What do you think about souvenir cups?

^ That's exactly how I feel about the cups. I hope the park can look into the possibility of a season drink pass. I hope this announcement Coke is teasing is that Surge will be more widely available soon as in being able to buy in stores and fountains. Hoepfully that will include being able to get it at Cedar Point food stands and Freestyle. I really miss Surge and would like it to be available more widely. I would be abusing my season drink pass on Surge.

Maybe I'm just old and crotchety or need to be poorer, but it's worth the $ to just buy a damn pop each time I am thirsty and not carry around a big cup, regardless of number of visits I make to the park.

I would prefer an all season drink pass, but we get one cup and just hang it on our wagon handle. My kids are 8 now and don't sit in the wagon anymore obviously, but we bring it in the park with us for stuff like this. Soak City towels, crap we don't want to carry, water shoes for the water rides in the park etc. Nobody messes with it.

Wagon. That reminds me of when we were kids we had a wagon (it was blue, which made me very unhappy) that went everywhere with us. My little brother was almost 5 years younger than me so it was the perfect vehicle for him and all our stuff when we went places like Cedar Point. One time we took the dog with us, and I'm not kidding. She sat in there and rode around Cedar Point too.

My easy solution if we buy a cup: my hubby doesn't ride, so while I am riding (usually Gatekeeper), he goes and gets what he likes to drink. When I am off the ride, then it's my turn. Works out great... :-) Last year, we also had a special online deal where we got a drink wristband with our tickets, and it was great. I really wish they would offer that all the time as something you could buy.

I don't mind the souvenir cup. I mean yeah I have to buy a locker every time, but I feel like whether you buy it or not, it comes out even Between buying the cup or plastic bottles.

They can't be washed in a dish washer....most of the time...without them melting.....not that I'd know from experience last season.

If you accidentally melt your current-season cup, you should be able to trade it for a replacement at guest services.

I just emailed the park and suggested an all season drink plan, if any more of you want something like that I would suggest you do the same. If they get alot of requests for it, they might create such a plan. I'll update if I hear back from them.

They are great if you have non-riders to hold the bottles. But I won't buy them, they are a hassle. I prefer to just walk into the ride entrance rather than going to a locker first. Of course, I also insanely miss having my Mountain Dew in the park, when they switched to Coke I stopped buying pop in the park (it used to be 3-5 bottles in a visit and I hate coke products). If I go to the park with my family I sneak in Mountain Dew in the stroller.

The park just emailed me about my suggestion:

Cedar Point said:

Mr. Corbin,

Thank you for taking the time to send us comments and suggestions regarding an All-Season Drink and Refreshments plan. We certainly appreciate hearing from our passholders, and your email was added to our guest database and passed to management staff in the department responsible for this type of plan.

Again, thank you and we look forward to you visiting us in May.

Sincerely,

CEDAR POINT

If you want a season drink plan, I would highly suggest you email the park. I just used the contact form on the website. If they get enough requests it might happen.

I'm not sure what it is you hope to achieve. Not including drinks was on purpose, I'm sure. I'm not saying that they'll never offer such a thing, but if they do, it might not be at the price point you're hoping for either.

A drink plan is much better than carrying a bulky souvenir cup all day. I mostly just get drinks at the park. And such a plan wouldn't require me to bring money with me to the park. I'd be happy to pay up front for drinks all season.

Thabto said:

And such a plan wouldn't require me to bring money with me to the park.

This right here is exactly why such a plan likely wouldn't be offered. It should go without saying that the park wants you to bring money into the park so you're more likely to spend that money. If such a plan were offered, it will likely be at a price point that would be so high that only the most frequent visitors would find any value at all.

As a side note, spending a day at the park with you doesn't sound the least bit enjoyable. I don't mean that to be rude - everyone has their own priorities for a day at the park. It's just that I cannot for the life of me wrap my mind around my entire day revolving around nothing but coasters/flat rides. That sounds awful. I understand that you live closer (presumably), but I think if I lived that close and my visits still revolved entirely around how many rides I could get, I would find another hobby.

What do you do at the park and how is that relevant to this topic?

^ there is no relevance. He just wanted to tell you how boring you are ;)

Thabto said:

What do you do at the park and how is that relevant to this topic?

You were suggesting much of the value for a season drink plan is the ability to not carry money in the park, ever (because you "mostly just get drinks at the park"). Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but to me that implies that you're focused on riding, riding, and more riding. And again, that's cool, and no it doesn't make you boring. It's just that I've found that there's a pretty strong correlation between the amount of money I spend, and my enjoyment of a day at the park (and most places, actually).

I certainly love coasters, but some of my most memorable days at the park involved relatively little riding, and a lot of other stuff - adult beverages, souvenir shopping, eating bad food, and so on. I don't really have a point other than I found it interesting how different priorities can be from one person to the next.

As far as topic relevancy goes, you're arguing for a drink plan in part so that you don't have to carry money around. I was pointing out why the park might prefer that you bring money with you, seeing as how they're a business and all. ;-)

They still get plenty of money from me. I get a platinum pass every year, I'm still looking into the dining plan and I buy a few souvenirs every year. A drink plan is just another way they could get money from me. I spend about $4 on a drink each time I visit the park and sometimes I'll get a pretzel or funnel cake. There's plenty of money they'll get from me.

Buying a pass isn't what they're interested in... they're interested in your total spend divided by number of visits.

Thabto said:

They still get plenty of money from me. I get a platinum pass every year...

Which means you're getting into the park for less than the gate price.

...I'm still looking into the dining plan...

Presumably, you're doing the math to determine whether or not you'll save money with the dining plan. This would result in less revenue for the park.

I get that you're not interested in the drink plan as a way to save money on drinks, but you did mention one incentive is that you wouldn't have to carry money around with you, or that you'd carry it less often. Either scenario is a bad one for the park, as you've been completely eliminated from any potential impulse buys.

The big reason I would like a plan is because I can't stand the souvenir cup. I hate carrying it with me all day and I need to rent a locker to ride most of the major rides. I didn't get one last year for that reason. I do realize they would lose money on locker rentals as well. However, if I was given the option to pay for drinks up front for the whole season, it's possible I would spend more in the park since my budget is kind of tight with each visit. Since I wouldn't buy a drink on each visit which, I could buy other items in the park that day.