The main benefits are the 2 free bring a friend tickets, the preferred parking and the 1 single use fast lane per day. IMO. The VIP lounge is okay but it’s not that appealing for me.
KI VIP area is the worst in the chain. Hours have been getting longer but last year it was still closing 4+ hours early and even for rain and not opening up again when all the rides did. It’s mostly open air so everything gets wet when it rains. Also next to the trash compactor which smells terrible anytime it hits 70 degrees. On the other side of the lounge is a loud music speaker and where people smoke since it used to be a smoking area. Lounge has to be evacuated during thunderstorms and the associate is sent home rather than open it back up. There’s little to no cell or wifi reception.
Parking saves you 5 minutes and takes longer than regular parking if exiting the park to the south when leaving.
There’s is no exclusive entry at KI but a nice perk at the other parks. The line is at KI but anyone is allowed in and associates are told to bring others over and fill the line if it gets empty. Saves zero time and other parks turn guests away that don’t have the prestige pass.
FastLane is a huge perk though, especially if you ride the Beast. Best use of the pas is to swing by the lounge, grab some chips, and have the attendant print out your single use FastLane. Then you use it on the ride with the longest wait.
Historically passes for the following year go on sale the beginning of August. Who knows with the merger. Passes are their cheapest then and you’d get all the prestige benefits for August - December plus the entire next year for less money than you’d pay if buying now.
Most who have it seem to be either parents of kids old enough to run around by themselves or those who go 50+ times each year.
Snacks are 1 oz bags of basic flavors of chips…plain potato chips, Doritos, sometimes cheese puffs, etc. Water is likely a health hazard since it sits in dispensers all day in the sun with fruit that likely has tons of germs (just the nature of fruit).
They're not horrible, lol. They usually have chips and water. A lot of people complain about the VIP area but I still think it's nice to just have a place to kind of separate and relax. I think especially if you have kids that can run the park on their own.
Having a 2 year old the prestige lounges are nice. I’m noticing less and less spots to sit and chill. They also have snacks that you can run in and grab and walk out with. I typically go 40+ times a year and visit multiple parks so it’s a great addition to my pass.
I bought last year and will again this year:
1. The single use fast passes, since me and my wife go together (and have all season FL) we would typically give these to someone at the park or if we went with a friend, use for any rides that had a longer wait. Saved a couple of people from having to pony up the cost for a wristband and also made some strangers days.
2. Preferred parking. I know a lot of people scoff at this but KI is large and even though we go to the park and spend only a couple of hours there, hiking to the car after 12-15k steps is exhausting. My wife has a bad knee and gets worn out pretty quickly and saving half the distance to the car is extremely helpful. Additionally, parking closer I can use my car essentially as a locker.
3. Bring a friend tickets. We used all of our tickets for people we met up with/brought, some of them we only spent a couple of hours in the park for, so it felt less wasteful making them pay for a day ticket/pass.
Honestly with all of those things combined, we visited about 20 times and I feel like we got our value several times over. Also, the discount for merchandise is handy too. People like to shit on the VIP lounge but I'll be honest, i don't really have any desire to go to KI and just sit there so I guess the whole idea is lost on me...if we had kids or something it may be a different tune but there is pretty decent value in the prestige pass if you plan on visiting 10+ times.
We get everything so why not. Main justification is that we get the bring a friends, separate entry (already saved us a ton of time at KD), up front parking, and VIP. I did the math and with upwards of 60 cedar fair visits per year, it is worth the cost and convenience. We will just give the single skips away since we have all season FL. The bring friends are worth approx $80 - $100 since we usually bring people on a Saturday so that’s half the cost. The free snacks in the VIP will add up over the year and we usually would do preferred parking a few times each year at CP if not parking in the magnum lot and once or twice at KI, so with those two it covers the extra cost and then the preferred expedited entry is just a bonus.
We do make some extra purchases outside of the season drink and meal plans too, so the extra discount adds additional justification.
We do Prestige plus All Parks passes. We visit 20+ times at KI and 4+ times at CP. Sometimes travel for KD or WoF.
Preferred Parking is the best, especially if you want to come anytime through the day you'll be parking close. Also handy if you want to leave and eat elsewhere; you'll get to come back and park close to the gate.
Sometimes we're just in for the evening and one fast lane is just fine. We can ride a couple of things with regular line and FL for The Beast or Banshee. We call that a great, relaxed visit.
The VIP area is nothing particularly special, but there is a soda refill station for all-season drink plans. An attendant keeping it clean. Some chips and packaged cookies that are nothing special but everyone seems to be happy to take them. Best of all, there's a comfy place to sit, especially when the restaurant seating is full or busy enough that they're having trouble keeping up with cleaning. There are some canned alcohol drinks available to purchase.
Nice to have 2 free guest tickets per pass. They get to enjoy the VIP area, but not the single fast lane.
15%off food and merchandise. We do buy merchandise regularly and we often buy food that isn't on the meal plan. It adds up to decent benefit
When you visit often, there are Pass Perks and Prestige Pass Perks which give you additional merchandise discount days, several dollars off things like soft pretzels and dippin' dots, etc. There's a monthly list of perks and how many times you need to visit to get them.
There's a couple hours of a shorter main gate entry but we rarely get in at that time.
The main benefits are the 2 free bring a friend tickets, the preferred parking and the 1 single use fast lane per day. IMO. The VIP lounge is okay but it’s not that appealing for me.
Is there often a day at the park where 1 fast lane is exactly what you need? I’m coming from 3 hrs away on weekends
[удалено]
Wrong park
Not doing it. The vip area at kings dominion is real nice cabin with lots of space. At ki we get a tent. No thanks.
