Which one is the better deal for a season pass: Cedar Fair or Six Flags ?

[acer510]

I don't know if this has been dicussed on RRC or not so I'm asking
for your opinions. A Six Flags season pass is around $65 and it gets
you into all Six Flags parks(except separate-gate water parks,Six
Flags Wild Safari and Six Flags Great Escape Lodge and Indoor
Waterpark). A Cedar Fair Platinum pass costs around $180 and gets
you into all Cedar Fair parks or outdoor waterparks. For this $180 you
also get free parking at all parks under the Cedar Fair name. With the
Six Flags pass you have to pay extra for a season-long parking pass
and it is only good for free parking at the park where the parking
pass was purchased. With a Six Flags season pass you get a book of
coupons which allows you to bring a friend or Mom or Dad for free or
at a substantial discount on certain days plus assorted discounts on
park food or merchandise. There used to be a coupon in the book that
allowed you to bring a friend to ANY OTHER Six Flags park for free or
nearly free but that was discontinued. The Six Flags pass doesn't
allow you early entry into the park before the GP or does it ? With
the Six Flags season pass you get a 15% discount on gift shop
purchases
but not on food purchases.
I'm not sure if you get discounts on gift shop or food purchases
with the CF Platinum Pass. You do get free parking at all Cedar Fair
parks so that has potential to save you $$$ if you go frequently in
one season. At Kings Island you get early entry into a portion of the
park before the GP comes in. Do you get early entry at other Cedar
Fair parks and if so,on what rides ? With the CF Platinum Pass you
don't get to bring your friends or relatives at a reduced price on
certain days or do you ? These are some of the details of the two
passes that I am aware of. Please enlighten me on other perks that I
may have missed between the two season passes and chime in on the
original question....Which is the BETTER deal ? Thanks for your help.


Jim

[GodsOnSafari]

> Please enlighten me on other perks that I
> may have missed between the two season passes and chime in on the
> original question....Which is the BETTER deal ?  Thanks for your help.

The better deal depends on usage. A Six Flags season pass at $65 is a
helluva deal if you plan on visiting, say, 4-5 Six Flags parks for a
single day each. I know they'll do some ERTs for their season pass
holders too IIRC. You don't get as much, but if you're not planning to
go as much, then it doesn't matter.

Cedar Fair's passes include parking chain wide, which for me is a big
deal. This weekend I'll pop into Kings Island in the evening and the
next morning, and why not? I don't have to spend $10/12/15 each time
to park my car. Same with when I go to Canada's Wonderland later in
the year. It encourages me to visit more, even if it is for short
periods, because the "penalty" of paying a parking fee disappears.
That means I'll probably go through the gates 3-4 more times this
year, which also means I'm being "admitted" to the park similarly. It
changes my visiting habits to something I like more. They do early
entry at a good number of the parks - Kings Island and Cedar Point
have a full hour every day, Canada's Wonderland has sections set up
for an hour on select days, and most of the other parks allow entry
anywhere between 10-30 minutes early (as well as early entry to water
parks; big given the capacity of slides).

But again, the value for CF Platinum passes there is determined by
your habits as a visitor. Do you really only want to spend a day at
Kings Dominion if you're planning a trip? Then maybe it isn't a great
value. Maybe you have other things lined up in the area and you plan
on making stops over the course of 2-3 days there? Well, then its
better.

[Dave Althoff Jr.]

GodsOnSafari <godson...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The better deal depends on usage. A Six Flags season pass at $65 is a
> helluva deal if you plan on visiting, say, 4-5 Six Flags parks for a
> single day each. I know they'll do some ERTs for their season pass
> holders too IIRC. You don't get as much, but if you're not planning to
> go as much, then it doesn't matter.

There's the big point! I haven't had a Six Flags pass in a few years,
as I don't often make it to Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis or Jackson. But
Cedar Point and Kings Island are mere day trips for me, with Kings
Dominion and Carowinds not outrageously out of the way. With the loss
(to Six Flags) of Kentucky Kingdom, Wyandot Lake, Geauga Lake, and
Darien Lake, the Six Flags brand has reverted, in this part of the
country, to something rather distant! This is Cedar Fair territory.

> Cedar Fair's passes include parking chain wide, which for me is a big
> deal. This weekend I'll pop into Kings Island in the evening and the
> next morning, and why not? I don't have to spend $10/12/15 each time
> to park my car. Same with when I go to Canada's Wonderland later in
> the year. It encourages me to visit more, even if it is for short
> periods, because the "penalty" of paying a parking fee disappears.
> That means I'll probably go through the gates 3-4 more times this
> year, which also means I'm being "admitted" to the park similarly. It

> changes my visiting habits to something I like more. (...)

This. I really don't understand parks' insistence on the Parking
Penalty. Do they really know for certain that they wouldn't generate
more revenue from more visits by rolling the parking fee into the ticket
or pass price, particularly for season pass holders?

-- Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.

[skiguy777]

>
> This. I really don't understand parks' insistence on the Parking
> Penalty. Do they really know for certain that they wouldn't generate
> more revenue from more visits by rolling the parking fee into the ticket
> or pass price, particularly for season pass holders?
>
> -- Dave Althoff, Jr.

Depends on where you're going and how often. Parking played a huge part in my Richmond trip planning. I'm staying at a hotel near BGW that's on the public bus line. Don't have to pay to park at BGW, will visit that park 3 times, thus a fun card.

I will have to pay to park at KD, unless I say screw it and park at the BW or the hotels across the street. This also means I'm only going to KD for 1 day, so it was a single day ticket.

Flying to the ATL for a visit to SFoG, single day ticket, using public transportation (rail and bus) to get from the airport to the park, no rental car needed.

If I paid to park for all these visits, it would come out to $75. Forget that.

I do the same thing when visiting BGT. I park at the Publix 2 miles down the road and take the bus.

If any of you are still visiting Universal Orlando, you can park in the TGIFridays lot on Kirkman road and walk into the parking garage. Just means a longer walk and crossing traffic.

Now this doesn't work if you take a family of 4, because then you'd be paying $2 for each person, times 2, so you'd pay about the same to ride public transportation as the parking fee. But it works great for a single person.

I can see buying a CF pass if flying into Columbus, and visiting CP and KI. That will happen in a couple years when I go there for the new winged coaster. Otherwise the single day tickets are fine if you're not going to any other parks in that chain for the year.