New Prestige Passes

Yeah it is surprising it's not on the Prestige but I'm not surprised it was removed from Platinum. CP was actually the only park that had that benefit.

What else is strange is that I still haven't gotten an email/text/anything about the Prestige Passes. And yes, passholders for nearly 20 years. Anyone else? I've just been sort've waiting for it to come in.

I did not get anything either. I find that very surprising too as I've also been a 20 year passholder and consistently have most of the all-season add-ons including FL. I just used the link OP posted in this thread to order mine.

We did receive the e-mail and have upgraded to the Prestige+ Pass. We have had Platinum passes since their inception. In fact, we still have the original Platinum Pass. It sometimes becomes a talking point at the gate, since most of the gate peeps don't recognize it 😂even though it scans just fine.

Mine was an original as well until I lost it on Gatekeeper. Now I just use the QR code on my phone.

So, what's the deal with this "2 hour special entry"? It's not two hours of early entry, it's just a "prestigious" gate that's open for two hours.

Am I the only one not even remotely understanding how this is a perk?

Do they toss rose petals at you as you enter this special gate? A little pat on the back?

There are other perks to this pass that make it interesting, but this one just seems odd.

One of the perks for the Prestige Pass is unlimited summer visits to the park and waterpark. Another perk is unlimited visits to Halloweekends. Does that mean the other passes are not good for 2023 Halloweekends?

All the passes are good for Halloweekends except the summer pass. (Not sure if you can buy that one for 2023 yet). The 2022 version is only good through Labor day. Adding that tier was probably why they had to be more specific with the others.

Kevinj said:

What else is strange is that I still haven't gotten an email/text/anything about the Prestige Passes. And yes, passholders for nearly 20 years. Anyone else? I've just been sort've waiting for it to come in.

I only got the text about it, no e-mail whatsoever (2022 is my 7th season for my pass), but the e-mails have been absolutely hit-or-miss for me.

I reached out to the park regarding the FLP for FL price Platinum Pass perk, and they confirmed this perk will no longer be available in 2023.

Looks like all season FL Passes took a steep increase as well. :(

Saved my 25 cents on the dollar with my usual Wonderland renewal. Went with dining and drink again. Nothing with prestige made me interested really to switch my park to KI or CP. I'm also hanging onto my Diamond Elite VIP SF Membership as long as I can. The new SF passes are hideous by comparison. 22% drop in attendance last quarter for SF...

Kevinj said:

What else is strange is that I still haven't gotten an email/text/anything about the Prestige Passes. And yes, passholders for nearly 20 years. Anyone else? I've just been sort've waiting for it to come in.

We haven't received any message about Prestige.....and as mentioned, we are officially 20 year Pass holders. We have old cards that mentioned The Joe Cool Club, back when your pic was on the front of the card.

I'm glad to see the park reclaiming some pricing integrity, but it's such a jarring change from a few short years ago when the Gold Pass debuted. I wonder if this was the plan all along, or if the massive increase in labor costs forced their hand.

Wouldn't really say they are reclaiming price integrity. Gold Pass renewal is $99 & the linked meal plan $109(same as last year). Platinum renewal up $48 & meal plan up $15. The Platinum holders took the price hikes & are essentially subsidizing Gold Pass low prices, Price integrity would have been increases on both. Gold should be like KI, $130.

I doubt the goal was for platinum to subsidize the gold, but still giving away the CP gold while adding integrity to the rest if every pass option in nearly the CF entire chain is strange. Even the Dorney gold pass is priced higher.

To me the park has been pretty quiet this year (especially if the temp was above 85 or there was any chance of rain). This past few weekends were the exception to this with good weather and the gold pass deal. I wonder if they were seeing CP dragging compared to the rest of the chain, this an are now stuck with cheap passes there until they see some improvement

If CP is your home park you would need to visit other CF parks at least 3 times to really come out ahead with the platinum. Early entry certainly isn’t worth $150 more especially since they have diluted it with no SV or Maverick.

Ive gotten platinum the last few years specifically for the FL upgrade figuring I do it 2-3 times a year. I would pay $250 still if they offered that if even if that was still the only option (no gold) but there seems to be way to big of a price spread between gold and platinum vs what is offered.

The prestige is certainly intriguing though. I don’t really feel the need to power ride anymore and an all season FLP never appealed to me. Getting on 1 major ride with the 1 time skip (Maverick/ SV/MF ) and a few laps on Magnum, Raptor, and Gatekeeper still is a great visit to me. That plus the other benefits has me leaning towards a Cp only prestige with a visit to KI once.

MCQ said:

Wouldn't really say they are reclaiming price integrity. Gold Pass renewal is $99...

Which is why I said I'm glad they're reclaiming some pricing integrity. :-)

As sad as I am to see the FLP for FL price deal go away from the Perks, for example, it's the smart move. Yes, Gold should definitely be higher, but at least now it no longer includes early entry. I think going forward Gold should become the new Summer pass and exclude HW if they want to maintain the $99 price point.

Anyway, yeah, they still need to change the value proposition of the Gold Pass, but it's nice to see them moving in the right direction.

I agree. Even though it was painful renewing my family's passes this year (especially with the all season FLP increase), I can't complain about it after complaining for years about them underpricing everything. Still wish they would've increased Gold but overall this is a step in the right direction. I don't know how many took advantage of the Platinum daily FLP discount but I'm hoping to see a noticeable decrease next year in daily users.

Joe E said:

If CP is your home park you would need to visit other CF parks at least 3 times to really come out ahead with the platinum. Early entry certainly isn’t worth $150 more especially since they have diluted it with no SV or Maverick.

I agree with you 100% there. Gaining Early Entry wasn't enough on its own to justify Platinum... but if Gold still had Early Entry, I probably wouldn't have upgraded.

Now if they still had FL+ for FL prices for Platinum, the decision to upgrade would have been easier.

While CP is the park I go to the most, Carowinds is actually the closest CF park to where I live. We're adding 2 days at KI to our roadtrip next summer, and a weekend trip to Carowinds in a few weeks to ensure the Platinum Pass makes financial sense. (And we may swing by WOF when we visit family in Kansas City next summer) Even then though, I was on the fence until I saw that Carowinds was giving out one 2022 Fast Lane with each 2023 Platinum pass sold (if purchased on or before 8/14)

Looks like I need to really analyze my pass needs before I renew this year. I stuck with Platinum this year in the hopes I would get to Kings Island but that still hasn't happened I actually haven't benefitted from having Platinum yet this year. Not sure if I should be hopeful for next year or just downgrade and then worry about upgrading if it looks like I'm actually going to go.