Season pass sales blitz - Marketing experts please chime in

[Jeorby Nanpa]

I see the KI commercial playing constantly in order to get people to buy the $69.99 season pass. And dat song... dat song... all we need is yuuuuuuou! But I digress. I suppose the whole catch with the cheap pass and the free parking is that you'll visit the park dozens of time over the summer, and each visit you'll spend $30 or so minimum. I'm a bit cheap, where I'll bring a Subway lunch and drinks, then eat under a tree in the parking lot. They're not recuperating any of that season pass money on me.

To be worthwhile to a passholder, you need to visit KI only three times to match the price of admission. That's pretty easy to figure out. To be worthwhile to KI, a passholder needs to buy 'X' amount of merchandise and food in excess of the number of admission + merchandise. For example, a) one admission + $30 of stuff in one visit isn't as profitable as b ) pass + $90 of stuff in three visits. Or is it?

This is where I get confused. I'd think KI would like to give passes to everyone as long as they visited a few times and bought stuff. But how many times does a passholder have to show up to make it profitable?

1) I wonder how much the typical passholder spends during the season, or at each visit?

2) I wonder how many passes are sold in a season?

3) If the goal is to get people to visit multiple times, maybe they should give you a pass after your third paid admission in a season?

/disclosure - Oh heck, I bought a shirt or two. But I'm still cheap.

[coaster_junky]

1) I wonder how much the typical passholder spends during the season, or at each visit?

2) I wonder how many passes are sold in a season?

3) If the goal is to get people to visit multiple times, maybe they should give you a pass after your third paid admission in a season?

/disclosure - Oh heck, I bought a shirt or two. But I'm still cheap.

1) my family spends anywhere from $100-250 per visit (all in park). that usually covers a larger meal, a snack a piece, multiple drinks, and possibly a souvenir a piece.

2) not sure, my family usually accounts for four.

3) i don't see them doing it, first off it would be impractical for the park to keep a tally on every single person who visits the park to see if they've visited three times or not. also, there will always be those who visit more than three times, and are willing to pay for more than three admission tickets. why would Kings Island purposely miss out on making money?

[CedarPointer]

I'm surprised they haven't stopped letting passholders reenter. I'm fairly sure that it'd be easy with the system they use...

[coaster_junky]

^they use the same stamp for a season passholder as they do for a person with a general admission ticket. to make it where you could tell the difference seems like more work than it would be worth.

[bkroz]

I'm surprised they haven't stopped letting passholders reenter. I'm fairly sure that it'd be easy with the system they use...

I think the issue is handing your pass off to someone else, and using a handstamp to reenter yourself. For example, I leave the park and get my hand stamped, then hand my season pass over to my brother. If conditions are right, we're both in without missing a beat. And you know people would (and probably have) tried it! Until (or if, knowing old Cedar Fair) the parks get finger print scanners, I imagine we'll see the handstamp rule remain.

EDIT: Nevermind, I think I misunderstood your comment now that I'm re-reading it... I still don't understand it, but I think I misunderstood it to begin with haha.

[Jeorby Nanpa]

coaster_junky, if you're spending $100 a visit, then it's clear what the marketing plan is. Everyone who buys one (including me) is thinking, OMG, those suckers, I got a pass for such a cheap price! Then, KI is saying, yeah, we let some passes go cheap to people like Jeorby, but what he doesn't spend will be made up by coaster_junky.

The big question: if it's really about getting people in the door to buy merchandise, they should just give the passes away?

[Gordon Bombay]

I'm surprised they haven't stopped letting passholders reenter. I'm fairly sure that it'd be easy with the system they use...

I think the issue is handing your pass off to someone else, and using a handstamp to reenter yourself. For example, I leave the park and get my hand stamped, then hand my season pass over to my brother. If conditions are right, we're both in without missing a beat. And you know people would (and probably have) tried it! Until (or if, knowing old Cedar Fair) the parks get finger print scanners, I imagine we'll see the handstamp rule remain.

EDIT: Nevermind, I think I misunderstood your comment now that I'm re-reading it... I still don't understand it, but I think I misunderstood it to begin with haha.

