No free ticket offer for PLATINUM passes?

Profit?....Really?

Do you think that if they even knocked 75% off of soda prices, they would still not make any profit?

If passholders had something to spur a purchase while in the park, they are a lot more likley to spend some money. That's money that cedarpoint would not have made without a coupon.

Better than "no" profit at all.

Cedar Point already offers things to "spur a purchase". There are numerous foods/snack deals for 10% off via point perks.

Yes, you're right. If Cedar Point gave away platinum passes and offered 80% off all food for platinum pass holder they would see a huge bump in platinum pass sales. There has to be a line somewhere though. The name of the game is to get as many people as possible to spend as much as possible. Somewhere in figuring that bell curve, Cedar Point has decided that extra coupon booklets/free tickets for PP holders is detrimental to reaching the apex.

Giving away a few coupons for 25% off a few items is not gonna break the bank. Do you know what the markup is on things at the park? Do you think it costs them $6.00 to put together a soft drink?

I am not saying that they give away everything at 80% off, but rather have a coupon book for pass holders that has a few deals for them.

When I got my six flags pass, I got a coupon book. It had coupons for things I would not have spent money on, but ended up buying because I had a discount on the items.

Six flags still made money on the things I bought. That's money they would not have gotton from me if I did not have a coupon.

A 10% off deal on a order of french fries is not really that much of a deal. The only "good" deal they offer, is on the sky swing at challenge park.

crazy horse said:
When I got my six flags pass, I got a coupon book. It had coupons for things I would not have spent money on, but ended up buying because I had a discount on the items.

My Platinum Pass came with an "infinite" coupon book. That is, Platinum Pass holders get discounts for the entire season. Six Flags gives you discounts until you run out of coupons.

DJ: This is 100% correct, however I think Cedar Point is missing the point when it comes to Point Perks.

All-be-it, they will "lose" money on every Platinum Passholder. The majority of us bring our own food to the park, do not purchase souvineers, and have a typical per cap of $0.00 at Cedar Point. This being said, I am thankful that we get perks at all, seeing as they will always make more money on every other group of people.

Though I do not work at CF and I don't know any of their policies, I do believe Point Perks is for only a few major reasons. Firstly, it is there to promote spending within the park. I don't buy anything without using at Platinum Pass discount.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, Point Perks is in place for customer retention. If you just had a platnium pass that gets you into the park and includes free parking, great; but if you have a pass that does all that, and provides measly discounts in the park, well then you can attract more buyers.

Albeit, Platinum Pass dicounts at Cedar Point are far less than at Kings Island, as well as the fact that they really don't give you a big percentage off, taken that all the prices are inflated 600% and you get 10% off the inflated price, but perhaps CP would be better if they advertised those discounts a little bit more. I know at KI they used to have a sticker in the window of places that had Platinum and Gold Pass discounts. Perhaps CP should do the same, as I know I always ran into the problem of not knowing where the pass was good and what it was good for.

On a side note to that, not all the employees know the platinum pass discounts. We were given two free sundaes on Sundays at the ice cream shop, when we should have gotten a "buy one get one 10% off" discount. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that this is a lapse in the system. I didn't say anything about it though, just because I wasn't aware of what the actual discount was. ;)

@RideWarrior: It's interesting that you point out that our (platinum pass holders) per cap is so low, yet they should invest more, be it in advertising or increased discounts, in us. I see a lot of massive crowds on Saturdays, every register 25 people deep, and an already high pop price getting increased (presumably because of still-high demand). If they are increasing prices still, I don't expect them, in any way, to give me bonus discounts.

Again, the name of the game is to get as many to spend as much as possible. Not just "as many" or "as much".

djDaemon said:

crazy horse said:
When I got my six flags pass, I got a coupon book. It had coupons for things I would not have spent money on, but ended up buying because I had a discount on the items.

My Platinum Pass came with an "infinite" coupon book. That is, Platinum Pass holders get discounts for the entire season. Six Flags gives you discounts until you run out of coupons.

Six flags has deals all season as well. Some gift shops have 25% off shirts and lots of other merch on one day each week.

Again, much more than what cedar point has.

I was referring specifically to pass-related discounts (as is this thread). You were touting the SF pass coupon book, suggesting CF should do the same. Kyle and myself were pointing out that CF does more when it comes to pass-related discounts.

crazy horse said:
Six flags has deals all season as well. Some gift shops have 25% off shirts and lots of other merch on one day each week.

Again, much more than what cedar point has.

Has it occurred to you that maybe Cedar Point is at a lower discount (10% off a purchase of $20 or more) because demand is higher?

You don't really think just because they are offering a 25% discount they automatically have a better bottom line, do you?

@Kyle: I am not suggesting that they need to do anything, however if they would simply place a sticker on a location that has a platinum pass discount, then theoretically more people would use that discount. They may be getting less money per person, but the increased business leads to increased revenue.

I also am not expecting more discounts, and as I pointed out, I'm happy they give them at all, regardless that they are minimal.

