For those of us with season passes, we find the All-Season dining plan to be a spectacular value considering we can eat twice per day at all of the Cedar Fair parks with our Platinum passes. A guest previously wrote in and asked what the break even point on the All-Season dining plan was, and whether we thought it was worth the investment.
For our complete analysis of the All-Season dining plans, visit our post, Is All-Season Dining Worth the Cost?
Today Colleen writes in and asks, “What’s your opinion on value of the All-Day food pass? I have four adults and two five year olds to feed for two days.”
All-Day dining plans are currently $31.99 and allow a guest to eat every 90 minutes. Drinks are not included. There is also a Premium All-Day dining plan for $44.99 that includes an entrée + side or snack option + all-day drink.
Review the latest Cedar Point dining plans options for reference. For all other park dining plans, review our Cedar Fair park food guides.
After purchasing an All-Day dining plan, you take the voucher to any food stand in the park and they will give the guest a wristband for use throughout the day.
Depending on where you eat throughout the day, meals can vary in size from just enough to feed one person, to more than enough to share. We do not recommend getting an All-Day meal plan for every guest in your party, as eating every 90 minutes provides plenty of opportunities to share. The only stipulation is the guest with the wristband has to order the food.
For simplicity purposes, an entrée with side costs roughly $15-18.00 with a drink costing around another $5.00. Therefore, your break even point is approximately 3 meals with the All-Day dining plan. Given one can eat every 90 minutes, that provides a lot of opportunity to get value out of the dining plans.
Before we had All-Season dining plans, we would get the All-Day dining plans to share among 4 of us (Our kids were little and our fifth child was a baby at the time). Eating every 90 minutes provided plenty of opportunity to continually keep mouths fed, even if sometimes it was only a bite or two per person. We would let the kids eat the first meal (or two) and 90 minutes later the adults shared a meal. By the third 90 minutes, the kids may be hungry again.
Assuming you get your first meal around 11:00 am, that provides a second meal at 12:30, third at 2:00, fourth at 3:30, and you will be rolling out of the park with a fifth meal by 5:00…and you still have till closing to enjoy the plan.
Tip: Make sure to scan your wristband as soon as possible, and ask if you can scan it when you order your food at sit down restaurants instead of at the end of the meal when they bring your check. This starts the 90 minute clock for your next meal. If you wait to scan till the end of your sit down meal, you delay the 90 minute wait between meals.
Keep in mind, if packing a couple peanut butter and jelly or lunch meat sandwiches in a cooler along with snacks and drinks is more than adequate to keep you full throughout the day, go ahead and bring them along. However, you will have to leave the cooler in your vehicle (or at the picnic pavilions). Make sure to get your hand stamped so you can get back into the park. However, realize time is wasted in the process of walking back to the car, eating, then walking back in. Within that hour, you could have rode your favorite coaster.
For us and countless others, the dining plans have provided a great opportunity to keep guests in the park to eat the food and ride.
In Summary
Generally speaking, we think the All-Day and All-Season dining plans provide a great value for guests so long as you plan on utilizing them. The guest needs to determine how much food they typically would eat in a visit. If you can share meals and make do with the time constraints between servings, there provides plenty of opportunity to get value out of the system.
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