Gold Pass - Justification

Golly gee, I'm glad you know me so well.

Listen, jack, I got the Gold Pass because it saved me on the trip I was gonna take anyway, and now that I have it I'm seriously thinking about going twice. Which I'm sure the park would LOVE because I usually only go once. I don't drive there myself, so all my spending is done on-point. Which means, because I don't have to worry about park/Shores admission, CP has a change of getting me for hotel, dining/drink passes, snacks, arcade, games, and souvenirs TWICE in a season over the one three-day period that they would have normally. Not a bad deal for them, really.

So tell me again how I'm not an optimal customer and CP won't be making any money off of me because I'm not loaded to the gills.

The more you post the more you prove my point but you don't get it.

1)CP cannibalized itself with $99 pass b/c by your own words "it saved on a trip" you were already going to take.

2)They cannibalized themselves for "might" go twice over higher price guarantee.

3)The rest of you blather is "chance" of dining/drink...price sensitive people, which you clearly are those "chances" are low probability, which I already pointed out in several posts. Those mights and chances are even less likely b/c you didn't buy them when you could have gotten payment plans on all of them. So now you're going to spend $99 on dining which is the same as the pass, betting that's a slim "chance".

4)Then you finished off with nonsense claiming I said "CP won't be making any money off me". They are going to make very little and less than a platinum..ie...as stated before a platinum is already 2x ahead from day one with no "mights" or "chances". Currently CP has gotten $99 a platinum they have $191(renewal) or $197(new), prices went up to $195 and $202 yesterday.. Gold pass people, especially price sensitive talking about "mights" and "chances" people are not as valuable or your word "optimal customers" as Platinums. Score Card you $99...Every Platinum I know has drink/dining which is $352...people like me with all season FL+ are at $1200 guaranteed to CP

CP is likely to be more crowded next season. How much is yet to be determined. There. Now can we get back to complaining about drone morality?

Both Sollybeast and CED23 have solid view points.

The reason Sollybeast has a solid view point is that the "GP" {General Public} make up most of the park's income. If it wasn't for the GP then Cedar Point would fold. There are way more GP than Enthusiasts out there. 250 to 1 ??????

So it is in Cedar Point's best interest to attract as many GP as possible, they need their money to survive and be profitable.

The reason CED23 has a solid view point is because the Enthusiasts do spend more in the park than the GP. Don't get me wrong, there are some cheap enthusiasts out there with stained t-shirts walking the midways, but the enthusiasts do pay a premium to go to all the Cedar Fair parks.

I will use myself as an example...….

Cedar Point visits ….. 25

Canada's Wonderland Visits ….. 5

Carowinds Visits ….. 3

Kings Island Visits ….. 3

Add up all the fast lanes, t-shirts, novelties, hotel reservations, alcohol, extra food that I purchased, I guarantee you that I spent way more than your average "Gold Pass" holder has.

Cedar Point needs to give the Platinum Pass holders more benefits because we are paying more.

Both are very valuable in the scheme of things.

Everyone needs to remember what happened to Six Flags Ohio when they introduced their family 4 pack of season passes nearly 20 years ago, the same thing happened. The park was overrun with people, traffic was horrible, just like the traffic was on October 19th at Cedar Point.'

The park then on was destroyed, everyone was miserable, no one wanted to go their, the residents in the community resented the park due to all the traffic.

The park became a baby sitting service for teenagers, teenagers who were not Enthusiasts but just teenagers that got bored after going there 4 or 5 times just because they were not enthusiasts, therefore causing havoc in the park.

It's kind of ironic, when we got Platinum passes for a few years, we had little disposable income, and would split a Walmart super sub and a bag of chips in the parking lot for lunch among the four of us (kids were smaller then, too). We would split a pizza later inside the park. We got the passes as our get-away from our family get-away in Marblehead.

We got the Gold passes for the same reason, but now are a little freer to spend more in the park due to the great value and not having to make payments over 10 months.

How many visits we'll make next year is to be determined. But I still say we're only offered what CF has been offering KI for years.

I just find it somewhat entertaining that everyone wants to reverse engineer CP/CF’s business plan from the outside. No plan to sell my units.

Sollybeast said:
So tell me again how I'm not an optimal customer and CP won't be making any money off of me because I'm not loaded to the gills.

That you are an exception to a valid generalization doesn't disprove the generalization.

3snoH un=l said:

We got the Gold passes for the same reason, but now are a little freer to spend more in the park due to the great value and not having to make payments over 10 months.

But is the park getting more money from you overall? In other words, if you were paying $~200/person for a pass and another $~100/person/season, and we assume you have the same vacation/recreation budget, the park is going to get $100/person for a pass, and maybe all of the remaining $~200/person via in-park/on-property spending. So the net income is the same, but the park will be more crowded, thus the overall value for everyone will have decreased. This devalues the brand.

How many visits we'll make next year is to be determined. But I still say we're only offered what CF has been offering KI for years.

But it's not like CP was hurting for or revenue. So why offer a discount for a product that is already in demand?

The problem with the gold pass, is that has the potential to bring in scumbags. Generally speaking; dumb people are poor. So now that all the low life's have access to something that before was out of their price range. These line jumping, smoking in non designated, walk in one large wide group taking up the whole walk way, leaving their trash everywhere, bring basketballs on Steel Vengeance people could take over the park. And we don't want that. Fingers crossed that people still respect the place we love

They won't.

It will be just like Six Flags Ohio all over again.

Babysitting service 101 for the teenage GP.

I did see a bunch more people smoking and vaping in the park the last 2 months, so it does lead to the conclusion that MrJohnJLewis just posted.

There’s so much wrong, unfair, and unjustified about what each of you have said that I don’t even know where to start.
You should take your irrational, anecdotally-based fears and stay home.