@Crazy: I don't want to turn this into a CP vs. SF argument, but their business models are extremely different. It is quite clear that CF is a company that is run much more effeciently and effectively than SF. Based on the price/earnings ratio (CF 21.5 vs. SF 3.7) as well as the average attendance per park* (CF 2.1 million vs. SF 1.2 million), Cedar Fair is the more financially sound and more popular park chain. So what if Six Flags has more discounts on their passes? Cedar Fair is the better company (based on these two figures), and in the end they will give you more of your money's worth that SF. Personally, I'd much rather have a well rounded park chain with 122 amazing roller coasters than a cookie cutter park chain that gives me extra discounts on my season pass.

I actually like the sticker idea. To be completely honest, I didn't even know I got buy-one-get-one at bank-a-ball until a few weeks into the season. That really screwed my cost per giant stuffed animal. :) It'd be nice to have a few reminders on food, games, souvenirs, etc.

Ok, then they can continue to do what they are doing now, and people will continue to not spend any money in the park.

@Crazy: I don't want to turn this into a CP vs. SF argument, but their business models are extremely different. It is quite clear that CF is a company that is run much more effeciently and effectively than SF. Based on the price/earnings ratio (CF 21.5 vs. SF 3.7) as well as the average attendance per park* (CF 2.1 million vs. SF 1.2 million), Cedar Fair is the more financially sound and more popular park chain. So what if Six Flags has more discounts on their passes? Cedar Fair is the better company (based on these two figures), and in the end they will give you more of your money's worth that SF. Personally, I'd much rather have a well rounded park chain with 122 amazing roller coasters than a cookie cutter park chain that gives me extra discounts on my season pass.

Not sure where you are getting your attendance figure from, but I have looked at several sources and six flags has higher attendance than cedar fair as seen here....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amusement_park_attendance_figures

And I have to disagree with you about cedar fair being a more sound company than six flags. Cedar fair is swimming in debt right now, as where six flags is imerging from all the past problems they had. How is cedar fairs stock doing right now compared to 5 -6 years ago?

Cookie cutter coasters? So I guess that woodstock express, wildcat, wicked twister are not cookie cutter? Let's see...I have been to magic mountain and they only have 2 cookie cutter coasters(batman and deja vu). And I have been to six flags great adventure and they only have 3 cookie cutter coasters(kiddie coaster, and both batmans).Also been to sfog, and besides batman, there are no other cookie cutter coasters there eather. Heck, magic mountain and sfog are getting coasters that are not seen too often in the states...one of them being new and uniqe to the states.Now I agree that the smaller six flags parks have a few cookie cutter coasters, but so do cedarfairs smaller parks as well.

So I am not sure where you are getting the idea that six flags has a ton of cookie cutter coasters.

But like you said, lets's not turn this into a "vs" thread.

The point is, if people have coupons, they are 100x more likeley to spend money on something that they normaly would not.

And like I mention above, it's not just coupons, it's deals that last all year long as well. Cedar point has deals that last all year long, but let's be honest about them not being that great(except for the sky swing deal).

Give me a deal where I actually "feel" like I am getting a deal. Not a 10% off french fry. 10% Is not much more than the tax on the item.

RideWarrior18 said:
@Kyle: I am not suggesting that they need to do anything, however if they would simply place a sticker on a location that has a platinum pass discount, then theoretically more people would use that discount.

Not only that, but you might drive some people who otherwise would have not bought a pass or a CP only season pass to get a platinum pass.

If you start seeing a "PP" logo at various food, souvenir and game stands, you'll ask what its for. And once people realize it is discounts, they'll maybe give the platinum pass a bit more thought.

I'm not so sure I want to see "PP" near my food. How about a platinum colored sign or something like that. :)

"Ask About Our Discounts for PP Holders!"

I liked how Silver Dollar City handles their discounts. Every food service worker that we had contact with there asked us if we were pass holders. This simple act saved us money because there were times when I was not thinking about the discounts.

I can hold my PP with the best of them. ;)

Not sure where you are getting your attendance figure from, but I have looked at several sources and six flags has higher attendance than cedar fair as seen here....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amusement_park_attendance_figures

And I have to disagree with you about cedar fair being a more sound company than six flags. Cedar fair is swimming in debt right now, as where six flags is imerging from all the past problems they had. How is cedar fairs stock doing right now compared to 5 -6 years ago?

Cookie cutter coasters? So I guess that woodstock express, wildcat, wicked twister are not cookie cutter? Let's see...I have been to magic mountain and they only have 2 cookie cutter coasters(batman and deja vu). And I have been to six flags great adventure and they only have 3 cookie cutter coasters(kiddie coaster, and both batmans).Also been to sfog, and besides batman, there are no other cookie cutter coasters there eather. Heck, magic mountain and sfog are getting coasters that are not seen too often in the states...one of them being new and uniqe to the states.Now I agree that the smaller six flags parks have a few cookie cutter coasters, but so do cedarfairs smaller parks as well.

So I am not sure where you are getting the idea that six flags has a ton of cookie cutter coasters.

But like you said, lets's not turn this into a "vs" thread.

The point is, if people have coupons, they are 100x more likeley to spend money on something that they normaly would not.