Your pass can only be scanned once per day. No gimmicks or fingerprint scanners needed. Last year I left the park and wasn't intending to come back for the day, ended up meeting some friends and wasn't able to scan in as the attendant informed me it could only be used once a day to prevent the situation you just mentioned. A quick stop by Guest Services cleared things up.

[bkroz]

coaster_junky, if you're spending $100 a visit, then it's clear what the marketing plan is. Everyone who buys one (including me) is thinking, OMG, those suckers, I got a pass for such a cheap price! Then, KI is saying, yeah, we let some passes go cheap to people like Jeorby, but what he doesn't spend will be made up by coaster_junky.

The big question: if it's really about getting people in the door to buy merchandise, they should just give the passes away?

Your right. That is Kings Island's marketing plan. I don't think anyone at Kings Island would deny that the ticket price is very, very cheap - way cheaper than the experience you get inside the park actually warrants. They could charge much more. $70.00 for unlimited visits through the entire summer? It's dirt cheap. But once you're in (or, if you only get a daily ticket or 'silver' pass) you have to pay for parking, Dinosaurs, a 3-D movie, bungee jumping, etc. and food prices are relatively high.

Other parks have a purposefully different system - pay a high gate price (see, Dollywood, Holiday World, Magic Kingdom, etc) and once you're in, you're in. Pretty much everything is included (sometimes including parking, drinks, Fast Pass, and / or extra exhibits).

There's benefits and drawbacks to each system. As we've heard, the perceived benefit to the Kings Island system is that it appears very reasonable to travelers. $35 for a daily ticket? Sign me up! But, "they gotta eat." "They gotta park." "They gotta buy a ride photo." The idea is, once you've hooked them, you can wring out their pockets. The higher gate-price system turns some people off right away. Holiday World is reasonably expensive for a park its size compared to Kings Island, and that immediately alienates certain clientele. But after parking and drinks, they're probably about the same... It's all marketing in a sense, and which promotes the park best.

[kingsrattler]

Mrs. Kingsrattler and I have visited the park 20+ times this year, and while most of the times we aren't laying down 30 bucks a visit, I can't think of a visit where I haven't bought something, from a soda, to a Cinnamon Roll in the mornings. So while I don't have a lot of "big spending" days, over the course of 20 visits, my 5-10 dollar purchases add up to 100-200 dollars (from each us). If you throw in my trips to Cedar Point and Kings Dominion (where I do spend quite a bit more) that total probably jumps to around 300-400 dollars. Add the 165 dollars each of us spent on season passes, between the two of us, we probably gave Cedar Fair 1000 dollars this season. That's a decent amount of money for two people no matter how you slice it.

[d-lo775]

The cheap pass price doesn't always work out for the park as they would hope. Take me for example. I've been to KI around 190 times in the last 3 years and I would seriously doubt that I've spent more than $50 total during that span of time. I live 3 miles from the park and seldom spend more than a couple of hours there at a time. I usually will go for ERT and leave around noon or I won't go over until after 7-8 at night during the summer and occasionally I may do both in the same day. I have no reason to eat while at the park since I live so close. I have no reasons to play games, because I have a friend who is the games department nightmare and he will always pick up anything I may want and refuses to take any cash from me. Even if I didn't know him I doubt I would play any games. Dinosaurs are of no interest to me. I know when the crowds are light, so no need to purchase a fast pass. The only things I can think of that I've purchase in the last 3 years is 2 on ride photos and that was because I had family members from out of town ride with me that hadn't ever or don't usually ride coasters. I have those pics now and have no reason to purchase any more in the future. I've done Xtreme Skyflyer twice and SlingShot three times in those 190 visits, but have never paid more than $5 to do either.

I know I'm kind of in a rare situation, but not really. There's probably tens of thousands of people with passes like me who visit the park very regularly and have no reason to spend any extra cash while at the park. The population of Mason alone is 30,000 then take in to account all those from Lebanon, West Chester, Deerfield Township, etc. etc. that live within 10 miles of the park and that adds up to a lot of people visiting while not shelling out any extra cash once they've bought the pass.

