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Pay-per-ride, Pay-1-price or Pay-to-enter & Pay-per-ri

The best way for park payment is

  • Pay-per-ride

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pay-one-price

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pay-to-enter & Pay-per-ride

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Ian

Ian

From CoasterForce
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So Adventure Island in Southend has managed to get a staggering 2 million people through it's doors this year. They operate a "pay per ride" system. Good for them, it's a nice statistic to boast about but meaningless if people aren't spending money.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach this year changed it's policy from & pay per ride to pay to enter & pay per ride, thus stopping the flow of casual visitors.

(I wish I could think of some USA/Euro examples, but I don't know the parks well enough I'm afraid!)

Pay-per-ride
Every visitor enters the park for free and pays to ride with tokens or wristbands.

Pay-one-price
Everybody pays to enter the park (even non-riders) and can ride for free as many times as they desire.

Pay-to-enter & Pay-per-ride
Every visitor pays to enter the park, even if they are not riding and also has to pay to ride. (Includes Blackpool style system.)

Which system do you think is the fairest? Which type do you prefer?
 
Since I ride a lot, then Pay-one-price gives me the best value.

The fairest would be Pay-per-ride since only the ones that want to ride have to pay, and the "bag ladies" :) don't need to...

Pay-to-enter & Pay-per-ride is probably the best for the parks, since then you get money from everyone and still don't discourage people to come as a non-rider as much as a expensive entry-fee.

The last one is the one that I'm most familiar to since that have been the way Liseberg have operated as long as I can remember. (Tivoli Gardens, Gröna Lund, and a lot of other inner city parks in the Nordic use this system, also a lot of the parks in Japan operates in this fashion). It works fine in my eyes...
 
Pay-one-price. Easy (as soon as you are inside the gates, you don't have to worry) and it generally keeps troublemakers out of the park. Even though it may not always pay off, it's the easiest solution. A very safe way of income to parks as well, as they make a quite large minimum sum of money per guest regardless fo how long they stay.

Honorable mention goes to "both", though. Keeps troublemakers out, and is a lot cheaper if you're not staying for long. Though, the hassle of being in two queues before even riding drags it down majorly. Very family friendly as well, that includes grandparents who won't ride anything.

Pay-per-ride is by far the cheapest for short visits, and free entry keeps the food prices in the park down (as you can take a food break elsewhere without having to pay to get back in). Though, as anyone can enter, the place will get crowded and the park won't focus as much on total experience, seeing as people don't come to look at a pond with a waterfall anyway. Theme and nice surroundings doesn't pay off, rides do. And as it's free to enter, most people living nearby to just try out any new ride. So the park won't bother investing heavily in rides either, as long as anything new pays off regardless of quality.

P1P it is, then.
 
For me, personally, it is pay one price, but the idea of it is kinda stupid for people who don't ride anything and just come for a day out, like my mom or stepmom.

So for people who ride lots, pay one price, but for people who don't, pay per ride.
 
The way I ride has changed since I became an enthusiast. I would go to a park, ride something and if I liked it, I'd reride it several times in a row. Nowadays, i tend to ride something once and then move on to the next ride. It's very rare that I reride (unless ERT obviously!).

Therefore, pay-per-ride is the best and fairest option for me.

It makes it cheaper when credit whoring and if a ride is really great then I'd be happy to pay again to ride it.
 
I think it depends on the park. A normal "enclosed" theme park like Alton / Disney, Pay Once get in and don't worry again.

But for places like Blackpool which are integral to the resort they belong to, Pay Per Ride, preferably with a wristband system. If Blackpool want to stop chavs roaming their park, put in more security! Don't charge entire families to have a walk around.
 
I like Pay-one-price the best because I usually stay in a park most of the day and get as many rerides as I can.
Of course, if I've learned anything form RCT, it's that different payment systems are better for different parks .
 
Well had AI advertised the fact more that the still done pay per ride I would have gone more, but I really thought it had changed to wrist band only.

I would say we walk through the park about 6 times a year, so for a sea side town pay per ride, free entry works.
 
I'm a fan of Pay per ride.. simply because it does give more people a chance to come in and buy food/gifts/ect ect.

Waldameer is my favorite example, which has kept that system and it works magically.
 
