MagicMountain all year pass for $49?!

[Blazen_AZN]

They have obviously found that it works or they will not have done it, heck, just yesterday Universal Studios Hollywood sent me a free season pass, a free ticket, 6 15$ off admission coupons, and 6 buy a day get a year free coupons, and i have never even been there!

 

Yeah, my husband just got (sort of) the same thing in the mail! One free one-day admission And/OR season pass; $15 off a one-day pass if you buy a full admission; and one free annual pass if you buy a one day admission

 

And we have never been there either!!! (Well, I worked there for about a month and a half, but that doesn't count)

 

Isn't it amazing what parks do to get you to visit? LOL! XD

 

 

-amanda

 

We got the same thing. look on the bottom of the $15 off and the free annual pass if you buy a one day admission.

 

yup, valid for up to six people!

[lapseofreason]

Before the obvious negative posts regarding SixFlags and Magic Mountain begin please hear me out.

 

Magic mountain has one of the largest selections of coasters in the world.

There are a number of record breaking and unique coasters at the park.

Many of the rides are kick butt!

 

Now why on earth would magic mountain sell a season pass with coupons and no blockout dates for $49 DOLLARS?!

 

Reasons why this doesn't make sense to me:

Reason 1: you are undervaluing your offerings, (basically saying the park is worth only $49 for a whole year of use)

 

Reason 2: You are becoming an even cheaper daycare center than disneyland upsetting the paying customers.

 

Reason 3: the day care users are not even paying the $10 to park because they are taking the bus in or being dropped off by the carpool!

 

Reason 4: If you dont make any money from the thousands of elementary school and high school kids who live in Valencia with nothing else to do but go to magic mountain and hang out, you are

 

A: not going to have any more money to pay decent wages,

B: have money to upgrade the facilities and upkeep the painting etc.

C: you are just going to alienate the general paying public more than you already have!

 

Reason 5: OK lets see thousands of people spending just $49 a year once and frequenting the park at least every saturday makes ZERO cents from any angle! What the is SixFlags thinking?

 

It is one thing to charge a premium rate for a season pass which makes sense and keeps people from just plopping down a one days admission for all years day care maddness.

 

Why would Magic Mountain do this?

 

Perhaps they just figure that most the general public will pay $49 dollars to get the season pass and be so pissed off by the end of the day they will never come back again (but what does that accomplish by just now alienating a customer and we all know in the buisness world that one bad customer will spread the word to over 10 people further hurting your buisness) this is just exactly what magic mountain DOES NOT NEED.

 

Please someone chime in on this and try and help me see the logic in this!

 

ADMIN EDIT: While you make really good points, there isn't any need to blatantly bash the park to make them.

 

1.) Now why on earth would magic mountain sell a season pass with coupons and no blockout dates for $49 DOLLARS?!

 

Because they can! Why else would they advertise half price tickets on Coke cans... and... um... I forget what else

 

2.)B: have money to upgrade the facilities and upkeep the painting etc.

 

Um.. where the heck have you seen THIS? I'd kill to see a repainted Ninja, Goliat Viper, Revy... hell, just repaint SFMM in its entirety!!! It would be so nice... XD

 

 

C: you are just going to alienate the general paying public more than you already have!

 

Um, that is a given fact, IMHO (in the case of SFMM). No comment.

 

 

-Amanda

[ebl]

You can print your tickets at home and I think the price is $27 when you do...or thereabouts.

 

Eric

[DATman]

Why are we bashing the park with the cheap seson passes????

 

 

I'm praising god that they are so cheap, because it makes me very happy!

[Bob O]

I wasnt aware so many parks had season passes that cheap, sadly i dont live near enough to benefit from these. Our SF season passes i think are about $79-$89 and i only remember buying a season pass for wdw when we went there a couple times in a year and they were more but it was so long ago i cant remeber the price anymore.

[robbalvey]

Why are we bashing the park with the cheap seson passes????

 

I'm praising god that they are so cheap, because it makes me very happy!

I'm actually not sure either. This whole thread seems kind of pointless to me.

 

--Robb

[SpectralN]

Questioning a parks business practice (In this case $49 year round admission) is not "Bashing the park" This is a forum reviewing Theme parks. In this post I bring up a review of the practice of practially giving away a years admission for such a undermarked and undervalued price.

 

Over the past few days this post has been here I have heard many peoples thoughts on the matter. For those of us who have not had the opportunity to travel to every theme park on the planet we learned that this is apparantly a pretty common practice at many parks, (although judging from the public financial information regarding most of the parks who subscribe to this practice it does not seem to work all that well since most parks mentioned practically giving away the door are or have been in poor financial situations, is that a coincidence or not? I am not the expert that is why I bring this up as a valid discussion point) I do not see anything wrong with having a open minded discussion regarding the implications of giving away your door and how that can affect customer satisfaction in the future.