I do have a Platinum Pass and this year alone I've been to Cedar Point three times, Kings Dominion twice, Worlds of Fun twice, Canada's Wonderland twice and Michigan Adventure. Once again it's rare for me to spend more than a few hours at any of these parks because I've already ridden every coaster and most of the flats, at least the good ones, at all those parks already (exception M.A.). So it's just a matter of how many times I want to ride (insert coaster or flat here) at that particular park before I get bored and leave. The majority of the time I've been to these parks I'm with my above mentioned friend and if we get hungry while we are there, we just pick up a small snack (around or under $10, Boneless Wings @ CP and Pountine Fries @ CW) and split it between us and drink water to hold us over till we leave that park and head to the next park or drive back to the 'Nati. My friend will usually purchase a groupon for a restaurant that is along the way. Yes, it's really rare that we only attend one park in a day as we also have passes to Dollywood, Busch Gardens and Six Flags. The only parks that we eat at somewhat regularly are Dollywood and Holiday World and that's basically because it's just as easy and cheap to eat there as it would be to eat at any restaurant in the nearby area.

Basically my point is this. For every person that spends hundreds of dollars every visit, there are people like me who only average spending about a quarter a visit. Yes, I did the math.....lol

[KI-ORIG-EMP]

Every time you have your season pass scanned at the parking lot, front gate and use it in any of the food stands or shops that offer you a discount, it is recored and tracked. When you go through the front gates, your picture pops up after your pass is scanned. it shows if you have used it that day and denies you entry if you try to use it again. Parks, just like sporting events, make their money on what is spent inside the venue. The season pass holders that spend little or nothing while in the park is small as compared to the rest of the per cap spending in the park. If it in fact did drop, see how fast the season pass price structure would change and less perks being offered. it might not be as cheap and perks such as parking might be limited. I was a business major at The Mount and those are some of the things I learned in my business and marketing classes. Look at the season pass structures at sporting events. The better the seat location, the higher the price. Parking and concessions are much higher at sporting events and NO reentry is permitted.

[KIfan1980]

With the number of Season Passes sold by Kings Island, you can be sure that there are likely normal distributions on many fronts and I'd guess that many of us fall to some of the extremes of those distributions. For example:

- # of Visits of Pass Holders: On one end is the family who buys a pass and never actually goes (it does happen), on the other end is the person who goes almost every day (y'all know who you are)

- In Park Spending: On one end is the pack a lunch and never spend a dime group, on the other end is the eat in the park buy a souvenir and splurge for ice cream every trip family

Based upon these distributions and the way the KI has discounted passes year after year, it seems that Kings Island believes that the average pass holder is going to visit often enough and spend enough in park to justify a low pass price. They do, however, have to charge enough to justify the value of the individual day ticket price as there is also money to be made on the admissions side from multiple sources:

- Non pass holder visits make money (including parking and in park spending)

- Group sales are important to KI (and they expect a discount versus a gate price)

- Discounted tickets are a perceived value (which is necessary for a business)

[kingsrattler]

d-lo, I live 5 minutes from the park, and still spend money almost every time i'm there.. just because you live close doesn't mean you don't spend money there.

[bkroz]

If Kings Island and Cedar Fair didn't make money the way they did things, then they wouldn't do them that way for long, would they? If $69.99 gold passes sold through October 31st of the year prior to their activation didn't end up helping them in the long run, it wouldn't be done year after year. It's not right or wrong. It's a system of costs and benefits, and apparently Cedar Fair has decided that the benefits of this system outweigh the costs.

