Gold Pass - Justification

Geez, you guys are mean. How is this a dead horse?

Cargo Shorts said:

It’s the off season. What else is there to do but beat dead horses?

Well, until we get something new.

IF I get a $40 Michigan ticket that includes parking, admission and drinks, I will go to CP one time this year. IF I have a decent day, I MIGHT upgrade to a platinum pass. If not, I will just drive from Detroit and spend most of my park days using the season passes I've already purchased including the Hersheypark King Size pass, Holiday World Platinum pass and 6 Flags Diamond Elite membership at Great Adventure and Great America. If the gold pass has the hugely negative impact that I believe it will, I will avoid CP like the plague. Plus, HP and SFGAdv are getting a couple of awesome new rides.

To be honest, based on the fewer number of rides people get in due to FL, I think the cheaper admission was the right thing to do. If it were up to me, I would do what Knoebels does....Free parking and admission then you either buy an all day wristband or you buy tickets per ride.

Zoug68 said:

...based on the fewer number of rides people get in due to FL, I think the cheaper admission was the right thing to do.

Increasing attendance (the stated goal and likely outcome of the Gold Pass) further reduces the number of rides people will be able to get.

Anyone wanna give betting odds that Zoug caves in and buys a pass?

Zoug68 said:

If it were up to me, I would do what Knoebels does....Free parking and admission then you either buy an all day wristband or you buy tickets per ride.

Lol wut? I'm hoping this is a joke. They got rid of this before I was born.ure, it works great at Knoebels, but does the attendance even come close to being comparable? I, and many others, love Knoebels, but this is not a reasonable comparison.

(If this is a joke, it went right over my head, and I will hang my head in shame.)

Could you even imagine what that would be like at CP with dynamic ride pricing. TTD $15 with a 15 minute wait or $5 with a 90 minute. OMG and the demand for refunds and to be made Whole Again when a ride goes down.

You think people are complaining now.

At the end of the day some of this is just proof that some people will never get it.

Zoug68 said:
If the gold pass has the hugely negative impact that I believe it will, I will avoid CP like the plague.

What is the “hugely negative impact” that you believe?

When the dog barks,
When the bee stings,

When I'm feeling sad...

I simply remember how f%&$in long the line for Magnum was back in 1989...

And then I feel whoooooole.......

Again!

Zoug68 said:

IF I get a $40 Michigan ticket that includes parking, admission and drinks, I will go to CP one time this year. IF I have a decent day, I MIGHT upgrade to a platinum pass. If not, I will just drive from Detroit and spend most of my park days using the season passes I've already purchased including the Hersheypark King Size pass, Holiday World Platinum pass and 6 Flags Diamond Elite membership at Great Adventure and Great America. If the gold pass has the hugely negative impact that I believe it will, I will avoid CP like the plague. Plus, HP and SFGAdv are getting a couple of awesome new rides.

To be honest, based on the fewer number of rides people get in due to FL, I think the cheaper admission was the right thing to do. If it were up to me, I would do what Knoebels does....Free parking and admission then you either buy an all day wristband or you buy tickets per ride.

Bring a Friend free or 9.99 which SF runs literally the entire summer has way more impact than anything Cedar Fair could do. BFF days anyone who is not using the deal, knows not to go.

For those discouraged by all the gold pass holders invading the park, head over to the beach for a few minutes, relax and take a deep breath:

May the mayflies of the entire lake descend upon your every visit.

XS NightClub said:

DSShives said:

The park has been slammed in the past on great weather HalloWeends long before the introduction of the Gold Pass. I have never seen such a string of beautiful fall weekends like we had last year. The park would have been slammed regardless of a Gold Pass or not.

And no one on here knows wether or not your conclusion is accurate.

Well, sure we do. I'm pretty sure the park said it had nothing to do with the pass situation.

