MW Fast Track price dropped to $99

[Jokes_on_you]

Fast Track at Movie World has dropped in price to $99 in park and online 

[joz]

What was it?

[Park Addict 93]

$149

[MickeyD]

Clearly some People have plenty of money to burn.. or they're just stupid. 

Probably both. Grrr..

[pin142]

$99 is somewhat more reasonable. Will say anyone who's a local and has a pass shouldn't really be complaining about the cost of the line skipping passes as they aren't the target audience.

[Tim Dasco]

Well when universal studios fast pass in Singapore is only $70 AUD. I think the still a joke. Along with Cedar Points fast pass ultimate being $79 USD. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

You really can't compare the two.

Cedar point works out to be about $110AUD at current exchange rates, for starters.

Cedar Point has 17 operating coasters, compared to Movie World's 6. They had 3.6 million visitors in their 6 month season in 2017, an average of 19,000 people per day (based on 183 days).

I cbf trying to locate MW's attendance (not on the wiki) but an article about a record attendance post-rivals opening cites 11,500 as a record for september attendance. Even if we assume that's an average for the whole year, it's half the attendance of CP, with less than half the big attractions to spread people around.

It comes down to an economy of scale. With so few rides, and such slow operations, selling too many fasttracks would absolutely destroy their capacity. CP can afford to have many more fast passes sold, because they have more rides to spread the load around on.

MW's pricepoint isn't just about making money. It used to be cheaper - and so many annual passholes complained when they lifted the price - because they would regularly buy the fasttrack (since admission was "free"), which made it harder for everyone else. Regular visitors aren't the market for fast track - it is targeted at people making a once in a lifetime (or at least a rare) visit to the park, who have limited time to spend in park and want to get everything done.

If your price makes it viable for regular guests to buy every time, it's too cheap, which is why it was increased in the first place. I'd suggest the reduction is a recognition that they perhaps went too high, and so they're coming back down to see what impact it has on conversion. If they start selling out again, maybe this is too low. If they still have many available every day, then perhaps they can reduce it further.

TL:DR - it's not a joke. its a clear example of responding to various market pressures whilst trying to find the best balance for your customers.

 

Afterthought - @Richard can we add "passhole" to the forum dictionary (like SBNO) to define a passhole as "a self entitled annual passholder that thinks the park owes them some sort of special treatment just because they're an annual pass holder."

[red dragin]

You know what, at $99 I would genuinely consider purchasing one each during peak periods, if the wife and I had a day at Movie World without the kids. Particularly for DC Rivals and Scooby Doo.

The question is, can you use it during White Christmas? That is buy it during the day and use it at night, or would there be a second purchase needed?

[westical]

21 hours ago, MickeyD said:

Clearly some People have plenty of money to burn.. or they're just stupid. 

Well they just dropped the price, so maybe not.

[aaronm]

$149 is really quite steep given it's only Scooby, Superman and Rivals that regularly have enough of a wait to justify wanting an express pass. By comparison, that's about the same price as a Platinum Flash Pass at Magic Mountain, or peak season Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point.

Edited November 15, 2018 by aaronm

[Brad2912]

@aaronm read Alex’s post a couple above yours to see why the comparison to those parks is useless

[aaronm]

44 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

@aaronm read Alex’s post a couple above yours to see why the comparison to those parks is useless

I disagree, just because Movie World lacks the ride capacity of CP or SFMM doesn’t make Fast Track better value for park guests.

[joz]

It's about supply and demand. The 2 parks are completely different in terms of economics. Average wage in America for theme park guests is also way lower, you can just convert into Aussie $ and get any kind of idea.

[iwerks]

Still don’t get the connection between price and supply. MW seems to be price gouging. I think the comparison between USS and MW is fairly apt. Why not cap how many you sell - or make it a limited fast pass - one for each ride?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

14 hours ago, iwerks said:

Still don’t get the connection between price and supply. MW seems to be price gouging. I think the comparison between USS and MW is fairly apt. Why not cap how many you sell - or make it a limited fast pass - one for each ride?

Price gouging?