[BoddaH1994]

With the number of Season Passes sold by Kings Island, you can be sure that there are likely normal distributions on many fronts and I'd guess that many of us fall to some of the extremes of those distributions. For example:

- # of Visits of Pass Holders: On one end is the family who buys a pass and never actually goes (it does happen), on the other end is the person who goes almost every day (y'all know who you are)

- In Park Spending: On one end is the pack a lunch and never spend a dime group, on the other end is the eat in the park buy a souvenir and splurge for ice cream every trip family

Based upon these distributions and the way the KI has discounted passes year after year, it seems that Kings Island believes that the average pass holder is going to visit often enough and spend enough in park to justify a low pass price. They do, however, have to charge enough to justify the value of the individual day ticket price as there is also money to be made on the admissions side from multiple sources:

- Non pass holder visits make money (including parking and in park spending)

- Group sales are important to KI (and they expect a discount versus a gate price)

- Discounted tickets are a perceived value (which is necessary for a business)

- Group sales are important to KI (and they expect a discount versus a gate price)

You've hit the nail right on the head. A lot of the attendance from Kings Island comes from season passholders and group sales. The first year that CF owned the park, they tried to run things like Cedar Point and paid dearly in an attendance drop. They have obviously adjusted their model since then and have a booming season pass and group sales machine worked out.

- Discounted tickets are a perceived value (which is necessary for a business)

Exactly. The cost to get into Kings Island isn't $52.99, it's $34.99. Well over 90% of the ticket-buyers have figured that out. The reason why it's so much more expensive at the gate is because it specifically encourages you to purchase online. It saves them labor and hassle, and is guarenteed business.

[d-lo775]

d-lo, I live 5 minutes from the park, and still spend money almost every time i'm there.. just because you live close doesn't mean you don't spend money there.

True, but at the same time just because you live far away doesn't mean you're going to spend money at the park either. After spending money on gas, hotel, etc. (expenses the park doesn't see any money from) many people I know simply do not have the extra cash to spend. I don't live close to the parks I mentioned in my previous post, but I still have no desire to drop $4 on a soda or purchase a souvenir. If the park is worth remembering I don't need something sitting around my house to remind me of it.

Of course, the park makes money. You don't stay in business for 40 years by losing money. When they do start losing money to an individual guest they do things like have prize limits and offer lower end prizes to cut back on their loses. Case in point. Why does KI only offer an itouch for a choice prize at 3 point. challenge, when almost every other park in the Cedar Fair chain offers an iPad? Because 4 different people were able to get 15 points last year at KI, a problem other parks don't have to worry about. This isn't a guess or an estimate either, as I myself have heard several games associates or managers at various parks tell my friend that he is the only person or that they've never had anyone accomplish that feat at the park in "X" amount of years. Why does KI have a prize limit of 2 jerseys per week or 1 choice prize a year while some parks have no or daily limits. Because they have certain pass holders that live in the area that could take them for hundreds, if not thousand, of dollars daily if they didn't. Its kind of like counting cards at a casino. It's a skill that's not illegal and not many people have, but if the casino is going to lose money they would prefer that you not play and go to the slot machines instead. I can't begin to tell you how many times we've been to park without prize limits the first time we've visited, but after my friend cleans out their inventory, you better believe there's a sign with limits on it during our next visit. I have watched numerous games managers at various parks rushing (and yes I do mean running or briskly jogging) to 3 point. challenge within 5-10 minutes after my friends starts playing to inform him that there are prize limits. I seriously doubt they would rush to the scene to tell me that I could lose an unlimited times if I were to start playing. My personal favorite is when they ask him to stop giving away stuffed animals and basketballs he has won because it discourages others from playing. How can you tell someone what to do with something you charged them for and they won fair and square? Don't ask KI why they do this on their facebook page or they will ban you....How dare someone ask a legitimate question....lol

[upstop]

It all depends. I spent $5.00 in all of my visits. Water tastes fine, and there are plenty of options to eat outside of the park and beyond.

[jcgoble3]

I hardly ever buy anything in the park. The only exceptions are Xtreme Skyflyer and the Speed Pitch game in Coney Mall, which usually get a few dollars out of me. I drink water in the park and drive elsewhere for lunch and dinner.

[BoddaH1994]

d-lo, I live 5 minutes from the park, and still spend money almost every time i'm there.. just because you live close doesn't mean you don't spend money there.

