There is a mall down here in Florida run by the Simon Group (which owns malls all over America) that is now charging $3 for an "up close" parking space. They have a section of the parking lot near the mall entrance separated off and have installed a gate with an attendant.

If you want to pay $3, you can be guaranteed a close spot. Other amenities include an umbrella if it is raining and an attendant to help you carry your bags back to the car. This mall is in Boca, which won't surprise some of you who know anything about Boca. Not too worry, the $4 valet parking is still available.

In any event, if this proves successful (and early reviews have been favorable) then Simon plans to roll out the "service" at malls across the country.

Is this the next rage for amusement parks? $6 to park but $10 if you want to be up close to the front gate? I know that the Disney parks have "good" parking available for a particular rental car company.

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Working here is like an amusement park! There's excitement! There's challenge...and it will often make you sick.

kennywoods parking is like 4 dollars. i know there are parks that are more expensive.

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I am #1!

everything falls apart even the people who never frown eventually break down

-Linkin Park

Uh, they already have that in Florida... it's called preferred parking. It's a rip off, charging you 5 extra dollars in addition to the normal parking fee to save a little walking.

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"BECAUSE someone like you cared a whole afwul lot, this park is alive where before it was not." -The Street of the Lifted Lorax, IOA

doesnt kennywood have prefered? its free if you park far away i thought. anyway BGW has perfered

most corporate amusement parks in the USA charge $7 for parking with many parks also offering prefered parking for another $2-5. Last year, many of the corporate amusement parks began charging more, with some parks having $10 parking fees. That rate is not even the prefered rate!!! A couple of parks that were charging $10 will lower their rates this year, but still, more than $7 for parking is crazy!!!

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Have you Xperienced the Xtreme???

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by gibsonman [/i]
[B]doesnt kennywood have prefered? its free if you park far away i thought. anyway BGW has perfered [/B][/QUOTE]

yep, preffered parking at Kennywood is $4 but about 80% of the parking spots are free

I have a handicap so we get right by the entrance for free :)

the ONLY perk of bad health

places like Cedar Point and Disney still charge us though...

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phantompenguin

It's amazing how lazy people are that they'd insist on being close like that, and willing to pay the money for it. :rolleyes: Personally, I'll just walk a little further, thank you!

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Walk Beyond...

My parents don't spend the money needed to get a little closer. It's not like they can't afford it, but the way we figure, we'll be walking around the park all day. Walking a few extra minutes to get to the gate won't hurt.

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Aaron Cedoras: Thrillnetwork Story Editor
"Dead men tell no tales..."

@ SFOG, the "classic" parking is $9, and is a good ways away from the gate, or you could pay $12 and park in the "gold" parking lot which is a lot closer, but $12??? thats rediculous! wait, so is $9 !!! what is this world coming to?

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Peace- Dejavu Rocks!

At PGA if you have a VIP card (which is more expensive than the WOW card) you can park in a seperate lot really close to the gate, and parking is always free. The pass is worth it just for that perk alone.

dare I bring up the biggest offender in the big ol' stinkpot of parking lots - our dear Six Flags Great Adventure. I'm not sure who's doing what this year, but as best as I know it was the only park to have the __lls to jump to ten dollars last year, right past nine - and this for a parking lot with: (a) minimal, lousy, or - on most days - NO tram service; (b) no designated pedestrian walkways, which means I guess it will follow the model for the rest of New Jersey and wait for fatalities to make traffic design improvements; (c) no directional personnel on most days, and no simple means for drivers to turn around and try another row if there's no space in the one they just tried; (d) no uniform speed or right-of-way enforcement on most days, and we're talking some pretty pissed-off drivers who just got taken for $10, are stuck in traffic on a parking lot, often with a carload o' kids who can SEE lots of rides but can't quite get to them yet; and (e), the REAL kick in the pants, said toll gate is approached on a curve with no pre-approach signs advising guests that $10 will be collected, and it's really hard to see the signs until you're right up there, but I guess it's really not SFGADV's fault that people in NJ & NY like those big, tall gas-guzzlin' SUVs that you can't see around & above - but it does slow things down considerably at the toll gate, even when every gate is staffed. Honestly, if that park insists on guaranteeing itself the income of ten dollars per carload - then before it EVER builds another major attraction, it needs to take about three or four million dollars of capital and turn that parking lot into the DIAMOND of the industry. Bring in the experts, dig it up over an off-season, re-line it and make it flow the way it needs to flow, with patterns built in so that it can fill efficiently when they don't care to staff it fully. Paint in walkways, so people can get to the gates and their cars without getting run down, and cut down on the horn-honking and tension. However, they cannot continue to cut on the trams - any park with that kind of attendance and a lot that size needs to have good, frequent tram service just like Disney or Busch does, especially when they're charging more than any of those parks - NO EXCUSE for that. What happens on the parking lot makes the first impression of the park - no wonder guests have no respect for the place. Damn, they should know this!

