News SeaWorld Paywalls Santa Claus (Reverted!)

[Zachary]

This is seriously beyond parody at this point. Imagine running a Christmas event where kids have to get their parents to pay $20 for 5 minutes with Santa. I hope they have a big countdown timer on the wall and someone comes in and tells you to get out right at the 5 min mark. Literal Corp.

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[tursiops]

That's pretty low. They already make money on photos and trinkets.

 

[sotomexx]

For $20 he better be in the Wild Arctic area where they give you coats to wear for an authentic North Pole experience.

 

[Zachary]

Even ignoring that this is yet another bait and switch upcharge designed to corner people into unexpected in-park spending once they arrive at a Christmas event and find that Santa isn't included, doesn't this just seem like a generally awful business decision...? Wouldn't they be likely to make more money selling line skipping and overpriced photo packages to a dramatically larger pool of guests...?

Maybe I'm underestimating the demand and this Santa will actually be booked solid...? But even if that's the case, aren't they still leaving money on the table by not offering a general audiences Santa too...?

 

[rswashdc]

Is this including photos in the price. Usually even minimum packages are more than $20.

 

[MakoMania]

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[Zachary]

Can't say I buy that this was just some miscommunication. Multiple parts of the website all said the same thing—reservations were required to meet Santa.

I'm glad that they're changing direction, but I don't believe for a second that a 100% upcharge wasn't the plan before the outcry.

 

[harry580]

oh, I just miss it, I was going to make a EA satire here but oh well

 

[Thomas]

You need to get the Santa Claus DLC preorder bonus.

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Geez, another wild move from PRKS. I'm glad the backlash has been effective at getting most of these reversed so far, but it's truly baffling that someone in the company continues to push these awful business moves thinking one of them will eventually stick.

 

[GAcoaster]

I really don't think this was a reversal-- seem like more of a mistake in the text for the website.