$3 soda = criminal

I'm with you Rideman.

Every trip I make to Cedar Point includes at two things. A small amount of cash and a huge cooler filled with sandwiches pop, water, and Gatorade. About ever day I am at Cedar Point the cooler has around $10, with high estimates, worth of product per person. That way we can each have around 2 sandwiches for each lunch and dinner and some chips and a pop for each as well. I also, make sure that I have enough snacks just in case as well.

Is it a bit of a hassle to go to my car every time for food? Maybe a little. But considering how much money I save it is totally worth it. Plus if you time your route around the park the correct way based on when you are going to want to eat, it will not seem like you are wasting as much time to leave the park to eat.

I estimate in my only two trips to Cedar Point this year I have saved around $25-40 depending on what I would have wanted to eat inside the park.

Ryan

RideMan ... You're not being cheap or out of touch unless you won't pay for the buffet at the MM, because we all know that it's better than Red Lobster and Applebees ! ;)

I was at the park for two days last week. We ate at the Game Day Grill for lunch with some friends one day (heads up - the nachos there suck) and had some midway fries for lunch the next. Besides a bag of cotton candy shared by all, that was it for food spending in the park.

I live in Florida and have an annual pass to WDW. It seems to me that the two companies have taken a slightly different approach on how to milk the customer. WDW gets you with a high gate price, but cuts you some slack on the food/beverage within (compared to CP - but still high compared to outside the park). CP cuts you some slack on the gate price and takes you to the cleaners inside the park. Thing is, you tend to forget the gate price if you are having a great time and don't feel like you are being fleeced too badly inside the park. On the other hand, you forget you got a decent gate price and grumble all day at the concession prices using the CP model. Which approach leaves you more satisfied at the end of the day?

Midway Market is now $16.75. That's nuts. I remember paying $10 or $11 a few years ago, which might be remotely interpreted as a good value, but not this.

My protest against CP's high priced food / low quality food / low quality service continues.

Each year I give the park a chance. This time is was something as simple as cheese fries from Happy Friar while at Coastermania. There was one person in front of me, yet I still had to wait 7 minutes to place my order. I will commend the staff though as I got my fries about a minute after I placed the order.

As for the quality... well. I'm guessing the fries were fried a while ago (maybe microwaved after being fried?) because although they were warm, many of them were rock hard. The cheese was actually cold. The wife and I reluctantly ate it and will continue to bring a cooler with us and go through the trouble to go out to the car when we want to eat.

And I can confirm what Jeff has said about Midway Market. My jaw dropped at the sign, $16.75 per person for what you get is ridiculous! This is coming from someone who had no problem dropping $28 at Plymouth Rock Cafe for two adult turkey dinners and one child chicken dinner, plus drinks and dessert while at Holiday World last week. It's good food, served fast, at a decent price. If CP can provide I will pay it.

I'm done complaining to the park because we've been complaining about this in different ways for years. Nothing has changed. So I continue to send my message with my wallet and this goes for each Cedar Fair park we visit until something changes. For those who continually buy the food and drinks throughout the year and come here and complain, I don't know what else to say.

~Rob

I agree.

It is a cedarfair thing.

We were at kings dominium a few weeks back, and the food was crazy expensive and the quality of the food was like something I would not give out to the homeless.

I am done buying food at cedarfair parks.

We hit up some busch parks, six flags parks, and a bunch of private owned parks, and all had wayyyy better food than cedarfair parks for less than what you pay for at cedarfair.

For example.

At busch gardens europe, I got a platter with a half rack of ribs and some sausage and sourcrout(sp), for $12. And it was very good. And to top it all off, they had a great show to watch while we were eating.

At six flags, we got philly cheese steak and some ribbon fries for under $15 (2 subs and the ribbon fries). It was also very good. At another six flags, we got the panda express for around $10 pp.

At knobles, I got a yero and fries for around $5. And the quality was very good.