 

P.S that saturday shot of all the people waitining in line to get into the main gate is a case in point, not one of those people looks even remotely happy, they have not even go into the main gate yet. Just wait until they see a line for any of the attractions. Do you think someone going through that experience will have good things to say about Magic Mountain to there freinds, family and out of town relatives?

 

Again, I am not "bashing" the park, I am trying to initiate a discussion about this apparent park-wide nation wide trend of substationally reducing your prices to get the masses through your gates only to be stuck in a 4 hour cue. And the other downside of having your park used a cheap weekend year round teenage sitter service.

 

Many of you say this is not the case, I think otherwise but that is ok, we do not have to agree on some or any of the issues and it is still ok, we can still be freinds and still love coasters

 

Spectral

[robbalvey]

Again, I am not "bashing" the park, I am trying to initiate a discussion about this apparent park-wide nation wide trend of substationally reducing your prices to get the masses through your gates only to be stuck in a 4 hour cue.

If someone had seen your original post before I had to edit it, you did nothing but "bash" the park. More harshly than I think we've ever bashed Knott's or SFMM, and that's takes effort! I mean, I hear what you're saying, and I agree with some of it, but I do kind of think you don't quite understand the financials behind it. At this point, I kind of think you're beating a dead horse.

 

But seriously, if you don't want to go to a park and find a 4 hour queue, don't go on a Saturday. Know when to go to a park (for opening as an example) and know how to beat the crowds.

 

I can't tell you how many times we've been to SFMM this year and gotten on all major coasters INCLUDING X and Deja Vu before noon only to hear trip reports from people who showed up later in the SAME day and waited hours.

 

I think a much more "constructive" way to discuss this would to be talk about ways to avoid those crowded days with 4 hour queues.

 

Seriously, parks arean't totally to blame for the lines. If you're "smart" you'll know how to avoid them.

 

--Robb "We visited nearly 100 parks all over the world this year and I think we *might* have spent as long as an hour in line once or twice." Alvey

 

ps. BTW, on that Saturday we took that photo, we got on Goliath, Scream, Colossus, Batman, Psyclone, Gold Rusher, Deja Vu, Ninja, and Superman all before noon! Max and Mike ran to X got on that before 10:45 and did everything in the park by 6pm.

[Marko]

What is perhaps interesting to note is how different SF parks approach pricing admission and season passes. The nearest for us is SFGAM and their absolutely lowest price for a season pass is $85 ($75 if you buy a four-pack). Otherwise during the regular season it's $100 dollars and if you live outside a 300 mile radius of the park you're pretty much stuck with that price as they do not allow online sales for what they deem to be out of market.

 

Now I know they do have an option to upgrade a one-day ticket to a season pass and various discounts are available for the one-day tickets. I've never done the math but I'm guessing for us out-of-towners that's the cheaper way to go. But still it's strange that Chicago and the NYC area (SFGADV pricing/approach is similar to SFGAM) are priced so differently than Los Angeles. It's almost like they are run by different companies.

 

You could argue the new waterpark at SFGAM is the reason for the higher SP price but really their pricing has remained the same before and after it was added.

 

In the end I'd much prefer to spend my hard-earned vacation dollars at the non-chain parks like Mt. O, Timber Falls, Holiday World, Knoebels, Kennywood, Hershey, etc. Experience tells me I'll have more fun as their focus is less on marketing gimmicks/ploys and more on a overall positive guest experience.

 

Peace,

 

Mark

[robbalvey]

Robb,

Regardless of your "edits" it was not my intention nor do I feel that my original text was a "Bash"

One mans opinion could be another mans "Bashing" which apparently in this case it was to you. But none the less does someone who posts something negative about your home park really warrant editing of the text that you feel is bashing?

Your original post was bad enough for to me have to edit it and PM you about it. And I'm NOT defending the park. Just look at our SFMM updates and you'll see we criticize the park more than anyone else. It has nothing to do with it being our "home park." My responses have been about parks in general and their business practices, NOT specifically about SFMM.

 

I don't edit that many posts here for content, usually it's spelling and formatting problems (which your post was also full of), but the content was so negative, that I felt it needed editing otherwise it would have just come off as flame bait.

 

I don't disagree with your original point, but I just think you don't quite fully understand the issues at hand nor do I think that most of your original accusations are correct or based on anything factual, that's all.

 

--Robb "You made your point, you got lots of good responses, I don't understand why you went back to square one again." Alvey

[SpectralN]

Fine. I respect that.

I still cannot believe you managed to ride every coaster at MM that day you took that insane picture of the crowds. I just do not understand how you could have done that!

