Christmas Town

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It was beyond packed at the park today.

And they extended their hours, they were staying open until 10. But considering most of the shows final shows of the night were at 8 and 8:30 it made me wonder what people were gonna do for an extra hour? I waited like 30 minutes for the bumper cars of all things.
 
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After sitting in traffic on 64 we gave up and came home. I was amazed at the traffic last night. The last time I saw cars sitting on the bridge and the exit ramps was during spring break. I cannot imagine being in the park when it's that crowded. How can that possibly be enjoyable? Stoopid $12 deal.
 
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I wonder if the park makes or looses money on the $12 tickets. There are so many factors:
- Less money per ticket sold;
- Possibly more tickets sold;
- Possibly fewer regulars at the park (but have they already paid for a CT Pass anyway?);
- Possibly more people buying things in the park;
- Fewer people paying for parking, when they get overwhelmed at the gate;
- Other stuff I'm not thinking of right now...
 
Repeat buyers. Get them in the gate once at a discount in hopes they come back paying full price.
 
Actually, Nicole, Yesterday they made everyone pay for parking despite the back-up. Normally, when it gets backed up onto 64 the park lets cars by-pass the tolls to alleviate the back-up, not last night though, they were getting all the money they possibly could from the $12 ticket deal.
 
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I honestly think the discounted tickets are a last ditch effort to meet expected attendance numbers. They artificially inflate numbers easily, and are a minimal hit to the bottom line. I think the chain is more worried about hitting attendance numbers than their margins.

The only thing I find amusing about it is that the specifically stated they wouldn't be offering discounted tickets this year. I really hope an investor brings it up on the next earnings call.

So tl;dr, short term bandaid to make help the chain make it to next year, no matter the real world cost to their margins.
 
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Celticdog said:
I cannot imagine being in the park when it's that crowded. How can that possibly be enjoyable?
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Spoiler: It wasn't.

I saw so many upset people with the crowds. I mean I was upset as well, but I knew it was gonna be beyond packed. Combining super nice weather and cheap tickets is a recipe for disaster.
 
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Pretzel Kaiser said:
Out of everything that should be brought up in an investor meeting, that's at the bottom of the list.
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What?

Zachary said:
While I'm of course not at all a fan of how busy the $12 tickets are making the park thus far this year, I'm far more concerned about the park chronically underselling themselves. Christmas Town is easily worth $30. Selling it for $12 is a horrible precedent for them to set. And yes, this is something I've posted about previously.
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Considering it cost $10 for most of the "drive through" lights in the area (which result in a 5 minute experience), that's really a great point.
 
I was at the park yesterday after following netdvn's chart and I wish I had not gone. I'm sure the weather brought all of those people out, but the park REALLY needs to give the gate better flow somehow. Filtering 10-12 lanes into 2 all at once right out of the gate creates a bottle neck. I didn't see any irate people last night. Everybody seemed to be pretty content with the 'sardine' factor. Saw Gloria. Put the Gal a few kiddie rides, and did a full loop to see all of the lights and went in some shops too. The shops were empty which was weird. All in all, it was fun.
 
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Imaginique said:
I can agree with that. I should have just gone on Friday. I heard it wasn't very busy that day.
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It was an hour wait for Skyride in England and Germany Friday night despite the cold weather.

This whole weekend was fairly busy. I don't think I've ever seen a Sunday like last night this early in the season. Usually the Sunday crowds don't start rolling in until late December.
 
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Love the CT lights illuminating favorite views...

S5epP5s.jpg
 
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netdvn said:
This whole weekend was fairly busy. I don't think I've ever seen a Sunday like last night this early in the season. Usually the Sunday crowds don't start rolling in until late December.
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I'm hoping the crowds this past weekend got it all out their systems and maybe we won't see too many of them the rest of the season. I really wish they hadn't run the $12 deal for so many days. I really want to go this Friday and/or Sunday.
 
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Celticdog said:
I'm hoping the crowds this past weekend got it all out their systems and maybe we won't see too many of them the rest of the season. I really wish they hadn't run the $12 deal for so many days. I really want to go this Friday and/or Sunday.
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I agree and hope this weekend will see smaller crowds, Celticdog. I suspect this past weekend was a fluke.  The $12 bargain hunters will probably tell their friends about it but I think most are unlikely to return.  Who knows?  Like Nicole said earlier, there are so many variables.  

Sunday is an earlier 9 pm closure and along with a long range forecast showing a 20 - 40% chance of rain most days I think crowds will be more normal.  Friday looks to be the better weather day -- I would go then but am seeing Wicked for the first time.  I will probably go Sunday.
 
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Supposedly the projected attendance for Sunday 11/30 was 10,000. Instead they got about 21,000 by 8 o'clock. They weren't anticipating it at all. I just don't understand how the park did not anticipate this in wake of the discounts and everything else. I booked a fireside feast, and the people that were supposed to meet me there were stuck far outside the parking toll booths. Thankfully, they were given a memo to give compensation of some sort. Obviously someone wasn't thinking.

However, in spite of all that, I think they handled it very well. It's a good thing that they stayed open an hour late. Once it was 9 o'clock, almost everyone started leaving the park. Suddenly the announcements about the one hour extension started playing about every five minutes. It was like the park was saying "Don't leave!"
 
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