2020 Season Pass

Nothing about extending passes through 2021 for CP or KI, but so far at this point they have not lost any operating days. I think they will wait until they see how much of the season will be lost before extending passes. If it gets to a point where opening is not possible or enough of the season has been lost that days can't be added to the schedule, then passes will be extended. Even if the virus is somehow miraculously wiped out next week, a good portion of prep work was stopped plus the certifications. That alone would probably cause at least a month delay. KI though, was only a few weeks out from opening when the work stopped, so they would have less of a delay.

I could see it being similar to what some year round parks and venues are doing. Let's say CP loses 50 operating days in 2020. They could make everyone's pass good for the first 50 days of 2021. Which wouldn't necessarily be terrible. You'd get a lot of folks that wouldn't renew for a full 2021, possibly spreading the 2021 crowds out a bit more rather than having the historically slower May and June followed by the batcrap crazy fall.

The only thing to work out there would be what you do for folks that do want to renew for the full 2021. I'm of the opinion that if I make it twice in 2020, it's paid for and I feel whole even if there is only a month or two of operating days. But I also know that likely won't fly with the need made whole club.

Don't worry it's coming.

Virgina is closed until June 10th, - Kings Dominion.

No matter what, I can see lines painted every 6' feet in the queues trying to separate guests for social distancing once this is all over, every other queue row not open to help separate guests.

It could be a long summer for all us coaster dorks out there!

Knotts extension for 2021 is also for newly bought 2020 passes & add ons. So, essentially if you were going to buy a platinum, or any all park product like FL+, dining, et..everybody is going to buy from Knotts.

Knotts premature announcement of 2021 extension puts CF in a spot that they may have to make it universal or have a lot of complaints,from those that know what KB are getting. Giving this away chain wide would hurt 2020(already killed) & 2021 financials. CF would literally have to play a volume game like SF in 2021.

Our Cleveland Metroparks Zoo membership will be extended by however many operating dates they have been closed per an e-mail.

^^Agree. When I saw the Knott's announcement, I assumed that the rest of the chain would follow suit shortly after, since Knott's is a year-round park. Canceling the monthly payments is an easy trigger to pull for the people who are on the Easy Pay plan. But for those of us who paid for our passes outright in late 2019, I'm curious how they plan to address that, if at all.

I don't expect CP will open in mid May. CP relies on foreign workers. As long as the travel ban is in effect, they will have staffing problems. At this point, I think Memorial Day weekend is overly optimistic.

I truly believe that in the end CF is not going to screw over Platinum Passholders. That is just bad business. What form it takes remains to be seen but they have had a rollover program for at least a few years. 3 years ago my wife developed a bone spur in the spring and could not walk park distances so did not attend even once all season. CF charged $50 to rollover a Platinum and would have charged $30 for a Gold. Her pass did not have any ad-ons so I do not know how they would have handled those.

Hypothetically if the parks do open for a good portion of this season and no automatic rollover is required, there will still be a minority, like me, that have some HC conditions and should not attend yet. Of course my kids wouldn't be able to drive themselves.

Worst case 2021 would cost me $200 to roll over the 4 passes and hopefully the meal, drink and funpix add-ons.

I think June is optimistic, July 4th is possible, and Halloweekends is likely.

Dvo said:

^^Agree. When I saw the Knott's announcement, I assumed that the rest of the chain would follow suit shortly after, since Knott's is a year-round park. Canceling the monthly payments is an easy trigger to pull for the people who are on the Easy Pay plan. But for those of us who paid for our passes outright in late 2019, I'm curious how they plan to address that, if at all.

There is nothing to address. You chose to pay all at once. Plan people will still pay in the end. Any remedy to lost days will not be based on payment plan vs in full. Right now the money is "sitting as deferred revenue" & will be claimed later. How that revenue claiming occurs will be altered based on openings & possible extensions of pass expiration.

