It was recently asked of us whether we thought Cedar Point could benefit from introducing a Gold season pass? Before we get into the merits of a Gold level pass, we should look at what Cedar Point currently offers to guests.

Cedar Point currently sells a Regular and Platinum pass program.

A Regular Cedar Point season pass is currently $149.
A Platinum season pass is currently $222.

Parking, which is not included with the Regular season pass, is an additional $20 per visit.

Without pointing out every single difference in the benefits of Regular Cedar Point vs Platinum passes, the major reasons to upgrade to Platinum is free parking, early entry, and access to all Cedar Fair parks including the separately ticketed Cedar Point Shores.

Right now a family visiting Cedar Point has to make some decisions on what benefits they will utilize with a season pass.

– Will they visit another Cedar Fair property? This includes Cedar Point Shores.
– How many times do they plan on visiting? At $20 parking each visit, this makes it worth it to upgrade to Platinum if you plan on visiting the park more than 3 times per season.

All the other benefits of Platinum over a Regular pass are ancillary, and in our opinion, not necessarily an influencing factor for many on which program to purchase.

What does Gold get you?

So how could the season passes offered at Cedar Point be different if a Gold level program was introduced?

Lets take a look at the Kings Island season pass model, which offers a Regular, Gold, and Platinum level system.

A Regular Kings Island season pass is currently $128.
A Gold Kings Island season pass was ~$136 before they stop selling it July 7, 2019.
A Platinum season pass is currently $222.

The Gold pass program for Kings Island is priced really weird, because if you purchased it lets say back in April 2019, it was only $115, which was cheaper than the $120 regular pass. Then in June the price was $136 when the regular pass was $126.

The general gist between a Regular, Gold, and Platinum pass program is:

– Regular pass get you minimal benefits with park admission to Kings Island and Soak City until Labor Day (does not include Haunt or Winterfest)
– Gold pass get you unlimited visits and parking all season including Haunt and Winterfest
– Platinum passes give you unlimited visits and parking all season including Haunt and Winterfest plus access to all Cedar Fair parks

The Cedar Point Gold Standard

There has been lots of discussion in the last year that perhaps Cedar Fair should consider switching to an annual pass program instead of the current season pass business model. As much as it makes total logical sense, evidence seems to be pointing to this not happening for the 2020 season. The company just is not ready to make the switch yet when so many parks operate seasonally.

So what if Cedar Point adds a Gold pass option?

The big question is how will Cedar Point handle the separately ticketed Cedar Point Shores park? If a Gold pass is introduced, they will more then likely add the additional benefit of the waterpark to make it worth while for the guest.

Looking at the Knott’s Berry Farm and separately ticketed Knott’s Soak City, the regular season pass does not include the waterpark, but the Gold (and Platinum) pass does, making it logical sense Cedar Point will follow suit.

We would presume the Gold pass at Cedar Point would also include free parking like it does at Kings Island. We foresee no reason why Cedar Point would follow suit with Knott’s Berry Farm, who makes you upgrade to Platinum for free parking.

One of the biggest items we foresee being evaluated is HalloWeekends should a new Gold pass be introduced. Several Cedar Fair parks offer their Halloween Haunt events as a separately ticketed event (i.e. Knott’s Scary Farm; Canada’s Wonderland Haunt is a separate ticketed event except new for 2019, it will be included with a Platinum pass). So we could see HalloWeekends turn into a separately ticketed event with only Platinum passholders getting free admission.

We would also like to see an enhancement for the Platinum passes in-park discount. Knott’s Berry Farm is the only one that offers 20% off on most items, where as all the other parks offer 10%. This should be increased to 20% across the board for a Platinum pass, 10% for Regular and Gold passes.

Conclusion

At an approximate $20-30 up-charge to go from a regular season pass to a Gold season pass, there is an excellent value proposition for the customer to upgrade should it include the additional gate entry to Cedar Point Shores and free parking. Come to a park one time and pay the $20 parking fee, and you have come close to covering the cost of the upgrade.

You could see a lot more families with Gold passes in the park if it meant getting full season entry and parking for approximately $70-100 less than a Platinum pass. I think those of us with a Platinum pass still value free access to all the Cedar Fair parks, making it a worthwhile investment, but we guess it might not be a huge benefit the majority of guests value.

The question is if Cedar Point were to introduce a Gold pass, would they see a spike in season passholders, and possibly a drop in Platinum passes? We have to imagine not a huge percentage of passholders use the free parking and admission to other parks associated with a Platinum pass. So that is why they could see a significant decrease in Platinum, offset by all the new Gold passes.

Should season passes spike with a Gold membership, it would be interesting to see how Cedar Point copes with the additional attendance. In general, Cedar Point has a very low season passholder rate relative to other Cedar Fair parks with the majority of guests visiting purchasing daily tickets.

What the Gold pass could theoretically do is increase the early season attendance in May and June. With weather being a major factor early in the season, those with a season pass have no problem coming for a couple hours versus having to spend money on daily tickets with the potential of rain or cold.

If Cedar Point were to introduce a Gold pass option, would you buy it/switch? And what benefits would you like to see associated with the Gold pass?

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