Even disney has cedarfair beat on food. The food is actualy less expensive and much better quality than any cedarfair park I have been to.

Ok...now for kings dominium.

We ate at a place that I think was called country kitchin. I got some cold chicken strips and watery mashed potatoes and a piece of day old corn and a hockeypuck cornbread muffin for $12.

I would not mind paying a little more for the food if it was good quality, but cedarfair has failed at this.

I pretty much refuse to buy a soft drink when I go to CP, and generally only eat at Panda because it is quite possibly the best food value in the park, and actually not all that insanely priced. The park stands are another matter, though. I usually go out of my way to avoid all but a select few stands that I have found have consistent quality. Despite the fact that Kinzel knows I "have to eat," I spend as little money as possible outside of Panda, and will opt to wait to eat until I leave for the day 99% of the time.

Now on the other hand, when I go to a baseball game in Ft. Wayne to watch our Low-A Minor League team I don't think twice about spending money on food at the game. I could easily eat at the McDonalds or Taco Bell just two blocks down the road before or after the game for a few bucks, but I usually opt to eat at the game despite the somewhat high prices. The food at Parkview Field is some of the better stadium food I've had at sporting events, and that makes the prices a lot easier to swallow. I could easily choose to not eat for a few hours, but I don't really mind paying the price because I'm getting pretty good food.

So to compare, I choose to hold off on eating in the park once I've had my lone meal at Panda for the entire day. But I always spend money on food when I go to a baseball game for a few hours. Does that seem the reverse of what it should be to anyone else?

$16.75 ?!?! Is that the supper price or is it the same all day now ? Either way, CP can keep it.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

This is coming from someone who had no problem dropping $28 at Plymouth Rock Cafe for two adult turkey dinners and one child chicken dinner, plus drinks and dessert while at Holiday World last week.

Plus drinks? Give me a break, you didn't pay for those. :)

Jeff said:
I have to complain then make my peace. $3 soda from the vending machine is not only a total rip-off, but insulting. What the hell are they thinking? Maybe it's just because I know they pay little or nothing for the soda, but $3? That goes beyond taking advantage of your guests. That's screwing your captive audience.

That's true Jeff but have you noticed that the price of gas has surprisingly starting to rise again? We're all in a economic downturn, demand is less than supply and yet the rat bastard oil companies are still gonna screw the AMERICAN audience and to me that's MORE insulting (forget about CP's captive audience).

Americans are STILL getting screwed everyday at the pump. Only difference, you don't need to buy soda at CP. However, you need gas to live........so keep it in perspective. Sorry for your pain.

Have you noticed that you're quoting (incorrectly) a post from seven years ago? And seriously, what does gas have to do with it?

I can't let this misconception about "teh evil gas companies" go after what I learned last Thursday. The gas companies really aren't doing much in the way of gouging, as the gas does actually cost about that much to manufacture and ship. The main two times that people complain about the high price of gas - Labor Day and Memorial Day - actually have very little to do with raising prices because they can. Those two days conveniently fall on or within a few days of the switchover dates from "Winter Formula" to "Summer Formula" and what not. Once Labor Day has passed, all gas stations must be selling only the winter formula, and summer formula cannot be sold until June 1. Of course in order to be ready for the switchover and the high demand of the holiday season production on the next formula must be started extremely early. Since the refineries have switched over to only producing one particular formula closer to the holidays, they cannot ship anymore of the previous season formula. Because of the Laws of Supply and Demand, the gas stations start raising the price to curb demand. This means that they will (hopefully) have enough gas to make it through to the switchover date with a slight drop in demand.

A little tip to anyone who is out to try and find a good deal on gas: keep an eye on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) price of RBOB Gas, as this is actually the wholesale that gas stations purchase. The price you see listed is the actual price per gallon (last Thursday it was 1.94 when I got out of my econ class). Add about $0.80 to the listed price during the summer formula, and about $0.60 during the winter formula to get a rough estimate of what you will be paying at the pump in about two or three days. Most of that extra added to the wholesale price is actually taxes and regulatory costs, only a few cents are actually profit.

