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biker7766

biker7766

Roller Poster
Hi all, hope everyone is staying safe during this time! Just trying to gauge interest on potential theme park tours. I do not have a company, I am simply asking for opinions and input, nothing more. I know CoasterForce does more meet-up style days, and I was looking into more of a trip/tour.

I am considering running a Northeast Tour in 2021 or 2022 (whenever this blows over). My goal is to include not only charter busing, but admission, unlimited meal plan and drinks, and FAST PASSES at each park. Another goal is to have these "tours" be on more of a budget, as in my opinion (and I'm sure you'd agree), that is the best way to travel for coasters. It would be great to bring the community together and create easy trips that we can all make some new friends on. Thinking along the lines of a 6-day Trip. 6-7 parks within those days. $1550-1750? (I think this is rather reasonable). Would anyone be interested in something like this? I appreciate all of the help you guys can offer me, and any input will go a long way! Hopefully I can turn this into something great for the community!
 
Yes! Maybe one day will head across the pond, but to begin. I'd prefer US. I feel like this tour would be VERY appealing to the non-US community, as it would be a chance to grab some credits and meet some other enthusiasts!
 
I recall somebody setting up this sort of thing towards the end of last season (i.e. for this year) - they had three or four itinerarys planned (all US) ; can't quite remember where I saw that, but the enthusiast response was not good.
 
^ Yes that was AirtimeTours! No ill will towards them, and I am not trying to defame them, but clearly they were in the business to make a profit, whereas, I'm doing this to bring the community together. They were charging $3500 for the same thing I am offering, except, their tours didn't even include FAST PASSES. It was a little ridiculous in my opinion. While I know that the response wasn't good, I'm not sure how it could've been good given the price tag. I want to make this much more reasonable, and see where it takes us!
 
^ yeah that was it. Probably this reddit thread I was recalling then ; LINK

Problem is, if you are goony enough to consider yourself an enthusiast, you are likely to have already done this sort of thing for yourself, or through one of the coaster-clubs (ECC, RCCGB, ACE etc).

No harm asking of course!
 
You're absolutely right that those companies offer tours that would be similar to mine, this is simply me hoping that I can offer competitive prices to those clubs as well as run tours consistently, whereas ECC, RCCGB seems to be more Europe-based, and ACE runs more single-day events. I want to fit right in between those gaps, essentially!
 
CF have, in the past, run trips similar to what you're suggesting both Stateside and in Europe as "CF Lives". (We're planning on doing the first one in a few years in Finland this July, Covid-permitting).

These have included group-arranged hotels, park entry (sometimes with perks like ERT) and ground transportation (in the form of hire cars, never coaches). We've never done food or flights, that's just too complicated. :p

I may be biased, but the costs of the CF trips have always been very reasonable when compared to the costs I've seen for other group's trips like this. Using the Airtime Tours data, +$3000 for eight days is... insane. I've done two week trips "all in" for much less than that.

CF have never turned a profit from the trips we run, and everyone pays equally (including the organisers). The data from past trips, and indeed the upcoming Finland trip, have shown the actual costs are significantly less than being offered by others. We're very public about our costs, so you can see how this breaks down for a CF Live here: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/unfinnished-business-finland-24th-26th-jul-2020.44089/.

I think these days you have to be careful - the internet makes trip planning, costing and booking so easy for everyone that it's a difficult market to tap into. ACE, ECC, etc do well because they're so established and, credit where it's due, they do unlock some pretty excellent perks thanks to their reputation. Without the perks, and competitive cost to boot, why would anyone go for this? (rhetorical question, not having a go).
 
Have to say kudos to CF all the events seem very reasonable unlike other groups for instance, hope we can all get on one sooner rather than later
 
Hixee said:
CF have, in the past, run trips similar to what you're suggesting both Stateside and in Europe as "CF Lives". (We're planning on doing the first one in a few years in Finland this July, Covid-permitting).

These have included group-arranged hotels, park entry (sometimes with perks like ERT) and ground transportation (in the form of hire cars, never coaches). We've never done food or flights, that's just too complicated. :p

I may be biased, but the costs of the CF trips have always been very reasonable when compared to the costs I've seen for other group's trips like this. Using the Airtime Tours data, +$3000 for eight days is... insane. I've done two week trips "all in" for much less than that.

