2013 Platinum Pass Perks/Ride Nights are Posted!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/season-passes

I like the "Buy one brat or hotdog combo and get a hotdog or bratwurst free" deal. Those combos are a pretty fair deal to begin with, so adding a second brat to share with a friend makes it perfect for me and my travel partner. I love those Johnsonville brats.

There seems to be a whole lot more free drink deals than I remember last year. I'll probably use the one at Pinks once or twice during the season.

About the french fry deal, didn't it include a drink last year?

2 drinks

Here's a direct link to the perks for all those lazy people out there! :)

http://www.cedarpoint.com/2013pass#1C570168-155D-F540-10AF8233C0E68330

"10% off purchase at All Sit-Down Restaurants" - I hope this includes Famous Dave's! :)

I wonder if the 10% off at sit-downs includes the stuff outside of the park, like Dave's and Friday's.

The food discounts are still kind of silly. It's too complicated. I can understand and quickly recognize something like a percentage off, and more importantly, likely to use that discount. Am I really to try and remember all of these one-off quasi-deals at 20 different locations?

I agree, Jeff. The only reasoning I can think of is that they are attempting to entice pass holders to patronize different food locations.

Yeah, and they're failing. Not just because the deals are so obscure and impossible to remember, but they're not even things I would ever get. Would it kill them to discount something that isn't red meat?

I hope the 10% off works for Famous Dave's. I'll retract my criticism.

One of the best things about the Gold Pass at Dollywood is the 20% discount on food and merchandise. You don't have to worry about any specifics, just present your pass anywhere you purchase food. Having 10% at the sit-downs (and hopefully all of them) will be a great step in the right direction towards something more along those lines.

Do they allow you to bring a guest with you for the extended ride time nights? If you have a friend with you that doesn't have a platinum pass. Also, I thought last year you could buy a starlight ticket after 5 for half price on certain days.

I think the only time they have allowed guests of passholders to ride last year during ERT was during the bonus weekend when they called it passholder appreciation weekend. Otherwise, you had to be a passholder and you had to show it each time you got into line.

Jeff said:
I wonder if the 10% off at sit-downs includes the stuff outside of the park, like Dave's and Friday's.

That would be a huge value for me. We might even break even on our PP purchase with alcohol savings (assuming those are included in the discount).

;)

That was one of my favorite things about having a Universal Orlando pass. The discounts on the food, merchandise, and particularly the hotels made it a slam dunk, to the extent that the passes were "free" after going into the parks three times when I used them.

Disappointed that the free drinks included with the french fry deal went away. Overall, not a bad list of perks though.

I do agree that something straight across the board would probably be more useful than the current system, but I suspect the "freebies" give people warm fuzzies inside. I just wish they would post signs at individual locations advertising what deals are available. I kept the list as a PDF on my phone last season, but it was still less convenient than just having a sign.

I think the concept of all these food deals is getting Platinum Pass holders to try various items and stands around the park, getting them hooked on some new things, which will add to in-park spending.

The problem with a straight XX% discount is that PP holders will likely continue to eat at the same old places they always do.

The PP deals worked on me last year, but as stated, the exposure was low, and they were difficult to remember. I think a big step in the right direction would be to have universal bright-colored signs around the park for every discount or perk: "PLATINUM PASS HOLDERS ONLY: Buy X, Get X FREE!" etc.

As a result, they might sell some more Platinum Passes to those on the fence after seeing all the savings they're missing on food, games, and attractions. And for those that already have a PP, they might realize the savings for the first time. For those that know the discounts exist, they won't have to remember what it was for.

Ffej said:
I think the concept of all these food deals is getting Platinum Pass holders to try various items and stands around the park...

That may be, but these obscure (and often pointless: BOGO) deals actually have the opposite effect for us. Because we can never remember what the deals are, we don't even bother.

Then again, maybe that's their plan - make the deals so obscure that few people actually use them. :)

We used these Perks alot last year because of the free drinks, we will not use them so much this year without free drinks. Last year if anyone was thirsty it would be Fries with free drinks, corndogs or cheese on a stick and free drinks, get the idea Cp. But then again with them selling Coke now we will just bring in our own water and drink Mt Dew when we get back to the room.

I forgot about Coke taking over. I retract my statement expressing disappointment about the lack of free drinks, as I wouldn't be getting any Coke products anyway.

I just thought it was worth noting that I was reviewing the Platinum food deals for 2013, and I noticed changes from February.

The 2 free drinks are back with the fry deal! Someone was listening. The 10% off discount at sit-down restaurants appears to have been axed.

The loss of the 10% discount is pretty crappy. Though it did seem too good to be true.

Edited to add, it's kind of shady that they can change and/or kill the Perks at their leisure. I understand they reserve that right. But if someone is on the fence about whether to buy a pass (like me), and a particular deal pushes them to make the purchase (as was the case with me), and the park kills that deal, it falsifies the value.

Again, the Platinum Pass is a good enough value on its own that it's not really a big deal, but still, the park should choose a set of Perks and stick with it.