Cashless System

^^^^^

Dvo,

I live in Michigan, but my family still lives down in Ohio across the Turnpike, and even though I only go home 4-5 times a year, the saving from having an E-ZPass is worth it.

Regarding people paying in person, lots of people do, though on this trip, I used a different exit than usual, and saw in the lane beside me that there was a giant machine there for people to put their ticket into and pay instead of a human in the booth, so that's new and exciting, I guess.

Regarding maintaining a 25 dollar balance, it's not exactly true. Because I barely use mine, I keep my balance at 25 dollars and once it gets below 10 or 15 dollars (I'm not sure which), it automatically tops back up to 25 dollars (I have mine connected to a credit card rather than a bank account, because I'm smart enough to realize that nothing should be able to automatically charge my bank account).

GoBucks89 said:

Ohio has $9 annual fee. Convenience of it alone is worth it to me (even though I don't use it every month).

I bought my EZ Pass at a Giant Eagle in Pennsylvania when I went to Pittsburgh for a bowling tournament. NO annual fee that way. Of course I had to register it through the PA Turnpike system (or whatever it's called) but so what, no fee is no fee.

According to the chart I posted, there is a $6 annual fee in Pennsylvania. Not sure where they get that info or if its correct. Expect that as the distance of one's residence/work to a state with a lower fee decreases, interest in getting a pass from a state with a lower fee increases.

I bought it several years ago when there was no fee. It may have changed. I rarely, if ever, log in to look at the account. I will now to see if they are in fact charging me a fee.

Jeff said:

That's $40 for one night, not a year!

Rusty said:
So are you saying that because the employer is a jerk, that absolves you from being one as well? I know that is NOT what you are saying, but it still kind of sounds like it.

Valets are not paid server wages. In fact, the one specific place that I sometimes use valet, I know they're paid $15 an hour. So no, I don't tip them, and I'm not a jerk for it. You don't know me, so back off and tread carefully. What I tip servers is way above average.

Wow. Triggered much? Perhaps I misinterpreted what you meant when you said: "Yeah, valet tipping is a problem in that sense, but their employers should pay them adequately or provide an electronic way to tip." but geez, dude... My apologies. Your statement without the qualifier that you know they are paid $15 an hour sounded kind of jerky. I can't be the only one who took it that way, but I know when I've been warned... Sorry for the 'infraction'.

Yesterday my daughter (14) used the system at the park; the kiosks were very simple and easy to use. Just to try it out we started her with a $20. Put it in, card comes out. Done.

If I would add anything to the system, it would be to add an option to make the cards reloadable. My daughter came home with 3 cards all with partial balances. My fault, however, for not reading all the "FAQs" as it's right there on the website, or we would have started with a higher balance. Other than that, easy breezy.

A drawback (but no different than cash) = if you lose it - no chance of ever seeing it back -- as opposed to a credit or debit card with a name on it. I was also at the park yesterday. I found a dime and a lost card in the empty drink queue line across from Gemini. I was able to check the balance online and someone put $10 on the card at 2:15, made a $5 purchase at 4:00 and at 5:15 I had a $5.00 card in MY pocket with no identification of anybody to claim it at the Lost and Found. I hope that didn't belong to your daughter, Kevin!

Kevinj said:

If I would add anything to the system, it would be to add an option to make the cards reloadable.

It's probably expecting too much, but it would be nice to be able to link them to your CP account, with the ability to reload them remotely, or disable them if they're lost. Or perhaps even ditch the card entirely and use contactless payment via the phone/app.

Aren't the cards Visa/MC "gift cards?" I think there are restrictions to those where you can't up the balance on them, they only go one way. I want to say I read that years ago whilst integrating with a payment gateway.

Room folios should be a thing by now, but the infrastructure would only support that via bar code. I mean, that's possible too (we deployed that at SeaWorld Parks back in the day). I just don't know if there's any integration between the reservation system, which seems pretty old, and the POS/PCI network.

Being able to use a reloadable card such as a gift card would be the best way to go. And as said above link it to your app. Maybe this season is a season of working out the bugs with cashless.