True, but at the same time just because you live far away doesn't mean you're going to spend money at the park either. After spending money on gas, hotel, etc. (expenses the park doesn't see any money from) many people I know simply do not have the extra cash to spend. I don't live close to the parks I mentioned in my previous post, but I still have no desire to drop $4 on a soda or purchase a souvenir. If the park is worth remembering I don't need something sitting around my house to remind me of it.

Of course, the park makes money. You don't stay in business for 40 years by losing money. When they do start losing money to an individual guest they do things like have prize limits and offer lower end prizes to cut back on their loses. Case in point. Why does KI only offer an itouch for a choice prize at 3 point. challenge, when almost every other park in the Cedar Fair chain offers an iPad? Because 4 different people were able to get 15 points last year at KI, a problem other parks don't have to worry about. This isn't a guess or an estimate either, as I myself have heard several games associates or managers at various parks tell my friend that he is the only person or that they've never had anyone accomplish that feat at the park in "X" amount of years. Why does KI have a prize limit of 2 jerseys per week or 1 choice prize a year while some parks have no or daily limits. Because they have certain pass holders that live in the area that could take them for hundreds, if not thousand, of dollars daily if they didn't. Its kind of like counting cards at a casino. It's a skill that's not illegal and not many people have, but if the casino is going to lose money they would prefer that you not play and go to the slot machines instead. I can't begin to tell you how many times we've been to park without prize limits the first time we've visited, but after my friend cleans out their inventory, you better believe there's a sign with limits on it during our next visit. I have watched numerous games managers at various parks rushing (and yes I do mean running or briskly jogging) to 3 point. challenge within 5-10 minutes after my friends starts playing to inform him that there are prize limits. I seriously doubt they would rush to the scene to tell me that I could lose an unlimited times if I were to start playing. My personal favorite is when they ask him to stop giving away stuffed animals and basketballs he has won because it discourages others from playing. How can you tell someone what to do with something you charged them for and they won fair and square? Don't ask KI why they do this on their facebook page or they will ban you....How dare someone ask a legitimate question....lol

I've never heard of a prize limit at KI. I know that way back in the day they reserved the right to tag anyone as a "professional" player and could ban them from playing any park game they wanted.

[jcgoble3]

I've never heard of a prize limit at KI. I know that way back in the day they reserved the right to tag anyone as a "professional" player and could ban them from playing any park game they wanted.

Several of the games have a note on the pricing sign, usually at the bottom, giving a prize limit. I can't remember which ones have a limit right now, though.

[Bennett]

You can count me on the cheapskate end of the season pass holders...we ate at the buffet a couple of times over the summer, my daughter wanted a few t shirts, probably $15-20 on games during the year.

Would be about it.

[gad198]

In fairness, I'm way out there as far as being an outlier in regards to in-park spending. I'm sure I'm one of the very few people that probably costs the park money on average each visit, but that's obviously not the demographic the park is after.

Season passes at most every other park/chain (outside of Universal and Disney) are all priced about the same all things being equal. I can't imagine that is coincidental. Factoring in parking costs (i.e., passes that allow you to park free) you can get an season pass for the following at various parks:

Six Flags: the cheapest rates going are at SF New England and SF America - $45 base price (when you buy 4) plus $50 season parking = $95. You can do even better than that when they're running their specials (buy 3 get one free plus one free parking pass per four passes purchased)

Dollywood: $112 for a gold pass

Busch Gardens (Virginia or FL): $99 - $109 depending on if they're running specials (right now a BGW annual pass is $99)

Kings Island: $70 for a new Gold pass

Holiday World: $115

Hersheypark: $135

Kennywood: $85

Looking at that I'd say that the Kings Island pass is a fabulous deal. You could argue that KI gold passes are the best value in the group and may actually be underpriced.

Even season passes that allow you access to multiple parks run very similarly:

Cedar Fair Platinum Pass: $159

Busch Gardens Platinum Pass (if you buy it at BGW): $299. This is a two-year pass so at the $299 rate you're looking at $150 per year, right in line with the Cedar Fair Platinum Pass price. This price varies depending on what Busch park you go to get it, but generally, the further you move away from Florida the cheaper the pass

Six Flags (basic pass plus parking at all parks): $145. That's as low as you'll find it for an individual pass but you can drop the per-person cost if you get three others to go in with you on a purchase before October 31

The Disney and Universal passes are way more expensive, but they also are dealing with a much different demographic. Many of the visitors are there for multi-day stays, and they don't want to price their passes so low that people would automatically go that route during a visit, thereby leaving money on the table.