Pay-one-price. It makes it easier, you know how much money you need to take, it means your not worrying about how much everything is, you already know. Not only that but some pay-per-ride systems charge over the odds and yes theme parks are expensive but its worth it for the scenery. Therefore pay once is the best imo because its just easier and can be less expensive.
 
Pay-one-price. Once your in thats it... you can be free from emptying your pocket and just get on with enjoying yourself.
 
Pay one price.

You just pay and then do what you want. In a pay-per-ride sytem it is too expensive. If you want to get lots of rides in on the big rides, you will be crippled. In a pay-once sytem, you can ride however much you want.

The trouble with the pay-once system is getting on enough rides to justify the upfront price. But in the other system every ride has to have it's own price and that is harder to judge than setting one price for the day.

If you want to spend a day at a park, it has to be pay-once really.

The Blackpool system is scandalous. It's fair that they let you in if you are not going to ride anything, and charge people who are riding. But to charge you £5 to walk round is robbery. Then, if you decide to ride, you will have to pay more on top, either for each ride or upgrade to a wristband.

The Blackpool system is right out, but the other two are down to preference of the park. I prefer pay once, it's more convenient, but for seaside parks, pay-per-ride could be best.
 
Come to think of, many of the places with pay-per-ride also offers some sort of Wristband. And if you get one of those then you end up with a pay-one-price deal at the place (with or without entry).

As long as they don't do as Bakken and limit the numbers of rides/ride on their wristbands...
 
Pay per ride works out too expensive, and both is just rediculous and a bit of a rip, infact it is! Pay to enter ftw!
 
SnooSnoo said:
I'm a fan of Pay per ride.. simply because it does give more people a chance to come in and buy food/gifts/ect ect.

Waldameer is my favorite example, which has kept that system and it works magically.
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So true. Knoebels is another fine example, plus both parks offer wristbands for those who want to ride a lot. Moreys & Playland (Astroland too before it closed) also come to mind. Paying one price is the way to go for major parks like CP, SFGAdv/SFMM/SFGA, Busch, Universal, Disney, etc. because they offer a full day's worth of rides (even without re-rides), but parks like Marineland are almost criminal in charging a flat fee with so little to offer.
 
If possible I'd always go for the Pay-one-price option as I feel it offers better value for money compared to the pay per ride system. Even in the park was loacking in decent rides I'd still prefer to whore everything and get my moneys worth.

I just wish more of the funfairs would opt for the wristband choice as it can become quite expensive if you want re-rides. Just imagine the German fairs offering wristbands. cool)
 
I say one thing for pay per ride, it makes parks keep their rides working.

If take for example Thorpe was pay per ride I bet their rides would be available more often.
 
I'm going for pay one price, not only because its better value normally, but because its less hassle. You don't have to worry about dropping tokens or having your wristband ripped off.
 
Pay-one-price.

It's clearly the best system. I wouldn't want to go to a park and have a limited amount of fun just because I didn't have the money. If the queues are short I'll often want to re-ride. If I had to pay-per-ride I'd be worrying that I wasn't going to have enough money to ride all of the other rides that I wanted to.

Pay-per-ride restricts the day so much. It does have the advantage of letting a non-rider into the park just to enjoy the atmosphere, however most parks that operate this system strike me as being a bit more like a fair.

Pay-to-enter & Pay-per-ride is just a stupid system. It restricts non-riders just entering for the fun of it, and it also works out to be an expensive, and potentially disappointing, day.

Pay-per-enter is clearly the best system.
 
For me personally, pay one price is best! But I like the atmosphere of the amusment parks where you pay per ride or via wristband. They appear to be very busy, yet queue's are short :D

I cannot believe people would prefer to pay-per-ride! One thing though, how many parks nowadays operate with pay-per-ride ONLY? Thats an odd option for the poll, unless that includes wristbands?

For me its also down to the park itself, theme parks (Disney, Alton, Thorpe) should be pay once, and amusment parks (Blackpool, Fantasy Island, Adventure Island) should be pay-per-ride/wristbands.

Therefore, pay-per-ride is the best and fairest option for me.

It makes it cheaper when credit whoring
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With all due respect, aren't we ment to be theme park entusiasts? All people seem to do nowadays is go to a park, get the coaster credit, and leave.
 
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