Cargo Shorts said:

I truly believe that in the end CF is not going to screw over Platinum Passholders. That is just bad business. What form it takes remains to be seen but they have had a rollover program for at least a few years. 3 years ago my wife developed a bone spur in the spring and could not walk park distances so did not attend even once all season. CF charged $50 to rollover a Platinum and would have charged $30 for a Gold. Her pass did not have any ad-ons so I do not know how they would have handled those.

Hypothetically if the parks do open for a good portion of this season and no automatic rollover is required, there will still be a minority, like me, that have some HC conditions and should not attend yet. Of course my kids wouldn't be able to drive themselves.

Worst case 2021 would cost me $200 to roll over the 4 passes and hopefully the meal, drink and funpix add-ons.

If the park don't open till really late(August or Sept) I would expect the chain to do what Knotts did, extend automatically thru 2021. If things are that late it's essentially like the promo of giving people the rest of 2019 free if you bought a 2020 pass after mid August last year.

^^To a point I agree. But if 75% of the season is lost, it would be nice if the fully-paid pass carried over to next season or something, to get some value out of it. If, at the end of the day, I've lost my money, it is what it is. I'm not going to hold ill will toward anyone for the stuff we're going through right now. But as Cargo Shorts said, I'm guessing the park will do what they can to make good on everyone's passes, regardless of how they are being/have been paid for.

I agree with Cargo Shorts. I expect that all 2020 platinum passes sold so far will be honored next year. The precedent has already been set at Knotts. Carowinds and CGA will soon follow. At this point I can't see Cedar Fair not extending the passes. They can't extend CP's season into November, that would look horrible for the company.

Just posted on Cedar Point Facebook page:

Thank you to our current Cedar Point Season Passholders for your continued support. Given the uncertainty around our park opening, we want to share an important update regarding 2020 Season Passholder benefits.

2020 Season Passes and purchased 2020 Season Pass Add-On Products (if applicable) will be valid for the remainder of 2020 when our park is able to open, PLUS we will extend your pass through 2021 Season.

For complete details, please visit: bit.ly/2XHuKeR

^Thanks, KI posted the same announcement. So as common sense and logic would prevail it will be chain wide.

Excellent customer service in my opinion, I am made whole. Considering the surreal times we are living in.

HersheyPark also just put out an announcement, extending 2020 passes through June 2021 and *hoping* to open in June 2020.

It's great, in theory, that Cedar Fair is doing this, extending for next year. I worry if they'll ever re-open, however. It seems impossible to miss an entire year of earnings while your debts are still due and survive.

This has me wondering, what if Kings Island (or any other park in the chain) is able to open first but my pass is through CP and on a payment plan, will I have to pay off my balance before my pass is able to be used at another park? The wording of the last email said payments will not be drawn out if the park is closed. But some parks in the chain may be able to open sooner if local regulations allow. Even without taking local regulations into account, CP will likely be the most challenging to reopen due to staffing issues and how far behind they were in preparations compared to other parks that open sooner.

Thabto said:

This has me wondering, what if Kings Island (or any other park in the chain) is able to open first but my pass is through CP and on a payment plan, will I have to pay off my balance before my pass is able to be used at another park? The wording of the last email said payments will not be drawn out if the park is closed. But some parks in the chain may be able to open sooner if local regulations allow. Even without taking local regulations into account, CP will likely be the most challenging to reopen due to staffing issues and how far behind they were in preparations compared to other parks that open sooner.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/passholder-update?fbclid=IwAR0sRDdBWPxG-...crsRsgvsTk

Go to the website & read the Q&A associated

To me this plans on a worst case. If you can't open in 2020 you still get exactly what you paid for, just a year later. Additionally, if you can open for a portion of 2020 it's obviously not going to be the full experience. So you still get exactly what you paid for in 2021, plus whatever bonus operating time there is in 2020. And if things fast track and you can have a July-October season of relative normalcy then it's just icing on the cake and a fantastic bonus.

Count on plenty of cuts to cap ex projects chain wide for years though.