As an aside, I love the Cedar Fair Platinum pass. My big issue with the pass is actually in the way that Kings Island administers it, or doesn't, in this case. I still believe that Kings Island (and every other park in the chain aside from Cedar Point) and Cedar Fair are leaving a lot of money on the table with their Gold and Platinum pass systems as currently constructed. Most parks in the chain have decided to wrap all of their Gold and Platinum benefits/perks into one "everyone gets the same perks and it doesn't matter if you have the Gold or Platinum pass" group, and I think that's a mistake.

Cedar Point has a very clear distinction between their regular and Platinum passes. Platinum passholders get early entry and free parking, which alone make getting the pass worth it even if Cedar Point is your home park. I would venture to say that a fair number of regular parkgoers there have Platinum passes, and I'm willing to bet that Cedar Point has a much larger Platinum pass base (as a percentage of their passholders) than any other park in the chain. Cedar Point separates the value out of the Platinum pass better than every other park in the chain.

The rest of the chain, including Kings Island, is a more hazy proposition as far as separating that value out from each pass. Why on earth would anyone visiting only Kings Island upgrade to a Platinum pass? There's also the small problem of the rather large divide between the current $70 Gold pass offering and the $159 Platinum pass offering. Most (Gold) season pass holders aren't in any way interested in the Platinum pass because there are no tangible benefits to them associated with that pass. The only people that are buying the Platinum pass have done an analysis and decided that they're probably going to be visiting at least one other Cedar Fair park (likely Cedar Point) or perhaps one along the way somewhere or while they're in another city for something else. Most people don't travel to Kansas City just to go to Worlds of Fun or Richmond only to visit Kings Dominion. I'll repeat, there is absolutely no tangible benefit to owning a Platinum pass if you only visit Kings Island and I think that most pass holders know that.

I believe the solution to that issue is to separate the value of each pass more so that you'll get more people buying the Platinum pass. I think the best option is to take a little something away from two parks that offer tiered passes, Busch Gardens and Dollywood.

Dollywood offers a 20% across-the-board discount on most everything inside the park with their Gold pass and free parking (regular passholders do not receive either of these benefits). Therefore, most people who buy Dollywood passes that go to the park together will usually buy at least one Gold pass for the group to take advantage of the Gold pass perks. People can see the value in the Gold pass and will usually elect to get one per group accordingly. This results in additional revenue for the park (the upfront cost of the pass as well as increased spending as a result of the discount), more perceived value for the guest, and everyone wins.

Busch Gardens allows Platinum passholders admission to the other parks and free parking (like Cedar Fair's version), but Busch Platinum passholders get free preferred parking at each park. That provision alone actually got me to buy one last year. Unfortunately, Busch has the small problem of having their parks a long way away from each other (aside from the Busch Gardens Tampa/Sea World Orlando pair), so there's slightly less value here for many because it's tougher to get to one park from another. There are a few other minor benefits that Platinum passholders receive over regular annual passholders, but even those small things are more than what Platinum passholders receive over Gold passholders.

Of course, you're going to have some people argue that just being able to get free admission into each park in the chain is a good enough reason to get a Platinum pass. Sure, that's a nice benefit but essentially what people are paying for (at Kings Island) in the $89 Platinum pass premium is a season pass with Gold privileges to the other parks. As I mentioned, there's no reason that a logical person who only planned on visiting Kings Island (frequently or not) would get a Platinum pass. My solution would be to give Platinum passholders the following benefits:

* 20% off ALL in-park purchases, including Fast Lane passes (similar to Dollywood)

* expand the current preferred parking area and create a very small Platinum pass parking area (ala Busch Gardens)

* exclusive bonus ride times outside of the current ERT window (Platinum pass Diamondback ERT following park closing...similar to Cedar Point)

* one get a friend in for $9.99 admission coupon to use any day during the course of the year, good at any park in the chain

* exclusive discounts for select Reds games, local area restaurants, etc.

