Maverick28 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I just called Kings Island customer service and was told that even though I bought my Gold Pass (and All Park Passport) through Cedar Point this year that I will still get free parking for every visit to Kings Island... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJSkyFoxx Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Ugh. This would really be pretty terrible if parks can pick and choose if they will honor the GP+APP set-up. This wasn't a worry with Platinum. It costs a lot already to travel to said parks, pay for the pass with add-ons and then find yourself at the gate having to pay the $30+ parking fee. Gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, BeeastFarmer said: And now I'm hearing that the all park passport will not cover Canadian parking as well And on the flip side, that is one way to curtail people buying their pass at Wonderland to save money. Imagine KI being your home park and now having to pay for parking every visit. I hear you can pay like $14.99 to park at Great Wolf Lodge now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 "Season Pass benefits subject to change without notice. If you plan to visit other Cedar Fair parks with the purchase of an All Park Passport Add-On - Gold and Prestige Passholder benefits may vary by park. Contact the park you are planning to visit for any questions regarding applicable benefits." So this is the fall back the chain is using moving forward. I'm honestly not impressed by the counter point of saying you get your platinum pass benefits and then turning around and removing the one benefit helping you make the decision. Color me not impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 11 minutes ago, BB1 said: "Season Pass benefits subject to change without notice. If you plan to visit other Cedar Fair parks with the purchase of an All Park Passport Add-On - Gold and Prestige Passholder benefits may vary by park. Contact the park you are planning to visit for any questions regarding applicable benefits." So this is the fall back the chain is using moving forward. I'm honestly not impressed by the counter point of saying you get your platinum pass benefits and then turning around and removing the one benefit helping you make the decision. Color me not impressed. They are simply implementing the lessons learned with the Prestige Pass that they can "bait and switch" and use the "subject to change" legally to do it and people will complain yet still buy a pass.... Until enough finally say enough and don't renew and it makes a measurable impact in pass sales/attendance, it will only get worse. What is that number? Sadly anything single digit percentage they will chalk it up to "weather" in the earnings call. It would probably have to get to 30% or more reduction before they would change course....or give away the gate even more to entice people to show up. It will only get worse before it gets better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenban Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 It’s still listed in the terms and conditions that everyone gets free parking at all parks with purchase of the all parks passport. Quote A Gold or Prestige Pass with the All Park Passport add-on is valid for free parking at all parks; the registered Passholder must be in the vehicle. Most of the benefits including the lounge and what it contains are just promises on the website, the parking is actually spelled out in the actual legal terms which is more difficult to modify and has not been changed since last summer. I just cannot imagine walking back the free parking in 2024. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 1 minute ago, Kenban said: It’s still listed in the terms and conditions that everyone gets free parking at all parks with purchase of the all parks passport. Most of the benefits including the lounge and what it contains are just promises on the website, the parking is actually spelled out in the actual legal terms which is more difficult to modify and has not been changed since last summer. I just cannot imagine walking back the free parking in 2024. No matter what, it’s baffling. You correctly laid out why the conditions would be odd. But even if that’s not true, why were people turned away? Why was BB1 told “no” when he called? I tried to call Knott’s myself but gave up after about 20 minutes on hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonHelbig Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I bought 2024 season passes to Dollywood, Kennywood, Holiday World and Six Flags (Diamond Pass) because I knew in the fall when they went on sale what I was paying for. There hasn't been any surprises or lack of clarity on anything. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 I was able to get through to Knotts. The lady on the phone was very nice and said she “thinks” the APP covers parking. So assuming that’s true, why was BB1 told otherwise and why were my friends turned away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenban Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 3 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said: No matter what, it’s baffling. You correctly laid out why the conditions would be odd. But even if that’s not true, why were people turned away? Why was BB1 told “no” when he called? I tried to call Knott’s myself but gave up after about 20 minutes on hold. I wish I had a good answer for you, my gut says people being told no is down to poor training, and likely employees who are just not familiar with the changes to the annual pass program. My experiences in the past suggests that training around details like this is just downright terrible. I am expecting people to