Gavin pid=91320 dateline=1391229485 said:
Sure there’s Colossal Curl now, but with the park’s horrid marketing team, who’s to say that’s enough? If your job is on the line would you take that risk, or would you do everything you could think of to make sure you aren't shown the door.
What if this isn't actually an example of the park's marketing team being horrible and is, in fact, all planned? Think about it for a minute- money had to be sat aside for Colossal Curl marketing, right? The ride itself isn't actually that expensive all things considered. Has anyone seen a dime of that theoretical marketing budget actually put to use
anywhere? What if the vast majority of that money is being funneled into this promotion? There's no way this isn't a pricey deal for the park to be running- I imagine they have to make up that difference on their books somehow. Why would they op for this vs traditional marketing you ask? I think Gavin hit the nail on the head: The park doesn't want to take the risk. They could advertise Colossal Curl to the masses and hope that it draws people but at the end of the day, that is still a gamble. Giving anyone who buys a BGW fun card (which there are plenty of those people) free admission to WCUSA translates to a more or less guaranteed notable increase in attendance and then use Colossal Curl's marketing budget (likely provided straight from corporate) and maybe even the price increase on 2 park passes to fill the hole in the books.
Basically, I think Gavin is spot-on with his reasoning but I don't know that's it's anywhere near as desperate of a move as he theorizes- it seems much more calculated than that. This isn't going to help Water Country USA at all. This isn't going to help Busch Gardens Williamsburg at all either. This is simply a sure-fire way to bring a higher number on a spreadsheet to SEAS Corporate and its shareholders. Unfortunately, in the long run, this just further damages the park. As they continue to devalue their product in the eyes of the consumer, the amount people will be willing to pay for said product will continue to fall. Partnered with the decreasing quality of in-park experiences, that free-fall will continue to quicken. The park is digging a hole with these promotions. The only way they've found to get people into the gates the past few seasons has been with absurd deals like this one. That's an extremely dangerous precedent to set and they've been at it for years now.
If you watched the park's Facebook page during Christmas Town, I'm sure you saw the many posts by people who were angry that the park wasn't offering $5 tickets this year. Many of them said that since $5 tickets weren't being offered, they simply wouldn't attend the event this year. This is what happens when the park perpetually undersells itself. People associate the current level of quality with the price being offered. Christmas Town is a fantastic event- a fantastic event that was sold to people over and over again for the laughable price of $5. In the mind of the general consumer, that makes the Christmas Town experience they had
worth $5. Who can blame them for not wanting to pay
six times more for the same (or even a worse) experience? I know I sure can't. This is what's going to happen to Water Country passes. After getting it for free this year, who would want to pay a ton more for it next year,
especially when Water Country USA isn't going to have a new notable attraction next season? Spoiler: No one.