Why Doesn't Cedar Point Offer a Gold Pass?

Why doesn't Cedar Point offer a gold pass like they do at Kings Island?

I was looking through the Kings Island website at Banshee stuff and noticed an advertisement for a Gold Pass and thought to myself, "What the heck is this?" So I clicked on it and it brought up a list of the perks compared to the regular Kings Island Season pass along with the Platinum Pass.

The Gold pass has every single perk that the Platinum pass offers other than the ability to go to any Cedar Fair park. It is also appears to be nearly $80 cheaper than the Platinum pass.

Since the only park I go to often enough to benefit from having a Platinum pass is Cedar Point, I really don't need that Platinum pass for the perk of going to all of the Cedar Fair parks. The only reason I have the Platinum pass is for the free parking, early entry, and the food discounts.

So, why not offer a Gold pass at Cedar Point?

The obvious answer is because they choose not to. But, I think they are constantly testing the different levels at different parks to see what works for different situations. I'm sure many meetings and proposals have been worked through to determine the course of action on that front.

I have always thought that there should be a way for people at the smaller parks to enjoy the platinum perks (early entry, food deals, etc.) without actually having to buy a platinum pass. For example, Michigan's Adventure is a dinky park compared to CP, but to get platinum perks, you have to buy the platinum pass, which is relatively expensive if you never go to any other Cedar Fair parks.

That being said, I wonder what % of platinum pass holders actually use the other-park option to visit other CF properties.

I think this is where the Paramount Parks still stand out, I believe they still offer things like the Gold Pass where the old Cedar Fair parks do not. I haven't done any research, that is just what I've noticed.

Wasn't the Regular-Gold-Platinum tier system orginally from the Paramount chain?

I know Kings Island had the regular and the gold pass option, it was an upsell to offer perks like parking, other park visits, special offers, etc. When Cedar Fair came along and they introduced the Platinum Pass, they dropped the multi park perk from the Gold but kept the rest of the benefits.
My guess is the Gold pass was left in place simply because the local park goers had become used to it and expected it. I also imagine they sell fewer Platinum passes than, say, Cedar Point.

An admittedly quick run through the various websites has only Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure and Canada's Wonderland not offering Gold Passes; Knott's offers a Gold Pass but seems to be the only park not to offer free parking with it.

The difference between a CP pass and a platinum pass is less than $90. Maybe that is the answer to your question. I would suppose that getting into a greater park with your pass would be worth more than getting into a lesser park. To me that wouldn't be much of a perk. You can just get the platinum pass for less than the cost of a Gold Pass which they've never offered.

Admission to Kings Island, a KI season pass and a KI gold pass includes their water park. Cedar Point and Soak City are separate admissions. Would a CP gold pass include Soak City? A CP season pass does not.

redsfan said:
You can just get the platinum pass for less than the cost of a Gold Pass which they've never offered.

Where are you seeing that a Gold pass is cheaper than a Platinum?

From the KI website.

A gold pass costs 117.

A platinum in 192.

Frankly, I'm so used to just renewing our Platinums every year that I was unaware that CP did not offer a "gold".

Same with me Kevin, the only reason I noticed that KI offered a Gold pass was because I was on their website looking at the new Banshee stuff.

I don't see it happening, but I would love for CP to get these Gold passes. It would save me around $80 a season.

I could be wrong, but I thought they did at one time.

I can see how this would be attractive, but the reason they don't is probably in your response. It would save you $80 a season. ;)

I think Platinum is already a good value, just for the parking alone. Sure it would be nice to save a few bucks since I don't go to any other parks, but a platinum can get me into Soak City if I would ever want to go and discounts on various things inside the park.

Cedar Point is the Flag ship park in the Cedar Fair line of parks they own. The Platinum is a great value for what all you get, it saves you just in parking

It should be noted that KI's general admission (which is about the same price as CP's gate price) includes access to the waterpark. So comparing season passes between the two parks is not necessarily valid.

And I'll echo the comments of others here - CP's Platinum Pass is already an incredible value. Enjoy what you have.

Nobody was saying the platinum pass isn't a great value, nor was anyone* complaining as such, so we don't need to put anyone in their place by dictating that they enjoy what they have.

The point I raised was for little parks like Michigan's Adventure, to go from regular to platinum is a jump of $96. For CP it's only $66. Other than other-park admittance, the only thing you get is free parking for doing so. It's unfortunate there's not some middle ground to allow for people to buy a pass that gets them free parking without having to pay for the other-park option which they would never use.

Another way to look at this is that if MA is the only park you'd ever visit, to get all the perks, you pay $186, which is exactly the same amount you would pay if CP was your only park - not quite apples to apples there.

* Not even SteveH

I don't see where anyone claimed that there was complaining going on. :)

My comment about enjoying what you have is directed at OP, because they don't seem to understand or appreciate what an amazing value the Platinum Pass is. If they did, they wouldn't be wondering why they can't have an even better deal. And again, comparing what KI offers is apples-to-oranges, given the aforementioned gate price differences.

We buy the PP every year, and for the last several years the only other park we've gone to is SC. In fact, I'd be willing to bet a lot of folks buy a PP at CP simply for the free parking and a trip or two to SC, and never use it elsewhere.

If the PP is too expensive, there are other ways to spend less money. You could go to a couple baseball games, for example. Or to your local zoo a few times.

Why a Gold Pass is not offered is a good question.

Aside, I love the multi park benefit. I used it at California's Great America a few weeks ago and will be going to KI next weekend. Plus I'll hit Dorney and Kings Dominion later in the summer.

Even if Gold was offered, I'd probably still stick with Platinum.

djDaemon said:

My comment about enjoying what you have is directed at OP, because they don't seem to understand or appreciate what an amazing value the Platinum Pass is. If they did, they wouldn't be wondering why they can't have an even better deal.

For the record, I never said I was unhappy with the Platinum pass price. Also, I am fully aware of the value of the Platinum pass, however, if Cedar Point did offer a Gold pass, that would be of much more value to me. It would be cheaper and it would also give me all of the same perks that a Platinum pass does, other than the ability to use it at multiple parks, and that is probably the only perk that I do not use.

If there was a gold pass, I would buy that and not pay the extra $$$ for a perk that I don't use. If there is never a Gold pass option for Cedar Point, then oh well. I wiill happily continue to purchase the Platinum pass.

For comparison, here is what's offered at Knotts

https://www.knotts.com/ticket-category/2014-Season-Passes#