First, people were scared of the people from Detroit ruining the park during Michigan discount days. Now they're scared of Gold Pass holders. What's going to happen when they realize that Michigan people can buy Gold Passes too??? THE HORROR.

RCMAC said:
There’s so much wrong, unfair, and unjustified about what each of you have said that I don’t even know where to start.
You should take your irrational, anecdotally-based fears and stay home.

Thank you, Mac. You saved me the trouble of saying just that myself.

Sorry I am not being irrational, I am just going by the history that happened with Six Flags Ohio and history does tend to repeat itself.

I broke up 1 fight on opening day during the 2019 season, don't need to do it multiple times in 2020.

We will just have to wait and see what happens.

RCMAC said:
There’s so much wrong, unfair, and unjustified about what each of you have said that I don’t even know where to start.
You should take your irrational, anecdotally-based fears and stay home.

Yeah, it’s been a couple days since I read this thread. Wow, this hot bowl of soup could use a few ice cubes, and it’s only the start to the off season.

How about this:

In recent years you could correlate
Six Flags = Walmart
Cedar Fair = Kohl’s
Disney = Neiman Marcus

This comparison is not based on profitability and has nothing to do with race, sex, ethnicity, age, etc...
Each store targets an economic demographic as a customer base. However, anyone can shop there regardless of their tax bracket.

Now, read the the Sandusky Scanner facebook page and see the difference in calls to Walmart compared to Kohl’s.

Just Coasting said:

I broke up 1 fight on opening day during the 2019 season, don't need to do it multiple times in 2020.

Since that was pre-gold pass it must have been the high falutin' rich folk with their expensive platinum passes that were the cause of that fight.

Well, I was gonna say that the comments regarding fear of undesirables infiltrating Cedar Point are likely coming from those who aren’t afraid of the Walmart parking lot.

I think pre-season opinion, universally, is that Gold Pass sales will have some effect on the upcoming season(s)’ attendance. But maybe no more encouraging to whatever unsavory elements these guys fear than flash sales, bring a friend deals, regular on-line buy in advance discounts, or McDonalds cups.
Cedar Point has never been a babysitter park. Folks from Cleveland or Detroit don’t line up at the drop off spot in the morning then again in the evening. In fact, there is no drop off spot. If I ever see a group of unattended kids misbehaving I usually look to the school busses or look for parents who let the kids go while they use the camp site, the hotel pool, or bar themselves. And those ain’t the po’ folks looking to wreak havoc because that’s their absolute nature. Those are resort visitors.

One of my favorite observations these days is how many here (and other places) are complaining about this Gold Pass. But did they buy one? Oh, yeah, they did. And I don’t care, if it’s more affordable for you, or whatever other reason you might have, then fine. It’s your option. But, as with all things, if you don’t care for the way a business is headed, then by all means don’t shop there. Plain and simple. To think that those with less money are inherently dumb or that they’re exercised right to attend will surely ruin your precious day is a big fat load of crap.

And in contrast, the people that make an educated guess that the resort experience that the park has been pushing will not be what it was in prior years will just move on to the Disney, Dolly, Univeral options.

After all, Cedar Point's overall resort entertainment options aren't even in classes associated with those other parks. Other than extreme rollercoasters, which CPs perceived lead over competitors shrinks yearly, there isn't much the park offered other than a nicer environment than a standard Six Flags park. It's location has protected its status as a superior experience due to lack of equivalent regional competition, but people with discretionary vacation budgets aren't as limited to location when choosing their itinerary.

RCMAC said:

Well, I was gonna say that the comments regarding fear of undesirables infiltrating Cedar Point are likely coming from those who aren’t afraid of the Walmart parking lot.

Never been to Walmart & never will.

One of my favorite observations these days is how many here (and other places) are complaining about this Gold Pass. But did they buy one? Oh, yeah, they did.

No actually I didn't ..Platinum holder with ever all season product including FL+

And I don’t care, if it’s more affordable for you, or whatever other reason you might have, then fine. It’s your option. But, as with all things, if you don’t care for the way a business is headed, then by all means don’t shop there. Plain and simple. To think that those with less money are inherently dumb or that they’re exercised right to attend will surely ruin your precious day is a big fat load of crap.

The problem with the Gold pass is the price. IT'S SEVERELY UNDERPRICED. Cedar Point is the flagship park that sold 2019 regular passes for $137 in 2019 and $130 or so for years. The CP Gold Pass should not be cheaper than Knotts $120, Dorney $117 KI $110, Carowinds $107, WOF $105. KD $102. Cedar Point is using Six Flags pricing and if you have been to SF you know what that causes..a **** show at their big parks most days, along with the constant bring a friend free days. It also not only makes the park less enjoyable with long lines for rides and 1 hr waits for food, but doesn't bring more revenue. SF has 6M more visitors than CF and makes about the same revenue. SF increased attendance 400K in Q3 and they got a whopping 1M more in revenue.

I can't help but think there's a lot of armchair accounting going on about the Gold Pass. Not to sound like a corporate shill, but Cedar Fair has a legion of accountants and analysts at their disposal.

The pricing on the Gold Pass was made on the basis of the numbers and analysis. I'll wait until next year to see if it is, in fact, a "***show".

Perhaps the powers that be decided to go with volume over 'appropriate' pricing. It's been done before in many other businesses; they make up on volume what they're losing, on higher priced products. Cedar Fair might be pricing the Gold Pass to reach parts of the market.

It's worth remembering, I think, that Cedar Point, unlike Knott's, Dorney, Carowinds, Kings Island, Kings Dominion etc., is not located close to a major market. Even Michigan's Adventure is close to Muskegon and closer to Grand Rapids than Cedar Point is to Cleveland, Detroit, or Toledo.

This thing went way off the deep end