At $49, the park was frequently selling out, which in turn was leading many people to complain on social media about how many fast track guests there were cycling through the big rides, making the queues interminable for everyone. $49 was too cheap for anyone's language. I think $99 is a good ground - for day-park guests, its about the same price as another single day ticket - so the economy is "visit two days, or pay for two days and get it all done in one" which really makes it suited to those who only have 'a day' to spend in the park.

The park already caps how many they sell. Are you suggesting they should reduce that cap?

As for 'one of each ride' - that's just stupid. Firstly, because it requires staff at LOAD to pause, and mark the wristband in some way to show it has been used. It works for Rivals Backwards, because its only two people per train, and even then, not every train. If it applied to general fast track, you potentially have to write, or hole punch every single person, on every single ride.

If you don't get the connection between price and supply, (and apologies that this is somewhat insulting) but perhaps you need to return to grade 9 economics?

USS is a completely different market. Although there is a local market for the park, Sentosa is a resort, a destination, much like WDW, so it is primarily targeted at attracting the tourist dollar. Movie World on the other hand has a much bigger domestic market. Each park is completely different for many reasons..

Let's just look at one factor - labour can be had cheaper.

On 16/11/2018 at 1:51 PM, joz said:

It's about supply and demand. The 2 parks are completely different in terms of economics. Average wage in America for theme park guests is also way lower, you can just convert into Aussie $ and get any kind of idea.

As Joz mentioned, you can't just convert to AUD and compare. With current market prices, the SGD is almost on parity with AUD, so a conversion isn't really necessary - however consider that - Singapore has NO MINIMUM WAGE. Although recently (2014-2016), cleaners and security guards had minimum wages set of approximately $1000 per month - $12,000 a year, there is no minimum set for other industries. I found it difficult to locate specific USS salary info, but what I could find suggested F&B attendants at $1-2k per month and Guest services at $2k per month - so ride attendants would be similarly priced to that for a max of about $24,000p.a. Singapore employment policy suggests max 8 hour work day, and assuming a full timer works 5 days a week, at 40 hours, you're looking at about $11.53 an hour.

Contrast that to Australia, where the minimum weekly wage of $719.20 - or $37,398.40p.a (about $18.29 an hour). The only park specific pricing I can locate is guest services at the Sea World animal adventures desk, currently part time at $22.25 an hour.

Doesn't matter how you slice it, you've got a serious difference in the cost of just the staff member at each ride whose job it is to check that you have the correct pass. That's without looking at any other economic factor.

 

There are going to be various factors at any park. If USS is so comparable as you say, why aren't you decrying the rip off that is USS when compared to the SFMM flash pass or Cedar Point, there is so much more for similar prices?? Because every market is different.

 

[iwerks]

Thank you for being your usual insulting self. You do know not everyone has to agree with you. Yes, I was suggesting to lower the cap. Whilst I do think USS’s is over priced at least it offers more rides (plus they have a cheaper version where you ride the attractions only once). 

Adventure World currently has a fastpass system that retails between $35-$40. For the top rides you’re only allowed on twice.

MW doesn’t have to charge the highest amount. They can cap it lower and create a bit of goodwill with its regular customers. I don’t see why they should reward mediocre operations with an expensive fast pass system.

[red dragin]

9 minutes ago, iwerks said:

MW doesn’t have to charge the highest amount. They can cap it lower and create a bit of goodwill with its regular customers. I don’t see why they should reward mediocre operations with an expensive fast pass system.

They are running a company to make a profit. It is nothing more than that. 

 

[rappa]

As usual my stance is... don’t like it? Don’t buy it!

Simple as that. No need to piss and moan and say they are wrong. The product just isn’t right for you so move along to the next one that is. 

[themagician]

They may change the price back to $149 during peak periods and when all rides are available, other times it will be the $99 price 

[iwerks]

Short term gain - long term pain.

Yup, never been tempted at MW. I usually get there on time and hit the long lines in the first hour. I have used USS’s fastpass system on the odd occasion.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

This just in folks... businesses should reduce their prices and only charge for what it cost them to provide the service, and not a penny more.

Train services will be capped at 10 passengers maximum per carriage, because I am personally more comfortable if there are less people on the train, and they are providing a service so i'm the customer and that means i'm right.

Unfortunately my reaction to people who have demonstrated they can't read is to be insulting. I made a very thoughtful, researched post explaining the comparison to Cedar and MW can't be made, for very clear reasons.

