Parking pass windshield policy!

OMG WOW. That's all I have to say. That is awesome they decided to upgrade all of their toll plazas. I never thought I'd see this. Maybe they're finally seeing the light when it comes to technology??

I'll feel better about it when it's posted on the site.

I agree. But this isn't something I'd make up. It was a fairly lengthy personal email from John, not some canned response to a question.

I'm sure the site will be updated soon, as it seems this decision was made very recently. It was just a couple of days ago that the switch to the online ticket/pass purchasing was made.

If I get any more information, I'll be sure to post it here.

So what happens if I already mailed my 2007 seasons pass and I want the parking pass on my card.

You have it added at the season pass processing center i would guess.

For anyone waiting on their renewal season pass, CP hasn't started processing them yet, because they upgrading Season Pass printing and scanning equipment.

When they begin processing IDs, they will include a letter explaining the new parking pass process. You can then mail back the ID and your certificate, and have the parking pass placed on your ID and mailed back to you, or go to the season pass processing center and get it put on your ID.

More details as I get them.

I'm all for technology upgrades, but I'll reserve judgment until I see how this affects families who don't always visit the park together (i.e. we can't go to the Cedar Point today because Dad is at work and he has the parking pass).

In that situation, I wonder if they'll offer a discount on additional passes like there were going to do with the parking decals.

I would think that you could still get it on the car if you want too. Besides unless it has changed, you had to get a Joe Cool Pass to get the parking on your card.

You're a little bit behind the times there. Last season you could get the parking on your card without Joe Cool

Per John's email:

"We recently made the decision to upgrade our tollbooth and season pass systems for the 2007 season, and because of this, our parking passes will now all be going on the ID cards as well. There will be no vehicle decals."

OK, well I have a Maxx Pass from Kings Dominion but purchased an "All Ohio" parking pass.

How exactly will I get my parking on my pass?

That's a good question. The email said that the All Ohio pass must be purchased from the same park as your season pass was purchased from.

So I don't know how they'll handle that situation. I would suggest contacting the Season pass office at Cedar Point for that one.

I purchased the Regular 2007 Season PASS just of CEDAR POINT!! with the Joe Cool Club, and I have also Purchased just the CEDAR POINT's PARKING PASS too. So can I put my PARKING PASS on my Regular SEASON PASS?

If they're doing a technology upgrade, I would hope they addressed the issue for families. If you pay for one parking pass, you could encode parking onto everyone's pass. But, only allow one parking pass per family to register in the system per day. So, for a family of four, everyone gets parking encoded onto their pass. If mom and dad show up in the morning, scan their pass, get parking, parking is "used" for that day. If the kids come later in the day and submit their pass for parking, the parking attendant would scan it, see that parking has been used that day, and charge the kids the daily parking fee. Makes total sense to me.

If I'm not mistaken, they were offering additional parking passes at a discount. In that case, you could buy two passes if the adults attend on the same day as the kids but in a different vehicle. That way parking would be permitted to be scanned twice per day on their passes.

Its all quite simple actually.

Walt said:
I'm all for technology upgrades, but I'll reserve judgment until I see how this affects families who don't always visit the park together (i.e. we can't go to the Cedar Point today because Dad is at work and he has the parking pass).

Isn't that the same complaint about having the decals?

"We can't go today because Dad has the car that's got the decal."

It would be nice if they came up with a way to allow 2 parents to each have the parking on their pass for the same price, or even just a couple bucks more. They could even limit it to 2 passes at the same address (making same address the operative).

Mark Small said:
In that situation, I wonder if they'll offer a discount on additional passes like there were going to do with the parking decals.

The additional cost means it's essentially last year's system in reverse. What I hope they'll do is effectively combine the two methods ("person" parking and "vehicle" parking) by allowing a single parking pass to be linked to two season passes within the same household at no extra charge. Another solution would be to do something like Tim suggested above. We'll just have to wait and see how it all works out.

JuggaLotus said:
Isn't that the same complaint about having the decals?

"We can't go today because Dad has the car that's got the decal."

I'm sure we could come up with examples for any situation, but isn't it easier to make sure Dad takes a different car, rather than have Dad take the day off? While the PointBuzz demographic tends to think that isn't typical, many season pass families do often visit in various combinations. Given that the "vehicle" method has been the standard for 20+ years and the "person" method is a added perk that's only been in place for a few years, completely taking away the "vehicle" method is a bigger shock to the system.

But with all that, I would be remiss if I didn't make this final point. It would be hard enough to develop a change like this during a normal year. But between those calling for a change, those wanting it to stay the same, the technology that has become available, the new pass options, Maxx-this, all-Ohio that, etc., coming up with a plan is certainly no easy task. Kudos to those at Cedar Point working on making this all come together.

*** Edited 2/8/2007 4:54:21 PM UTC by Walt***

Tim - there is a problem with only allowing that "shared" pass to be used once in a day.

What if mom and the kids come down for the day, and dad's going to meet them after work?

Or they decide they want to go home for lunch (God knows its cheaper)?

I still think the time-delay option would be best. And MAKE SURE ITS ADVERTISED. The pass can't be used for 2 hours after it was last used. This will get around the pass scamming for one person to get multiple cars into the lot (although I question how big a problem this is). The reason this would need to be well advertised is to avoid the complaints that I'm sure would arise.

If Dad meets them after work, and he's driving a second car, that's a daily parking fee. Doesn't seem like an issue. That's how it would work under last year's system. Using Tim's example, someone who leaves could come back as long as the same pass is scanned.

A good solution doesn't have to cover every imaginable example.

*** Edited 2/8/2007 5:04:34 PM UTC by Walt***

As far as the parking pass use is concerned, at PKD last year we paid $10 for parking and left multiple times. When you come back you just hand them your receipt and they scan it again. It puts the time on the receipt and the toll booth attendant looks at the time to make sure some sort of fraud isn't occurring. I'm guessing it would work the same way with parking passes.

Mark Small said:
That's a good question. The email said that the All Ohio pass must be purchased from the same park as your season pass was purchased from.

So I don't know how they'll handle that situation. I would suggest contacting the Season pass office at Cedar Point for that one.

I spoke with someone in the season pass office and they have not even heard that the policy has been changed.

This definitely poses a problem since both my pass and my parking pass had already been purchased prior to them making this decision.

The gentleman that you mentioned that sent you the e-mail isn't in today so I'll have to call back.

*** Edited 2/8/2007 5:30:25 PM UTC by Loopy***