Speaking of gift cards, bar codes are what Disney uses. During festival seasons (which is most of the time now) we periodically load up the card with a couple hundred bucks and scan away. Although it's not even a card at this point, it's a thing on my phone.

Sort of on topic here, does anyone remember when you used to be able to charge things to your room at Breakers? I remember doing that at the swim up bar and a couple other places years ago. I'm not crazy and imagining that, right? That was so insanely convenient, and I bet I would spend even more money if I could do that again.

Gift cards ... These seem pretty strange to me. We bought one for my daughter for a gift sometime before the 2021 season. She tried to use it several times last year. Apparently a couple times the employees just gave her a blank look when she tried to use it and told her they didn't know how to deal with a gift card. I don't think my daughter knew how to respond to that so they sort of awkwardly stared at each other and a couple times the employee just gave her the food she was ordering free. It seems strange that employees don't know about gift cards and/or wouldn't just try to swipe it to see what happens. Also, there were another couple cases where the card just wouldn't work. But, then, it would later. All very strange. We never asked about it.

She took it a few weeks ago and tried to use it at Johnny Rockets when she was there with friends. The employee was very nice. She tried to get it to work, but ultimately could not. In this case, daughter just paid with a CC. However, somehow the employee was able to tell my daughter there was a balance of $37 on the card. It seems strange to me that you could get the balance, but not be able to apply that somehow.

So, my wife and I were at CP a little after this happened. We took her card and stopped at guest services. Explained to them what was up. They had me swipe the card. It showed a $0 balance. I said a couple days earlier it showed as $37. So, they said "well, let's try this other machine". Ah-ha! $37 balance! Then try the first machine... $37 balance! Clearly something was physically wrong with the card. They transferred the balance to a new card. All fine. (I mean, I guess ... we haven't tried to use the card since.)

But, it still seems strange to me that employees don't know how to use these things and that they can get a balance and yet not be able to use the card. Even if the mag strip was busted the thing has a number...couldn't they type that in to apply it? I dunno ... all around weird.

Shoot, when I worked there we’d get people that were using traveler’s checks.

A $10 bill works everywhere! ... and at any time!

Oooops, I guess not.

@F1rePhant0m, you are not imagining things. I was just thinking about that when I was at the park 2 days ago. You were able to charge back to your Breakers room. Last time I remember being able to do it was mid-2000's. It didn't work everywhere though. Basically only the "sit down" eateries around the point like Fridays, Bay Harbor, Silver Dollar Cafe (now Chickie & Pete's), Macaroni's (now Melt), Famous Dave's, Breakwater (defunct), and most other locations inside Breakers I'm pretty sure. And of course, as you mentioned, Bubbles.

Talk about a step backwards. I'm sure if they had a system like UO or Disney where charging to a room folio was simple they'd see an increase in spending by resorts guests. I wish they would get it together and implement room charging and the much needed online check-in/direct to room service. Those Breaker's lines are terrible, especially Halloweekend Fridays!

Do traveler's checks even exist anymore? I've been out of retail a long time so just curious.

They are still issued. Not sure how many people use them though. I haven't used them in at least 30 years.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/travel/travelers-cheques/

https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/travelers-checks/

Seems like for some people in some circumstances, they may still make sense.

We had dinner yesterday at Johnny Rockets where the server was a bit slow in taking our order. When it was time for us to pay for our meal, he apologized and said that the computers were down and we would have to wait to cash out. He then went on a pretty surprising rant (loud enough for more than just our table to hear) about how Cedar Point was at fault and to blame for our delay in cashing out due to the cashless system and their poor WiFi connections. And he didn't drop the topic, but continued to slam the park for the decision to go cashless. It was kind of awkward sitting there as he continued to say negative things about his employer while apologizing to us for our wait.

A side note that I never would have thought I'd say a few years ago - the burgers at Johnny Rockets last night were absolutely horrible while the burger I had a few weeks ago at Coasters was unexpectedly superb. Quite the role reversal from say 2017-ish.

We don't eat in the park much but decided to get a quick bite at Coasters. The burger was excellent and the service was quite fast.