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[chitlins]

IF they do away with bring a friend perks for the early season ticket buyers, I'm done with season tickets.  We use them for our kid's friends in the summer and my brother and wife and my two nieces come with us for Christmas. They usually pick up the hotel costs. This would tick this steady, dependable patron from NWA that comes the back way from Berryville to miss the traffic off.

[sanddunerider]

thedy will not do away with the bring a friend passes. it brings them extra revenue and they know it. But i would like to see them figure out how to control the illegal "sales" of the tickets.

[Nate65807]

I would say that I agree with History Buff here:

"First of all, if it's wrong for you, then it's immoral for you.  Period.  That shouldn't be under question at all."

I think it is morally wrong to SELL Bring a Friend Tickets, but I am fine with giving them away if I can't use them. I do think that SDC is perpetuating the "problem" by not checking to see if the season pass holder is present. On the other hand, who can blame them? When you have upwards of 10,000 people entering a park on some days, and only 5 to 7 turnstiles, you really don't have time to ask questions beyond "Can I see your ID?" for season pass holders.

You could solve a lot of problems with fraud simply by switching to the plastic magnetic stripe card "Six Flags" style season passes that have a photo of the pass holder on them. The bring a friend pass could be eliminated by simply using the season pass itself as the bring a friend coupon. The employee would press the "Bring a Friend button" and swipe the season pass and the computer would check to see if I had brought a friend already between 11/28 and 12/30. It would have a message for the employee that either said "entrance granted" or "invalid admission." That technology has been in common use elsewhere for over 10 years, and isn't much more expensive than having a laser barcode reader.

Believe me, if SDC saw this as a problem, they would have done something about it. Bring a friend coupons are glorified advertising that bring those who don't buy tickets to the park. Many of these people will come back and buy their own tickets/passes in the future. Even if they never come back, they will have bought food/souvenirs and perhaps recommend the park to others.