It's likely they don't know if they want to launch their own meal plans yet.
News Enchanted Parks Terminates Meal Plans, Effective Immediately
- Thread starter DH_The_ThemeParkFaniac
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Refund of your entire pass should be an option as well. As to drink plan, materials cost is much lower. Maybe Enchanted plans to have one.
I almost wonder if the drink plan is just going to be done on an honor system this year, being that it’s a far less substantial loss for them to take than food.
I'm not so sure, I feel like I've heard it said in various places that soft drinks are a cash cow - it's maybe less than $0.75 (usually I hear about $0.10, though with today's economy it's unclear if that still holds) for all inputs, meaning once that's covered the rest is profit. They're also not usually labor intensive - you just need someone stocking, cleaning, and cashiering; often this could be the same person in a standalone kiosk or shared duties in a restaurant. The overall margins can work out to anywhere north of 60%.
They also are a high volume item - a guest may eat food once or twice in a visit, but may want to drink several times during the same visit.
Food service, otherwise, is incredibly labor intensive and input expensive - though there's always profit baked into the pricing, the margin is usually much smaller - somewhere in the ballpark of 30% or less.
They also are a high volume item - a guest may eat food once or twice in a visit, but may want to drink several times during the same visit.
Food service, otherwise, is incredibly labor intensive and input expensive - though there's always profit baked into the pricing, the margin is usually much smaller - somewhere in the ballpark of 30% or less.
I haven’t really seen this one addressed but another back end to think of:
How would Enchanted get compensated for serving meals that Six Flags ‘sold’ and has the funds for? That would have to be a mess to build a “bill back” system for.
From what I understand of how the meal plan system worked/works, each meal plan swipe has an internal monetary value and each swipe results in funds being effectively transferred internally from one business unit to another. Enchanted should have been afforded the internal value of any meal plan swipes at the parks they bought for the remainder of the season.
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I just saw a brand new interview that may give us a hint about Enchanted Parks’ thought process on this issue. The CEO spoke to a St. Louis radio station and said this:
“One of the more concrete changes guests will notice this season is at the concession stand.
Enchanted Parks has eliminated the Six Flags dining plan and reduced the price of most food entrees by 20 to 30 percent, bringing many items down into the mid-teens from prices that had been as high as $20 to $23 under the previous structure.
Harhi said the decision came directly from reading through more than a year's worth of guest reviews for the property before the acquisition closed. Food cost and food quality were, he said, among the most frequently cited complaints. He concluded that the parks had been forced to raise menu prices so dramatically to offset dining plan usage that ordinary day users and infrequent season passholders were bearing the cost.
"The math just doesn't work long term," Harhi said of the dining plan model at a park of this size. "While there were people who really loved it, holistically it was not the right thing for the company."
Season passholders will receive an additional discount on top of the reduced prices.“
Six Flags St. Louis Unleashes Massive Food Price Cuts | 104.1 FM KMOX
AmyUD06
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A CEO with basic sense? Impressive.
Gotta be honest - I’ve felt this way for years with parks with plans like that. Especially when I saw antidotes (this board being one of the if you look back) of people saying how they would take the family to park multiple times a week just for dinner.
Agreed with the above. Can't really find a place to poke a hole in the CEO's logic. Finally seems like a step away from uber-targeting the most frequently visiting guest along with making a change to bring more casual people back through the turnstiles. A noticeable diversion from where we see a lot of entertainment businesses going through hyperfocusing on one client.
Amusement parks are supposed to have broader appeal, rather than a lot of the niche segmentations we see in entertainment channels these days. Assuming they're marketing that approach right, then this is favorable IMO.
Definitely still understand the frustrations from people who've already bought the plan, though.
Amusement parks are supposed to have broader appeal, rather than a lot of the niche segmentations we see in entertainment channels these days. Assuming they're marketing that approach right, then this is favorable IMO.
Definitely still understand the frustrations from people who've already bought the plan, though.
For sure it sucks for people who got it.
The way the CEO spoke it reminds me of the old Jon Taffer concept, where if you visit 3 times you are most likely to come back much more. If you visit one of his restaurants the first time you get a red napkin, first refill round is free, and the manager gives you a signed card good for a chicken entree next time (costs them on that visit like $4 for the drinks). On your second visit you get the free chicken dinner (costs them about $6), the manager gives you something for a free dessert. Now on the third visit (costs them about $1) you are likely a return visitor many many times and it cost the restaurant like $11, but what they made on everything else covered all of that.
I say that because your post made me think of that and it’s like the restaurant where the manager is buddies with the regulars, spends all their time there, and never says hi to the new people. With the food catered to be more cost effective for pass holders, it really screws over early and first time visitors.
I think the only way to really make something like a meal plan cost effective is to really just have the most basic foods covered. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches. Just the better stuff just be paying the “effective difference” via an upcharge. I dunno jus spitballing with this.
Oh what the hell, how come La Ronde gets to keep theirs while we have to suffer?
https://www.reddit.com/r/sixflags/s/uoPnPEfmRY
https://www.reddit.com/r/sixflags/s/uoPnPEfmRY
La Ronde isn't an Enchanted Park—not super surprised they're making a difference choice.
I guess you will need to plan a trip to the charming little park that needs paint and landscaping.
Just remember parking is no longer included with your pass (that changed before the park was sold).
SFEC already operates Frontier City and Darien Lake, which are both EPR properties but not Enchanted Parks properties, much like La Ronde. No need to change anything that would affect the dining plan at the moment.
Weird thing about that email, it says it's transitioning to an Enchanted Park when we know it isn't... Guessing the support person didn't know lol
So.. there's been emails talking about the refunds being longer than expected
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Seaon dining plan along with cheap season pass is what killed SF. (My home park of SFgAm was destroyed by people seeing it as a glorified day care) Kids are dropped off, they have a meal plan, so no food money required, then picked up late in the day. For less than $200, you get "daycare"/summer camp. FAR cheaper than paying an actual day care service, or sending kid off to summer camp. With that, you also see the problems that happen. Unruly kids running rampant. Line jumping, fights, kids spitting on park goers from elevated queues. (The Yankee Clipper and the Logger's Run queues specifically; down upon boat riders.) Not to mention the massive losses they take on the meal plans for those that use it 3/4 times per week, and at least twice a day. The whole point of cheap season pass is to increase in-park spending. It's had the opposite effect. The season pass users don't spend in park. It's the day trippers that do. Glad Enchanted is taking the approach it is, you'll see much better experience at the park. Riff raffle will decrease, because there's no way they are frequenting the park with any regularity and spending $$$$ in park to eat.
The new map came and I have ALOT of questions..
https://media.enchantedparks.com/ep-uploads/sites/9/2026/05/SFGE-26-0008-Park-Map-Guide-1.pdf
And it’s about the dining plan, they said they wiped it out, what gives?
https://media.enchantedparks.com/ep-uploads/sites/9/2026/05/SFGE-26-0008-Park-Map-Guide-1.pdf
And it’s about the dining plan, they said they wiped it out, what gives?