Cedar Point raises admission price, too

August 21, 2007, 10:04 AM · Cedar Point has increased the price of its one-day admission ticket by a buck, to $42.95. Seasonal parks, such as Cedar Point, typically only change their prices mid-season to cut them in reponse to sluggish attendance. A mid-year price increase is rare.

Is Cedar Point attendance really that good this season? What can our readers in northern Ohio report?

Disney World and Universal Orlando increased their base prices earlier this month. And Cedar Point's been the target of take-over rumors. A price increase, if it doesn't hurt attendance, would boost revenue numbers, making the company more attractive -- or at the very least helping corporate cash flow.

Replies (6)

August 21, 2007 at 3:34 PM · I was there back on the 10th, and the place was packed to the freaking gills. The lines can be summed up in one sentence: "Disaster Transport had an hour line." Think about that for a while. . .
August 21, 2007 at 3:52 PM · Um... I'd rather not. ;-)

Okay, maybe the *real* question is... did Cedar Point raise prices *enough*?

August 21, 2007 at 5:15 PM · I just meant that in the sense that if one of the least popular rides was rocking an hour, you wouldn't need an Etch-a-Sketch to do the math and see that the E-ticket coasters' lines were out the (largely unshaded - thanks!) queues.

By the way, Robert, would you mind checking the TPI videos? I've been trying to add one for the better part of a week.

August 21, 2007 at 8:29 PM · Done!
August 21, 2007 at 9:26 PM · Off topic, thanks Robert (sorry, didn't realize we couldn't edit frontpage topics).

On topic, an extra buck isn't going to generate too much hate. Look at what happens everytime the big three raise their prices - it's usually several dollars at a time. When they make those jumps, people come out of the woodwork to complain.

But a buck? That puts a nice little bump in the accounts and is too miniscule for anyone to really get worked up over (especially locals, since most of them undoubtedly got season passes). I think they went the right way. Now they can start next season with another buck bump and no one's going to get their panties in too much of a wad.

August 23, 2007 at 9:58 AM · When I was there earlier this summer in July, the park was packed despite the presence of rain. I would say that the majority of people who attend Cedar Point either have season passes, stay at a CP resort and get the packages, or get discount tickets. Some probably pay full price at the gate, but not a whole lot. The park is just fine to raise prices because they lowered them two years ago to combat a sagging economy and have raised them back to where they were. It won't hurt their fan base and it sure won't hurt their bottom line, which needs all the help it can get right now. Quite honestly I'm impressed that they've chosen to keep tickets at that price. They could probably get away with 50, although increasing the price that much at once isn't wise, and they have managed to offset attendance decreases by making a lot of money with their resorts and increased guest spending. 44 bucks isn't bad at all for a day at Cedar Point. It sure beats the heck out of 70 for Disney or Universal.

Attendance has been pretty much flat this year, but there still is plenty of season left with Halloweekends coming up. I'll predict about 3.2 to 3.4 million for the year.

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