That would solve a number of value issues, and those items above are just things I can come up with off the top of my head. I really, really wish that Cedar Fair would re-examine their Platinum pass situation and not leave money out there on the table while giving some additional incentives for Platinum pass holders.

[bkroz]

^ Six Flags has a "parking at all parks" pass? I haven't seen one, and I'm interested in one! Can you point out where to find it?

[The Interpreter]

You have to buy it at a different Six Flags than where your parking pass is from. It costs $50, and supposedly can only be bought in person by a person who has a valid Six Flags pass with parking from another park.

All Six Flags passes are good for entry (but not parking) at all Six Flags parks. And, unlike Cedar Fair Platinum Passes, at Six Flags, parking is an additional charge that only one passholder per car has to have to avoid paying again for parking. Cedar Fair charges every Platinum Passholder for a parking pass, regardless of group or family size.

And parking passes are simply not available at Cedar Point, unless you buy a Platinum Pass.

[S&EMom]

We are a family of five that just renewed platinum passes. This summer we visited Michigan's Adventure and Cedar Point in addition to our base KI. When we spend a day at the water park side, I bring refill cups to save $ on drinks. I get mine filled with ice and water and add my own tea bag and sweet & low and I'm good. I usually spend $30-40 on food. I rarely let my kids play games unless they are the every-time-a-winner variety. I hate just throwing money away I had the air brush stand decorate two batting helmets for my kids ($$$). The kids usually get Dip-n-dots (sp?). We took my 10 y.o. granddaughter and friend through the Dinosaur money grabber--once was way more than enough. My philosophy is the pass is relatively cheap entertainment. Since I know Cedar Fair runs on profit, I justify an occasional meal to keep the electricity on and keep employees working. I would like better food (I'm GF and choices are limited--I tire of salads); and the food lines at the waterpark were ridiculous in the heat this summer--more of a reason to skip eating than the price. WHO THINKS ONE REGISTER FOR PIZZA IS ENOUGH-AND WHY A SEPARATE LINE AT ALL (Sorry, off topic). We've alternated between gold passes and platinum. I always hope to visit other parks through the summer. I would like more platinum-only perks. How about $5 parking in the preferred lot? Another off topic gripe--why can't KI serve a 100% beef hot dog anywhere. They are every where at CP. All in all we think it's a good value. I think we have had passes for 15 years. Husband just "graduated" to senior pricing--yeah!!

[jcgoble3]

How about $5 parking in the preferred lot?

Gold and Platinum passholders can upgrade to preferred parking for the difference between the current prices for regular and preferred parking. Just tell the toll booth attendant that you want to upgrade when you hand them your pass. At least that was the case earlier this year.

[CedarPointer]

Aren't the hot dogs at Jukebox Diner all beef? I can't remember anymore.

[bkroz]

You have to buy it at a different Six Flags than where your parking pass is from. It costs $50, and supposedly can only be bought in person by a person who has a valid Six Flags pass with parking from another park.

Interesting, especially since I sent an email to a few nearby parks, saying that if there was a way for me to get an all parks + all parking pass, I would seriously consider replacing my Cedar Fair Platinum Pass with the Six Flags equivalent next year. All the responses I received thanked me for my opinion and mentioned that they'd be forwarded to the correct departments instead of telling me that it did indeed exist?

Now I'm confused.

[KIfan1980]

Aren't the hot dogs at Jukebox Diner all beef? I can't remember anymore.

As a parent of a child with allergies (GF and tree nuts) I've found it extremely difficult to learn what is served where at KI. Individual food stands tell you to visit Guest Relations, and at Guest Relations there used to be (I didn't check this year after many years of frustration) an out of date binder with incomplete information - for example, they had a page showing the ingredient lists of all the different fries served in the park, but nothing to identify which fry was served where.

[CedarPointer]

That's because the food employees have very little knowledge of the food that they sell.