Either way, keep on coasting!

 

Spectral,

I have my opinion and you have yours

[Gnome]

I'm thinking getting thier super dooper pass or w/e they're calling it. Is it worth it? I mean 4 special events, and 4 "free" fast pass type things for each visit. Sounds worth it, but I want some bodie's opionion on it.

[robbalvey]

We've just renewed our "Xtreme Play Passes" yesterday. IMO, it was worth it for the Fastlanes and the parking alone.

 

Although I will say that we have probably gotten the Fast Lanes about 20 times this year, and given them away to our 'guests' 90% of the time!

 

But seriously, if you go about 5 times per year the parking and Fast Lane options pay for themselves.

 

--Robb "And the $25 Hurricane Harbor add on is a steal too!" Alvey

[robbalvey]

Fine. I respect that.

I still cannot believe you managed to ride every coaster at MM that day you took that insane picture of the crowds. I just do not understand how you could have done that!

It was EASY!

 

We got to the park at 9:30. Gates actually opened slightly before 10am. Everyone else RAN to X, we went the other way. Many other people went right to Goliath, but we skipped that too.

 

Instead, we went to Colossus and Scream, where we found no line. Got those both done in less than 15 minutes. Still no one in the area since most of the park was at X and Goliath, took a quick ride on Batman, again, no one there. Went all the way over to Deja Vu where they were running empty trains since no one was at that part of the park. Rode Deja Vu and then Psyclone, where I waited the longest because I sat in the train while they waited for 15 other riders to enter the station.

 

After doing that, we went up the hill and rode Superman and Ninja. Went back down the hill rode Gold Rusher then used our Fast Lane's for Goliath. At this point is was about noon, time to head out for lunch!

 

And this was all on a busy Saturday morning where the crowds at the main gate looked like this:

 

Now Max and Gilligan did something different. They ran to X and made it off the ride and met back up with us at Deja Vu. Granted they were the VERY first people at the season pass gate and the very first people in line for X, but we got up early to do it. But X didn't open until 10:30. After lunch, they came back in the park and rode Riddler's, Batman, Viper, Colossus, and Scream and were done by 3pm.

 

--Robb "It's not hard to beat the crowds at SFMM if you don't mind getting up early." Alvey

[ebl]

I try to get to SFMM and be in line by 9:30 or so. Sometimes they open the gates early, sometimes they don't. I couldn't care less about X or Psyclone, so I don't ride those, but I like to ride everything else.

 

One good thing is that you can go through any line with a season pass now.

 

Eric

[pianojohn]

As someone who has worked and still works for theme parks for the past 20 years, I see season passes this way: for some people, they are like a gym membership. The people who sell the passess (membership) may hope you come every day, but the majority of people will not. And like Rob said many times, the money is really made off of food, games, and souvenirs.

 

I even heard that at Tokyo Disney Resort, the AVERAGE per capita spending per guest AFTER admission was $100. PER guest!

 

I bought a Six Flags season pass last year even though the nearest park is 7 hours away. However, I was able to visit SF America, Wyandot Lake, Kentucky Kingdom, SFoG, SFGA, and SF Great Adventure. In my opinion, it was a deal. And I will probably renew since I can do so online for $49, and I will most likely make it out to SFMM and definately SFGA to ride El Toro next summer.

[Gnome]

^ So basically what your saying is... having the season passes at regular ticket prices at the begginning of the year is good for the park because it allows most people who would only go to the park 1 time that year, get the pass and then might return. And they'd make most of thier money from them through buying souviners, drinks, and food anyways.

And for the people who really do enjoy going, its not that big of a deal anyways, because most people who do get the passes (much like when people get those Universal Passes for basically the same deal) never come back anyways. So it really helps out those people who don't have a lot of money, but would love to go to SFMM quite a bit.

[marsan]

i don't get it, since when was the last time SFMM was known for great guest experience and efficient loading ride time? Saturdays' crowds have been horrible for waiting time on rides. At least with the season pass you could come back another time to ride something you couldn't get on the first time like I did. Thank goodness it is not like Disneyland where I pay 50 something for a day pass and all I could ride from 8am-12midnight is 5 because there are too many people in the lines on Saturdays.

[SharkTums]

Yeah I can't tell you how many people I've dealt with (keeping in mind I was *heavily involved* in the last 2 years PlayPass program) who either never even came once and wanted to return their voucher or just used the pass once and never came back. Six Flags keeps track of all this information and can see when and how many times your pass is scanned. Looking through them, you'd be surprised at how little they're used!

 

As for Tokyo Disney and $100/person I can totally understand that!!! I think I spent about $450 just in chip and dale merchandise!!!