Incident at the Vending Machines...

I know what you mean Pete. If I would have spent money on all the water I got free from the food outlets, I would have easily spen 15-20 bucks. Oh, that ice wate was sooo good too.

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Snoopy Rocks! On Ice starts June 22--Do you think they'll let me drive the Zamboni machine?

I want to drive the Zamboni!

DBCahill, I missed my typo, I meant "mob" mentality. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and making me laugh.

You guys are nuts.

I was going to say something, but I wanted to see how much the others would run with it. :)

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Snoopy Rocks! On Ice starts June 22--Do you think they'll let me drive the Zamboni machine?

I want to drive the Zamboni!

Look at it this way: Its 90 degrees and hot and you are in the middle of the line for _____ (any ride with pop machines) You are thirsty and surely you don't want to lose your place to get a drink. So you happen to pass the machines, you are thirsty, and have nowhere to go. What else can you do?

http://www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/gls_dsp.pl?term=bilateral+monopoly

BILATERAL MONOPOLY: A market containing a single buyer and a single seller. A market dominated by a profit-maximizing monopoly tends to charge a higher price. A market dominated by a profit-maximizing monopsony tends to pay a lower price. When combined into a bilateral monopoly, the buyer and seller are forced to negotiate a price. The resulting price could end up anywhere between the higher monopoly's price and the lower monopsony's price.
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Back from lurking
New account, same name
KW 2002

The funny thing is that you'd better drink all 20 ounces by the time you get to the station of MF...:) The wait from the machines to the station is only around 45 minutes, so people are forced to throw away anything they didn't drink, which also would create some animosity among guests.

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Snoopy Rocks! On Ice starts June 22--Do you think they'll let me drive the Zamboni machine?

I want to drive the Zamboni!

You know what? Bring your own. Ever hear of a cooler? Nothing excuses vandelism. Or breaking the law by stealing. $3 is the average price of bottled water in concert halls, clubs, and other entertainment venues, could be even more in some cases. I've seen it go up to $4.

They don't allow coolers in the park...

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Snoopy Rocks! On Ice starts June 22--Do you think they'll let me drive the Zamboni machine?

I want to drive the Zamboni!

There are three places for picnics / coolers. Two in the front of the park, and one by Soak City. You Can walk in with a bottle of water. You can leave the cooler in your trunk and if you park near the Magnum, in the middle, it's easy to get to, when you want it.

Yes, but the convenience factor goes down a lot when you have your cooler at the front of the park and you are thirsty and want a drink while waiting for MF. Cedar Point seems to think that people will pay 3.00 for convenience. This may be true, rarely, but they are still pissing a lot of people off with the prices the way they are.

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Snoopy Rocks! On Ice starts June 22--Do you think they'll let me drive the Zamboni machine?

I want to drive the Zamboni!

I would like to share the following letter that was sent to me from Michael B. Mason, the VP of Food Services at CP (Warning: This letter is very long)

Dear Mr. ######,

I have received a copy of your e-mail regarding your concerns over our Food Services pricing program here at Cedar Point.

Before pricing our menu offerings is addressed, we develop a park wide menu which is based on providing only the finest, highest-grade product quality coupled together with the best degree of guest services.

Then we survey other amusement parks and similar leisure facilities to establish current pricing trends offered in these venues.

After a thorough bid process, we select our approved suppliers based on the high quality specifications we have established.

When our guests compare "apples to apples" the overwhelming majority discover our prices for the product they receive is both superior in quality and competitively priced....

Our machine dispensed 20oz Pepsi products are currently $3.00. However, a wide range of soft drinks - sizes from 12-64oz - may be purchased throughout the park and resort properties starting from $1.00 to $2.35.

By the way, all our prices include State of Ohio sales tax (0.06113%). This "tax included method expedites services to our guests by unfortuanately gives our patrons an initial higher price illusion.

I think this information will be beneficial to you. Thank you for your interest in our Cedar Point Food Services Operations.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Mason

Vice President, Food Services Division.
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I have e-mailed Mr. Mason thanking him for his letter. This truely makes me feel that Cedar Point does in fact run its park for its customer, not its income.
*** This post was edited by ddogg 6/6/2002 6:34:08 PM ***

Oh. That makes it better. Soft drinks aren't really $3, they're really ONLY $2.83. And before this I thought that CP was overcharging.

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Duane Cahill

You should never tell someone they have a nice dimple because maybe they were shot in the face with a BB gun.

I didn't know the Pepsi bottles dispensed from the machines at CP were higher in quality then regular bottles. Must be organic sugar and the water is from the Swiss Alps. One thing he forgot to mention is the 35 cent pop which is on peninsula ;).

The prices are in line with other parks like SFWoA (theirs is $3 also) and sporting venues. I don't buy from them I won't buy from CP either.

Where is the 35 cent soda on-point at, Joe?

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- The Darling one
The closest I'll ever get to riding a B&M Flyer is looking down while on Raptor... :(

I just find it funny that people characterize stealing water as 'rebellion.' The prices for bottled beverages at Cedar Point are astronomically high, but the answer isn't some sort of civil unrest by violating the law. Simply don't buy it. No one forces you to, and you're more than welcome to bring your own drinks in coolers, and retreive them at your own leisure. But theft only serves to ultimately drive up prices--simply not buying the beverages will ultimately drive them down.

Hint-you can see one of the 35 cent machines from Iron Dragon. I wouldn't try and buy it though because you may get kicked out.

Just saying "employee break areas" would have done just as well...

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- The Darling one
The closest I'll ever get to riding a B&M Flyer is looking down while on Raptor... :(

Just don't buy their Pepsi from the machines. They will find out the discontent that the consumers have. I still havent seen anyone use those machines.

I just got back from PKI where the regular funday ticket is $42 (and this includes a waterpark), parking is $8.00, and a bottle of Coke or water is $2.50. Granted PKI is not CP, but it doesn't matter what CP says IMO, they are in it for the money. They want the customer to pay for the convienence of having a (cold) drink in line.

On the other hand I remember about 10-15 years ago when a one day ticket was $25. If we are willing to pay $42 for 12 hours of fun, and $8 just to park a car, what is $3 for a cold drink? People everyday are talking about how much it costs to bring a family of 4 to a baseball game, well Cedar Point is the same now as a baseball game. CP should consider keeping their prices where they are at for at least 10 years, or drop them to a more reasonable amount. But this is reality, and I know that will never happen.

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...I will be more than happy to give you a cigarette...

At what point on the Iron Dragon can you see this machine, Joe?

Why do people keep saying things like "they're in it for the money" and "all they care about is profit." Well duh! It's not a charity.

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Jeff (who will not buy a $3 soda and leaves it to the park to realize the error of their ways)
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"