All Day Dining Question - Sharing?

[YOULLBEBACK]

All Day Dining:  Is it encouraged by the park to share this plan if you are going with a group or bringing your kids?  I always end up getting my moneys worth and sharing it with my kids, but the wife (who is not a big fan of amusement parks but encourage us to go) thinks this shouldn't be done and the park probably does not like this.  Not a big deal either way, I'll continue to do it and share, but I always assumed it is "allowed" but not advertised as such. 

[MoreFogPlease]

I've been sharing my meal plan all year. I haven't heard of any rule against sharing purchased food, and if there is the park certainly doesn't try to enforce it.

[jimlaheyscar]

You get a meal every 90 minutes.  They don't care what you do with it. 

[jsus]

Here's the thing.  Even if they made a big deal about how it was only for you, they can't enforce it.

They're offering you, the wristband wearer, an eligible meal every 90 minutes.

There's no feasible way for them to track every all-day dining customer and make sure that only the person wearing the wristband eats the food.  It'd almost certainly cost more in staffing (or some complicated tech) than the food cost.

Besides, they make no effort in their advertising to make it clear that All-Day Dining is for the wristband wearer only.

They know you're going to share.  Since they continue to offer it years later, they've found that the economics are still in their favor if a family shares the food from 1 or 2 $31.99 wristbands (or whatever it is these days).

[SnakePlissken]

Dollywood will revoke passes if people are caught sharing passes for things like discounts and meals and I assume Cedar Fair takes a similar stance. It just isn't worth taking the risk.

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, jsus said:

Here's the thing.  Even if they made a big deal about how it was only for you, they can't enforce it.

They're offering you, the wristband wearer, an eligible meal every 90 minutes.

There's no feasible way for them to track every all-day dining customer and make sure that only the person wearing the wristband eats the food.  It'd almost certainly cost more in staffing (or some complicated tech) than the food cost.

Besides, they make no effort in their advertising to make it clear that All-Day Dining is for the wristband wearer only.

They know you're going to share.  Since they continue to offer it years later, they've found that the economics are still in their favor if a family shares the food from 1 or 2 $31.99 wristbands (or whatever it is these days).

I think you are correct. Here is the detail from their web site, with the only fine print being that it won’t work during Winterfest.  Now, I will add that widespread usage of it in a manner which is not consistent with the spirit of the offer may risk the future of the program. 
 

“ALL DAY DINING

 

With the All Day Dining Plan you'll never go hungry while saving a bundle. Enjoy an entree and a side every time you choose to stop in at one of the participating restaurants inside the park for one visit during the 2020 season through November 1, 2020. Best of all, there's only a 90-minute interval time between meals. Stay fueled for the fun with the All Day Dining Plan.

^{Only valid for 2020 visits. Not valid for WinterFest.”}

[jimlaheyscar]

41 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

Dollywood will revoke passes if people are caught sharing passes for things like discounts and meals and I assume Cedar Fair takes a similar stance. It just isn't worth taking the risk.

This isn't a pass benefit.  It has nothing to do with a season pass.

 

[jsus]

24 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Now, I will add that widespread usage of it in a manner which is not consistent with the spirit of the offer may risk the future of the program. 

Yup.  Like I said above, the economics of it to date have been in Cedar Fair's favor.

If they were to determine that redemption rates (average # of meals redeemed per All-Day Dining wristband sold) were too high based on proprietary metrics, I would fully expect changes to be made.  I expect that's the key metric they use to monitor usage of ADD, compared against other attendance and per-cap spending and such.

Since they can't economically keep people from sharing food no matter how they advertise it, that's out.

The current interval is 90 minutes, as IIRC it has been since inception.  They could always increase that.  They did just that with the All Season Dining Plan for passholders - it was 2hr between meals at launch but quickly doubled to 4hr.  (Side note - they tried to further limit it to two short windows around noon and 6pm, sneaking the term change in after passes were sold, but reversed course after complaints).  This doesn't seem too likely since it hasn't happened yet.

They could, of course, increase the cost, though they've so far been unwilling to do so more than $2 ($29.99 -> $31.99).

Probably the last resort would be to entirely discontinue the product, which they'd only want to do if they couldn't tweak it enough to keep it sufficiently profitable.

At this point, minor price increases here and there with inflation seem reasonable.  Beyond that?  It could happen, but it hasn't yet.

At the end of the day, as long as their calculations show it's making them more profit than if they didn't offer it, it's not going anywhere.

[BoddaH1994]

^ On the other hand, the ASD plan was marketed as being valid through Labor Day its first year, but it became valid through the end of the year before that date hit. Probably the right course of action, but why make such a positive change so quietly? 

[wabashcr]

I'm sure they'd love to sell everyone in your group a daily meal plan, and they're not going to explicitly encourage sharing, which would potentially hurt sales.  But for $30, they know people are going to share.   Another way to look at it is that they know if they wanted to crack down on sharing, they'd either have to lower the price, or live with lower sales.  Considering how much markup there is on food and drinks at a place like KI, they're not in any danger of losing money on meal plans.  It's just a matter of whether they think they could make more.  They seem to have determined $30 is a good price, in that the revenue and other benefits of offering the plans offset the incremental food sales lost due to sharing.

