Parking Raised Again?

I guess it would be possible to walk on Cedar Point Road. But there is no place to park your car unless you live back there.

I would ask this;

What would you all prefer; that Cedar Point roll the revenue they make from parking into the ticket cost, or continue to charge for parking?

I don't know that it's that big of a deal. Sure, no one "likes" to pay for parking once they get to the park, but I would argue that it's such a small negative on the emotional scale that it does not matter. Think about it. When you're a family arriving at the park, the act of getting out of the car is an event in and of itself (especially if you have really young kids like I do). There is so much else going on just after you pay for parking that it becomes a distant memory. Not to mention the simple excitement of finally being there, and the plan of what to do, where to go, who has to pee, etc...Of course, I doubt there is any research on this....just an educated guess.

All that said, the higher parking goes, the higher the perceived value of my Platinum Pass.

Kevin, I agree with everything you said.

I have no issue with CP charging whatever the market will bear for parking. Folks, let's remember who CF works for -- it's unit holders! They have an obligation to maximize profit. I trust they have more data than any/all of us in order to do that job.

While the popular thing to do these days may be to demonize profits, corporations, and success, let's remember that CF (for the moment) gets to set it's own prices and let the market be the judge of whether or not they will be tolerated.

The opinions of a few enthusiasts or fanboys on a coaster site is most likely not representative of the target audience of CF on an aggregate level, and as a unit holder, I'm happy to see any pricing changes (higher or lower) that may result in a higher per-unit net income!

I never said I begrudge CP from charging for parking and profiting from it. But, I think it is bush league to change the price at the end of the season as they do every year. If I went to the park on August 1st I paid X for parking and if I went there last weekend I paid Y. Why? What changed? Nothing changed.

Just do the price increase in the offseason each year. What would be wrong with that?

They would miss out on the additional revenue for what has become a very popular part of their season. And there is nothing right or wrong either way they do it.

Chief Wahoo said:
If I went to the park on August 1st I paid X for parking and if I went there last weekend I paid Y. Why? What changed? Nothing changed.

Just do the price increase in the offseason each year. What would be wrong with that?

You must get REALLY frustrated trying to buy airline tickets, where the prices change by the second.

I don't have any problem with the airline industry. As you said, the prices go up and down. When is the last time the parking price at Cedar Point went down?

Other than for tech items, prices tend to go up. For the vast majority of things. Not sure why CP parking should stand out.

^ Housing, gasoline, food, and automobiles should be added to your list.

Again, it isn't an increase that I find offensive. It is the increase at toward the end of a season in a seasonal business. If they decided to increase the gate price on August 1st would you think that was fine or would you think that was a desperate attempt to meet some bottom line projection?

In a business that needs to be on top of the value proposition it just seems completely ludicrous to me to make this decision. Obviously I'm in the minority and I'm used to that.

Nightly rates at Camper Village also increased for HalloWeekends. So it's not just parking.

Captain Hawkeye said:
^ Housing, gasoline, food, and automobiles should be added to your list.

The trend of the price of all of those items over the past several decades has been up. There have been some ups and downs during certain periods but the trend is clearly up.

Chief: I think you are still getting caught up in the right/wrong and fair/unfair aspect of the price increase. Its none of those things. Its just a price increase. If you want some sort of justification for it it seems to me that Halloweekends is like a second season for CP. It wasn't that long ago that they were closed at this point in the year for the season. And if you compare July/August to Halloweekends, they have the haunted houses, scare zones, halloween/fall activities, etc. to offer as well as rides/games.

In terms of value propositions, from everything I have seen, Halloweekends continues to be wildly popular. So I don't think they have an issue there.

If the price of parking goes up for Halloweekends then it does indeed go down...right around May. :)

Exactly my point. Again, I don't care about the increase. But, when you paid X all season long then I have a hard time understanding a price increase for the last 6 weekends. Raise it for opening day each season and I'll find something else to complain about.

To me it is a simple way to piss people off, particularly those people who visit multiple times in a season, and it isn't necessary.

And they piss off so many people that Halloweekends continues to get more popular every year. And their attendance is up again this year for the season.

Kevinj said:
If the price of parking goes up for Halloweekends then it does indeed go down...right around May. :)

I thought that last year they increased the price for parking for Halloweekends and kept it that price for this year?

Maybe so; I honestly have no idea, as we have had platinum passes for the past X amount of years.

To me it is a simple way to piss people off, particularly those people who visit multiple times in a season, and it isn't necessary.

Well first, multiple visitors should just discover the power of platinum. And I really don't think it's pissing too many people off. In fact, I would actually bet that for the vast majority, it's a complete non-issue. And even if it is, I doubt it lingers and leaves a bad taste in their mouths, for the reasons I discussed above.

But I think we all agree no one enjoys it. That said, it's also pretty obvious that it doesn't factor into a visitor's decision to go to the park or not.

Chief Wahoo said: If I went to the park on August 1st I paid X for parking and if I went there last weekend I paid Y. Why? What changed? Nothing changed. Just do the price increase in the offseason each year. What would be wrong with that?

But things have changed at the park. Besides everyt hing that was there and opened on August 1, there are now the new things. All the haunted attractions. So YES you are getting an added value for your parking, more attractions in the park.

The addition of the Halloweekends haunts and so forth is a valid point. Not being much of a Halloween fan I don't typically visit parks during that time period so it wasn't an angle I really thought about before.

I totally agree with Chief on this one. Cedar Point used to raise prices at the beginning of the year when a new attraction was opening that season and the price raise was justified. Just to raise the price because its Halloweekends doesn't really fly with me. IMHO, the price should have stayed the same because of the loss of 2 rides then when the new season starts raise the prices.

On a side note, I wonder if CP is going to raise the 20 ounce bottles of pop prices to $4? :P