CF have never turned a profit from the trips we run, and everyone pays equally (including the organisers). The data from past trips, and indeed the upcoming Finland trip, have shown the actual costs are significantly less than being offered by others. We're very public about our costs, so you can see how this breaks down for a CF Live here: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/unfinnished-business-finland-24th-26th-jul-2020.44089/.

I think these days you have to be careful - the internet makes trip planning, costing and booking so easy for everyone that it's a difficult market to tap into. ACE, ECC, etc do well because they're so established and, credit where it's due, they do unlock some pretty excellent perks thanks to their reputation. Without the perks, and competitive cost to boot, why would anyone go for this? (rhetorical question, not having a go).
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While I agree that due to lack of reputation, perks are not as easy to acquire, but I still believe that the price is very reasonable for all that is included. I agree that $3000+ for 8 days is absolutely ludicrous, which is why I'm doing this for less than half that. I think to answer your rhetorical question, I would say the two main benefits of coming on a Tour like this is to meet new enthusiasts and spend time with them, as well as not have to worry about any facet of trip planning!
 
Are you sure you’re not Airtime tours ? this sounds very very similar...

Anywho, The US isn’t the easiest place to do a park trip without a car, and ACE, RCCGB etc tend to skew to an older demographic, so sure there could be a market for a tours for those that are perhaps a bit younger, where renting a car is prohibitively expensive or they may not wish/be able to drive and/or don’t want to be associated with the oldies in the more established clubs. However those younger enthisiasts are more likely to be students or just happy to go cheap and cheerful, they might not want fast lane or all you can eat. I also think $1500 for a week excluding flights is ludicrous. Have you actually costed it out? Let’s do some math with generous ballpark numbers...

Per day:
Park entry :$50
Hotel room (shared between 2) $50
Fast lane :$50
All you can eat $35
Transport ???
Total 185/ day plus share of bus

6 day total $1100 plus share of bus

I’ve no idea how much a charter bus costs, but would be very surprised if it means each person needs to contribute $440- $640. So yes your pricing is way off, and that’s not even ignoring that you should be able to negotiate better rates if you’ve got a big group.
 
Hey everyone, I am moving forward with my "Theme Park Tours" company, even creating my own website at themeparktours.org! It's been a really cool experience reaching out to theme parks, and even getting the chance to speak with some of the owners. I am now happy to be able to offer Exclusive Ride Time (ERT) on my Tours, so I'm super excited about that! So now the all-inclusive Tours come with: Exclusive Ride Time, Fast Passes, admission, all meals, hotels and lodging, and transportation. My first Tour offering is in the summer of 2021, I've dubbed it the "Northeastern Leadoff" with 7 theme parks over a 6 day span! The parks are: Six Flags New England, Lake Compounce, Quassy, Knoebels, Hersheypark, Dorney Park, and Six Flags Great Adventure! If you are interested, shoot me a message, I'd love to talk more about it with anyone! Thank you so much!
 
Well, good luck to you - appreciate you are doing all the "planning" and so on, but still seems hard for anything "organised" to beat a traditional goon-road-trip!

Interesting to hear how it goes on (next July!).
 
adrenaline1996 said:
Would you accept bookings from the UK? Also, would there be the possibility of upgrading to the higher tier of FastPass?
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Absolutely! We are open to anyone across the world. I've started and ended the Tour at Newark Airport in New Jersey, which is a major international airport. You absolutely can upgrade to a higher tier of Fast Pass. At all parks except the 2 Six Flags locations, you will be provided with the highest levels. At SFNE and SFGAdv, you will be provided with the "Gold" level Flash Pass which is the medium level. If you want to upgrade, you would just take the pass we provide to the Flash Pass location and upgrade there!
 
davidm said:
Well, good luck to you - appreciate you are doing all the "planning" and so on, but still seems hard for anything "organised" to beat a traditional goon-road-trip!

Interesting to hear how it goes on (next July!).
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I appreciate it, and I do understand that a good old fashioned road trip is hard to beat! The best part would be the ERT and other perks that are not possible during a road trip like that!
 
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