Back in 2019, Cedar Fair rolled out an interesting concept of Pass Perks, rewarding season passholders for visiting the parks. While the premise was cool and had potential, the implementation was abysmal.

For starters, there was no transparency for rewards. There was no way for guests to see what was required to work towards a rewards chart. The system worked on show up to your home park, and maybe in the future we will load something onto your season pass. However, what you get for visiting once could be way more interesting then those with 10 visits, if anything at all. The guest experience with Pass Perks has been anything but rewarding.

For those guests like our family, there was no additional benefits in the Pass Perks system for visiting other Cedar Fair parks.

The whole idea of rewarding guests for actually visiting and doing things like riding attractions, playing games, or buying merchandise seemed to have no real rewards associated with them.

What was worse is guests were often not even notified they received a Pass Perk. Guests had to physically log into the website to see if they earned anything, because there was no way to pull up the information in the mobile apps.

With the new apps being rolled out for 2024, the Pass Perks is possibly showing signs of improvement.

For starters, in the Wallet section of the new mobile apps, guests will now be able to pull up their Pass Perks directly. This will be a huge improvement, as most guests are not going to log into a separate website to look for the information.

Next, Cedar Fair plans to give us something aspirational to work towards.

For example, there will be a monthly rotating reward. For example, one of the options they propose is visit the park 5 times and get an additional 10% off purchases. That is interesting and could encourage additional spend when combined with existing passholder savings.

For example, Gold pass holders get 10% everyday. If a guest visited 5 times within the selected month and unlocked an additional 10% off, that means the parks could see quite an incremental spend if guests were saving 20% in total.

Another option they are toying with for monthly goals is visit 3 times and get buy one, get one ICEE. While this could be interesting for some, it really is not much of a reward for pass holders like us who already upgraded to the new Drink Plan Plus program that includes ICEE.

The key here is they are at least being open up front and disclosing what the rewards are and how to obtain them. The previous version of Pass Perks was sit and wait and maybe we will randomly send you a reward.

New Rewards

For 2024, the company is promising new rewards we have not seen before. For example, they are toying with the idea of priority show seating. Seems to be limited venues that could accommodate this, let alone it never really is much of an issue getting access to any shows, but we will see.

Overall, we are glad to see some more transparency of the Pass Perks program. It is still not the reward program we had hoped and dreamed of, but at least a step in the right direction.

September 2024 Pass Perks

All September visits will be awarded October 1.

1st Visit: 15% off games (California’s Great America Gold, Canada’s Wonderland Gold, Carowinds Gold, Cedar Point Gold, Dorney Park Gold, Kings Dominion Gold, Kings Island Gold, Valleyfair Gold, Worlds of Fun Gold)
1st Visit: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + extra 15% off merchandise (Carowinds Prestige)
1st Visit: 15% off games (Knott’s Standard or Gold)
1st Visit: 15% off games + extra 15% Merchandise (Canada’s Wonderland, Knott’s Prestige, Cedar Point Prestige, Kings Dominion Prestige, Kings Island Prestige)

