Parking = $$$

[LC3]

I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed before, but I will ask anyway. Do any of you feel that theme parks should charge for parking? I mean, one has to pay for admission and a lot for food. I know that the park has to generate money from some source, but parking no. Just curious about everyone's opinion about this.

[DejaVu The Ride]

Theme parks DO charge for parking and DO make money off of it, so Yes, as long as the are making a Profit, then they're good to go.

[Ilovthevu']

I feel that parking should be free. However, the park would disagree with me. The reason they can get away with it is because there is no where else to park for free. If you park at Gurnee Mills, or at some restaurant/store, your car will be towed if you are there all day. I don't even know if you can park on the side streets nearby. So, they can charge whatever they want because people will pay.

[StealthNet]

If you park at Gurnee Mills, the chances that you get towed are slim to none... but it is a bit of a walk. I have seen some cars get towed at the McDonald's accross the street though.

[Aero737]

Parking lots cost a lot of maintain, not to mention the taxes put on the land. Although charging 10.00 a person for over 5,000 vehicles (Rough guess, seems like it could be right) seems like somewhat of an overkill.

I havent had to deal with parking for a very long time, considering the past 2 seasons I've had a parking pass. I guess its all another way for the park to make some money and put that back into rides, staff, and improvements.

[sixflagsguy5]

Mt. Olympus didn't charge for parking last year, but I don't know what their policy is this year because they merged with Family Land.

[punkbunny24242]

Almost every entertainment place you go (concerts, museums, even some parks in Chicago) charges parking so it never even crossed my mind that they would NOT charge for parking. I'm perfectly content paying for parking... parking passes all the way. Like last year if I did not have a parking pass I would have had to pay $430 in parking!! Instead I paid $30 for a parking pass

[Galvan]

Parking lots cost a lot of maintain, not to mention the taxes put on the land. Although charging 10.00 a person for over 5,000 vehicles (Rough guess, seems like it could be right) seems like somewhat of an overkill.

I havent had to deal with parking for a very long time, considering the past 2 seasons I've had a parking pass. I guess its all another way for the park to make some money and put that back in to rides, staff, and improvements.

Just figure the Math on that estimate at $50,000 per day the park is open. Now times that out by 106 number of days the park is open and parking would be available. That is 5.3 Million dollars a season. Factor in parking passes ill subtract the $300,000 thats an extra 5 million a season in parking alone.

That $300,000 might be a little too generous though.

Now figure in other things for example: Using that 5,000 car idea, lets say that each car holds 4 people.

5,000 x 4 = 20,000 people (these are estimates)

of those 20,000 people. lets say 5,000 are season pass holders.

of the remaining 15,000 people lets say. 2,000 are seniors and another 1,000 are under 54 inches tall. Now we have 13,000 potential general admissions. Factor out 1,500 for give-away promos etc. and we now have
11,500 regular general admissions.
at $44.99 a pop thats
11,500 x $44.99= $517,385 on just a plain old ticket multiply that out by 106 operating days.

106 x 517,385= $54,842,810 and these are just rough estimates.
Lets not forget food, games, merchandise. Etc etc.

[braindead666]

I don’t really mind it. i think that they should so they get the money rebuild the parking lot. last year the parking lot was really bad so all of the money that they make from parking is to fix walkways in the park plus the money also goes in to the parking lot.

[onceler]

You also have to remember that SFGAm allows you unlimited in/out privelages in which you don't need to eat the higher-priced in-park food. I know when I went to CP a couple years ago, you were allowed 1 re-entry into the parking lot before you had to pay the $8 fee again.

[LAFFfan4lyfe]

i think we should have to pay for parking. Our cars need a place to sit, and we're occupying a space. Plus, if it helps the park out, then that's a plus.

[twixmix0303]

The parking lot would be filled out of control a lot more often if there was no parking fee.

[Danhockey04]

The parking fee is important to their budget, they make a lot of money off of it, and they do need to keep it. It is to prevent loss profits, it is a company that depends on making money (as are all other companies), and this is a way to make a profit.