Buddy Days

I was looking at the platinum pass perks for the other Cedar Fair Parks and I noticed that most have an event called Discount Buddy Days. This is where a friend/family member can get in for a discount (like 50% off) when he is with a platinum pass holder. Does anyone know if Cedar Point has had a Buddy Day in the past?

IMO this would be a good way to get more people into the park maybe higher in-park spending considering you are not paying 43.99 to get in.

As far as I can remember they have never done that in the past, but with the down economy, depending on how the first weekend or two look (or how other CF parks are doing year-over-year before CP opens), I could see something like that popping up early in the season.

CP has always been pretty stingy on giving out freebies. The fact that they tossed out free tickets with a season pass purchase the last two Halloweekends really surprised me.

CP did do this once this past season. I belive it was on a sunday, not sure though. I found out about it too late from cp.com to utilize it.

Not sure if it drastically boosted attendance that day to make the management want to try it again.

For some reason i think it was in june, but that could be me making stuff up in my head.

I've always agreed with CP on this one. I'd rather my party pay more money and not be as crowded.

When I first read the subjuct I thought it was another complaint about "Gay Day". LOL. ;)

Didn't Cedar Point do it last year on Mother's day and Father's day like most of the other Cedar FAir parks?

I know when King's Island was owned by Paramount, they had about 3 "Bring a Friend Free" days during the summer, and those days were always absolutely mobbed. My brother worked there and he always dreaded working those days.

The thing I don't like about it, if CP were to implement this "Buddy Day", is that they would need to have an increase in attendance that would offset the price reduction. And with crowds as big as they are at the point, I kind of doubt that it would be profitable.

CP did it last year but executed it very poorly by not giving enough notice to people.

They are a pretty "cheap" company in terms of giving things out.

^Thats what I thought. I only got about a 3 days notice. Cant remeber if it was by mail or web.

Dvo said:
The thing I don't like about it, if CP were to implement this "Buddy Day", is that they would need to have an increase in attendance that would offset the price reduction. And with crowds as big as they are at the point, I kind of doubt that it would be profitable.

It doesn't cost CP any money to have extra people that wouldn't normally be there in the park. Assuming a similar number of paying customers show up, they could only make money on the deal. With longer lines, people spend more money on food, up charge attractions, and souvenirs.

lladnar,

Actually it could cost CP quite a bit. Sure, it might bring some people who weren't planning on coming but they would lose all of the income from everyone else who had already planned the trip. The loss of income might be made up through concessions. However, I personally wouldn't take the chance right now unless I saw a drastic drop in attendance especially since it was up last year.

Season pass holders are not the majority of CP guests. Even people that KNOW season pass holders don't come close to the majority of CP guests. I would guess that the number of paying guests would still be about the same, while the number of guests spending money on food and other things would go way up.

It is interesting to consider, with all the emphasis someone in the company likes to put on per cap, that free admissions would theoretically help the per cap go up.

They could do what Kings Island did for many years, bring a friend free day.
That will give them lots of business.

Ralph Wiggum said:
It is interesting to consider, with all the emphasis someone in the company likes to put on per cap, that free admissions would theoretically help the per cap go up.

Not if ticket price is included in that per cap number.

I believe per cap is just considered in park spending, or at least that's how CF breaks it down, which means ticket sales would be excluded. I might be wrong though.

Per cap spending is the assumption they have spent at least 40ish on a ticket, and possibly even $10 to drive on to the parking lot.

The goal is to probably get every person in the park to spend $100 per day including ticket and possible $10 parking lot charge.

There was one day last year in the summer (I believe it was June.. I think it was Father's Day, but I don't remember). That if you were a season pass holder they had a special for those who didn't have one that they got in for 10 dollars. We had 4 people with us, so we could only get 2 tickets, but they wern't season pass holders and they got in cheap. Glad I read the Cedar Point website the day I went otherwise they would have paid full price.

I always check the CP website before going on a trip there, you never know what you're going to find for the day (I only wish they would be more of an advanced notice for things like that for people who don't check the site).

Also, the day we got the cheap tickets, there was nothing advertised about it at the park.. which really sucks.