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pre k pass


jimbo t
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It’s possible you may see it at KI. CF parks have been rolling the Pre-K pass out over the last couple of seasons across the parks. There are a lot of factors as to why they are offering it, such as demographics, competition, and much more. I would suggest contacting the park via email and ask if they are going to offer it. If they see an interest, they may decide to offer it.


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When one of the park’s top strategic advantages is the Best Kids Area, it would be a real gutsy move to give it away for free.   At a park like CP it has the chance of increasing revenue, hard to see it doing that at KI.


They wouldn’t loose anything from it. What does anyone 5 years or younger ride- just kiddie rides. It’s not like they would be giving away free rides on anything major. On the same note, they are still going to make money off adult passes, for adults that spend most of their time on/around kiddie rides.

We have 2 adults, a 6 year old and a toddler. We spend most of our time on kiddie rides. I think we each got a ride on MT & AE last year, and I got a ride on Banshee. That’s it. Tell me who is coming out ahead in that deal? It isn’t me.
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2 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

 


They wouldn’t loose anything from it. What does anyone 5 years or younger ride- just kiddie rides. It’s not like they would be giving away free rides on anything major. On the same note, they are still going to make money off adult passes, for adults that spend most of their time on/around kiddie rides.

We have 2 adults, a 6 year old and a toddler. We spend most of our time on kiddie rides. I think we each got a ride on MT & AE last year, and I got a ride on Banshee. That’s it. Tell me who is coming out ahead in that deal? It isn’t me.

 

Agree 100%...it's great that kids under 3 get in free, but kids between 3-5 and their families do just what you described...Plus I'm pretty sure parents of kids this age spend more money on treats, gift shops, etc. It's an age that is really hard to say no to! Heck, I've had to buy gift shop clothes for my kids at that age because of some sort of casualty. lol

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Agree 100%...it's great that kids under 3 get in free, but kids between 3-5 and their families do just what you described...Plus I'm pretty sure parents of kids this age spend more money on treats, gift shops, etc. It's an age that is really hard to say no to! Heck, I've had to buy gift shop clothes for my kids at that age because of some sort of casualty. lol


Agree. Yes, we’ve had to buy clothes due to mishaps. They are making money hand over fist. Increasing the pass age to 6, will have a minimal income effect overall, but a much larger feel good effect on parents, that see passes as a better deal.
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I wonder if other parks that do this have a limit on the number of kids that can obtain free passes....I would say that one, maybe two but that seems pushing it, per family would be enough to give those families the feels. Like for us, my 5 year old had a pass last year and that felt legit...but when my daughter turns 3, I'll feel pretty salty about having to buy her a pass...lol

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I guess look at it this way. If you have a business, part of that business caters to multiple demographics and all are currently paying you for access to your business. Why would you all of a sudden give free access to a certain demographic? If 3-5 year olds get in for free, shouldn’t the 85 year old grandma that doesn’t ride anything?

Let’s say they sell 5,000 passes to ages 3-5. That’s $500,000 in revenue that’s lost. Would that make more people buy passes since their kids get in free? Maybe, but I doubt it would sell that many additional passes over what is being sold already.

There was an argument about skating at Winterfest. Why is it $15 more when you already pay $25-30 to get in (If you’re not a pass holder)? It’s not cheap to offer the skating mind you. So they should just up the price and include it, right? Then you have people complaining that they shouldn’t have to pay as much since they don’t want to skate.

Offering free admission and/or reduced prices to anyone is a slippery slope.

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I guess look at it this way. If you have a business, part of that business caters to multiple demographics and all are currently paying you for access to your business. Why would you all of a sudden give free access to a certain demographic? If 3-5 year olds get in for free, shouldn’t the 85 year old grandma that doesn’t ride anything?

Let’s say they sell 5,000 passes to ages 3-5. That’s $500,000 in revenue that’s lost. Would that make more people buy passes since their kids get in free? Maybe, but I doubt it would sell that many additional passes over what is being sold already.

There was an argument about skating at Winterfest. Why is it $15 more when you already pay $25-30 to get in (If you’re not a pass holder)? It’s not cheap to offer the skating mind you. So they should just up the price and include it, right? Then you have people complaining that they shouldn’t have to pay as much since they don’t want to skate.

Offering free admission and/or reduced prices to anyone is a slippery slope.


How many 85 year olds do you see hanging around the park on a daily basis?

You can fudge the numbers any way you want. I could equally say, they pick up an additional 5,000-10,000 passes for single and double parents willing to pay since the kids are free. Now that loss doesn’t exist, or they make an extra $500k.

Skating at Winterfest was a total CF. Stuck on the ice for 2 hours unless you had to go to the bathroom? When we went it was bitterly cold, and there was hardly anyone ice skating.

