We love getting your questions! Often times when asked on social media, the question can be answered in a sentence or two. Other times, your question is the perfect idea for a new article.
Today, Jason writes in and asks how many times would he need to use an all-season dining plan to make it worth the cost?
All-Season dining plans vary in price depending on when you purchase them in the season, and even vary per park with the exception of Platinum dining. At the end of 2015 when 2016 season passes became available, the All-Season dining plan at Cedar Point was $87 for regular season passholders and $99 for Platinum members. Today (June 2021) they are $132 (Gold and Platinum dining plans) at Cedar Point. Keep in mind each individual park offers different price points of dining plans based on their level of season passes. The only exception is the Platinum dining plan is the same at all Cedar Fair parks. While prices CAN increase more as the season goes on, keep in mind it is always better to buy earlier than later to save the most money and to use the plan more often.
Now onto meal plan options. All-Season dining plans do not include a drink. On average, dining plan meal options without the drink cost roughly $8-15. So for calculation purposes, let’s go with $10 for a dining plan meal.
Using the meal plan pricing, that means your average break even point is roughly 9-17 meals. At two meals per day (4 hours apart), within 5-9 visits your dining plan will break even.
These calculations do not include the 10-20% Platinum pass food discount available at the parks for use when purchasing food outside of a meal plan. If you factor in the Platinum discount, your breakeven point goes up to 10-19 meals dependent on the park discount and food selected.
So before buying the All-Season dining plans, you definitely need to consider how many times you will be going to the parks.
Our home park is Cedar Point, and before they had even opened, we had already used our passes for several days at each of Knott’s Berry Farm, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Kings Island. By the time the GateKeeper started to fly, we were already ahead of the game, especially considering we renewed and purchased our All-Season dining plans in the fall at the lowest price point.
All of this is also assuming you already planned on eating at the park and paying a higher premium for food. If you consider that a meal may only cost the park a couple dollars in time and material and you could pack a lunch and keep it in your vehicle for the same amount, than the dining plans may not be for you.
For us and the many that do purchase All-Season dining plans, the little bit of up-front cost far outweighs the time and effort that would be required to always pack a picnic and then having to walk all the way back to the vehicle. When you already pay money to get into the parks, time is money and the hour that it takes to walk back, eat, and then walk back in could have been an extra ride or two on your favorite attractions.
All-Season dining plans are also a good “excuse” to not make dinner. On nights where you feel tired and do not have the energy to cook, making a trip to your park knowing that dinner is already waiting for you is a fantastic motivator.
So, Is All-Season Dining Worth the Cost?
Do you have more questions about dining at your favorite Cedar Fair parks? Drop us a note on Facebook or Twitter, or use our convenient contact form. We are here to help and love getting your questions!
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While I do not have the season dining pass with Cedar Fair, as I don’t go to Knott’s af often, and I have a thing for the Fried Chicken when I do go, I do have it for Six Flags, and I estimate I have already used it about 30 times since I got it in September, (good until the end of 2016) so YES they are a great buy!
With three in the family and living only 5-10 minutes from the park, we have gotten tremendous value from our 2016 season meal plans at Cedar Point and (like the blog post suggested) we often ate evening meals at the park over the summer rather than cooking in a hot kitchen or dining at a local restaurant. A few drawbacks though are the lack of food plan menu options at some food locations and discrepancies on the same items at different locations —> The walking taco on the main midway is on the meal plan. The exact same walking taco for sale back by Frontier Town is not.
I live 15 minutes from KD, so the dining plan is a no-brainer. I grab lunch and dinner from there almost every day that they’re open, except on super busy days. Those days aren’t worth the hassles. But on slow days, I can make it to Panda Express or Border Burrito and back to my car in less than 10 minutes.
This is the best deal at Knotts. The hardest part is deciding which 2 meals to eat that day. The prices are really high without the meal plan. When it’s prepaid you are eating for pennies a day. I love the ribs! There are salads and sandwiches and giant turkey drumsticks. The meal plan will keep you coming back for more.