I even pointed out why the pricepoint isn't just about money, it's about the supply and demand aspect to make in less attractive to locals gaming the system.

I would have hoped you would have read it - many people did and indicated their approval or agreement with it, which is why it got a nice orange box around it.

Several other people then either agreed, endorsed, or elaborated further, and your reply was 'i still don't get supply and demand, the park is price gouging, why don't they just cap the numbers'

You claimed the USS example was still apt, I've explained why it isn't.

Now, first, although you didn't explicitly say it, your post reads that you're still advocating the price should be lower. Your more recent reply also says they should cap it lower and create goodwill for regular customers.

This just shows me you still don't get it. A paid fast track should not be something that "Regular customers" take advantage of. Unless it's a disney fast pass style system where EVERYONE has access to it, it shouldn't be "Cheap as chips" that regulars can do it just to avoid lines and ride like crazy. If that's whats happening in Perth, maybe Adventure World need to reconsider their price point.

Simply capping the numbers lower, at a lower price point would simply result in more disappointed visitors - as the locals that know and game the system would snap all the fast tracks up leaving even less for the once in a lifetime visitors.

As Rappa said - id you don't like it don't buy it. By the sounds of things you don't when you visit anyway, so you're complaining about something that doesn't even affect you anyway. Clearly there's something in the water on the west coast. Everything has been said that can be said. In the words of a Forum Legend.... get a grip old son.

[New display name]

New legislation proposal.

Skeets law –

If it takes longer to read a post than to drink a beer, then the post is too long.

 

[iwerks]

Yes @AlexB you can stop being a ‘moderator’ and ‘forum legend’ now. I disagree with you, you don’t need to go insulting everyone on the west coast because you can’t stand the fact that someone has a different point of view from you. We also pay a lot more for our season passes than you do. It’s a different business model - one I like a lot more. 

[red dragin]

1 hour ago, Skeeta said:

New legislation proposal.

 

Skeets law –

 

If it takes longer to read a post than to drink a beer, then the post is too long.

 

 

You'd better specify if that is a Pot, Schooner, Pint or Yard Glass then, so they don't get you on a technicality.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

22 minutes ago, red dragin said:

You'd better specify if that is a Pot, Schooner, Pint or Yard Glass then, so they don't get you on a technicality.

You'll also need to specify which state - as different states use the same name for different measures in some cases (see pint, vs. imperial pint) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_glassware#Australian_measures

1 hour ago, iwerks said:

Yes @AlexB you can stop being a ‘moderator’ and ‘forum legend’ now. I disagree with you, you don’t need to go insulting everyone on the west coast because you can’t stand the fact that someone has a different point of view from you. We also pay a lot more for our season passes than you do. It’s a different business model - one I like a lot more. 

I've made no claim to be a moderator, and never said I was a forum legend either - i said i was quoting one ("in the words of...").

I'm quite ok for you to disagree with me, and to have a different point of view, that's quite ok.

My original response was to Tim (and perhaps that's why you're being so defensive as you have in the past), where I addressed his points on Cedar. He mentioned USS, I didn't see fit to address it separately as I felt the Cedar point point was adequate.

You'll notice @aaronm was pointed to my post and also chose to disagree. You don't see me replying to him, do you?

Tim's original post stated the MW system was a joke. Your reply stated it was price gouging, and claimed USS was a fair comparison. All i've done is challenge your gouging claim, and provide explanation for why no fair comparison could be made.

You've then gone on to say that you've "never been tempted" at MW, yet you have used the USS system 'on the odd occasion' - this in and of itself demonstrates why the comparison was a poor one.

As for pass prices, the adult AW pass isn't much more than the east coast. And you get earlybird pricing too. Yes, its a different business model, but it's also a different MARKET. A concept you continue to struggle to comprehend.

I'm all for alternative \ opposing viewpoints, but if your rationale is flawed, it's likely going to be challenged. By all means a rational and well thought out point of view is welcome. Sometimes i'm even convinced the other way after hearing such points of view. But when every part of your point of view has been challenged and found wanting, you don't just get to ignore all the valid points and pretend like you're the victim.

My beer's done. i'm out.

Edited November 19, 2018 by AlexB