Paul's Comments

I've never really understood the idea of amusement parks that sell season tickets - unlimited access passes - where they increase the price of the pass after a certain date, as if having less time to use it somehow makes it more valuable. This practice is being done by both major amusement park operators in the area, Six Flags - which has a park right here in Prince George's County - and Kings Dominion, which is in Doswell, Virginia, about 15 miles north of Richmond.

The only thing I can figure is I'm missing the point and the pass is being sold before the park opens for the season. Then that would make some sense, I suppose. But I wonder how many people actually get full use out of a season pass.

I guess I haven't been to an amusement park in a long time - when you're wheelchair bound you don't have much use for one - as I was surprised at the prices.

King's Dominion: I've been there twice, I think, ironically it was owned by Six Flags then. (Wikipedia does not say that it was owned by Six Flags but I believe I remember it was called "Six Flags Kings Dominion" at one point.)

I think Paramount - the movie studio - owned it at one time. (This is correct.) I saw it long before I went there when it was one of the targets in the George Segal and Richard Widmark movie Rollercoaster.

A one-day pass is $56.99; a two-day pass is $59.99. This does not include parking, which is $10. However they have some wierd specials. If you buy a "picnic in the park" for which "Your menu will include an all-you-can-eat buffet of crispy fried chicken, PLUS quarter-pound USDA choice beef hamburgers and all-meat hot dogs, homemade baked beans, potato salad, assorted frozen desserts, Coca-Cola® and iced tea, condiments and toppings, rolls and butter," this includes park admission for $48.99. If you already have admission - say you have a pass - you can buy this for $15.99, which considering it's in the amusement park - where prices for everything are much higher, it's a captive audience - this isn't bad. I mean, I can drop $8 for breakfast at McDonalds ("the food that almost killed Morgan Spurlock") and all I get for that is two steak, egg, and cheese bagels and two chocolate milk. Yeah, I'm sure the steak, egg, and cheese bagel is horribly bad for me. But it's soooooo tasty!

You can also buy a specific admission date online for $33.99. Now, the season ("value") pass is $79.99, or $69.99 for four or more passes bought at the same time (and you have to give the person's name for the pass.) A "VIP" pass, which includes parking, is $94.99 (or $84.99 four or more). A "platinum" pass is $160 ($150 four or more) which is the same as a VIP pass, plus grants admission to all Cedar Fair parks during the 2010 season.

VIP admission gets some interesting benefits: a special VIP parking area for the first 500 cars and admission 10 minutes earlier than the regular start time through a special entrance, plus a $25.00 discount on a second guest for their ticket (one person per pass).

For the Platinum Pass, it includes all that plus admission to the other 10 or so parks it operates in the U.S. and Canada and free parking at any of them. Oh, the same company operates Knott's Berry Farm in California. I went there once and used to transfer at the bus stop there occasionally when I worked just outside of Orange County, and it was faster in some cases to go through OC to get to my job than to go north and east through Los Angeles County.

The numbers indicate that the "break even" point is at or slightly over two visits, considering the cheapest admission is a web booking at $34, vs a value pass at $80. (Or $70 for four or more.) But a two-day pass, as I pointed out earlier (you don't have to use it on two consecutive days) is $60. So I come to to the conclusion that the season pass requires you to use it three times to make it worthwhile. So three visits is $80/70, but the parking is another $30, meaning the three trips cost $110, so for one person, if they are going to go three or more times, buying the $94.99 VIP pass makes more sense. Now, if you had, say, five or more people going, one buys a VIP pass (to get the free parking), and the others get a Value pass at $70 as opposed to paying $85 each. But if you had only four people planning to go three times, "Value" at $70x4+30 parking= $310, 4 "VIP" at 85x4=$340, vs 1 VIP + 3 "value" is 95+240 or $335. So if you want you can slice-and-dice these for some interesting figures; basically a four-person party might as well buy the VIP pass for everyone as the difference is only $5. Over 3 visits and the VIP pass does make more sense.

Six Flags: I mostly remember them for the commercials with a creepy old bald guy that does wierd dances and travels around in a 1960's-style transit bus (the kind with an eggshell-type curved rear and two windows in the back, like a school bus).

Six Flags sells a season pass (to Six Flags America, here in PG County) for $49.99, at a $20 discount from the list price, and the same price as a one-day admission. (That's the "at the park" price. Some of their locations - Atlanta for one - offer discounted one-day tickets.)

What's weird is the season pass for Magic Mountain, which is in Valencia, California (Six Flags' website calls it "Los Angeles" which is off by about 50 miles), is $54.99, even though the pass is good at all 14 Six Flags parks (same as the one issued at Six Flags America). The Chicago park pass is even more expensive at $64.99, or $10 more than regular admission there. The one for Lake George, NY is $69.99. So it seems to make sense in some places to buy it for a different (less expensive) park then use it at the more expensive one. This one or the one in Atlanta are the same price. Parking is $15, but after 3 visits you get a voucher good for free parking. They mention you can get a season parking pass for $45, or $60 for two cars. Not sure if it's for one park or can be used at more than one.

Basically, it seems that for both companies, the season pass tends to be directed toward people doing at least three visits during the season. Except that where the pass is the same price as a single ticket, you might as well buy the pass, even if you never use it again that season.

So anyway, a single visit to an amusement park can be expensive but those who do want to go more than once will find multiple visits cheaper.

But unless you're a rollercoaster junkie or you're planning to go out to the amusement park every weekend I think most people probably don't get full use of a season pass.

I remember when our family (me, mother and my brother and sister) went to Colonial Williamsburg, which isn't an amusement park - it's a "snapshot" of history during the period near the American Revolution, the 16th century - but the same idea applies. There are some things you can see for free but to see everything requires a paid admission. I think, then - about 1993 or so - it was like $29 per person or $34 for a season pass, or the ticket was a season pass, I forget. My mother - as bad a messy cheapskate as I am, she's an even worse cheapskate than I am - gasped at the price. Well, seriously, I'd just spent two 1/2 hours driving there, I wasn't about to turn around and go back, and besides that, I didn't expect to get in for free. We did end up visiting a second time so the tickets were worth the extra fee (if there was an extra fee for an upgrade.)

I remember when I and my mother visited on the second visit, and I had to visit the restroom, and I went back to find her, and asked one of the cast members - I know that's a term Disney uses for its employees in uniform or costume but it still fits - if he had seen an older woman, giving him a general description of my mother. He pointed off in a specific direction, and said, "oh yes, I saw your wife over there."

I had a thing about a bus pass but I'll do that in another article.