2 Visits: 15% off merchandise + extra 10% off Tricks and Treats Fall Fest anywhere + $24.99 bring-a-friend ticket (California’s Great America Gold)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + Buy one, get one free hot fried chicken sandwich at Roadside Chicken + $24.99 bring-a-friend (Canada’s Wonderland Gold)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free Beaver Tail + extra 15% off merchandise + 50% off fried haunt dog at Grande World Eatery (Canada’s Wonderland Prestige)
2 Visits: 15% off games + buy one, get one 50% off Halloween dessert at Leonardo’s + $29.99 bring-a-friend (Carowinds Gold)
2 Visits: 15% off games + Extra 15% off Merchandise + $4 off basket at Leonardo’s (Carowinds Prestige)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + 15% off pumpkin spice trife at Hugo’s + $29.99 bring-a-friend (Cedar Point Gold)
2 Visits: Free regular popcorn + extra 15% off merchandise + free bowl soup at Farmhouse (Cedar Point Prestige)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + buy one, get one free funnel fries + $24.99 bring-a-friend (Dorney Park Gold)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + $2 off popcorn + $29.99 bring-a-friend (Kings Dominion Gold)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free churro sundae + extra 15% off merchandise + buy one, get one free popcorn + extra 10% Rapterra merchandise (Kings Dominion Prestige)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + buy one, get one 50% off Witches Cauldron chili + $24.99 bring-a-friend (Kings Island Gold)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free blue ice cream & spiderweb funnel cake + extra 15% off Merchandise (Kings Island Prestige)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + 10% off Spooky Farm Halloween dessert at Boardwalk BBQ (Knott’s Standard)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + 15% off Spooky Farm Halloween dessert at Boardwalk BBQ (Knott’s Gold)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one churro sundae + extra 15% off merchandise + 20% off Spooky Farm Dracula bites at Gourmet Churro (Knott’s Prestige)
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + one free popcorn + $29.99 ValleyScare bring-a-friend
2 Visits: Extra 15% off Merchandise + buy one, get one free seasonal donuts at G’rilla Grill + $19.99 bring-a-friend (Worlds of Fun Gold)

3 Visits: Buy one, get one free Tricks and Treats menu item + extra 10% off Tricks and Treats Fall Fest anywhere (California’s Great America Gold)
3 Visits: 50% off any entrée at Grande World Eatery + Buy one, get one free hot fried chicken sandwich at Roadside Chicken (Canada’s Wonderland Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off haunt funnel cake + buy one, get one 50% off Halloween dessert at Leonardo’s (Carowinds Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off haunt funnel cake + $4 off basket at Leonardo’s + free bring-a-friend & VIP lounge (Carowinds Prestige)
3 Visits: 50% off any entrée at Grande World Eatery + 50% off fried haunt dog at Grande World Eatery + free bring-a-friend ticket & VIP lounge (Canada’s Wonderland Prestige)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off funnel cake + 15% off pumpkin spice trife at Hugo’s (Cedar Point Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off funnel cake + free bowl soup at Farmhouse + free bring-a-friend & VIP lounge (Cedar Point Prestige)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one free ice cream novelty & funnel fries (Dorney Park Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + $2 off popcorn (Kings Dominion Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy & popcorn + free bring-a-friend & VIP lounge (Kings Dominion Prestige)
3 Visits: Extra 10% off Fearthe Reapers Wings + buy one, get one 50% off Witches Cauldron chili (Kings Island Gold)
3 Visits: Extra 10% off Fearthe Reapers Wings + buy one, get one free spiderweb funnel cake + free bring-a-friend ticket & VIP lounge (Kings Island Prestige)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off Scary Farm funnel cake + 10% off Spooky Farm Halloween dessert at Boardwalk BBQ (Knott’s Standard)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off Scary Farm funnel cake + 15% off Spooky Farm Halloween dessert at Boardwalk BBQ (Knott’s Gold)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off Scary Farm funnel cake + 20% off Spooky Farm Dracula bites at Gourmet Churro + free bring-a-friend ticket & VIP Lounge access (daytime only)(Knott’s Prestige)
3 Visits: Buy one, get one free Bride of Franks ice cream cone + one free popcorn (Valleyfair Gold)
3 Visits: $10.99 Monsterella Sticks at Gateway Pizza + buy one, get one free seasonal donuts at G’rilla Grill (Worlds of Fun Gold)

August 2024 Pass Perks

All August visits will be awarded September 1.