Okay, the off-topic educational post is done, back to talking about being robbed by CP at the food stands. :)

BlueStreak,

You have to forgive me, but the gas price analogy sucks. You may feel that wayseeing as how you live in the . Am Ipaying more because it's imported? Nope MI is. Make sense of that.

I drive a 2008 Ford Focus so it's really a non-issue for me? Would I be moreinclined to drive more and maybe own an F-150 or an eight cylinder Mustang ifgas was half as cheap? Your bet! Would I consume twice as much pop and food orpurchase twice as many good while in the park if they were a reasonable price? Definably!

Take a look around the lot the next time you are there. That $4 pop costs folkslike I $4.50 and there are allot of plates in that lot. This is a park that needs to stop alienating thereclientele especially in this economic climate.

Before anyone says it, don't get me started on Wonderland. It's worse as far aspricing. This is from someone who can afford a 'little' excess, I just don'tlike it.

$16.75 pp at Midway Market is outrageous! $33.50 for two people, or $67 for a family of four? (not including the tip...)

Huh?!

Yeah, the food thing has gotten waaaaay out of hand. On Sunday I went with my mom, my daughter, and my daughter's friend. We had a cooler full of food waiting back at the picnic shelter, but because of the way seven-year-olds like to hopscotch around an amusement park we found ourselves at the very back of the peninsula at supper time.

We were forced to get dinner at one of the outdoor concessions in Frontiertown. One tiny, warmed over crappy personal pizza with three pepperonis on it, one burger basket, two chicken fingers baskets and four drinks...guess how much it came to? Over fifty dollars.

This is officially beyond highway robbery, it's insanity. Insanity of the park to think they can sustain these kinds of prices without impacting their long term success, and insanity of customers to pay it -- at least, pay it more than one time. Count me one of the insane, since I've gotten suckered into it a few times already this season. But no more. If I have to, I will plan my entire days around getting back to that picnic shelter by meal time, come hell or high water.

Mike, walk out the back of the park and over to Camper Village, call the shuttle, take shuttle to front of the park. It'll take a couple minutes, but is probably easier than convincing an 8 year old (?) to walk past all the food stands to the front of the park.

Famous Dave's has some decent prices and has excellent food. It's right by the marina.

NIN, I wasn't making an analogy, someone wrongfully claimed that the gas companies are evil with their pricing, and I felt it would be a good time for a little educational rant on the topic of gas prices.

As for the food, I really have a hard time they'll be able to sustain that kind of pricing, period. I don't care if people's incomes are growing by $10,000 a year, these prices are getting absolutely ridiculous. Subway especially comes to mind, but now Midway Market is right up there with it. If I want all I can eat, I'll go outside of the park and pay $5 for all I can eat pizza at CiCi's, or go to Olive Garden where I can actually have a very good sit-down meal, with drink, for the same price or less. I'm thinking of giving up my usual daily meal at Panda for the rest of the season to just go outside the park to make sure I'm not spending anything on food in the park anymore.

Cedarpoint has even gone way above what disney is charging for food. Here is just one example... http://allears.net/menu/men_cr.htm

Chili chees fries...only $3.50

1/4 pound cheeseburger with a topping bar for only $6.59(also served with fries or apple wedges).

Kids meal with chicken nuggets, two sides and a drink...$4.99

1/2 chicken and half a slab of ribs with mashed potato and a vegetable....only $13.99.

Beverages...small $2.19 large $2.49

This is just a few examples.

Plus, disneys food is a much better quality food that crap cedarpoint is shelling out.

John, I never even thought about the shuttle. That would have been the perfect solution. Do you call from the camp lobby? Believe it or not, but in all these years I've never even set foot in Camper Village.