Parking pass windshield policy!

bholcomb said:
Yeah, the Rain X works pretty well at removing them/making them not stick.

Although I've been informed they were using alcohol wipes to clean peoples windshields last year, so your mileage may vary.

Fine, use a clay bar. There is no amount of alcohol thats going to get that off and I doubt they have a bottle of spray and shine there.

If you touch any of my cars with an alcohol pad, you're going to be missing the hand you tried to wipe it with. I did not pay $4,000.00 for a paint job on my GNX for someone to come near it with Alcohol. *** Edited 11/18/2006 4:02:17 AM UTC by Coastern3rd***

I'm sure Cedar Fair realizes that there is going to be a certain amount of fraud/abuse of the season pass parking privilage.

I think they are setting themselves up for more issues by placing a parking sticker on the car instead of placing the parking on the pass itself. As a season pass holder for Kings Dominion, the parking was added to the season pass by way scanning the bar code of the new pass into the season pass parking database. When you entered the park you presented your pass to the attendant; they looked the pass and the presenter of the pass to make sure they are the same person; they scanned the pass to record the entry and you entered the parking lot. That transaction took less that 10 seconds. At that point, that pass could no longer be used for parking for that day.

With a parking sticker on the car and the attendant flagging the cars though the parking booths, how do you keep track of who is entering and how many times the car is passing through in one day? Can a driver drop off people and go and get another load from outside the park and drive through again? Can a non-season pass holder get away with parking for free by using someone elses car with a parking sticker? If they are not verifying, then what good does it do to use a parking sticker?

Most of Kings Dominion season pass holders live within 150 miles of the park. This includes Richmond, Northern VA, Washington DC, Hampton Roads, Northern North Carolina, and most of Maryland. These customers are pretty savy and want the most flexibility when using their season pass. That is why many place the parking on their kids pass because the main reason to go to the park was to take the kids. With their busy schedules they don't aways know which parent will be available to take the kids or which car they will use. With the parking on the kids pass, they know they can use the parking privilege when it is most convenient for them and the park knows that the season pass parking privilege is not being abused because the parking attendant has verified the passholder is in the car and the computer system has recorded the transaction and will not allow the pass to be used again that day.

There were no stipulations that the driver must be the season pass holder with parking. There was no stipulation that all occupants in the vehicle had to be season pass holders. As long as one vehicle occupant was a season pass holder with the parking privilege and the parking transaction was verified and recorded then the vehicle could park for free.

Thank you for that post... it basically described why this whole thing does not make sense. I think Cedar Point should get that policy, ASAP.

Driving in NYC has nothing to do with what most people drive through to get to Cedar Point...cars are made to be driven, yes, but for most people who don't have a lot of money to invest into the upkeep of their cars, or simply don't want to spend that kind of money...a four hour drive is a big deal, especially when its with the same vehicle...spend some time in the ohio-michigan area, and you'll see what I mean. Comparing NYC to a four hour cedar point trip is comparing apples to oranges..
*** Edited 11/19/2006 2:45:33 AM UTC by mk522***

I am comparing apples to oranges. A mainly freeway drive to CP is easier on a car than stop and go city traffic.

Vince, it is foolish for you to make a statement about which car BlueStreak should drive, and also to bring NYC traffic patterns into this conversation. 4 hours is a long drive, and there are several reasons which would justify his utilizing multiple cars for multiple trips. I also share in his dilemma (to a smaller extent).

My girlfriend lives in Norwalk and I live about an hour and a half from her house. When either of us goes to the park, it is always with each other. If I drive to her house, and I feel the need for a break from driving, she will drive us to the park. In the past, I always purchased the parking permit, and regardless of who drove, we were covered.

It is rediculous for both of us to now have to purchase a parking pass, in the event one of us doesn't want to drive. I put 30,000 miles on my car per year, and yes........they are meant to drive. However, I belive it is a choice that paying customers should be able to make on their own.

My comment wasn't in regards to CP's parking pass policy, it was solely to Detroit Basketball (not Bluestreak, that was just a matter of bad quoting). I'm not going to argue, I was just saying what I thought.

Walt said:

RideMan said:
"we're right and we don't care how many customers we piss off in the process" attitude

Is that anything like the "we're enthusiasts and therefore we know how to run an amusement park" attitude? :)

It's exactly the same, but it still makes both of them pig-headed and wrong. :)

-Tambo

I thought of the perfect analogy for this policy...

