Platinum Pass Renewal Conflict

RideMan said:
And now I see that the season pass center will open for business on May 16 next year?

I think that's actually this year's schedule (May 16-November 1). It is kind of confusing with how they have both 09 and 10 information on that page.

StealthPirate07 said:
No where did they say that it would affect the renewals at the end of the season.

They didn't say it wouldn't either.

To be honest, if anyone is surprised at this, you haven't been paying attention since the Paramount purchase. Season passes seem to be the one thing that they just can't get right.

I think what makes it aggravating is that they set the system up to fail. They offered the platinum pass for $140 through Sunday 9/13, then bumped the price up yesterday when they started offering them on-line. The most obvious thing for me to to would have been to go to Kings Island and renew my pass there, but I couldn't get that price during a Kings Island visit because Kings Island was not open! Well, maybe their pass center was open, but why would I go down there if I can't visit the park? So to get the best price, I have to buy at Cedar Point, but to process I am going to have to cause them all kinds of internal accounting grief by processing at Kings Island.

Hey, they're the ones who caused the problem, not me; apart from doing a lot of unnecessary paperwork, why should I be the one to suffer?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I just got off with King's Island season pass dept, I was told that you can purchase the platinum pass at KI but it is now $150 whether you get it online or in the park.

She also said that if you purchase your pass at KI that all your information will be stored at KI, and KI will become your home park.

I live closer to KI, so I thought it might make sense for my family to purchase passes there if they are the same price.

The person I was speaking to admitted there had been a lot of confusion this year with people being denied early entry at CP with a KI platinum pass. I asked why they didn't just offer a Cedar Fair pass no matter which park it came from, and she said that all your info is kept at your home park. I don't see what information needs to be stored at the park, isn't it all just on computer?

I guess I am glad I was off chasing tornadoes in west Texas instead of riding Diamondback on opening weekend. I was able to get my pass processed in Sandusky, and now it seems I am set for the foreseeable future in regards to renewals.

As Dave says, it seems they really did set their season pass system up for fail. How hard can it really be?

Jason Hammond said:

I was another who bought my pass at Cedar Point and ended up processing at Kings Island. Later in the season I went to pass processing and switched my pass for a CP pass.

I'm really wishing I had done that now. I was too lazy to do so during the summer, figuring I didn't care which park name was on my pass so long as it worked properly. Plus, I keep my old season passes, so having a card with Kings Island on it would remind me of the time I rode Diamondback on opening day. [+1 to wistfulness]

But now that I have to make a Pointless trip to Cedar Point in the spring to get my picture taken yet again, I'm kind of wishing I had converted my pass over to CP. Oh well. It's unlikely I will be going to Kings Island next year before Cedar Point opens, so at least I won't have to deal with that hassle again.

Cedar Fair's #1 concern is making money, right? I wonder how much $$ could be saved by eliminating the unnecessary labor and paperwork that results from this kind of crap.

They're probably referring to your paperwork that you fill out when they talk about your "information." Though I believe all the important info that's on paper gets put into the system anyway and is associated with your pass electronically. Why they don't go ahead and make it entirely electronic, I would contribute to one person, and I think we know who that is.

the reason they arent taking pictures of new passholders is because they dont want any confusion when/if they try to get in for the rest of 09 with their new 10 pass.

Again, why inconvenience me? They need to internally address their data management or policy issues. This renewal insanity has been going on forever. In this long-time passholder's opinion, it's time to press the reset button and fix it once and for all.

Cedar Fair, here's what I'd like to see: platinum passholders can renew at any park. If you have your pass with you, they'll swipe it and have all your information at their fingertips (no form.) If you don't have it, they'll look you up by name and have all your information at their fingertips (no form.) The employee doing the renewal will ask you if any contact information has changed and update it right there if so. They will update you picture if necessary right there. You'll hand over your credit card and sign the receipt. Your pass automatically will automatically activate on the first day of the 2010 season, good at any park. If your picture is less than 3 years old, you will be able to renew online, in the comfort of your home. For even more convenience, an incentive (extra $5 off) will be offered to renew online and Cedar Fair will save themselves an employee (and a lot of passholder aggravation) at each park's pass office.

ice said:
She also said that if you purchase your pass at KI that all your information will be stored at KI, and KI will become your home park.

And therein lies the problem. The concept of a home park is so outdated and ridiculous for the company as it exists today. But as long as you have kingdom building and a ridiculous accountability structure for every park GM, it's not going to change. It demonstrates that each park is being held accountable for the wrong things, and that gets in the way of bigger picture efficiency and, most importantly, a smoother guest experience.

I used to see this in a big public company that I worked at. Each kingdom was held to a certain level of "contribution profit," and when there were opportunities to work between different kingdoms for a potentially larger score, these efforts inevitably fell apart because of the accounting and accountability. It got even worse as they acquired various businesses.

That company was eventually delisted and is on life support.

This is a perfect example of where the executive leadership is poor or it just doesn't have the experience to do the right things.

I got my Cedar Point pass processed at Kings Island last year and had no issues there at all, as well as no issues ever at Cedar Point, which I was concerned about. I go to a lot of the early entries and no one has ever questioned my KI pass.

I like getting a new card every year, a nice seasonal souvenir, so even if I had a CP Pass this year I would have bought a new one for next year. My pass gets a bit scruffy throughout the season, so it's always nice to have a fresh one each year as well.

