Could this boost attendance?

What would be awesome, require a load of capital and probably never happen (why am I still typing...) would be if they moved parking to the mainland and used the parking lot half for rides and half for something like a Downtown Disney, or City Walk at Universal. That'd give a load of new options for food/souveneirs. Most of those places validate parking during certain hours anyway, and CP would see less people leaving the penninsula to eat and more cash flow from rent.

Well if 30,000 people visit the point daily and you have an average of 3 people in a vehicle. 10,000 vehicles x 10 = $100,000. You have to sell a lot of park tickets to make up that loss.

Even if tickets were $50 a piece you would have to sell 2,000 more tickets to break even. Plus you would have to market the fact you offer free parking, which will make people go "well how much did parking cost in the first place if its such a bonus to have free parking". And only those who have visited Six Flags and other parks that charge $15 will be like "well thats a good deal".

Although you could imagine in park spending might increase if they were to eliminate parking costs, and then again I could see a lot of families leaving for lunch because there would be no restrictions on leaving the park. Parking is free!

Most people probably do not realize they can leave the park once with their parking pass, and do not even bother to ask.

That's not entirely true, though. There's employees in tolls all the time that could be eliminated if you have free parking. I don't really have a great idea on how many jobs could be eliminated, but even at 7.whatever an hour it would reduce the $100k figure you are stating.

I think when people, families to be specific, do research into vacation planning they will look at admission price first. They probably won't look at parking prices. If they cut the parking cost and raise admission that could have a negative effect. If a family of 4 decides to make the trip to the park because the admission price is reasonable they aren't going to turn around on the causeway because they have to pay $10 for parking.

Parking is free money, and I doubt anyone shows up expecting to pay it.

But there are limits to what people can stand too. That parking fee is your first impression. If you want to give the impression that you want to screw your customers, this is the place you can do it if you go too far.

Again, the bigger picture is always trying to find the right mix of where you get money, and make it feel like a good value. I think they've totally lost their way in this respect. The pass pricing is a good value, but that's where it ends. I pride myself on having a good bit of disposable income, but I spent less there this year than I have in a long time. I bought far less food, made fewer visits, bought zero merchandise and skipped any on-property stays.

On the other hand, I spent almost two grand at Disney and about a grand at Universal (including airfare). It makes an old school fanboy like myself sad to think that CP doesn't do it for me the way it used to because of what I feel I get for my money.

bholcomb said:
That's not entirely true, though. There's employees in tolls all the time that could be eliminated if you have free parking. I don't really have a great idea on how many jobs could be eliminated, but even at 7.whatever an hour it would reduce the $100k figure you are stating.

There are like 3 or 4 tolls in which one person works in each. I dont think 28 dollars an hour will affect 100,000 dollars that much. Plus, if it actually did increase attendance, which I dont think that it would, those jobs would just be moved to directing traffic in the parking lot all day.

There are 8 toll booths, one of which is staffed 24/7 during the operating season. On top of that, they can open up more lanes and staff another 4 spots. Once this summer they staffed all the above position's and then another 3 toll cashiers setup in the parking lot to handle the crowds.

Well it is nice that it is only $10.00. You could consider it a bargain compared to the Six Flags parks. On a side note when I go to the Indy 500 10 bucks is dirt cheap and that is parking about a 1 to 1.5 miles away from the track heck for parking within 1/2 mile of the track can cost around 30-35 dollars.

Well at least you're not paying $40 to park at CP like when you're when going to a Lions game, Red Wings game, or Tigers game in downtown Detroit.

I mean I guess it's worth it when going to the Tigers and Red Wings games, but it sure as hell isn't when going to a Lions game who went 0-16. I bet they couldn't even beat a college team.

According to the GM of Holiday World, the park saw dramatic increases in attendance and actually increased in-park per-cap spending when they started offering free Pepsi. They also saw a dramatic decline in the number of first aid visits.

The per-cap spending increase was because #1 people were more willing to spend higher dollars on in-park food rather than leaving the park because they didn't have to spend $3 on a drink and #2 because people were staying better hydrated when their drinks are free and they tend to feel better throughout the day, meaning that the average number of hours a guest spends in the park has grown. The reduced first aid visits were because they had fewer people complaining of headaches, weakness, etc. due to dehydration.

Guest satisfaction goes up, per-cap spending goes up and attendance goes up, all because you are offering something for FREE. Pepsi eats a large portion of the cost through a sponsorship deal, to the point where free beverages cost the park well under $1 per guest, and as a result guests spend MORE in the park. Sometimes it does make good business sense to offer something for free in exchange for the goodwill of your guests. Heck, that $1 is easily priced in with an admission increase and the guest never notices.

I know it would be nice if they would bring coke to the park! I know there is somekind of law or something where a place can either sell coke or Pepsi, but it would be nice to be able to have both. I knowhen Geauga Lake was Six Flags, they had Coke. Also Kings Island and King Dominion carry Coke. Idon't want to start any Coke Vs. Pepsi wars, but I would be happy if they would sell both!

CPboy77 said:

The lots on Fort Street are the answer for the Red Wings. BHolcomb and I scored $5 parking in a lot there a few weeks ago. It's just a bit further walk through the tubes to the Joe, but you easily make up for it by the ease of getting out compared to the garage. And unless something changed drastically, the garage was $15 last year.