JUST ANNOUNCED: Cedar Fair has decided to streamline their season pass process. In order to cut down on all the waiting in line and other delays associated with Cedar Fair's byzantine season pass process, they have decided to abolish the wallet cards for season pass holders. Instead, each season pass holder will be issued a tamper-resistant plastic wristband with a bar code. Of course, each wristband is only valid at the park where it was issued. For a nominal extra convenience fee, Maxx Pass holders may obtain an additional wristband for each additional park they plan to visit in the chain this season. The new policy will speed the issuance of season passes because there will be no need to take photographs, and the wristbands are designed so that they are non-transferrable.

The company has reportedly looked into substituting bar-code tattoos, but decided that the expense outweighed the security benefits.

Of course, the company isn't really doing that. But how many of us would think it acceptable if they did? If we don't think it's a good idea to do it to the customers, why is it a good idea to do it to their cars?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm still confused at how something that was added as a perk only a few short years ago can become so controversial when it's no longer offered. You would have thought they changed a 30-year old policy.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be wonderful to have the technology at the toll booths to provide an elaborate parking system. They could link passes from the same household together for one fee. That would be terrific. It isn't going to happen, though, at least not this year. If you want to argue about technology improvements, fine. But given what they have to work with, this is the system they think works best for them.

Spare me the arguments of how easy it is to do, how your family isn't going to spend X amount this year, or the anecdotal math.

I'm still confused at how something that was added as a perk only a few short years ago can become so controversial when it's no longer offered.

If someone develops a cure for cancer, then "a few short years" later makes it unavailable for no good reason, would you likewise be "confused" when people started complaining?

The age of the policy makes no difference. It was a good idea, and they pulled it for no good reason. It's costing them a bunch, with little or no benefit in return. That's why it's controversial. Anyone with some common sense can see what a dumb move it was.

I don't care if they computerize the parking system or not. They could have prevented 90% of the fraud (maybe more) with better monitoring of the existing system. At a time when attendance is dropping, they really don't need to give people additional reasons to stay home.

They've done exactly that.

I'd call people scamming the system a good reason to change the policy.

CP saw a problem and the easiest to implement (and cheapest to implement) was the removal of the Parking on Pass system.

Has it been confirmed that fraud was the reasoning behind this decision?

I doubt we'll hear the actual reason (just like any other decision) but I've heard several cases of people scamming the system to get their friends cars in for free.

I don't think its a good idea (I'd rather they find a way to catch the perpetrators), but to say that they pulled it for no reason is just asinine.

Can someone please explain how the so-called fraud of the old policy worked?

More importantly, can someone explain how parking stickers will eliminate fraud? (It won't, so why take the step backwards and cost yourself $10,000's in revenue?)

Simply put, closer monitoring would have prevented almost EVERY conceivable method of scamming the old system. (Virtually) no cost, no adverse impact, no controversy.

Fraud Method #1

Person A gives season pass with parking permit to person B who uses it to park in the lots because the parking attendant didn't pay close enough attention to see it wasn't them on the pass.

Fraud Method #2

Person drives car A through tollbooth using pass for free parking then parks in the back of the lot. Gets out of car A, walks back out of tollbooth area and gets into car B and uses pass for free parking again.

Unfortunatly the few people who abused the old system now seem to be ruining it for the rest of us. You'd think it would be better for them to fix the problem at the source (the tollbooths) than take a step backwards like they have. (assuming that the above fraud methods are the reason for the change)

I must make too much money because method #2 seems like a huge waste of time for someone to save $10.

For the record, I ALWAYS hated the window sticker, and when they made it possible to get parking on the season pass, I went for it. In fact, it was the ONLY reason I paid the extra $15 for the Joe Cool endorsements.

I particularly hated the window sticker the last year they used it, when my car spent most of the summer in the shop with a blown head gasket. As if the $1,000 worth of vehicle repair wasn't enough of an unexpected expense, adding another $6/visit particularly when I had supposedly already paid for my parking was like adding insult to injury.

Personally, I don't think this is about fraud so much as it is about poor eyesight. The window stickers are huge, so that they can be spotted from a mile away. Putting the parking endorsement on the season pass means someone actually has to look at it. The possibility of multiple parking endorsements on the season pass means someone actually has to look at it and think about it for a moment.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

To All,

When I stated the parking validation process at Paramount Parks, I did not imply that Cedar point, or any other Non-Paramount Park in the Cedar Fair chain, had to rush to implment this type of scanning system.

What I fail to understand why Cedar Fair eliminated an existing system that, to my best knowledge, did the job. Why should the parks that have a scanning system have to take a step backwards and go to a parking sticker?

Second, I can only speak for Kings Dominion and we have been able to have the option for purchasing season pass parking for over 20 years. That parking option has always been on the season pass.