Yesterday, I was at Magic Kingdom. It was insanely crowded there yesterday but I still had a fantastic time but if that crowd level was at Cedar Point it would be a not so good time. I didn't wait any more than 5 minutes to get food, I never waited in a line to use the bathroom and the Fastpass and standby lines were balanced so neither side was standing still too long. And I didn't see one food or drink stand closed. I used my 3 FP's and got right on those and those I didn't, I got on within good time and I waited until the end of the night to go on Seven Dwarves Mine Train, posted wait was 55 minutes but I waited probably not even half that, that line moved fast. I still got alot done despite the crowds. My only gripe was waiting at the end of the night to get on the monorail back to the parking lot. Took about 30 minutes to get on, but that's a minor setback. And I got right out of the parking lot without sitting in a ton of traffic. Disney has the means, resources and staffing to be able to push crowds through at a good rate. CP has a long way to go to fix that. CP really needs to address the staffing issue if they want to pack the park. That would solve alot of the issues.

Is there really anything the park can do to address the staffing issues that they haven’t already tried?

Perhaps increase wages, more than just a few coins per hour. But, if I'm not mistaken I believe minimum wage is due to increase over the next couple years to $12.00 or so.

As for customer satisfaction, people seem to be dis-satisfied with the vehicle entrances to the parking lot, the food lines, the non-operation of rides, among other complaints. I can say for certain that they are addressing the parking lot entry as there is major construction activity in the vicinity of the main booths. From what I see the whole area will be reconfigured.

And maybe have them not work 60+ hours and 6 or 7 days per week. Productivity decreases when working like that which can increase chances of mistakes when fatigued. With this program they have with BGSU, they could gain a sizable worker pool from that. If they paid better and didn't have them work so much, there would probably be more desire for people to work there. Hopefully the BGSU program will help them gain some good staff. And maybe they could have work also count for credit hours. It's nice to see they are addressing the traffic issue. Maybe we'll see new tollbooths next year with dedicated season pass lanes or self scan like at KI.

Ohio allows seasonal employees to be exempt from overtime wages. This could also be changed. When I worked at GL (and SFWoA) from 2001-2005 seasons we did not receive 1.5x pay for hours worked over 40/week. I averaged 70/hrs a week. 30 hours of time and a half would've been lovely.

If CP and CF in general started paying people overtime wages for hours worked over 40 people probably wouldn't complain much and be more interested in that summer job working 60-70 hours a week. Many college students need to make as much cash as possible in those summer months. If they knew they could make overtime pay the job becomes MUCH more attractive. But again this is an Ohio Labor Law that allows them to not pay overtime wages. The change needs to be made to the law in the end.

Also, I am not sure about bonuses anymore, but under CF in 04 and 05 we got $1/hr bonus for every hour worked. At the end of your agreed contract you got it paid out. Minus taxes of course. I heard a rumor that program was cut or changed to just bonuses for certain low staffing periods such as Halloweekends. Bring back that bonus and that too will motivate your average college kid to work long hours during the summer.

Many college kids just don't really want to work in these jobs anymore. They want something that correlates to their major as a resume builder. They want internships related to their major as soon as freshmen year, this is pushed from day one in STEM fields, as well as many others. Thus, the pool of college people is smaller than decades ago.

The international program will have to be expanded more. Cedar Fair set out on a dorm building across the chain the last few years at ,CP, KI, Carowinds, Dorney, etc..which will allow them to house more internationals and pull from a larger area. Nicer dorms will also make things more pleasant for workers. The chains' Winterfest expansions could also help b/c internationals could potentially be kept working after CP closes thru December. 9 month stay instead of 6 months & with Winterfest being more limited hours they actually have time to do stuff. I talked to some internationals that were disappointed they worked so much, they didn't have time to see things, experience things,etc..

As mentioned BGSU program will help, especially in a few year when it get to full enrollment. BGSU program kids are suppose to be able to go to other parks, so CP will not get all the benefits alone. CF could look for other partnerships of parks like KI, Carowinds & universities nearby , once they get BGSU going well.