1st Visit: Drawing for buy one, get one Fast Lane/Fast Lane Plus (Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Kings Island; Knott’s)
1st Visit: Buy one, get one 50% off Timber Wolf 35th anniversary merchandise (Worlds of Fun)

2 Visits: $2 of Auntie Anne’s Pretzel; Buy one, get one 50% off ice cream sundae (Canada’s Wonderland); Buy one, get one 50% off soft serve cone (Knott’s)
3 Visits: Extra 15% off merchandise and 15% off games
4 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy (Silver/Summer passes only)
4 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + $19.99 bring-a-friend tickets (Carowinds, Cedar Point Gold passes only)
4 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + “Discount” bring-a-friend tickets (Kings Dominion, Kings Island; Knott’s Gold passes only)
4 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + FREE bring-a-friend tickets (Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun Gold passes only)(Valleyfair Gold passes only, excludes ValleyScare)
4 Visits: Buy one, get one free cotton candy + $19.99 bring-a-friend tickets (Canada’s Wonderland)(Gold passes include Haunt; Regular passes for daytime or nighttime entry)

Prestige
2 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off t-shirts
3 Visits: Buy one, get one free desserts at Grande World Eatery (Canada’s Wonderland); Buy one, get one free shakes at Central Shake (Carowinds); Buy one, get one free dessert at Hugo’s (Cedar Point); Buy one, get one free shakes at Jukebox (Kings Dominion/Kings Island); Buy one, get one free desserts at Grizzly Creek Lodge (Canada’s Wonderland)
4 Visits: Free bring-a-friend ticket; Free Haunt ticket (Canada’s Wonderland)
4 Visits: Free bring-a-friend ticket (Knott’s, not valid for Scary Farm)

In addition to the above, Haunt Pass Perks are starting to creep into the mix.

2 Visits: 15% off apple cider bundt cake (French Quarter)(Gold passes only)(Cedar Point, valid September 13-October 27)
2 Visits: $2 off Tricks or Treats Churro (Gold passes only)(Kings Dominion, valid September 21-October 27)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off Wicked Apple & Sausage Empanada (Gold passes only)(Kings Island, valid September 22-October 27)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one 50% off Dippin’ Dots Regular (Knott’s Standard passes only, valid September 26-October 31 during Spooky Farm only)
2 Visits: 50% off Dippin’ Dots Regular (Knott’s Gold passes only, valid September 26-October 31 during Spooky Farm only)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free mini donuts (Gold passes only)(Valleyfair, valid September 28-October 27)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free Gooey Butter Cake (River City Grill)(Gold passes only)(Worlds of Fun, valid September 14-October 27)

Prestige
2 Visits: Free fresh cut fries with purchase of a Fire on a Stick Fried Cheese (Cedar Point, valid September 13-October 27)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one Tricks or Treats Churro (Kings Dominion, valid September 21-October 27)
2 Visits: Buy one, get one free Pumpkin Beignets (Gold passes only)(Kings Island, valid September 22-October 27)
2 Visits: 50% off Dippin’ Dots Regular (Knott’s Prestige passes only, valid September 26-October 31 during Spooky Farm only)

July 2024 Pass Perks

All July visits will be awarded August 1.

Kings Dominion will be hosting a late Food & Wine Festival in August. To incentivize guests to come to the event, they are allowing passholders who visit in July the chance to earn discounts.

Kings Dominion Exclusive Pass Perks

To qualify, passholders must visit four or more times in July.
Silver Pass- $2 off Fondue for two
Gold Pass- $3 off Bakers Basket
Prestige Pass- $4 off Charcuterie for two

1st Visit: Drawing for free small fudge. (Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Kings Island, Knott’s)

2 Visits= Buy one, get one free Coasters shake (Canada’s Wonderland, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Knott’s, Valleyfair); BOGO hot dog (California’s Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Kings Island, Worlds of Fun)
3 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise
4 Visits= Extra 10% off at Pier 76 or Maggie Brown’s (California’s Great America); Extra 10% off at World Grand Eatery or Lazy Bear Lodge (Canada’s Wonderland); Extra 10% off at Leonardo’s or Blue Ridge Country Kitchen (Carowinds); extra 10% off at Grand Pavilion, Hugo’s, Crystal Rock Café, or Miss Keat’s (Cedar Point); extra 10% off at Tidal Wave Café (Dorney Park); extra 10% off at Grand & Grill, Island Smokehouse, or Jukebox (Kings Island); Extra 10% off at Boardwalk BBQ or Grizzly Lodge (Knott’s); Extra 10% off at Lucky Loon (Valleyfair); Extra 10% off at River City Grill (Worlds of Fun)