And like I mention above, it's not just coupons, it's deals that last all year long as well. Cedar point has deals that last all year long, but let's be honest about them not being that great(except for the sky swing deal).

Give me a deal where I actually "feel" like I am getting a deal. Not a 10% off french fry. 10% Is not much more than the tax on the item.

If your name isn't crazy_horse, feel free to skip down to past #4. :)

@Crazy: Lets break this down by numbers so that you can see that this is not a personal attack on you:

1. My statistics were based on PER PARK attendance. Yes, SF has more visters annually, but they have 22 properties as compared to CF's 11, thus giving CF the edge on attendance.

2. Never once did I say that CF did not have cookie-cutter coasters, however if you look at coasters such as the ROARs, the Batmans, Bizzaro/Superman, the Boomerang Coasters, as well as various others throughout the chain, you can see what I'mn getting at. Yes, CF has cookie-cutter coasters, as this is essential to a healthy park chain, however the abundance of them at the SF parks makes you feel like each park is similar, whereas if you visit any park in the CF chain, they all seem different. However, lets point out a few of CF's cookie cutters: Windseekers, S&S SkySwings, Mack Big Disks, Impulse Coasters, as well as the kiddie coasters. Each chain has a variety, however the coasters are just more diverse in CF than in SF. That being said, I'd like to point out that CF could have easily put in the Ball Coaster that SF is putting in, however from a reliability and especially CAPACITY standpoint, it makes no sense in large amusement parks in the US.

3. How in the world do you get these "facts" that CF is worse off finacially than SF? I gave you stockholder statistics, and that didn't work, so lets make this very simple. Which company, in the last few years, declared CHAPER 11 BANKRUPTCY? If you guessed Six Flags, you're a winner! Saying that SF, a company that recently emerged from Chapter 11, is more financially sound that a company who did not recently exit from chapter 11 is proposterous.

4. I can see your point about coupons, as I am a coupon user as well, however CF does offer thse dicounts, but the marketing of them just sucks. That being said, this sticker idea that has a cost of practically nothing is a quick and easy fix to this problem. I do agree with you though, the deals are laughable, but they are better than nothing. The real deal that you get with a Platinum Pass is getting into every single CF property for free, as well as free parking. It is unbeatable.

@Jugga: Exactly! Perhaps CP should contract out their marketing department to PB, as we really do have all the best ideas! :) Perhaps just a picture of a platinum pass and something that says: "Platinum Passes accepted here" or something along those lines. KI did this for a while, but I can't remember if they did it this year.

@Prawo, DJ, and Ensign: You guys are too funny. I nominate each of you to speak on the PointBuzz Blue-Collar Coaster Comedy Tour! :)

@Shades: That is an interesting idea, however it may not be one that is applicable at CP, only because of the fact that passholders do not make up a large percentage of the people buying food and drinks at the park. It'd be kind of irritating to have to say no to those employees all the time, plus CP employees don't even remember all the discounts anyway. (My family and I got free Sundaes on Sunday at Toft's, supposed to be 10% off.)

1. Ok, then we can also say that busch and universal have more people visit there parks than what cedar fair has as well. And they have nowhere near as many parks as cedarfair does. Face it, cedar fair is not the mighty company that many try to project. They are not a bad company eather, and I am not saying that they are. I am just saying that they are not "as" great a company as many make them out to be.

2.My point about cookie cutter coasters is that cedar fair has just as many as six flags does(boomerangs,mouse coasters...ect). Like you said, six flags has a lot more parks than cedarfair, so there are bound to be a few parks that have the same type of coaster. And of course the "small" parks are going to have more cookie cutters than the larger parks do. At least six flags can push the envelope when it comes to new types of coasters, and I give them credit for that. The only time cedarfair has really went outside the box when it comes to new/ differant types of coasters was with dragster and maverick to an extent. The ball coaster will have the same numbers as a mouse coaster or wildcat type ride does.

3.Cedarfair has a buttload of debt. 1.6 billion of dept as seen here...

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200912/1592/

Six flags has gotton out of it's past troubles with better management.

http://socialmediainfluence.com/2010/05/26/out-of-chapter-11-six-flags-plots-a-social-comeback/

Not only have they got out of debt, but the parks have seen a great improvement. The parks are clean, all rides are running, the workers are friendly, food is slightly better, and they offer a lot of great deals.

4. I agree. They need to market the (so called) deals more.The only sign of the deals is hidden on the website somewhere.Even the workers have no idea about the discounts.As far as getting into every park, most large park chains offer the same thing. Busch, Disney, universal, merlin(sp),and six flags all offer season passes that will get you into all of there properties. Just because cedair is doing the same thing does not make them any better.

I forgot to mention that six flags also has a day "just" for season pass holders. The park is closed to the public, and only season pass holders are able to get into the park. The entire park is open for them. All cedarpoint did, was open a few coasters for a few hours one day, with only a few days warning about it.

Uggg...I really do not want to derail this thread any more.

crazy horse said:
At least six flags can push the envelope when it comes to new types of coasters, and I give them credit for that. The only time cedarfair has really went outside the box when it comes to new/ differant types of coasters was with dragster and maverick to an extent.

What?!?!?