The last statement makes zero sense. There are reduced price promotions for various groups all season long. I don’t see the park getting into financial trouble from any of these. What about the days where P&G rents the entire park. Think CP is giving them a flat rate for everything or a per ticket price?
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6 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

When one of the park’s top strategic advantages is the Best Kids Area, it would be a real gutsy move to give it away for free.   At a park like CP it has the chance of increasing revenue, hard to see it doing that at KI.

I agree, as much as I would love that for my young one, I do not see that happening at KI. Case in point, look at the Planet Snoopy queue lines at KI vs CP. At CP I have seen ride ops waiting for kids to show up, where at KI the wait is 30 minutes for the same ride, on the same day of the week, and favorable weather conditions.  CF is trying to get that market at their other parks that they already have at KI. If it is offered at KI, I would really be surprised.

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1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

I agree, as much as I would love that for my young one, I do not see that happening at KI. Case in point, look at the Planet Snoopy queue lines at KI vs CP. At CP I have seen ride ops waiting for kids to show up, where at KI the wait is 30 minutes for the same ride, on the same day of the week, and favorable weather conditions.  CF is trying to get that market at their other parks that they already have at KI. If it is offered at KI, I would really be surprised.

And the same can be said about the Planet Snoopy areas at the other CF parks that offer this pass.  There are days at KI that waiting for a Planet Snoopy ride is longer than the wait at Banshee or Diamondback.  The same cannot be said for Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, or Carowinds comparing their Planet Snoopy to their respective "big" rides.  There are times you can literally see Planet Snoopy on a favorable weather weekend at CP go an hour between a kid riding a ride - it is unbelievable unless you experience it yourself.

1 hour ago, harveyhaddixfan said:

I guess look at it this way. If you have a business, part of that business caters to multiple demographics and all are currently paying you for access to your business. Why would you all of a sudden give free access to a certain demographic? If 3-5 year olds get in for free, shouldn’t the 85 year old grandma that doesn’t ride anything?

Let’s say they sell 5,000 passes to ages 3-5. That’s $500,000 in revenue that’s lost. Would that make more people buy passes since their kids get in free? Maybe, but I doubt it would sell that many additional passes over what is being sold already.

There was an argument about skating at Winterfest. Why is it $15 more when you already pay $25-30 to get in (If you’re not a pass holder)? It’s not cheap to offer the skating mind you. So they should just up the price and include it, right? Then you have people complaining that they shouldn’t have to pay as much since they don’t want to skate.

Offering free admission and/or reduced prices to anyone is a slippery slope.

Regarding offering free admission and/or reduced prices to anyone is a slippery slope - look no further than at Dollywood. Dollywood used to provide free admission to those in wheelchairs or blind/deaf, not because Dollywood couldn't accommodate them any different than other parks could, but it was southern hospitality both by the park and in some instances the disabled visitor themselves choosing not to burden others while they accommodated them getting on a ride. Dollywood estimates over 40,000 admissions/year were granted under this policy. Guess what, an ADA action group claimed that this policy was a violation of ADA because it made the disabled feel different and not equal and filed suit, so Dollywood dropped the policy and now charges everyone that enters the park. Common sense did not prevail in that situation. So instead of getting in free and still being different and not equal by having to go up the exit to get on the ride, they now get to pay for that convenience.

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15 minutes ago, jimbo t said:

I agree with most of the points made ...  but at the end of the day I think even up to 6 yrs of age for free would be a very good thing for them to do... kind of  way to say we ARE a family oriented park. just my thoughts.

And that is a valid point as well and is why we see a few of the other CF parks offer that pass; however, I doubt you would see it this year at KI because they would not want to refund all the passes bought that would now fall under that category.  Given the attendance that KI gets in Planet Snoopy I doubt we will see it here anytime soon; however, if a study shows they would make up for the loss of passes currently sold in the pre-K range with new pass holders and their pre-K children, then it would happen.

Another thing to keep in mind is that surprisingly a large percentage of gold pass holders to KI have no idea of a platinum pass or that other parks offer the pre-K pass.  So with the exception of those on this forum, and those that travel and know of the other parks, the typical greater Cincinnati passholder family has no idea about the other parks.  I am amazed talking to guests how many confirm that statement. 

 

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  • 1 year later...

I agree I bought 2  platinum passes for Cedar Point ONLY because Cedar Point has a free pre k pass for my 3 year old. The selling point on platinum is being able to go to any Cedar Fairs park. Now I’m finding out that the pre k pass is only good at Cedar Point. darn it! I was thinking about taking the family down to Kings Island for opening day but we’d had to pay 40 bucks for a 3 year old. Wanted to go down to morel mania event in Portsmouth then after that finish the day at Kings Island however since I’d have to pay 40 bucks for maybe 4 or so hours at the park and I can’t use our platinum passes and my little ones pre k pass. Soo that sucks kinda defeats the point of platinum passes... idk if I want to buy another platinum pass for a 3 year old :( we have trouble finding babysitters so we’ll be lucky to do the platinum pass holders special events and early ride times.

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