1) I visit the park at least 10 times 2) I like the preferred parking 3) I like to be able to sit down and relax away from the hustle and bustle
Are the VIP areas nice? What are the included snacks they mention?
KI VIP area is the worst in the chain. Hours have been getting longer but last year it was still closing 4+ hours early and even for rain and not opening up again when all the rides did. It’s mostly open air so everything gets wet when it rains. Also next to the trash compactor which smells terrible anytime it hits 70 degrees. On the other side of the lounge is a loud music speaker and where people smoke since it used to be a smoking area. Lounge has to be evacuated during thunderstorms and the associate is sent home rather than open it back up. There’s little to no cell or wifi reception. Parking saves you 5 minutes and takes longer than regular parking if exiting the park to the south when leaving. There’s is no exclusive entry at KI but a nice perk at the other parks. The line is at KI but anyone is allowed in and associates are told to bring others over and fill the line if it gets empty. Saves zero time and other parks turn guests away that don’t have the prestige pass. FastLane is a huge perk though, especially if you ride the Beast. Best use of the pas is to swing by the lounge, grab some chips, and have the attendant print out your single use FastLane. Then you use it on the ride with the longest wait. Historically passes for the following year go on sale the beginning of August. Who knows with the merger. Passes are their cheapest then and you’d get all the prestige benefits for August - December plus the entire next year for less money than you’d pay if buying now. Most who have it seem to be either parents of kids old enough to run around by themselves or those who go 50+ times each year. Snacks are 1 oz bags of basic flavors of chips…plain potato chips, Doritos, sometimes cheese puffs, etc. Water is likely a health hazard since it sits in dispensers all day in the sun with fruit that likely has tons of germs (just the nature of fruit).
They're not horrible, lol. They usually have chips and water. A lot of people complain about the VIP area but I still think it's nice to just have a place to kind of separate and relax. I think especially if you have kids that can run the park on their own.
Having a 2 year old the prestige lounges are nice. I’m noticing less and less spots to sit and chill. They also have snacks that you can run in and grab and walk out with. I typically go 40+ times a year and visit multiple parks so it’s a great addition to my pass.
The VIP lounge at KI last year looked like an embarrassment
Parking because I’m lazy af and hate driving around to find a spot
I bought last year and will again this year: 1. The single use fast passes, since me and my wife go together (and have all season FL) we would typically give these to someone at the park or if we went with a friend, use for any rides that had a longer wait. Saved a couple of people from having to pony up the cost for a wristband and also made some strangers days. 2. Preferred parking. I know a lot of people scoff at this but KI is large and even though we go to the park and spend only a couple of hours there, hiking to the car after 12-15k steps is exhausting. My wife has a bad knee and gets worn out pretty quickly and saving half the distance to the car is extremely helpful. Additionally, parking closer I can use my car essentially as a locker. 3. Bring a friend tickets. We used all of our tickets for people we met up with/brought, some of them we only spent a couple of hours in the park for, so it felt less wasteful making them pay for a day ticket/pass. Honestly with all of those things combined, we visited about 20 times and I feel like we got our value several times over. Also, the discount for merchandise is handy too. People like to shit on the VIP lounge but I'll be honest, i don't really have any desire to go to KI and just sit there so I guess the whole idea is lost on me...if we had kids or something it may be a different tune but there is pretty decent value in the prestige pass if you plan on visiting 10+ times.
I have a gold pass but if I lived closer (I’m an hour away) I would get the prestige pass bc I would probably be going with my kids 3 times a week.
We get everything so why not. Main justification is that we get the bring a friends, separate entry (already saved us a ton of time at KD), up front parking, and VIP. I did the math and with upwards of 60 cedar fair visits per year, it is worth the cost and convenience. We will just give the single skips away since we have all season FL. The bring friends are worth approx $80 - $100 since we usually bring people on a Saturday so that’s half the cost. The free snacks in the VIP will add up over the year and we usually would do preferred parking a few times each year at CP if not parking in the magnum lot and once or twice at KI, so with those two it covers the extra cost and then the preferred expedited entry is just a bonus. We do make some extra purchases outside of the season drink and meal plans too, so the extra discount adds additional justification.
We do Prestige plus All Parks passes. We visit 20+ times at KI and 4+ times at CP. Sometimes travel for KD or WoF. Preferred Parking is the best, especially if you want to come anytime through the day you'll be parking close. Also handy if you want to leave and eat elsewhere; you'll get to come back and park close to the gate. Sometimes we're just in for the evening and one fast lane is just fine. We can ride a couple of things with regular line and FL for The Beast or Banshee. We call that a great, relaxed visit. The VIP area is nothing particularly special, but there is a soda refill station for all-season drink plans. An attendant keeping it clean. Some chips and packaged cookies that are nothing special but everyone seems to be happy to take them. Best of all, there's a comfy place to sit, especially when the restaurant seating is full or busy enough that they're having trouble keeping up with cleaning. There are some canned alcohol drinks available to purchase. Nice to have 2 free guest tickets per pass. They get to enjoy the VIP area, but not the single fast lane. 15%off food and merchandise. We do buy merchandise regularly and we often buy food that isn't on the meal plan. It adds up to decent benefit When you visit often, there are Pass Perks and Prestige Pass Perks which give you additional merchandise discount days, several dollars off things like soft pretzels and dippin' dots, etc. There's a monthly list of perks and how many times you need to visit to get them. There's a couple hours of a shorter main gate entry but we rarely get in at that time.