Prestige
2 Visits= BOGO dessert at Lazy Bear Lodge (Canada’s Wonderland); BOGO dessert at Leonardo’s (Carowinds); BOGO dessert at Crystal Rock Café or Grand Pavilion (Cedar Point); BOGO dessert at Jungle Market Eatery (Kings Dominion; Extra 10% off desserts at Coney BBQ or Island Smokehouse (Kings Island); BOGO dessert at Prop Shop Pizza (Knott’s)
3 Visits= $4 off large Dippin’ Dots (Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kinds Island)
4 Visits= Extra 15% off merch and 15% off games (Canada’s Wonderland); Free regular popcorn (Carowinds, Cedar Point, Knott’s); BOGO blue ice cream (Kings Island)

June 2024 Pass Perks

All June visits will be awarded July 1.

1st Visit: Drawing for free ICEE (Canada’s Wonderland, Cedar Point, Knott’s); Drawing for free soft serve ice cream cone (Carowinds); Drawing for Grand Carnivale menu item of choice (Kings Dominion, Kings Island)

2 Visits= 15% off midway games
3 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise
4 Visits= 1 free bring-a-friend ticket

Prestige
2 Visits= BOGO keychain
3 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise
4 Visits= $4 off two scoop ice cream waffle cone; $4 off shake (Carowinds)

May 2024 Pass Perks

All parks are now open and the Pass Perks are as follows.

California’s Great America, Valleyfair

2 Visits= $2 off Auntie Anne’s pretzel
3 Visits= $3 off Fresh Cut Fries
4 Visits= BOGO keychain

Canada’s Wonderland

1 Visit= get entered into a “mystery bonus perk”
2 Visits= Buy one, get one 50% off sundae
3 Visits= $3 off Fresh Cut Fries
4 Visits= BOGO keychain

Prestige
2 Visits= $4 off pretzel
3 Visits= $4 off Large Dippin’ Dots
4 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise + 15% off games

Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Kings Island

1 Visit= get entered into a “mystery bonus perk”
2 Visits= $2 off Auntie Anne’s pretzel
3 Visits= $3 off Fresh Cut Fries
4 Visits= BOGO keychain

Prestige
2 Visits= $4 off pretzel
3 Visits= $4 off Large Dippin’ Dots
4 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise + 15% off games

Dorney Park

2 Visits= $2 off Auntie Anne’s pretzel
3 Visits= $3 off Fresh Cut Fries
4 Visits= BOGO keychain + $19.99 Bring-a-Friend Tickets

Knott’s

1 Visit= get entered into a “mystery bonus perk”
2 Visits= Buy one, get one 50% off soft serve cone
3 Visits= Buy one, get one 50% off popcorn
4 Visits= BOGO keychain

Worlds of Fun

2 Visits= $2 off Auntie Anne’s pretzel
3 Visits= Buy one, get one 50% off popcorn
4 Visits= BOGO keychain

Prestige
2 Visits= $4 off pretzel
3 Visits= $4 off Large Dippin’ Dots
4 Visits= Extra 15% off merchandise + 15% off games

April 2024 Pass Perks

Several Cedar Fair parks are open and the first of the Pass Perks have rolled out.

Current open parks include California’s Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Knott’s Berry Farm.

All rewards will be available in the app starting May 1 if you earned them in April.

Visit once, get entered into a “mystery bonus perk.”

Visit twice, get BOGO 50% off popcorn (Knott’s, KD) or pretzel (Carowinds, CGA).

Visit 3 times, get 15% of merchandise.

Visit 4 times and get one free bring-a-friend ticket.

In addition, Prestige passholders get the following perks.

Two visits gets 15% off midway games.

Three visits get BOGO free popcorn (Knott’s) or extra 10% off food & beverage at Leonardo’s (Carowinds) or extra 10% off food & beverage at Outpost Cafe/Grain & Grill (Kings Dominion).

The fourth visit gets extra 15% off merchandise + 15% off games.

What are your thoughts on the new and improved Pass Perks program?

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