have issues with early entry at Cedar Point this year as well. So why did it not work? My best guess is something is setup wrong somewhere, which is not really helpful. Would the same pass work in two months, maybe. Is it due to what park issued the pass? Is it something misconfigured at Knott's? Maybe it is something specific to that pass? The number of guests I have spoken with who complain about something not working on their pass is higher than it should be. I went to Kings Island with someone in October and their meal plan and drink plan worked, we went back in December for Winterfest and neither worked, the pass worked just fine for admission but suddenly none of the add on's worked. I recently spoke with someone who purchased two passes at the same time last year from Canada's Wonderland the add-ons only worked on one of the two passes, they just lived with it last year and are hopeful it fixes itself this year. This is part of the reason why I hate that there is no transparency around things added to passes, like the renewal Fast Lane, or bring a friend free tickets. Until you show up at the park and try to use something you have no idea if it actually attached to the card. Personally the majority of issues I have personally experienced with my passes are training problems, the pass worked fine, the employees had no idea how to handle the new drink plan, season long Fast Lane, prestige passes, etc. Most employees don't have problems but the guest should not have to try to walk an employee through what buttons to press on the register. The lack of consistency in policies from park to park also does not help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 2 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said: I was able to get through to Knotts. The lady on the phone was very nice and said she “thinks” the APP covers parking. So assuming that’s true, why was BB1 told otherwise and why were my friends turned away? I’m still confused on why we now have 3 conflicting reports. Shouldn’t this be on an internal cheat sheet? Is there this much of a disconnect that mgt>associate>corporate communications are misaligned? I have receipts, I can even show when I called in my contacts last night. Why is this such a quagmire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastercrush Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 21 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said: I was able to get through to Knotts. The lady on the phone was very nice and said she “thinks” the APP covers parking. So assuming that’s true, why was BB1 told otherwise and why were my friends turned away? Maybe your "friends" made a mistake? No offense but you seem to have an ax to grind with Cedar Fair for a while on here and nowhere else on social media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, DonHelbig said: I bought 2024 season passes to Dollywood, Kennywood, Holiday World and Six Flags (Diamond Pass) because I knew in the fall when they went on sale what I was paying for. There hasn't been any surprises or lack of clarity on anything. This speaks volumes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 So the park just reached out to me. They have confirmed that the pass should work for parking at Knott's. The park also called Knott's Berry Farm, they confirmed with the IT department of Cedar Fair, and talked with the GM of Knott's of the situation. Cedar Fair wants to make sure this is working correctly for all parties. 8 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 17 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said: So the park just reached out to me, they have confirmed that the pass should work for parking at Knott's. The park has called Knott's Berry farm they confirmed with the IT department of Cedar Fair, and talked with the GM of Knott's of the situation. Cedar Fair wants to make sure this is working correctly for all parties. Great to hear that Mr Koontz made things right! The issue wasn’t really that the pass didn’t work, it was that it didn’t work and the associate and supervisor told him that it didn’t. It looks like that they are working hard to ensure that the communication is out there. He truly does care. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenban Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Personally I just hope this highlights the need for more training, and more clarity surrounding annual passes and how they work at different parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 44 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said: So the park just reached out to me, they have confirmed that the pass should work for parking at Knott's. The park has called Knott's Berry farm they confirmed with the IT department of Cedar Fair, and talked with the GM of Knott's of the situation. Cedar Fair wants to make sure this is working correctly for all parties. This just made my day! I’m glad to hear that the park actually saw this was an issue and made corrective action same day. Faith in CF restored! