COVID-19 Impacts on Kings Dominion

[mwhinva]

It appears the coding logic was flawed. When CF re-activated the payment system, it seems that the logic tried to make up all for all the missed payment periods instead of simply picking up where everyone left off and charging one payment.

The whole COVID mess caused a full stop payment across the system for months. This was probably a situation that the system designers did not think of and probably did not test to see what the system would do if a full payment re-start happened.

Does anyone know if the payment system is a CF 'In-House" application or a 3rd-party application integrated into CF park websites? If the latter, then CF has to address the issue with the 3rd-party vendor. That, in turn, can cause longer wait times because CF has to wait on them to reverse the charges made to pass holders.

Many business entities use 3rd-party IT businesses to handle their IT functions instead of dealing with expenses for housing a data center, hardware, software, and manpower. Plus, all the ongoing expenses with the hardware repair/upgrading and software upgrades and software fixes/patches.

Most end users see the KD web site payment screen and think CF/KD are processing the data themselves. Most likely the KD web screen for payment info is the front facade to a transaction that is bundled up and transmitted to the 3rd-party IT business for processing.

 

[Gavin]

They use Accesso, the same exact system that Six Flags is using as well.

The entire stack is managed by Accesso, CF doesn’t do any of it in house.

 

[horsesboy]

KD is hiring and the minimum starting wage for them is now $13 an hour. I think that is a relatively decent pay increase from past years.

Kings Dominion to hire 2,100; raises starting pay for seasonal associates

Kings Dominion announced on Thursday that it is raising the pay for seasonal associates and is planning to hire 2,100 people in preparation for its 2021 season.

www.wric.com

 

[Mushroom]

KD is hiring and the minimum starting wage for them is now $13 an hour. I think that is a relatively decent pay increase from past years.

Kings Dominion to hire 2,100; raises starting pay for seasonal associates

Kings Dominion announced on Thursday that it is raising the pay for seasonal associates and is planning to hire 2,100 people in preparation for its 2021 season.

www.wric.com

Wow, that's a pretty substantial minimum wage for a theme park. Good for KD. I wonder if this will help them with staffing the park this year?

 

[Memles]

Wow, that's a pretty substantial minimum wage for a theme park. Good for KD. I wonder if this will help them with staffing the park this year?

I dare say they might have seen what BGW is going through right now and realized it was the best business strategy under the circumstances.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

If KD is actually able to serve food at the park, they will certainly have a leg up on BGW.

 

[mwhinva]

If KD is actually able to serve food at the park, they will certainly have a leg up on BGW.

Well, it seems some of you have been saying the food service at BGW has been limited due to staffing issues. I was not too clear if the food you were getting was up to par to normal Busch standards. I thought BGW gets quite a few college age folks to work there. They should be out of school by mid-May. Plus, by then, vaccination availability should be wide-spread. There could be some delay if potential workers want to be vaccinated before taking on positions that require exposure to the masses.

As far as KD goes, the park has been pushing the food for this upcoming season. With Grain and Grill on I-Street and the Food Truck Court in the Water Park. Plus, KD stated they were making menu changes at several existing food facilities including the Country Kitchen for this year. Lets hope they have the bodies to cook and serve it in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[rswashdc]

KD is hiring and the minimum starting wage for them is now $13 an hour. I think that is a relatively decent pay increase from past years.

Kings Dominion to hire 2,100; raises starting pay for seasonal associates

Kings Dominion announced on Thursday that it is raising the pay for seasonal associates and is planning to hire 2,100 people in preparation for its 2021 season.

www.wric.com

Rising wages combined with lower ticket and pass prices isn’t a recipe for very good customer experiences. Something will have to give somewhere and it will either be in slimmer operations or more plus up charges while in the park.

 

[Crunchewy]

Rising wages combined with lower ticket and pass prices isn’t a recipe for very good customer experiences. Something will have to give somewhere and it will either be in slimmer operations or more plus up charges while in the park.

They should pay them less. That always improves customer experience.

 

[rswashdc]

They should pay them less. That always improves customer experience.

