Gold Pass sale question

So, Great America has Gold Passes on sale for $79. Is this the same as the Gold Pass that Cedar Point sells for $145?

Apparently it is the same pass. Does the GA Gold Pass include parking at Cedar Point and Kings Island?

This is exactly what we don't need.

From what I read, the GA Gold pass offers free parking for GA only.
BUT for just $66, you can upgrade to the Prestige Pass, which includes parking at all parks. Crazy.

I just finished chatting with someone from SF. They confirmed that parking included at all Midwest parks except Canada's Wonderland with this $79 Gold Pass.

Yes it's real, and yes it's exactly what we don't need. Friend just bought 3 for a family of 3 for $180 at La Ronde; they just happen to be going near there to visit family in a few weeks when they really plan on using it here to bounce between CP and KI.

3 for the price of one.

When $145 is still too cheap as it is.

But...

Just to make sure that horse is truly done for... Outside of the Midwest region you can still get prestige passes for $145 with a $449 all season fast lane plus. That is less than half of what those exact same benefits cost for those who renewed or bought their passes at Cedar Point.

So it's cheaper to buy a pass at one of the cheap parks, find one of those dirt cheap Frontier flights, fly in for a day to activate it (and enjoy a new park) than it is to buy the exact same thing at my home park?

Make it make sense.

I would say "Six Flags", but Cedar Fair was doing this to itself before the merger.

We have a road trip planned for July. Part of the trip is two days at Kings Island. I was debating whether or not to get the Gold Pass at $145 strictly for the two days, since it wasn't much more than the internet price for single day tickets. Actually, I was trying to work a combination of Gold Passes and bring-a-friend tickets. Low and behold I got an email from Great America offering the Gold Passes for $79. Absolute no-brainer since we're going to be in Chicago for a couple days anyway.

If it's any consolation to those worried about our 4 cheap Gold Passes adding to already overcrowded parks: we're likely only going to Kings Island this year. We'll run up to Great America to activate our passes, but probably won't have time to ride. Cedar Point in the fall is a possibility, but not for sure.

I am not too concerned that Cedar Point will be way busier than it normally is as they have typically given away passes for many years now. The area that does concern me will be the erosion of the "premium" benefits if you will of the upgraded passes and fast lane options. The difference in price from a Gold to a Prestige pass at some parks is ridiculously small. Couple that with the selling all season fast lanes at $445 at smaller parks that are still valid at Cedar Point and that is going to have, in my opinion a significant impact on wait times.

It will be interesting to see the difference but I have a feeling that there is going to be a huge increase in the percentage of people visiting the park each day with prestige passes even though I think overall crowd levels will be similar to seasons past. This will water down the benefits of the prestige pass as preferred parking and the VIP lounge are relatively small and with the way it is set up sometimes you have to wait 15 minutes in a line just to get checked into the lounge anyway - that was last season prior to them significantly reducing the gap in prices between gold and prestige.

Some days last season Fast Lane lines were coming close to stand-by times at CP. Now folks can purchase an all season fast lane for less than half the price it has been since it was released many years ago. Next add in the potential of a few thousand extra prestige pass holders in the park each day getting their 2 single use fast lane plus tickets and it gets even worse.

To throw this out there, yes - I do have a huge problem that Six Flags allows someone to purchase a Prestige pass from another park for $165 less than what I paid for mine. They also allow that same person to purchase an all season fast lane plus for $555 less than I paid for mine when the benefits are the exact same. If they want to lower the price for mass sales then lower it for everyone or keep it at he higher price point for everyone. Having a 2 tier system for the same benefits is flat out ridiculous.

Like I have said, I hope I am wrong but we shall see in a few weeks how it all plays out.

I think they should scrap Fast Lane completely. One line for everyone.

That would be a poor financial decision.

I don't use Fast Lane that much, but it's been a business success:

The Plain Dealer:
It was Ouimet's team that developed Fast Lane, the controversial pass that allows park goers to skip long lines at top attractions for an extra fee. Said Ouimet: "It took me a while to warm up to it. " But he said it's the revenue from the pass that allows Cedar Point and other parks to continue to build bigger and better rides.

Its often tough for companies to forgo a revenue stream once they have it. Unless its replaced with another/better revenue stream. Or market forces indicate it should go away. But here, the industry has definitely moved to paid front of the line access, pay to cut, whatever else you want to call it, etc. Don't see them easily getting that kitty back in the bag at this point.

Yepper, too much profit in the skip the line stuff to simply get rid of it. At this point I can see them offering additional premium tier skip the line passes vs. going back to the old days of 1 line. The Fast Lane VIP Super Plus that gets you exit line access starting at a mere $999.95.