Food prices?

[Diamondback96]

I'm going to write a research paper for school about if WDW or KI is better (IMO, they are equal; KI is more for thrills while WDW is more for families). A couple of paragraphs will be devoted to food prices. I've gotten WDW's food prices, but I still need KI's. Does anyone know where I can find this information?

Note: Just a post on this thread won't work, as I need a credible source, and a KIC member isn't a credible source, even if the member happens to be Terpy.

[The Interpreter]

Ouch! As always, call the park. I think you will be pleased with their response. Or visit with a camera. Surely first hand observation is a credible source.

[bkroz]

But be careful! Some of the menus are television screens... No telling if they bump the prices by a few cents on busy days.

[Diamondback96]

Sorry!

Neither of those will work, as I can't reference a phone call, and a picture can be photoshopped. Don't forget that I don't have a season pass.

[The Interpreter]

And if old Terp were quoted speaking of theme park food pricing in a theme park magazine...

Hypothetically, of course...just hypothetically....

We aren't talking about a phone call. We are talking about the park faxing/mailing/emailing you pricing. They might, if you are honest about why you want/need it. You might be surprised.

You need to think outside the bun!

[Guest IceCream329]

Well I do know most prices off the top of my head......I can say that Funnel Cakes are 6.49, with tax comes to 6.91.......Ice Cream is 3.49, tax comes to 3.72......cotton candy is 3.75.....I could go on but you get the drift!

[Scott Evans]

Sorry!

Neither of those will work, as I can't reference a phone call, and a picture can be photoshopped. Don't forget that I don't have a season pass.

If you are writing it APA style you should be able to cite an interview as long as you are speaking with an expert in that field, which in this case would be a Kings Island official in Sales, Customer Service, Marketing, or operations. Call the park and see if you could setup an appointment for a phone interview or personal interview. Worse they can say is no.

[Diamondback96]

It's MLA format.

[The Interpreter]

Whatever the format, it's a sad day indeed if the format favors secondary sources over reliable, primary sources. That is not the way the real world operates...or at least it did not used to be.

[Delirium13]

MLA also allows you to cite an interview, and I also agree that you should try to get an interview.

A few years ago I was doing a research paper on a career path that interested me, which at the time was Marketing/Public Relations. I needed to interview in person, I got Mr. Helbig's number from the parks website and he very graciously took about 30-45 minutes out his work day to do the interview. Interviewed right beside the fountains, it was my first time inside the park while it was closed and they were setting up for Halloween Haunt, it was a very cool experience.

So if in an interview is an accepted source, which I would think it would be, I'd recommend that you at least try, as Scott Evans said, the worst that can happen is they say no.

[The Interpreter]

And what an opportunity for you that was...one you will not soon forget.

And how gracious (and smart) of Mr. Helbig to do that. He did wonders for Cedar Fair that day.

[BavarianBeatle]

And if you obtained Disney's food prices on the Internet, you need to confirm the accuracy of that as well. They may change their prices based upon the law of supply and demand.

[The Interpreter]

I have remarked about this before, but I find it rather stunning that many of our younger generation seem to put far more trust in anything found on the web, regardless of source, than in any primary source that cannot be documented in writing on the Internet.

What a strange, strange world we live in. I am not sure I grok it at all...

Who is John Galt?

[Diamondback96]

And if you obtained Disney's food prices on the Internet, you need to confirm the accuracy of that as well. They may change their prices based upon the law of supply and demand.

Well, it's not like the food prices will suddenly skyrocket to above CF prices.

[CoastersRZ]

Well, I have experience in writing a huge research paper: a thesis document for my Master`s of Architecture degree from UC. In addition to books and articles, I also had interviews as the source for some of my information. I had met with a Disney Imagineer down at EPCOT in the fall of 2008. I also met with some operations personnel at the Seas attraction at EPCOT as well as operations people at the Great Wolf Lodge. While those interviews did not yield any pertinent information that found its way into the final document, it did offer me insights and information that impacted my design decisions, which were discussed in my document.

And on the subject of pictures, my thesis document is full of pictures. The list of illustrations covers many pages. Some of the images I took myself while at Disney World or other parks. Some of the images came from books or elsewhere. But as the old saying goes, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. It is a lot easier to represent something visually than to try and articulate it using only words.

For those who are interest, my thesis document is published online at Ohio Link here: http://etd.ohiolink....=ucin1243014144. For the link directly to the PDF, you can view the document itself here: http://www.daapspace..._renderings.pdf And for more information on my project, you can check out this brochure I made: http://www.daapspace...chure_final.pdf

For those who are interested, my thesis was entitled "Entertainment Architecture: Contextually Integrated Water Park Resort in Norwood, Ohio." Yes, that was a project that I got to do in school at UC`s top ranked Architecture program in the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. And yes, I got to visit Disney World and Great Wolf Lodge for research. The project consumed essentially an entire year of my life. Its hard to believe that about one year ago now, I had my final presentation for my thesis project, and that its been eleven months since I graduated (top in my class I might add).

Now, back to the subject at hand. It is hard to compare food prices between the parks as prices can and do change based on the season. For example, when I went to Disney World in September of 2008 for research for my thesis project, 20 ounce Coca-Cola soft drinks were $2.50. I`m not sure how much the same thing was at Kings Island that year, but it was likely $3.50 or so that year. And you know what, when I was down at Disney World, I didn`t even think twice about shelling over the money for the drinks, because it seemed reasonable considering I was at Disney. Especially since the temperature the week I was there was in the mid 90`s. Granted, Disney may changed their pricing to compensate for peak demand times (ie charge more when demand is high, less when demand is low).

And sorry for the really long post. Quality over quantity!

[bkroz]

According to Screamscape (so, take this for a grain of salt):

Could a major theme park chain be considering offering new included benefits like Free Parking and/or Free Soda? Apparently one of them is thinking about it, because one of our readers was asked to take a survey this past week that pitched just such a concept. No names were given to even give a clue as to who it may be, but I’d wager it was either Cedar Fair, Six Flags, or PARC Management, with SeaWorld Parks in a very distant fourth.

In any case, the survey proposed different pricing options to see which was deemed to be the most popular or best value. They options could best be broken down into 3 types.

Option 1 - A normal pay for everything approach, as we have now at 99% of all the parks. Option 2 was to pay a higher ticket price to get into the park, but all parking would be free. Option 3 was an even higher daily ticket price, but parking was included as well as free sodas to drink while in the park.

Lance seems to place Cedar Fair as the first candidate for such a system. We shall see what (if anything) comes of it! However, perhaps this is one of the things that Shapiro disagreed with in Six Flag's outlook. And it's something that seems really realistic for the PARC Management parks because of their size (something along the lines of Holiday World - up the daily price to ~$50 and be all-inclusive). Upping Cedar Fair prices to be all-inclusive would really get expensive, whereas when a smaller park does it, it just brings it more in line with its larger competitors.

[The Interpreter]

Asking a survey question does not necessarily indicate serious consideration. Further, if it was Six Flags doing the asking, everything about that company's future strategy may well have changed Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.