Lawsuit: Kennywood withheld Steel Curtain closure to boost season pass sales

[BoddaH1994]

As I’ve been saying, ALWAYS wait as long as you can to purchase your season pass. Saving a few bucks is not worth buying a product and then find out what it is later.

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/recreation/2024/04/23/kennywood-steel-curtain-lawsuit/stories/202404230057?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABHV-BfRHLv0XyjwTJuKn_JWQJPDm7_hxDAlCXqX28Z_JhODh1yNVitnhV7w_aem_Ac3JOo6YRo-d1qG2BcIXCbIpk8fKoKEPkspw3DCiW9098RRnxhYpVv3RJx8nt8leCsg

[disco2000]

but, but, but, the season pass only provides you access to the park during regularly scheduled operating hours without any guarantee of any rides or attractions operating....

caveat emptor

 

[BoddaH1994]

3 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

but, but, but, the season pass only provides you access to the park during regularly scheduled operating hours without any guarantee of any rides or attractions operating....

caveat emptor

 

I mean, I’m not pointing the fingers at Kennywood because maybe they just have made this decision, but I do have a little trouble believing that Carowinds and Kings Dominion didn’t know that they were cutting out months of operation before the bulk of the passes were sold. 

[Kenban]

After it was announced that Steel Curtain would stay closed all year, I saw claims that the park was careful to not use it in any of the 2024 advertising.  Supposedly no one has even seen it in the background of a picture of something else.  I went back and looked at marketing emails and could not find any that advertised Steel Curtain, but since those emails likely only contain a link to an image instead of embedding them, in theory the park could swap the images.

If true, it would seem to suggest that they had a pretty good idea last year it would be closed.

[disco2000]

Not that it makes it right, but from a business perspective, we see this type of activity all the time.  The Beach sold passes and then had to refund, same with Coney Island when they announced their respective closures.  Entertrainment Junction was selling passes before it was announced this might be its last year, and they are still selling passes knowing this year may be the final year (those passes are good for 365 days after purchase instead of following a calendar year).  Restaurants and stores sell gift cards and then go bankrupt. 

As a consumer it sucks, but they continue business as usual as long as they can because anything could happen to change the closure or whatever.

And we joke, but a certain member here is correct that season passes are not guaranteeing you that any specific ride will be open.

But at the same time, when your business model relies heavily on passes, the consumer bases their pass pre-purchase on historical and recent experiences.  Eroding that by announcing a ride closure just before the season opens or cutting park hours after many passes were sold will turn some off and hold off until the last minute before purchasing.

Enough people decide to wait until the following year and purchase right before they are ready to visit the park will drastically cut down on pass sales, not only the early pre-season sales, but even during the season.  Many people that would have bought a pass in August and wait, then come June may decide to spend their money elsewhere.

[BoddaH1994]

13 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Not that it makes it right, but from a business perspective, we see this type of activity all the time.  The Beach sold passes and then had to refund, same with Coney Island when they announced their respective closures.  Entertrainment Junction was selling passes before it was announced this might be its last year, and they are still selling passes knowing this year may be the final year (those passes are good for 365 days after purchase instead of following a calendar year).  Restaurants and stores sell gift cards and then go bankrupt. 

As a consumer it sucks, but they continue business as usual as long as they can because anything could happen to change the closure or whatever.

And we joke, but a certain member here is correct that season passes are not guaranteeing you that any specific ride will be open.

But at the same time, when your business model relies heavily on passes, the consumer bases their pass pre-purchase on historical and recent experiences.  Eroding that by announcing a ride closure just before the season opens or cutting park hours after many passes were sold will turn some off and hold off until the last minute before purchasing.

Enough people decide to wait until the following year and purchase right before they are ready to visit the park will drastically cut down on pass sales, not only the early pre-season sales, but even during the season.  Many people that would have bought a pass in August and wait, then come June may decide to spend their money elsewhere.

To be fair, Entertrainment will certainly take care of anyone who purchased a pass if they close. It’s the type of people they are. Coney’s thing didn’t pass the sniff test, but they ultimately did the right thing. All of these are extreme cases. Fundamentally changing the product after purchase under the banner of, “Terms are subject to change. Sucks to be you. No refunds” is in an ethical class of its own. Again, I do not know of KW knew about this far in advance or if they found out and immediately communicated it, but we’ve seen a lot of other examples that I feel support my point. 

[Tr0y]

One would think they would refund him no questions if he didn’t use his pass?

I can see the park settling with him because it’s cheaper to do so than have this make it to court.

That being said it will be interesting to see what comes about for this. It will surely create a ripple effect within the amusement park industry depending on the outcome.

[DispatchMaster]

I would be surprised if the park settled a frivolous lawsuit brought by an ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer. Not only is the park fully covered by the T&C of the pass purchase agreement, the plaintiff likely would have to prove that Kennywood KNEW at the time of his purchase that the ride could not and would not be operational for 2024, AND that Kennywood expressly suppressed this information, AND, most importantly, that their advertising was specifically designed to suggest that this particular attraction would be operating for 2024.

That's an immense legal hill to climb, even if the two litigants had access to equally-competent legal teams, which they clearly do not.