A
Anonymous
Guest
If you were part of a "rollercoaster council" and had to choose if every theme park had tickets that you bought at the front or tokens bought for each ride, which would you choose?
robbeal
Hyper Poster
Look at Blackpool for example. Its ?30 for a full day wristband on a full-price day, which gets you on to anything as many times as you want, which on full-price days is usually a lot of rides. If it were tickets only, you could ride the Big One (?9 worth of tickets) 3 times for that much. There's just no way anyone could prefer that approach. Fair enough, if its combined with a pay-once system, then its okay, but if you're like Fantasy Island, and you only have the option of buying tokens, its just sillily expensive, hence why i'm not bothering with Fantasy Island until they change.
Mat
Hyper Poster
Tickets any day!
I have been to Clarence Pier In Portsmouth (It is a fun fair but it has a roller coaster, log flume and a drop tower) and they use tokens. It is 50p per token and most of the rides worth riding are 4 tokens (?2). If you had that in a theme park you would end up paying a big ammount at the end of the day.
I would stick with the tickets, becuase you get more people in the park and it is much easier for the guests and it is cheaper (this can be argued, it depends if you are going to be using the extreme thrill rides. I would also keep the variation in prices becuase of height and being allowed to ride it.
I have been to Clarence Pier In Portsmouth (It is a fun fair but it has a roller coaster, log flume and a drop tower) and they use tokens. It is 50p per token and most of the rides worth riding are 4 tokens (?2). If you had that in a theme park you would end up paying a big ammount at the end of the day.
I would stick with the tickets, becuase you get more people in the park and it is much easier for the guests and it is cheaper (this can be argued, it depends if you are going to be using the extreme thrill rides. I would also keep the variation in prices becuase of height and being allowed to ride it.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
If I were to come up with a theme park, I would definately decide to have the people pay once at the gate for unlimited ride access. It just seems fairer to the guests, especially for families who come in large numbers. That way, if they have say 4 kids and 2 parents, and some of the kids were too small to ride alone, then the parents would have to buy an extra token for them to accompany their child.
Tokens are a huuugggee waste of money. Just look at any fair or carnival. If you don't buy the all day ticket (which is still a ridiculous waste, unless the fair you're going to is damn good), you're paying about a dollar a token, and some rides take 2 tokens to get on per person.
I know I never like it if I go somewhere and my parents have to pay $60 for a whole whack of tokens, knowing that that would get 2 people in to Geauga Lake. It pisses me right off, at how rip-off-ish carnivals can get.
Tokens are a huuugggee waste of money. Just look at any fair or carnival. If you don't buy the all day ticket (which is still a ridiculous waste, unless the fair you're going to is damn good), you're paying about a dollar a token, and some rides take 2 tokens to get on per person.
I know I never like it if I go somewhere and my parents have to pay $60 for a whole whack of tokens, knowing that that would get 2 people in to Geauga Lake. It pisses me right off, at how rip-off-ish carnivals can get.
Tickets...they make far more sense for the customer, although the parks make a shedload more money from the tokens.
If you are Alton Towers you can do both of course - [factoid] their justification for charging ?5 for the boats that replaced the swans was that it would reduce the queues![/factoid]
If you are Alton Towers you can do both of course - [factoid] their justification for charging ?5 for the boats that replaced the swans was that it would reduce the queues![/factoid]
Personally, tickets.
But there are people who only want to do a couple of rides or are only physically allowed on a certain rides and are put off going to a park ever simply because they'll have to pay an extortionate amount of money for what they want to do. For example, with AT - some people don't like the rides, but would like to wander round the Towers or see the Grade 1 listed gardens - they shouldn't have to pay ?29:50 to do that.
So in some respects, I can see why having BOTH systems in place would actually be beneficial.
But there are people who only want to do a couple of rides or are only physically allowed on a certain rides and are put off going to a park ever simply because they'll have to pay an extortionate amount of money for what they want to do. For example, with AT - some people don't like the rides, but would like to wander round the Towers or see the Grade 1 listed gardens - they shouldn't have to pay ?29:50 to do that.
So in some respects, I can see why having BOTH systems in place would actually be beneficial.
I like tickets best.
Just the fact that you have to pay for each ride instead of doing whatever you want and not worrying about money after buying the ticket.
Even though I do like tickets best I do see how they work best in some places. At fairs it would just seem strange with a ticket and also the fairs would not be as good because the fair could only be made up of rides owned by the same people so they are still getting money. I suppose the ride owners could get a divided amount but that would be more confusing and also unfair because some rides may get more riders than others and get the same amount and stuff like that.
I also feel really sorry for Fantasy Island and how a lot of people insult the whole park just because of one slight fault. The actual rides are amazing and much better than a lot of theme parks in the UK but the tokens system puts off a lot of people. If they started to use tickets I would be so much happier with Fantasy Island because it does not get anywhere near the amount of attention it should.
Just the fact that you have to pay for each ride instead of doing whatever you want and not worrying about money after buying the ticket.
Even though I do like tickets best I do see how they work best in some places. At fairs it would just seem strange with a ticket and also the fairs would not be as good because the fair could only be made up of rides owned by the same people so they are still getting money. I suppose the ride owners could get a divided amount but that would be more confusing and also unfair because some rides may get more riders than others and get the same amount and stuff like that.
I also feel really sorry for Fantasy Island and how a lot of people insult the whole park just because of one slight fault. The actual rides are amazing and much better than a lot of theme parks in the UK but the tokens system puts off a lot of people. If they started to use tickets I would be so much happier with Fantasy Island because it does not get anywhere near the amount of attention it should.
robbeal
Hyper Poster
^I don't deny that the place has a great collection of rides, and i'd love to go there, really would! I'd just be so frustrated at the cost of the place if i did though, and i'd end up feeling cheated at having paid no insignificant amount and having ridden very few rides.
Same for any fair really, although I can see and understand Richie's viewpoint there too.
Same for any fair really, although I can see and understand Richie's viewpoint there too.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Both. Just like every place where its pay-per-ride. They never JUST do pay-per-ride, they also have unlimited wristbands and stuff like that. Like SCBB charges per ride, but for only $35 or something (I forgot), you get an unlimited ride wristband. With that people can choose if they wanna go on a couple things or wanna ride a lot of rides.
If I had to choose only one, though, obviously the tickets.
If I had to choose only one, though, obviously the tickets.
kir
Hyper Poster
I nearly clicked 3 because it made me chuckle.
I much prefer a ticket system, you don't have to worry about rattling change around with you and fussing over how much money you have left to go on your favourite ride only once more...
I like it plain and simple, flat rate in and unlimited rides on the inside. Although I must say BPB does put it to a T, making both wristbands and tokens. If a park was to adopt a duel payment system I'd ask for it to mirror BPB's!
I much prefer a ticket system, you don't have to worry about rattling change around with you and fussing over how much money you have left to go on your favourite ride only once more...
I like it plain and simple, flat rate in and unlimited rides on the inside. Although I must say BPB does put it to a T, making both wristbands and tokens. If a park was to adopt a duel payment system I'd ask for it to mirror BPB's!
stevewalsh
Roller Poster
I voted for 3 as i just couldn't resist it.
I prefer paying for a ticket, that lets me on any ride, any amount of times I want.
Fantasy Island operate a token system and its get rather anoying as their tokens are special coins so the weigh you down quite a bit.
It's great going to a park where you just pay at the entrance and thats you!
Fantasy Island operate a token system and its get rather anoying as their tokens are special coins so the weigh you down quite a bit.
It's great going to a park where you just pay at the entrance and thats you!