Could this boost attendance?

Also another thing that occured to me is -- lets say your that family who drives hours to go to CP for the 1st time.

You get there to find out it is $10.00 to park. Are you going to say forget it and leave?? Heck no!

I guess I am like most who assume there will be a parking fee at an amusement park. I know the 1st time I went to HW in '02 I was shocked when parking was free!

Jo

"I guess something I notice is that CP doesn't seem to care too much about it's guests."

I dont know where you are visiting. I strongly think CP does care about there guests. Customer service at CP is in my opinion really good. CP has much better service then Six Flags Thats for sure.

I guess I just have a problem paying for something where I receive no value. I highly doubt that my car causes $10.00 worth of damage to the causeway or parking lots.

I can understand higher parking prices at sport Stadiums, arenas, etc. At these places, there is competition for prime parking spots, and wherever there's competition, there's room to make some money.

But, at Cedar Point, there is rarely a day where all the parking lots are packed to a maximum...I fear the day when this happens and Cedar Point raises the parking price again.

LuvRaptor said:
You get there to find out it is $10.00 to park. Are you going to say forget it and leave?? Heck no!

Well that makes it totally OK. What value do you get for parking your car. Am I missing the people coming in saying, "Wow, that parking sure is a good value, I'm so glad I could park my car!"

Also, if the total cost of a family trip to Cedar Point is too high they are not going to return any time soon. The $10.00 to park is money down the drain, no one gets value from that. But it adds to the total cost of the experience. If the perception for guests is that the entertainment value they receive for the money spent is poor, they will spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere.

No, people who drive for hours are not going to say "forget it" and leave. But, will they make that drive again?

Michigan Adventure has the buy a locker, get like $6 back kind of deal.

I think an interesting idea would be to let people buy the $10 parking, but allow them to redeem their parking coupon for $3 off anything in the park. Which would inevitably force them to buy something if they wished to take advantage of the offer.

Honestly imagine having those booths not staffed though.

If parking was free, you would still need to staff the area because accidents / careless driving and you can just imagine would be going on.

The booths kind of regulate traffic a bit I think and slow things down more so than the lot attendants do.

I agree with you factory, as I can only imagine the chaos that would happen. Back in 2001 on July 4th was the last time I parked in front cause trying to get out was horrible. Now I only park in the back as it is enjoyable and I also pack food with me to stop during the day go out relax in the vehicle and eat.

But I also don't mind paying the 10 bucks to park since the parking lot is in good shape and they keep it up and maintain it.

As I hope I can make it to CP this year last year was my first year in over 15 years without a trip.

You could not staff the booths and still control the flow of cars. Instead of traffic being halted at the booths, they would just be stopped at the intersection where the first traffic director is at. The booths do not keep the chaos down, the traffic employees do.

^
Yea, but the tolls limit the amount of cars entering the parking lot at any givin time. This makes their job easier to deal with and helps keep any traffic chaos from arising. It would also be safer for both employees and guest to have tolls than a free for all to a single intersection.

I'm not quite sure how we can all possibly drive up to an intersection anywhere without a toll booth prior to it. Aren't there toll booths before every intersection on every roadway? ;)

Seriously though, traffic would have to be funneled down to two lanes, a right hand turn and a left hand one. Seems like a pretty normal intersection to me. I'm not a believer that the toll booths are assisting in organization.

I think you have forgotten what kind of people are visiting the park... OOoooo LOOK AT THE PRETTY RIDES. *Kinds Screaming* GO GO GO!! *CRASH*

BGRooDoG said:^Yea, but the tolls limit the amount of cars entering the parking lot at any givin time.

Not really. They just slow down the process. The person directing traffic at the intersection after the tolls decides the amount of cars entering the lot and if they need to stop.

Before the tolls there are two inbound lanes. After the tolls it funnels back down to two inbound lanes before entering the lot. Cars (for the most part) don't spend that much time at the booth. If the booths remained there but were unmanned, it would still work just as it does now.

Not that any of this matters. I don't think we will see Cedar Point going with free parking in our lifetime.

Loopy said:
I'm not quite sure how we can all possibly drive up to an intersection anywhere without a toll booth prior to it. Aren't there toll booths before every intersection on every roadway? ;)

Being from NYC you could go broke just crossing the bridges there! We are talking about $15.00-$20.00 to get from NJ to Brooklyn. It costs $$ to go thru any of the tunnels in NYC. I often thought that by now you'd think the bridges and tunnels would be paid for :)
Lets not forget the Pa and NJ turnpikes too! :(
Maybe that's why a parking fee to me is no big whoop, Im used to paying for bs.

For an amusement park the size of CP maybe a parking fee is a necessary evil?

Jo

factory81 said:
Michigan Adventure has the buy a locker, get like $6 back kind of deal.

I think an interesting idea would be to let people buy the $10 parking, but allow them to redeem their parking coupon for $3 off anything in the park. Which would inevitably force them to buy something if they wished to take advantage of the offer.

Well for one, almost all CF parks have that deal on lockers.

Two, If you tell one of the people at the tollbooths that you are dropping them off you still have to pay to drop them off, but you get about half of what you spent back after returning.

Jo, those tunnels are criminal.. Opie and Anthony figured out from one of their published figures they were making multiple billions a year off those tunnel and bridge crossings. Ouch.

Because Opie and Anthony are bastions of justice and truth for all people. *rolls eyes* You know, it could just be that busy tunnels and bridges are just expensive to build and operate, particularly in one of the busiest cities in the world.

Jeff said:
Because Opie and Anthony are bastions of justice and truth for all people. *rolls eyes* You know, it could just be that busy tunnels and bridges are just expensive to build and operate, particularly in one of the busiest cities in the world.

I believe Bob and Tom more ;)

Valid point Jeff-IF the roads in any part of the boroughs of NY reflected the amount of revenue they take in via tolls. Any NYer or anyone that has ever traveled by car in the 5 boroughs will agee that they have the WORST potholes and road conditions ever. That includes on their bridges and in their tunnels too.
The best businesses to own in NY? Anything related to shocks, alignments and brakes.

Jo

Yesterday, me and Thabto(Brian) went up to Cedar Point for Top Thrill Dragster ride night. When we arrived at the Toll booth, they offered us Valet parking. We were just going to park, but she said the magic word. FREE! Anyone ever had Valet parking before? I have to admit it was confusing at first, but afterwards, it was nice to walk right up to my car with the engine running, my favorite country music station still playing, and the A/C still being turned on. Thank You Cedar Point!

Wow, what a nice perk. This must be something new they are testing. I bet it won't be free for long. What's the point of preferred parking if you get free valet parking? I bet it will be a tier above preferred parking.