I'm sorry, i've been chuckling through this thread so I figured I would chip in my two cents...
Season pass prices were always lumped together. So now that it's broken apart people are freaking out. This is the better way to do pass pricing because people that don't want night skiing pay less for their pass. Not many of you probably remember me but for those of you that saw me around all the time probably heard my little shpeil on being patient dealing with the mountain. You guys get a huge snowmaking budget for the parks you ride, you get new features every year and the new park management cares about what goes on every day on the hill. But, for all of that, you need the tourist revenue that comes in. The more tourists that come in, the more improvements you guys get. The breakdown of pricing shows you how much you pay per day to ride on a season pass. So it's not a big secret that there is no money made at all by the majority of the season pass holders. Pass prices go up every year, it's business, improvements to pay for, repairs and maintenance, new lifts.... 75 bucks this year isn't a huge increase, even on college students payscale, even if you want to try to hype it up that it is. I survived the first few years living in pc and working the park under 9 bucks an hour and had to budget for the funds to play. Everyone in life is trying to balance work and play, and sometimes costs to play go up. Especially at a resort style business.
Hope everyone has a good winter. I'll try and take some vacation time and grab lunch on the hill with everyone one day this season. Cheers.