or a downturn in the economy, marketing budgets and personnel are usually the first things cut because it is hard to black/white accurately account for their value and people start to see it as luxury spending instead of necessity spending when they are trying to keep the doors open.

Your approach is simpler though - just hand them your credit card and tell them to take what is fair

Not surprising how many on other social media sites are saying/bragging LOL that they bought the Prestige Pass for next year. I know in the several times I walked passed it this weekend there were a lot more people in there other than the normal folks I would typically see in there. And when they sell a lot of the Prestige passes, there isn't a lot of incentive for the park/chain to want to make any improvements. It would be interesting to see how many people that have slammed Prestige on social media and in the survey this year still went ahead and renewed Prestige. I suspect it is still a high number.

Yeah but we have exclusive cooler water. Top that LOL

It's thanks to guests like you that hand CF your credit card and tell them to take what is fair

You cannot use them on any Saturday. You can use them on any Sunday except for 9/3. You can only get one per visit, so you would have to come 5 times in order to receive all 5.

They haven't thought that far ahead and will see this thread and be like whoops lol Or maybe ERT is a thing of the past?

Budget cuts LOL

You sure it isn't December 31, 2023

Packing up Grand and bringing in Winterfest floats lol

Word on the midway is the Lounge will have hot chocolate for Winterfest, but given they took away stuff in writing, I wouldn't hold my breath on a verbal lol

Just heard a guest say that the Snoopy Soap Box Racers is already built they just aren't running it until next year LOL

Word on the midway is that the Lounge is out of ice and the cooler is now a warmer Get your warm water before they find the ice lol

Meanwhile some bean counter is sitting in Sandusky, or Charlotte, and seeing the queue wait time and says "See we don't need big productions for new announcements - just throw it on social media and the demand will be there"

Despite the parks staggering their sale dates and despite folks thinking KI PR does a poor job, many are experiencing waits when renewing and buying passes. For kicks I clicked buy now and it put me in a waiting line portal. So either there is still an incredible demand despite the limited PR for the park or the system can only handle like 2 people purchasing at a time LOL

Exactly. I think they feel they will sell more Prestige as many people will assume that is the new platinum....and then someone next year will make a trip away from their home park and find that isn't the case and they will have to fork out money for the passport LOL. Here is the reality of the Prestige: Preferred parking is not a guarantee - you could go on a day that it is full like a busy Saturday. Could be an even bigger possibility with more Prestige being sold. Preferred Entrance is bogus. Go up to the park between 10-12 when that line is available and Guest Services is waving people over to that line that are not Prestige holders. It is not uncommon to see Prestige holders get thru that line slower than the regular line as it always seems people that are waved into that line are first-timers and start asking the attendant questions. Many have gone in to complain and Guest Services said their policy is if nobody is in line, they will wave people in. Someone that has gone in to complain several times about this sarcastically asked Guest Services when are they going to start waving people in to the VIP if it is empty as that is the same concept LOL. Valid point! VIP Lounge - subject to hours. Right now closes an hour early and last year closed at 8pm on Haunt nights. Cooler water - you get to enjoy ice chilled cooler water where there is no sink available for the attendant to wash their hands prior to filling with ice. Not that it matters much because they simply drop the bag on the ground to break up the ice and then because of the awkward design, said bag inadvertently goes into the cooler and thus providing minerals to the water LOL. And oh yea, some days you get infused lemon and lime water. 15% off stuff - at 3 times the amount of Gold pass, you must buy a lot of stuff to make that economically work LOL. Two bring a friend - you are paying for that. Many don't even use that benefit. What is the cheapest you could pay for two people to get in - cheaper than 3X gold pass price LOL. Single use FL - that can have some value and now that they have kiosks available to purchase, you see that could be anywhere from $5 to $20 depending on how busy the park is. It seems most don't really care about this perk as everyday there are FB posts where people hid their to give away to the first person that finds it. Enhanced Pass Perks - nobody has seen anything yet. Well some got an extra % off a meal LOL. But there are people that even with these issues, it still is a benefit and they will renew. For example, someone that only has an hour or two to go to the park, this one time FL is a better deal than the all season FL for that person.

And if Aerial Chase is getting repainted....let's remind everyone when it was last repainted... Kinda seems like another short-sided decision to repaint so soon when other rides need a paint job and painting coasters isn't cheap. What else could have been done by not repainting the same ride less than 2 years apart?

So is Flying Ace getting repainted so soon to this dark support and green track? Interesting that they already added the new ride to the rides section of the website as if it is already here LOL

Don't forget all the disappointment that the Antique Cars was not SOB2 LOL.

You hit the enthusiast overboard stage during the Orion announcement season

Clearly you spoke with your wallet. Good for you. Yet you stick around here instead of completely cutting ties... Have you not picked up a new hobby or something for entertainment you can move on to? Are you upset that nobody followed your lead and/or are you jaded you are missing out on the fun at the park? For others, at the end of the day, it comes down to the complaints are really constructive criticism to try to ensure the park reaches it potential. Sadly you don't see it as that. You chose to speak with your wallet while others choose to be honest on guest surveys and feedback to guest services in hopes it improves and they receive what they were advertised to receive. Then they go to social media to voice it as well. It is the new norm... Some are loyal to a fault or haven't reached the "speak with your wallet" stage yet. Just like many people purchase a certain brand vehicle that can't make it past X-thousand miles yet they remain loyal to the brand and buy a new one that poops out by X-thousand miles. And like I said, warts and all, the entertainment value per dollar spent spread out over a season cannot be beat and that is a great motivator for many people to keep coming back. Where else can you get fed two meals per day all summer for the price of the season long meal plan? Heck a Disney daily plan is almost as expensive as an all-season at KI. About the only thing cheaper for entertainment is to be a keyboard troll on others that still see value out of the pass even with the shortcomings... Unlike FB, the members here know this site isn't owned by the park, so most here have expressed their concerns at guest services, but also comment here. They "screw" over enough people that speak with their wallet and then bye-bye park. And that my friend is why we provide constructive criticism.... Look. at the end of the day, we all recognize they are a business, and not only the park, but many purchases in life have the ability to change the terms of service or conditions at any time. It is a way of life. We either accept that as a possibility or we go without lots of things like mobile phones, cable tv, or basically anything that is a contract... If nobody accepted that as a possibility, they wouldn't sell so many passes. But at the same time, the volume of passes sold should also mean that they try to uphold their end of the deal.

Um, we already have them... https://cedarfairgiftcards.com/

FoF is two train operation today - on a very very light crowd day...lending towards the belief that one train ops on a busy Saturday was due to an issue with a train...

Yeah but people get their 15 minutes of fame and likes on social media that they don't get if they inform the park directly lol. And look how many think that FB site is affiliated with KI lol

True, but at some parks in the chain, the ERT rides promised were rarely/never opened during ERT and a certain park up north would simply switch out ERT rides after purchases were made. Granted they are within their "subject to change" rights to make these changes, but it still leaves a bad taste - especially if it was simply they didn't want to staff it. Same with the budget cuts reducing rides. There are plenty of passholders that their use of the pass is go up the first two hours of park open or come for the last two hours of park open. Just like there are plenty of passholders that NEVER take advantage of ERT and could care less what is happening with that benefit. When they purchased said pass, it was implied that all rides would be open (subject to mechanical or weather issues), and cutting them strictly due to budget concerns after they have your money leaves a sour taste. Depending on the makeup of a family and their ride preferences, opening select rides later or closing earlier could be more than a minor inconvenience for the said family - maybe those are the only rides the kids in the family ride and now they are either not open or only open half the time they are there.