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ride safe, say thank you, tell the truth

Call me old fashioned...but I like the "first come first serve" on close spaces.

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SFGAdv -

$10 Regular Parking
$15 Preferred Parking

Preferred is, uhhhh, the first 25 rows of the parking lot. Thank god for the Season Pass entrance - no preferred parking, you can park right at the entrance. Also, the season parking sticker is a steal at $25 for 2.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by CedarPoint_Mark [/i]
[B]Call me old fashioned...but I like the "first come first serve" on close spaces. [/B][/QUOTE]

I am glad to see someone say this. I feel the same. My favorite thing to watch, though, is some biddy lady drive around and around for 10 minutes looking for a spot that is 10 spaces closer than several that are available. What, exactly, is the point?

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Working here is like an amusement park! There's excitement! There's challenge...and it will often make you sick.

At PKI it is $8.00. For close up right by the gate its $12.00. Last year if you had a gold pass you had your own parking which was a blocked off area of the regular parking lot, but it was right in front of the gate, maybe a 1 minute walk, and was pretty close.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by CedarPoint_Mark [/i]
[B]Call me old fashioned...but I like the "first come first serve" on close spaces. [/B][/QUOTE]
I absolutely agree, with the minor acception of handicapped parking spaces, of course. Personally, I deliberately park far away -- more exercise, less gas, and less frustration with everyone else that's trying to get eight feet closer to wherever. But hey, if people will pay for it, more power to them and more profit for the parks to keep the "regular" parking fee lower for the rest of us. Just because it's offered doesn't mean you have to take advantage of it.

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Walk Beyond...

SFOT is 9$ and 12$ for preferred!:rolleyes: My big butt needs to walk- so I will save 3 bucks and walk!:D I will be walking around the park all day so why not walk a bit more to the gate!!

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I left my heart in Sandusky!!!

At BGT it is $7. I have a Fun Card (special annual pass for Fl. residents) and I STILL have to pay for parking. I have an annual pass to USO and IOA and I don't pay for regular parking, but preferred parking (you walk the same distance but don't have to go up or down an escalator- you are on the same level as the park) is $3 WITH the pass, and Valet parking is $7 WITH the pass, so I can only imagine what it is without the pass! To not pay parking for the Disney parks, simply tell them you are staying at a resort (I always use the Wilderness Lodge/ campground because it is so far from the parks), and you won't have to pay parking ;).

id pay 4 bucks if they gave me a rascal too

Would that mall in Boca happen to be pink? I mean, is it that place with the Cartoon museum in it? Because I have been there before. Cool place, and fun at Christmas time.

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There, now that I got that earlier rant out of my system - the preferred thing, everyone's doing it, even movie theaters and restaurants, besides the parking lots of just about every amusement park in the country. I really don't have a problem with it, it's a fair way to make the parks a bit more money and offer a higher level of service for the FEW who are looking for it and are willing to pay for it, as long as they LIMIT the number of rows they reserve and they don't totally screw the guests who choose the standard fee, like Great Adventure did when they first started the preferred thing - they shouldn't shove people half a mile away from the gate who choose to pay ONLY ten dollars to park, from where they then have to WALK past empty row after empty row to get to the gates. That's an insult. The only thing that's worse was using their FastPass at some of the other Six Flags to make money - charging people to legally cut in line! A timed reservation system to get people out of lines should be reward enough for the parks, it should not be a way to generate income in itself, and it should never be acceptable to cut into a regular guest queue without some kind of reservation system - but that's a totally different subject and doesn't belong here so I'll shut up about that.

