Cedar Fair reports record results for 2019
A couple of items from the article that stood out to me:
(Cedar Point General Manager Jason McClure) noted that Cedar Point, despite some well-documented parking challenges, did not set any single-day attendance records in the fall.
Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard Zimmerman: “Cedar Point was the last park where we implemented the Gold Pass program. It’s now got the same three tiers as the rest of our parks. We saw tremendous response and that’s been a significant driver of the growth. However, taking Cedar Point out of the mix, we are still up double digits across the rest of the portfolio, at virtually every site.”
I think that validates the thing that was missing from the whole crowded park thing that was not widely reported, but was stated by the park: The parking thing was little more than a perfect storm of circumstance, potentially fueled by single-car drivers.
I still think the gold passes going so cheap is not an ideal strategy, because reducing average gate and making it up on volume is not a strategy that worked for Six Flags, and is particularly weird for a park that's an hour from the nearest metro. Though to Zimmerman's point, CP was the last place they tried it. It should have been more expensive. But my bias is that I'm paying $719 for my local parks, so there's that.
Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - Blog - Music
Walt said:
A couple of items from the article that stood out to me:
(Cedar Point General Manager Jason McClure) noted that Cedar Point, despite some well-documented parking challenges, did not set any single-day attendance records in the fall.
But that's not what Just Coasting told me.
did not set any single-day attendance records in the fall.
That's because people turned around and went home when they saw how long it was going to take to actually get into the park, all due to the parking lot inefficiencies.
That is why you are seeing a large investment for 2020 dedicated to parking and the toll booths.
(Cedar Point General Manager Jason McClure) noted that Cedar Point, despite some well-documented parking challenges, did not set any single-day attendance records in the fall.
Hmm who else here said this and was told they didn't know what they were talking about by the experts on the site. Hmmmmm
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Just Coasting said:
That is why you are seeing a large investment for 2020 dedicated to parking and the toll booths.
That is probably some of it, but I'm sure that this project didn't just happen solely on last fall's issues. The booths are greatly outdated and as with everything else outdated in the park, is getting a much needed makeover, and I'm sure it has been in the plans for more than 6 months.
New toll booths were a cap ex project at KI a few years ago. Sometimes these things just need upgrading and replacing and was probably in the works well before that fateful day in October. Plans like this don't just pop up over night. It may be a simple toll booth but a lot of engineering work, planning for utilities, etc has to be planned out. I wouldn't be surprised if this was in the plans for the 150th year as far back as 2-3 years ago.
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