News Cedar Fair Merges with Six Flags
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
Hopefully this doesn't come off as overly petty, but this makes me even more salty that we lost the Illusionist show to Knott's. What a packed lineup of entertainment, and over the span of just a few days!
For the curious, here's the mentioned Entertainment page for Great Adventure:
Now, to be fair, this page is inaccurate; there are still character meet-and-greets and one midway dance show. Thank goodness they didn't pull the plug in DC Heroes and Villains Fest too (they've already started setting up for it, but I still reserve the right to edit this post for 1 week if need be
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Between 12am and 11:59pm at some point this year.
Less than the price of a one-day admission at some properties.
Are they devaluing the brand to sell off the pieces (parks)?
One explanation I can think of is Knotts is open 364 days a year and GAm is only open end of April to November. Sure you can use your pass at Knotts but most people with a GAm pass won't be at Knotts every day with it.
I don’t really get the criticism about the different priced passes for different parks. Price discrimination is one of the oldest marketing tools in the book.
Also, the passes have to be activated at the park from which they were purchased, and certain benefits are only available at the passholder’s home park. It makes sense that Knott’s — open far more days, located in a far better year-round climate, located in California, and almost certainly a higher quality park — would cost more.
Also, the passes have to be activated at the park from which they were purchased, and certain benefits are only available at the passholder’s home park. It makes sense that Knott’s — open far more days, located in a far better year-round climate, located in California, and almost certainly a higher quality park — would cost more.
Yeah, Park Journey is just wrong here. If Prestige Passes will have some benefits only applicable to your home park, like the bring-a-friend tickets, it makes perfect sense to see price differences like this. Those benefits are worth more at a year-round park like Knott's. It's the same reason why SeaWorld's Platinum pass costs less at Sesame Place than it does in Orlando.
FWIW The prestige pass on the website for many of their other all year parks (Texas and Cali) are listed at $12.99/month or $155 total. On top of that Gold Pass at SFGA is $75, SFSL is $55, and KI is $115.
None of this pricing is logical right now. Both SFSL and KI are an overnight trip for me from Chicago, I might start my year with a StL trip to get that much cheaper and go to KI a few times.
None of this pricing is logical right now. Both SFSL and KI are an overnight trip for me from Chicago, I might start my year with a StL trip to get that much cheaper and go to KI a few times.
SweetBabyJames
Conservative Coaster Connoisseur
Just want to say... that picture of the Looney Tunes mascots is sooooo outdated. It's about 20-25 years old. I remember that exact photo being on the 2005 Great Escape paper brochure when they got Looney Tunes national park. Which means the photo was taken before 2005.Hopefully this doesn't come off as overly petty, but this makes me even more salty that we lost the Illusionist show to Knott's. What a packed lineup of entertainment, and over the span of just a few days!
For the curious, here's the mentioned Entertainment page for Great Adventure:
View attachment 38796
Now, to be fair, this page is inaccurate; there are still character meet-and-greets and one midway dance show. Thank goodness they didn't pull the plug in DC Heroes and Villains Fest too (they've already started setting up for it, but I still reserve the right to edit this post for 1 week if need be
Is it that hard to not use dated stock images? While its a nice photo, time for an update Six Flags... come on now. There's still quality marketing employees somewhere in the corporate office and at some parks... I just know it.
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ladies and gentleman, that's Beetlejuice, cracking jokes 24/7, lets give it a applause
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So CP has their Gold pass at $99
Buuuut
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KI is $115
Undeniable proof Kings Island is better than Cedar Point
More psycho behavior? If you are a KD member Prestige is $199 vs SFGAdv being $145. So if you live between them - just go to Jersey.
SweetBabyJames
Conservative Coaster Connoisseur
Yeah... that pricing make zero sense to me. I would think 2 large and arguably 2 of the best parks in the chain would be over $99. AND on top of that 2 parks in the same state less than 4 hours away from each other would have a price variance like that? I don't know what the logic is... someone help me out here.
I’d recommend doing some research into price discrimination.
Companies use price discrimination (selling the same product at different prices to different audiences) all the time. It’s the practice of matching the price to the consumer’s willingness pay, which can vary based on a number of factors — like region.
For example, in the case of KI vs. CP, SF must believe that the market around KI is willing to pay more for a season pass than the market around CP. Maybe it has to do with the perceived value of the KI pass being higher because their season includes Winterfest. But even more likely, I’d guess, is that KI’s target market is based in Cincinnati, where the average income and cost of living are probably higher than in the much smaller town of Sandusky. This would probably mean that the Cincinnati market has more disposable income, and more familiarity with higher prices, to justify the higher pass price.
This way, Six Flags avoids undervaluing their already-cheap season passes in areas where they don’t have to. It drives incremental revenue.
Zimmerman and his team have frequently touted the company’s increased reliance on advanced analytics and consumer insights to drive pricing. An example of this is the year when KD attempted to make Haunt a separately ticketed event, and they implemented variable pricing for the event according to the willingness to pay of each day’s audience, based on a number of factors. Knowing this, I think it’s far more likely that these price differences are the result of a deliberate and data-based pricing strategy, not someone typing random numbers into a keyboard.
Sure, you could drive to SFGAdv instead of KD to save 50 bucks. But to do this, you’d need to be well tuned in to the industry, be savvy enough to make the comparison, and care enough to put in the extra effort to activate your pass at another park. Six Flags surely knows some people will exploit the price differences, but they also probably know that so few people will know or care to do this that it doesn’t matter. They know most guests will default to buying the pass from their home park — as they always have done — and would prefer to stick with enjoying the pass benefits that are exclusive to their home park.
To me, @warfelg, it seems that you’re characterizing these price differences as arbitrary and coming from a place of incompetence (“none of this pricing is logical”, “psycho behavior”). I completely disagree. I think it’s actually the opposite — carefully calculated pricing designed to match the unique demand of each market.
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I’m well aware. My company does this.
Variable pricing for an event is really different that what is going on with the pricing of pass variance.
I’m sorry but this is what got me rolling my eyes. This basically reads like SFs hopes their consumer is not smart and will just buy.
If you live in the DC area, just lost SFA, you likely would be cross shopping relative same distance places. If you live in the middle of Ohio, western PA, NE Indiana, of SE Michigan you likely are cross shopping KI and CP.
So you make assumptions off statements as opposed to asking why I used the words I did?
First off I used “psych behavior” tounge in cheek funny in response to what @YachtyLogs said about it being proof one is better than another.
And I said none of it is logical because there is little as a consumer that tells you why on pricing. Sure some “analytics” make KI more valuable that CP, but if I were picking between them as a consumer it would seem there’s no reasoning because operating seasons are similar, ride counts are similar, sizes are similar.
If I still lived in in an area between two of these parks and I cross shopped, what reason do I have to pick the more expensive one? Heck some parks don’t even have it available. So now if you really did want that you do have to go find it.
IMO given what the prestige pass is, it should be one price regardless of park.
And for anyone interested I found this full pricing breakdown:
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