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ride safe, say thank you, tell the truth

They already have that at PKI. It's called preferred parking. I think it's like $8 for regular parking but if you want to park up close it's $10. I like it b/c you don't have to walk as far. Also, there's a gard watching all of the cars and you have to show him your little ticket to be able to park there.

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"Cedar Point has a wide variety of wooden coasters" - Discovery Channel

I also had the fun card for BGT last year. Now I have the 2 year which gives you free parking and many perks, it's worth it. Renew and get the 2 year for BGT/SWF. IOA AAA pass also has free parking, but you're too late for that one. Gotta buy/renew your season passes in December.

BGT - Park at the McDonalds and walk, about .5 mile to tram.
SWF - Park at Renaissance Resort across street.
Disney - Park at All Star Music/Sports/Movie and take tram.
SFOG - Park at Days Inn to side of park, .25 mile walk.
IOA - Park at TGIFridays Across from parking garage.
How to park close in the garage at IOA. Park where they tell you (far away), wait, pull out like you forgot something. The last row of the garage before the exit is the return to parking garage. This takes you to where the employees park up front. They don't have any stickers on the car or nothing. I loop back around and go down the 3rd or 4th row. Or if you come back in the afternoon to eat lunch in your car, do the same thing and there will be many spots up front from people who have left.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Coaster131 [/i]
[B]SFGAdv -

$10 Regular Parking
$15 Preferred Parking

Preferred is, uhhhh, the first 25 rows of the parking lot. Thank god for the Season Pass entrance - no preferred parking, you can park right at the entrance. Also, the season parking sticker is a steal at $25 for 2. [/B][/QUOTE]

everytime ive been there, ive gotten away with using a SFA season parking pass to get in :), so its free for me

I dont know if an amusement park would have the money and manpower to work just the parking lot, i usually get to a park early enough that good spots are all still there.

With all of the fees they charge for parking, you would think they would do something to to improve the parking lots. At SFGrAm, the parking was $8, and the spot I had to park in had a big pothole!

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John Fitzpatrick

Dose SFGADV still do pereferred parking? I think that is such a watse its like what only Rich peopel can park close and get everything there way and poor people gatta walk and wait in line? to them i guess so... Even if i had alot of money i still wouldent pay the extra to park closer. Im happy witht he season pass entrance becuase everyone knows that they will be going trou metal detectors and no one kills each other for parking and you get in the park in less then 10mins compared to an hour at the main entrance... from that time you could waiste over there you could walk trou the park and still get to where Nitro is at and if you went in trou the main entrance ud still be waiting. Walking is always a better option then trying to take short cuts becuase in the long run you get better benifts. For instane when i take the bus after schoo i walk to the stop before everyone else gets on and i get a seat its only about a half a block more but some are too lazy and they go to the stop nearest the school then they complaint about not getting a seat! (ugh)

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Seahawk [/i]
[B](a) minimal, lousy, or - on most days - NO tram service; (b) no designated pedestrian walkways, which means I guess it will follow the model for the rest of New Jersey and wait for fatalities to make traffic design improvements; [/B][/QUOTE]

HA!!!HAHAHAHHA!!!! YOU ARE MAKING ME ROLL WITH LAUGHTER!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

Oh my friend. Trams? You complain about trams, we would WORSHIP them at SFGAM. First of all, our prices are as much as yours. Second, we have this humengous parking lot, where you'd have to walk the distance of a couple blocks to get ot the front! TRAMS- my god, I would love a tram. PS, SF should do GRAGES of parking, not one huge parking lot

bigt2002, please don't patronize other members. Every park is different, so everyone here will have different 'park quirks' to complain about.

Read the last two words on the top of this website screen...SUCK!

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