ajfelice Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 After a search of the forums, I have found little discussion on a topic that I believe is something that we will start to see more of. Dynamic Pricing in the simplest of definitions is charging more for a product or service when the demand is higher, and charging less to stimulate demand when sales are slower. It is obvious that park attendance varies considerably on Weekends versus Weekdays, and the time of year as Halloween Events are taking the industry by storm. My favorite example that comes from experience is the Columbus Day Weekend fiasco at Cedar Point. For the non-seasonal parks, it appears to be night and day when it comes to the typical school months where the holidays and breaks seem to give parks a healthy bump. With park attendance generally seeing an uptick across the industry, and the contrast from peak attendance days to lower attendance days becoming more pronounced, do you think it is time to price those huge days accordingly to attempt to control these massive crowds? I look at other industries who seem to do well with this pricing structure like skiing, movie theaters, and sporting events. Heck, many indoor water parks have been all over this strategy for awhile. So I have been wondering if it is time to look at this for many Amusement/Theme Parks. Or are the line skipping/reducing systems enough to dynamically price a visit based on crowds? Of course we will never see a flat attendance comparing Weekends to Weekdays and busy times to slow times, but should parks try to at least reduce the attendance variability? I personally see pros and cons to both sides of the debate, and I think this could be a very insightful discussion considering how the offseason has hit many of us hard with cold and boredom with a harsh winter.
A.J. Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 I'm kind of okay with dynamic pricing. But if you book something in advance, the price that you pay should be final even if the park decides to charge more for admission after you've already booked your stay.
ajfelice Posted March 10, 2014 Author Posted March 10, 2014 Right, I would never want to see a park be sneaky like an airline when it comes to pricing. What I was considering is having it posted well in advance what the price of admission/parking would be for certain days. For example, after July 15th all Saturdays will be X amount of dollars for admission, Saturdays in September in October for Halloween event would be X dollars, and so on and so forth.
YoshiFan Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 It wouldn't bother me if they raised prices on peak days. I will never go to a park on a summer weekend or a Saturday when there is a Halloween event running at the park since I have seen enough pictures of those Saturday's and I'd rather not be at a park than stand in 2+ hour lines for a coaster.
WFChris Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 My friend and I rode the Dive Devil at SFMM for $25 total...and they let us ride twice. It was dead in the park, and I believe this price indeed reflected that.
kidcoaster 2 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 My friend and I rode the Dive Devil at SFMM for $25 total...and they let us ride twice. It was dead in the park, and I believe this price indeed reflected that. This is what King's Island does for their Skycoaster. The price changes every hour based on the rides popularity.
simon8899 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 Honestly dynamic pricing would not impact me. On my home parks I always try to visit on slower days - may them be due to offseason or playing the weather gamble on forecasted showery day - I would profit from it. While traveling I hit the parks anyhow and would not care if the prices are higher.
theymitbgi Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 Wouldn't it all depend on the park? Some park are "destination" parks, while other are "local" parks? With most "local" parks having a majority of guests owning season passes? How would dynamic pricing affect season passes? Locally, I know the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team uses dynamic pricing. They have tickets as low as $5 for a weeknight game against an unpopular team, but bring the cubs in for Memorial Day weekend series and prices will be well above average. I think this makes perfect sense, simple law of supply and demand. I guess there is a fine line between dynamic pricing and price gouging though. What if the price of a hot chocolate or coffee went up on a cold day and the price of a slushie dropped? Would that be okay too?
CoasterGuy06 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 How would dynamic pricing affect season passes? You are starting to somewhat see this at some parks. Halloween Haunt is the busiest time of year at Kings Island, but a regular season pass does not give you admissions during it, while gold/platinum passes do give you admission. Walt Disney World also offers discounted season passes to local residents, but they only grant admission during the "slower" times of the year.
piedude81 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 How would dynamic pricing affect season passes? You are starting to somewhat see this at some parks. Halloween Haunt is the busiest time of year at Kings Island, but a regular season pass does not give you admissions during it, while gold/platinum passes do give you admission. Walt Disney World also offers discounted season passes to local residents, but they only grant admission during the "slower" times of the year. I don't think local residents would even want to go during peak times considering how crowded the parks can become.
larrygator Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 How would dynamic pricing affect season passes? You are starting to somewhat see this at some parks. Halloween Haunt is the busiest time of year at Kings Island, but a regular season pass does not give you admissions during it, while gold/platinum passes do give you admission. Walt Disney World also offers discounted season passes to local residents, but they only grant admission during the "slower" times of the year. I don't think local residents would even want to go during peak times considering how crowded the parks can become. Not all locals are informed and/or don't plan ahead.
milst1 Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 I've actually given a talk at IAAPA for the last three years on exactly this topic. The only park that actually tried true DP was Slagharen, but Parques Reunidos killed the program when they took over. I work with Pricetag.nl and you can check out their video on their site. Finally, Indy Zoo is trying real DP this year. Check out their ticketing site and you'll see what it's like. I'd like to add more now but it's almost bedtime!
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 All I know is that when I see "DP" I think of something VERY different! --Robb "Urban Dictionary." Alvey
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) Q: How do you see DP going over at this park? A: Well, pretty damn good especially if your clientele is prostitutes and horny males! Edited March 19, 2014 by robbalvey
AndrewRnR Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Perhaps since I work in revenue management (not in theme park industry), a dept responsible for dynamic pricing, I'm bias but here's my thoughts. I think the theme park industry is late to the game - restaurants, hotels, airlines, entertainment - everyone else in the greater hospitality industry already does it. I actually was part of a discussion on the subject within IAAPA and most people in the industry HATED the idea with a passion because it could upset guests - makes sense since they are so guest focused. The truth is the larger parks (read: Disney and Universal) already are on-board and Cedar Fair has announced they are bringing on a team to support dynamic pricing. It doesn't have to be pricing changing by the hour but there is several other ways to approach the topic. My favorite example to use is Halloween events. For example, Cedar Point charges the same price for a day in May when they are open 10-8 as they do for a 12-12 day in October which has a parade, fright zones and many haunted houses. Why aren't you charging more for that? (To be fair, CP have started doing some price increases after Labor Day - but still you get my point). So much more is being offered - why not charge more! As others mentioned sports teams now charge more when a big name team comes to town - why not charge more for high demand days? At the same time - as previously mentioned - parks have attendance limits and dynamic pricing can be used to curve that. Again, using the CP example the Saturdays of Halloweekends are known to push the park to the limits - clearly guests aren't happy (see reports in the media of people saying it took them hours to leave this past Columbus Day weekend). Supply and demand. Time to balance it out. Much like FastLane and paying for a better experience, I would rather pay say 10 dollars more for a holiday weekend if that means crowds aren't crazy.
RCjunkie Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Q: How do you see DP going over at this park?A: Well, pretty damn good especially if your clientele is prostitutes and horny males! If? What other kind of males are there?
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 I apologize turning this thread totally around, but I just couldn't resist! lol Please continue to discuss "DP" at parks...
_koppen Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Just to be clear, what is so funny with DP? (what does it mean)
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Just to be clear, what is so funny with DP? (what does it mean) Like I said, check Urban Dictionary!
Wes Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Just to be clear, what is so funny with DP? (what does it mean) Let me fill you in.
Jew Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 ^ Seriously though, to an extent, Universal already does this---Gate A (USH) and Express (UO) go down in price as it gets later in the day. KBF still offers an after 4pm discounted admission as well. Almost every park offers a discount for tickets purchased in advanced online vs. the at the gate price.
_koppen Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 Like I said, check Urban Dictionary! Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, I see!
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