[jsus]

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

^ On the other hand, the ASD plan was marketed as being valid through Labor Day its first year, but it became valid through the end of the year before that date hit. Probably the right course of action, but why make such a positive change so quietly? 

The first year was only at a few parks, and you had to buy an ASDP for each park you wanted to use it at (no Platinum ASDP valid chain-wide).  I had one for CP but not KI, so I don't even remember KI's was supposed to end at labor day.  Good to know, and definitely the right call to fix that.

I'm not really a fan of add-ons not being valid for the entire time your pass is valid (e.g. buy the next year's pass in the fall, get the rest of that season included..  but the fine print says your ASDP and SPDP (dining and drinks) aren't valid that year.  It creates confusion.

[SnakePlissken]

4 hours ago, jsus said:

The first year was only at a few parks, and you had to buy an ASDP for each park you wanted to use it at (no Platinum ASDP valid chain-wide).  I had one for CP but not KI, so I don't even remember KI's was supposed to end at labor day.  Good to know, and definitely the right call to fix that.

I'm not really a fan of add-ons not being valid for the entire time your pass is valid (e.g. buy the next year's pass in the fall, get the rest of that season included..  but the fine print says your ASDP and SPDP (dining and drinks) aren't valid that year.  It creates confusion.

I don't see why there is confusion. Those fall months are bonus months unless you are renewing your pass. If you are renewing than you likely understand the rules and or already have said add ins for the current year. The way to completely fix the issue would be to make season passes 12 month passes good for 12 months from the time you buy it. It's how most year round parks do it. 

[jsus]

5 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

I don't see why there is confusion. Those fall months are bonus months unless you are renewing your pass. If you are renewing than you likely understand the rules and or already have said add ins for the current year. The way to completely fix the issue would be to make season passes 12 month passes good for 12 months from the time you buy it. It's how most year round parks do it. 

People see that the pass is valid for the rest of the purchasing season, and reasonably assume the whole pass (e.g. add-ons) is included in that.  CP last fall put signs up at food service locations advising that '20 dining plans were not valid in '19, so clearly not everyone understood the distinction.

[LuckyluvsKI]

They may also see that people buying and sharing leads to more spending actually. Example family's if for 30$ we can share something every 90 mins and I'm not spending 30-40+for day lunch and probably like 50+ dinner, that money saved from food now I can buy souvenirs for the kids, play some games even. So that deal can often encourage extra spending because people feel they got a deal so they can splurge on something else.  Some people experience food and will pay for it and still spend others see food as a needed item as in you need fuel but it's not something you can keep permanently.  No they aren't going to openly encourage it but reality only buffets watch people like hawks, cf isn't going to waste money to hound on family's  bringing in money about sharing food. 

[NegativeGs]

I say, share the meal plan and enjoy.

[malem]

7 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

Dollywood will revoke passes if people are caught sharing passes for things like discounts and meals and I assume Cedar Fair takes a similar stance. It just isn't worth taking the risk.

What's not allowed at Dollywood is to let others scan your (gold) pass card to get discounts or other benefits. You can buy things for friends, and they can pay you back, however.

Sharing food from your plate obtained through an all-day dining plan goes against the spirit of all-you-can-eat, but enforcing this as an actual rule would be impossible. The 90-minute interval is meant to discourage this, as most guests want to eat a meal at the same time as other members of their party.

[King Ding Dong]

This topic came up a few years ago and the discussion got rather heated. So I emailed guest services and their response was once the food leaves the window you are free to do whatever you want with it. With the one stipulation that the person the plan was purchased for had to physically be there to order and receive the food. 

They didn’t mention it specifically but the park probably wouldn’t take kindly to you turning around and trying to sell your burger or salad on the midway.  
 

Unless there has been a policy change, and I certainly haven’t seen any indication of one, it is safe to share your food with Integrity.  If anyone is still not sure send an email to guest services and ask for yourself.  

[YOULLBEBACK]

11 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

This topic came up a few years ago and the discussion got rather heated. So I emailed guest services and their response was once the food leaves the window you are free to do whatever you want with it. With the one stipulation that the person the plan was purchased for had to physically be there to order and receive the food. 

They didn’t mention it specifically but the park probably wouldn’t take kindly to you turning around and trying to sell your burger or salad on the midway.  
 

Unless there has been a policy change, and I certainly haven’t seen any indication of one, it is safe to share your food with Integrity.  If anyone is still not sure send an email to guest services and ask for yourself.  

Thank you!  Feels good to be right in a friendly disagreement  

I set a timer every 90 minutes when I bring my 2 older boys with me...hungry or not we share something every 90 minutes or so.   

[coaster sally]

Defeats the purpose in a normal year where you have to wait an hour for food.

[YOULLBEBACK]

1 minute ago, coaster sally said:

Defeats the purpose in a normal year where you have to wait an hour for food.

I'll skip the Chick Fil / panda Express type of places as there is no way I'll ever spend 20+ minutes or more waiting to get food.  Larosas and quicker places only for me.