I think that the most important thing to remember is that most of the people stating a comment here are regulars. The people CP want to attract are the families of 4 who come to the park 1x/year, and spend boo koo bucks without batting an eye. That means hotel, food, merchandise, drinks and parking fee is just an accepted cost. Don't forget if they stay at an on point hotel parking is free. The $$ that family spends in one weekend could easily far exceed the $$ one of us spends in one entire season.
10 bucks to park is a drop in the bucket for them.

I remember seeing a family doing the rock climbing thing, then buying 4 large Dippin Dots and thought "they just spent like $60.00 in 5 minutes!"

When the PBR is in town (downtown Columbus) it is $10.00 to park in a lot right across the street from the Schott. $15.00 for garage, $20.00 for valet parking.
When the Ohio State Fair is here, it's $10.00 to park-and you can guarantee parking in BFE.
When the Quarter Horse Congress is here, it is $25.00 to park!

So to me $10.00 isn't that bad-but thats JMHO. Parking fees are guaranteed easy income.

I have to agree that it would be nice if CP would have free pop and better food. But I, (like most here) bring my own food and if I need a drink I get the free ice water.

Jo

A few random thoughts:

They need to charge for parking so they can pay the crew to cleanup the lot after people use it as their personal dumpster. If these folks don't want to leave their empty McDonalds bags, cups, cans etc. in their vehicle at least carry it to a garbage can. Lazy slobs. I always find garbage around my car.

The $10 fee is reasonable compared to parking for sports and concerts. Though at those events you can save a few dollars by parking further away. I find that even if I have to walk a few blocks, I still get out before those near the stadium as they are stuck in traffic trying to exit the lots.

Included the parking fee I'd like CP to offer an optional car wash on exit to clean off the seagull poop from my car. Just kidding...kinda.

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, but I thought I'd come out of lurkdom to comment on this, since my family probably fits the "average". We visit once a year (I KNOW! Poor me :-( , but my dh gets motion sickness so its just me and the kids that ride, so I can't justify - or talk him into- more frequent trips).

$10 for parking is not a deterrant at all for us. After all, after the gas to get to Sandusky and the admission costs, $10 is no big deal.

My family and I went to Michgian's Adventure last summer. They don't discount admission for children, so we had to pay full admission price for a three year old. The water park was really nice, but the amusement park was under landscaped, no live shows, no other entertianment, sub-par children's rides and awful prepubescent employees. Then the food was crazy expensive with few choices, horrible service and bad food. I will NEVER go back to MI Adventure. There was just very little value there for us.

Cedar Point is higher admission costs for adults, but actually for the four of us it would cost pretty close to the same admission as MI Adventure becuase of the discounted tickets for the kids. Then the live entertainment, the gorgeous setting, the better rides, the kids areas... what I'm getting at is that CP is a pretty good value. Except in two areas:

One thing is that we would never stay on Point. I have always wanted to for convienance's sake, but its just so expensive and not much of a value for us. When I was single and with my girlfriends, it would have been becuase I'd have been all about early entry and ert, but now... with small children and a husand along to hold our stuff, not so much. Besides, hotels don't seem much better than the average Holiday Inn, and maybe not that nice, so why pay for it?

The other is the crazy food prices. Thankfully CP has a picnic area, so we'll just bring food and eat in the pavillion, and just snack in the park.

What I'm getting at here is that I think outside the two things I mentioned, CP is a darn good value for the entertainment dollar, so the parking fee is king of negligable.

MaVeRiCk 'n MaGnUm XL said:
^^^ I agree maverick owns, It was worthless. I believe shuttles are pointless and a waist of labor hours and money...

So, you agree that maverick owns? :-P But yes, they were in talks of putting the shuttle outside of the park to all the hotels, but that really didn't go according to plan.

RidePhoto101 said:
Guest satisfaction goes up, per-cap spending goes up and attendance goes up, all because you are offering something for FREE.

Don't kid yourself. They hiked the gate by several dollars that year at Holiday World. You still pay for it, but the perception is different.

So it's replacing an unfavorable perception with a much more favorable one. That's just good marketing.

Fussy Monkey, welcome to Pointbuzz. :)

dsloban said:
I know it would be nice if they would bring coke to the park! I know there is somekind of law or something where a place can either sell coke or Pepsi, but it would be nice to be able to have both. I knowhen Geauga Lake was Six Flags, they had Coke. Also Kings Island and King Dominion carry Coke. Idon't want to start any Coke Vs. Pepsi wars, but I would be happy if they would sell both!

The pre-Paramount Cedar Fair parks are still on a contract with Pepsi that should be up for renewal in the next year or two (I forget the year). The acquired Paramount parks still have a contract with Coke. In the end it all comes down to which company offers a better sponsorship deal to be the exclusive soft drink of Cedar Fair when the contract comes up for renewal.

Walt, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Cedar Point used to serve Coke at one point in the past.

It's all about the money and the best contract will get the business.

Jeff said:

RidePhoto101 said:
Guest satisfaction goes up, per-cap spending goes up and attendance goes up, all because you are offering something for FREE.

Don't kid yourself. They hiked the gate by several dollars that year at Holiday World. You still pay for it, but the perception is different.

That was my point. Perception is everything though and when guests feel that they are getting a better value, they will visit more often and will spend more on other things when they don't feel like they are being ripped off.

The secondary benefits, such as fewer dehydration cases, are bonuses as well.

I guess something I notice is that CP doesn't seem to care too much about it's guests. It's like once they got your money, and push you through the gates, they stop caring. Perhaps, rather than free parking, CP could find an incentive for people to return. (i.e..use your ticket stub to receive 2 dollars off your next ticket purchase)