I do agree that it is goofy that they don't offer a universal Platinum Pass.

Jeff, the odd thing is that even if they want to keep the "kingdom" structure, they can. They have all the information needed to assign revenue however they want (without the forms and return visits.) There's no need to inconvenience everyone else.

Six flags has a good pass system in use. I have never had an issue with my six flags season pass at the gate, or even at the parking tolls.

Why can they get it right, but cedarfair has such a hard time?

I don't look forword to getting my cedairfair season pass every year, because it seems I am always running into some kind of problem in the spring when I try to get it activated, or use it for the first time.

I plan on getting my cedarfair pass at kings island this fall, and my six flags pass for 2010 next week while in Atlanta.

Six flags is offering a great deal on season passes for next year. For $50, you get the rest of this year, and all of next year. I also add the parking for $45 more, all for under $95.And I don't have to go back in the spring to get it activated. I used my sf pass over 15 times this year.

http://www.sixflags.com/overGeorgia/tickets/seasonpass.aspx

Cedarfair is offering a 2010 pass for $160, that is only good next year and you have all the headaches of getting it activated. Not to mention the worries of it actualy working when you do get it. I used my cedarfair pass aprox 15 times this year.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/admission/season_passes/index.cfm

$65 differance and less headache at six flags.

I wil buy them both, but I believe that six flags has cedarfair beat on the season pass front.

Vogons.

They are absolutely obsessed with paperwork. Forms signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, subjected to public inquiry, lost, found, then ultimately placed in a locked filing cabinet stuffed into a disused restroom with a sign on the door reading, "Beware of the Leopard."*

Seriously, there has been some improvement. Remember how it used to be? You bought your pass certificates. When you bought your certificates, you filled out a form with your name, address, age, birthdate, and indicated whether it was new or renewal. You also put your name and address on a ledger with the certificate number, along with a check box if it was new or renewal. Over the winter, you filled out the back of the certificate with your name, address, age and birthdate. When you returned in the Spring, you filled out another form with your name, address, age, birthdate, and an indication as to whether the pass is new or renewal. You then proceeded to the window where your certificates were taken from you and the other form was stamped and initialled, and the certificate numbers were written on it. Meanwhile, the certificate numbers were recorded in a ledger along with your name and address. You then waited in a very long, slow moving line at the back of the pass processing center. When your turn came, you handed over the form and were asked for your name, and whether or not the pass was a renewal. Your photo was taken, and you walked out to the entry plaza, now holding absolutely no proof whatsoever that you had ever bought a pass, even though your name is now on no less than five different forms in that little building. After some delay, someone would come out carrying a stack of passes and mispronounce your first name, then hand you your pass.

Getting into a park other than Cedar Point was also fun, depending on how the park was set up. If you were lucky, the park was set up like Cedar Point, where you could go to the Guest Relations booth, sign a registry, and go through a doorway into the park. If you were unlucky and it was set up like Worlds of Fun, you went to the Guest Relations booth outside the park gates, where you handed over your pass, which was photocopied and handed back. Then you signed the register, and they separately wrote down your name and pass number on a second register. Then they go to a cash register and ring up a comp ticket, then hand you the comp ticket and a receipt. You give the comp ticket to the person at the admission gate, who scans it and drops it into a bin. That way they've recorded the fact that you visited at least five different ways.

So it has improved a little. That doesn't mean the system isn't still boneheaded.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

*I realize that I blended two different bureaucratic explanations there. That was intentional.

--DCAjr

Might the differing sales tax rates per county have an impact? I don't live there but heard it's a pain to set up software for sales in Ohio due to the varying tax rates

Rideman, you just mixed Dent's mission to find the plans for the bypass with the Vogons. I believe what you are looking for is the following:

"They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers fromthe Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed intriplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected topublic inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for threemonths and recycled as firelighters."

Coastern3rd, did you miss my footnote? I can quote the radio version of both those segments (not to mention the Guide entry for "babel fish") accurately. But it made more sense to me that season pass information would end up in a locked file cabinet stuffed into...well, you get the idea. Besides, it allowed me to add enough bureaucratic elements to be ALMOST as ridiculous as Cedar Point's season pass process.

ARTHUR:
I eventually had to go down to the cellar...
PROSSER:
That's the display department
ARTHUR:
...with a torch.
PROSSER:
The lights had probably gone.
ARTHUR:
So had the stairs. I eventually found the plans on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuffed into a disused lavatory with a sign on the door reading, "Beware of the Leopard." Ever thought of going into advertising?

--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Series I, Episode 1

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Ahhh. I did miss it. I'm a huge fan... I bought the radio release just before Christmas when it was finally released, have the BBC mini-series, all the books, the latest movie (which is "meh") and a "42" towel hanging on my wall behind me.

You were looking in the wrong place. I bought the radio series from Amazon.uk about...uhh...well, I guess it was 2004, more that 42 months ago. :) Expensive, but darned well worth it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr., who wants a Restaurant at the End of the Universe movie mostly because he thinks it would make a cool eatery at Disney Studios...

I wrote them a little letter yesterday stating my opinion in the matter. I know it might not help fix the situation, but if a lot more or us with the problem write in then they might look into it. My friends and I may be going to Kings Dominion in April so that is where I would start my Cedar Fair season at. So if a few more of you write in maybe it will get someones attention.

I sent them an email earlier this week about it and haven't received a reply yet.