Just want to clarify, when you say platinum, you are referring to the prestige pass correct?
Yes. No clue why I mixed that up.
I see what you are saying, and yes I agree their prices are low to begin with but i stand by what i said above. My theory about the gold passes would be SF may be testing legacy CF parks that are mid level and not necessarily ripe for selling but could be on the chopping block. The same logic I mentioned above works for those parks. In the case of Dorney, Dorney is offering the MVP sale however the gold pass is more expensive (like you said) than Great Adventure's gold pass. This conceivably would drive more SP sales and attendance to Great Adventure. Their plan may be to bolster up Great Adventure in the short term and let go of Dorney. This plan could also conversely show guest's loyalty toward a park like Dorney. SF would truly see just how valuable a mid tier park like Dorney is compared with Great Adventure especially if there isn't a large change in numbers related to the MVP sale. Or SF just really believes Dorney draws from a more affluent clientele and can charge more.
Maybe.
But my counter argument is then they are putting their finger on the scale as to what parks are set up to not be successful. As a stake holder you would want this litmus test to be as even as possible.
There’s plenty of other ways to collect this data. For instance same price for SFGAdv and Dorney, where to people from Philly tend to get their passes at. Which one sees the bigger number of passes used. Which parks to people cross over to.
It’s argue even with that they are going to need to look at that data to see what happened. Did someone end up getting their gold at SFGAdv but go for more visits at Dorney. Did someone get their Prestige at SFMM but go more to Knotts.
If they are doing your theory all it shows is which parks are revenue centers and what percent in certain areas hunt for deals. And I’d say that having to look at where passes where then used adds extra work.
Regarding the prestige pass. Maybe it is just a pass they are offering at top tier parks because top tier parks are best apt to deliver well on prestige benefits.
Are SFNE, SFSTL, SFDL, KD really top tier parks though?
Carowinds vs. Over Georgia honestly stumps me a little because I'd say both parks are pretty evenly matched with what they have to offer. While I believe Carowinds certainly has the upper hand over SFOG and $99 is still inexpensive an almost 100% increase on a season pass price compared to SFOG seems steep. I would have to take a page out of @Mushroom 's book on this one and say there are certain characteristics about the demographics of Atlanta vs. Charlotte that warrant such a price discrepancy. While both parks pull from large metro areas, I'd say since income and property taxes are lower among other factors in the Carolinas people have more discretionary income.
SFMM and Knotts is the one to look at IMO.
They are basically serving the same metro area of LA. Sure people close to Knotts and close to SFMM are likely not crossing over, but there’s a huge population center in between that’s one city.
MM has the Silver $20 cheaper, then MM has the Gold $10 cheaper, and then MM has the Prestige $70 cheaper.
KI having Gold be $16 more than CP but then Prestige being the same price when again there’s major metro areas like Columbus and Ft Wayne to pull from.
This makes sense if the parks pulled
only from the metro area the represent and research said people between don’t do it and there’s little park crossover. But then I would say that sorta stacks the cards in favor of parks with bigger metro areas and more discretionary income over others.
Also, I've noticed that when pairing up parks like this, a legacy CF park typically has a higher priced pass than a legacy SF park. This supports my point about a CF park carrying more value especially in the case of Carowinds vs. SFOG. Carowinds does have a large waterpark attached at no added cost and higher quality aesthetics IMO.
So in regards to CF having more value than SF parks with this argument, this kinda makes the actual pass value lie in the SF parks over the CF park.
It looks to me in many of these cases the benefits are good at
any park, not just your home park. Like the Bring a Friend pass says you can redeem at
ANY park not just the home one.
And as for the water park: having it attached IMO adds perceived value. I would have to do the research but I know it’s attached for some SF parks too while being detached for some CF parks.
But in the case of a detached water park: Is the area bigger? More slides? More pools?
If those are all yes and the water and dry park share a parking lot (like SfGAdv) then just the perceived value of having the ability to go wet to dry without exiting and entering is what makes it more expensive over having the actual bigger, possibly better, water park.
I think Dorney and Hurricane Harbor with GAdv is the perfect example here with the gold pass. HH is the bigger water park with more slides, bigger kids area, more seating. Is simply being able to stay in one park that much more valuable with less slides, seats, and kids area? I can only speak for myself when I say no.
Plus Fury. Just throw away everything I said, I mean that ride has it all. I'd pay almost twice as much for a pass just to support my top tier coaster.
And I feel like this is what they are banking on. Someone in some of those situations not actually thinking a whole lot and being like “well Knotts has this” without realizing that the pass would get them everything at both LA parks.