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 And to add to the fray...I called Kings Island today to ask about this issue. The lady I spoke with told me that parking is NOT included at Knott's and Canada's Wonderland. When I mentioned that the list of benefits when I bought the pass said it included all Cedar Fair parks, she said...wait for it...terms and conditions are subject to change at any time for any reason, including park choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 I can confirm that my friend was reached out to by Knott’s on behalf of Mr Koontz. It seemed like they were under the belief that they made him pay. As I stated earlier, they didn’t, but warned him as a one-time thing. He’s still going to reply to tell his story. If it happened to him, it’s happened to others. Communication has been so bad in that company recently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlaheyscar Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I think people are just talking some real idiots. Gold pass at Knotts does not include parking. Gold pass with all parks addon includes parking. Theme park training is often terrible and this is another example. It's clearly stated on Knotts website (and all other sites) it's included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 2 minutes ago, jimlaheyscar said: I think people are just talking some real idiots. Gold pass at Knotts does not include parking. Gold pass with all parks addon includes parking. Theme park training is often terrible and this is another example. It's clearly stated on Knotts website (and all other sites) it's included. Luckily, the Kings Island GM saw this Thread. They reached out to Knott's. They talked to the GM at Knotts to rectify the situation. Hopefully this covers the training issues at the parking tolls at Knott's and other CF parks as well. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonHelbig Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 As radio legend Paul Harvey would say prior to signing off, Now you know…the rest of the story. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJSkyFoxx Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 11 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said: Luckily, the Kings Island GM saw this Thread. They reached out to Knott's. They talked to the GM at Knotts to rectify the situation. Hopefully this covers the training issues at the parking tolls at Knott's and other CF parks as well. Definitely needs to be more consistency and reiteration on what is and what isn't across the board. There maybe things "subject to change" at any time. We know this. But the overall base understanding needs to be crystal clear across the board because this kind of confusion simply isn't it. When you go from having a Platinum pass with minimal to no confusion at all to a "same but different" pass set up that all of a sudden seems to be giving less benefits but advertised to work similarly to the previous pass type...yeah. You get where I'm going. One can only hope there will be more clarity and formality chain-wide without so much "this benefit works here but not there". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super7 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Judging by the unethical way that Cedar Fair is known to do business quest, I just feel there’s something $neaky involved in the switch from Platinum to All Parks. Maybe I’m wrong, but I do not trust them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tr0y Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 53 minutes ago, super7 said: Judging by the unethical way that Cedar Fair is known to do business quest, I just feel there’s something $neaky involved in the switch from Platinum to All Parks. Maybe I’m wrong, but I do not trust them. Pretty sure All parks does not give you parking at Canada’s Wonderland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenban Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 50 minutes ago, Tr0y said: Pretty sure All parks does not give you parking at Canada’s Wonderland. It does. Canada’s Wonderland – Parking is included with the purchase of a Gold Pass and All Park Passport add-on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor.B03 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Here's the email response and my original question from the other day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Keep in mind, we are very early in the year. Knott's is the only park dealing with the new passes so far. I understand the hesitation with what we have seen with the Prestige pass. When the park saw this thread, they reached out and made sure things were right. The acknowledgment and willingness to verify with other parks and their IT department that all should be working as advertised, really does speak highly of the KI GM. No mater the decisions that corporate might be making (most likely not under their control) the local parks do want to do what they can to make things right. 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said: Keep in mind, we are very early in the year. Knott's is the only park dealing with the new passes so far. I understand the hesitation with what we have seen with the Prestige pass. When the park saw this thread, they reached out and made sure things were right. The acknowledgment and willingness to verify with other parks and their IT department that all should be working as advertised, really does speak highly of the KI GM. No mater the decisions that corporate might be making (most likely not under their control) the local parks do want to do what they can to make things right. I think we ALL agree that Mr Koontz was proactive, professional, and demonstrated that he cared to rectify this situation. People reached out to Knott’s and got conflicting info. This was dispute the web site very much suggesting that the answer was yes. Clearly this was an IT/communications breakdown. No one went to Mr Koontz; however, he heard of the problem and rectified it. His efforts are not unnoticed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlaheyscar Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 4 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said: Keep in mind, we are very early in the year. Knott's is the only park dealing with the new passes so far. They went on sale last August. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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