Nothing wrong with paying front line employees more, and it’s actually something I encourage to improve retention and morale, but lowering gate prices at the same time means something has to give somewhere. This could easily end up being BGW 2.0 with an understaffed and overcrowded park from squeezing their operating margins too much.

 

[horsesboy]

Rising wages combined with lower ticket and pass prices isn’t a recipe for very good customer experiences. Something will have to give somewhere and it will either be in slimmer operations or more plus up charges while in the park.

Virginia's minimum wage is going up next year CF pays a percent over minimum in every market that they are in so this increase might have been in the planning stages without Covid. As for the ticket prices KD has always offered really good deals pre opening to get cash flowing during the closed down times I won't be to concerned unless we do no see a price increase right around the time they open.

 

[warfelg]

Virginia's minimum wage is going up next year CF pays a percent over minimum in every market that they are in so this increase might have been in the planning stages without Covid. As for the ticket prices KD has always offered really good deals pre opening to get cash flowing during the closed down times I won't be to concerned unless we do no see a price increase right around the time they open.

Additionally they could minimally raise the rates of things in the park like merch and F&B to offset the rising minimum they’ll pay.

 

[horsesboy]

Additionally they could minimally raise the rates of things in the park like merch and F&B to offset the rising minimum they’ll pay.

possibly but there is always a loss gain issue there. Theme park prices are already high if you raise it you might get more per item but have less items sold. At some point you hit a point where you are actually making less not more.

 

[warfelg]

possibly but there is always a loss gain issue there. Theme park prices are already high if you raise it you might get more per item but have less items sold. At some point you hit a point where you are actually making less not more.

True. But a 10% increase is only $0.10-$0.20 an item.

 

[Jonesta6]

possibly but there is always a loss gain issue there. Theme park prices are already high if you raise it you might get more per item but have less items sold. At some point you hit a point where you are actually making less not more.

Also, you have a generally captive audience - yes, you could be cheap like I was several years ago in the first years I had a pass with taking a hand stamp and headed to Ashland for food then come back (usually a Soak City > leave for food > dry park trip), but I imagine that a good chunk of people attending bought day tickets and want to maximize their time in the park... So they'll be more likely to pay the extreme prices.

 

[horsesboy]

True. But a 10% increase is only $0.10-$0.20 an item.

Only if you are buying a 1-2 dollar item. Many of KD's item are at least in the 15-20 price range meaning that the additional cost is 1.50-2. Still not horrible but it all starts to add up.

 

[rswashdc]

KD already is on the really high end price wise for F&B. I can't imagine they can squeeze much more out of that without really upsetting customers. I actually think they would do well to lower the price of meals or have lower price offerings to capture more spend from customers, instead of incentivizing packing a lunch or timing lunch/dinner outside the park.

 

[Mushroom]

Rising wages combined with lower ticket and pass prices isn’t a recipe for very good customer experiences. Something will have to give somewhere and it will either be in slimmer operations or more plus up charges while in the park.

I don't think something necessarily has to give. KD (or rather CF) could be hoping that higher wages will lead to higher guest satisfaction, which will lead to more guests returning to the park and more positive word of mouth, and result in higher demand.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

I would suggest that a higher rate would also include a certain consideration of hazard pay.

 

[Jonesta6]

If they feel they can afford it there's nothing wrong with paying staff better wages and/or offering better benefits - that goes for any company.

One thing I see reiterated through all the various restaurant rescue shows is that in general making food from scratch in house is generally much cheaper even with labor costs then to buy pre-made food. Additionally, people tend to be more willing to pay more for it.

With the chef running the show instead of a non-cook, my guess is some of the enhancements we'll see this year in unexpected places will be fresher food options. Things like fresh cut fries in non-franchised food stands, hand-breaded chicken tenders, fresh ground burgers, maybe house-made pizza dough and sauce.... Those kind of options.

With their economies of scale on ingredient sourcing, they could get the price per unit to be even smaller than it is now so while they may not drop the pricing the guest will see it as a better value and the park will make more profit.