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Boomerang Bay becoming separate Admission?


Knoxville
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I also say no, and I will tell you why. Winterfest failed, largely because it was too expensive compared to the competition (including across the street). With a waterpark right across the street, a separate admission waterpark at Kings Island is going to be a VERY tough sell. If it's even possible...

With so many season pass holders, I will even go on record as saying I bet the waterpark at Kings Island makes more money from per caps than admissions....Per caps that in many cases would never even come in the door if the waterpark were a separate charge.

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I also say no, and I will tell you why. Winterfest failed, largely because it was too expensive compared to the competition (including across the street). With a waterpark right across the street, a separate admission waterpark at Kings Island is going to be a VERY tough sell. If it's even possible...

With so many season pass holders, I will even go on record as saying I bet the waterpark at Kings Island makes more money from per caps than admissions....Per caps that in many cases would never even come in the door if the waterpark were a separate charge.

I agree with you. I am a lifeguard, but you don't have to be a lifeguard to notice the amounts of people that stand in the parking lot at 10 am waiting for Security to unlock the gates for them to get in. These are all season pass holders, and I would be willing to bet that most of them wouldn't even consider a season pass if it was a separate admission.

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If this is the case, I'm kinda ticked. I got the Cedar Fair Maxx Plus pass so I could go to the waterparks. Cedar Points is a joke, I wanted it more for Boomerang Bay, since I live in Cincy. I wonder if I can get my money back? I was under the impression the waterpark wasn't going to be included anymore?!

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Boomerang Bay certainly is NOT a separately gated waterpark this year and the chances of it happening this year are about the same as it being discovered that the moon is in fact made of green cheese. There were lists of what parks were and were not included with each type of season pass. Did you not read them?

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Congratulations! You win the "People who NEVER read signs at Kings Island" award!

You've joined the ranks of:

"Touched the on-ride picture screen" girl

"Is the Son of Beast closed" guy

"Stand up on Racer" man

"Is this the entrance to Tomb Raider" woman

Welcome to the club!

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As the Interpreter said, I doubt that we see Boomerang Bay become a separate gate. It would be a hard sell to the general public. Especially since it has been included with park admission since it opened in 1989.

Yeah, if you listened to the conference call, season pass sales are down at the former Paramount Parks. In part, they are crediting that to increased prices and some perks that have been removed (like the bring a friend free days).

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Yeah, if you listened to the conference call, season pass sales are down at the former Paramount Parks. In part, they are crediting that to increased prices and some perks that have been removed (like the bring a friend free days).

I do NOT believe that for one second. The Gold Pass thing wasn't to boost season pass sales. If it were, it would be ongoing, not end in late May. The Gold Pass deal was to increase early season pass purchases, thus yielding more visits to the park in a season, this yielding more money made.

The reason why season passes are down is because CBS allowed the park to decay last year and it's going to take some time for the GP to realize that Cedar Fair is dedicated to a clean, safe, fun, entertaining, and well-serving park. Their business depends on it.

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Mr. Kinzel himself said Paramount Parks season pass sales are down due to the company's conscious decision to protect "pricing integrity" (read: end most discounts), reduce amenities (read: end gold pass perks), and due to the fact they went on sale later than in the past (that's what he said). He also said the pricing went up a bit, and they were meeting some resistance.

If you remember, the gold pass perks were only reintroduced later in the season pass program. At first, there was no gold pass. I remember well the "thrilling" announcement made here when it returned.

Mr. Kinzel also said they were watching the program and would make later adjustments if necessary (perhaps extending the gold pass perks?--how would that protect pricing integrity?)

He also alluded to the possibility that some former season pass buyers will now be converted to more profitable walk up ticket buyers.

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Not to mention that when you bought a Paramount Park pass it included all 5 parks for lets say 75 dollars if you bought in the fall. Now you have to pay 125 dollars to go to all park, and the Maxx Pass is cheaper at some of the other parks which seems kinda strange.

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And in that Cleveland newspaper video interview the other day, Mr. Kinzel said if you had bought it early, you could get a "seasons pass" for all the parks for about $100. (The lowest I remember a Maxx pass at Kings Island, which does not include the separate gated waterparks--is $125). And that you could get a pass to just all the Ohio parks or all the California parks (and no, it didn't appear that he was talking about a parking pass).

I was rather shocked. I actually watched it again to verify. I would have thought he would have known his own season pass program better than that...

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so what makes you think that they arent going to pull that at KI?

Cedar Point is more like a resort setting. CP themselves have 4 hotels, and there are a couple hundred more in Sandusky. People will stay at the hotels for 3-4 days to try and do everything. Comparing it to Disney is a real big reach, but it is something like that.

And like Interp said: the Beach is right across the street from KI. Changing it to two seperate admissions would be business suicide. I can't think of any outdoor waterparks that could compete with Soak City, so CP can get away with charging 2 seperate admissions.

And if the 2 seperate admissions did not work for CP, it would have been changed years ago.

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I Believe CP developed and built Soak City as a seperate gated attraction from the start. Oceans of fun, next to Worlds of Fun, was developed as a seperate gated attraction from the beginning. The Soak City, next to KBF in California was developed as a seperate gated attraction from the beginning as well (the other 2 Soak Citys, Palm Springs and San Diego, are stand alone attractions).

All other CF properties including the Paramount parks, that have water parks, are included with the admission price. Most of the water park infrastructure for the Paramount properties was built with a 2 for 1 admission in mind. Water Works at KD is located in the very back of the park with no easy access to the outside of the park boundaries. CF would have to spend quite a bit of money to provide a seperate access road, parking, and gate facilities, not to mention more food faclilites as well. I am not saying it could not be done but I think the expense would be high and the risk of making a move like that would be high as well.

I would think that if you were to separate the ride and water parks you better make sure they can stand on their own. The ride park better have some signature high capacity coasters and flats. And it would have to have some major entertainment venues and shows to put in them. From the mid 70's to the late 80's, it was impossible to do everything at Kings Dominion in a day. You just could not see every show and ride every ride in a 10-12 hour period. During prime time (Memorial Day to labor Day) KD would have 8 to 10 shows a day. Yes, 8 to 10!. Some were animal related; bird show, dolphin/sea lion show. An air show once a day. Most were music oriented: Major Broadway style review, country music show, contemporary/pop music (2 different shows), 2 or 3 children shows, roving clown band and other performance artists scattered throughout the park. There was more scheduled in one day than a person could do.

the waterpark would need 2 to 3 more major attractions, a couple more children areas, more food and shop facilities as well. CF would have to beef up both parks plus take on the infrastructure costs of making them seperate gated parks. I am not sure if CF can financially handle that right now.

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If KIs water park goes a different price then so should Geauga Lakes. Its the biggest water park this side of the US that Cedar Fair owns. I seen it. It is Cedar Point and Kings Islands water parks put together in one place.

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But, at Geauga Lake, the water park is turning into the major draw of the park. It would be silly to separate the dry side from the wet side of the park, because that park is struggling as it is.

Yes, many of the water parks that were built at the Paramount Parks were built integral into the parks. The main exception is Boomerang Bay at Kings Island, which was built on the outskirts of the park. The water park offers guests a reason to stay at Kings Island longer. The longer they stay at the park, the more money the guests will likely spend. And Cedar Fair is ever concerned with guest per capita spending.

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If KIs water park goes a different price then so should Geauga Lakes. Its the biggest water park this side of the US that Cedar Fair owns. I seen it. It is Cedar Point and Kings Islands water parks put together in one place.

On that basis, they should take out 2 coasters from each CF park to make it fair :rolleyes: .

Abit is, is that making GL's waterpark seperate would be a horrible move. What would they advertise? Our signature attractions are turning 8 and thats all we have.

If BB would be a seperate admission, wouldn't SP holders get in free because they own a season pass?

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At separately gated waterparks, some park chains let season passholders in free; others require an upgraded pass or a waterpark pass...

At Cedar Point, for example, if you are at least 48 inches tall and less than 62 years of age, a Cedar Point park season pass does NOT get in you Soak City. You must buy a Maxx Plus Pass for about $165, or a Soak City daily admission ticket to get in Soak City.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/admission...sses/prices.cfm

Note also that a regular Maxx pass will NOT get you in Soak City, no matter where you bought it.

Am I the only one who thinks Cedar Fair season pass options are WAY too complicated?

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I hate to give opinions just to give opinions, but I have always thought Soak City left more than a lot to be desired. And to charge extra, and to charge as much as they do for it, is bordering on a crime.

Corrct me if I'm wrong, but the first year Soak City opened, I think you had to buy admission to CP and THEN buy admission to Soak City. I think it was changed after a few weeks.

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