Do the FastLane passes REALLY Sell out?

I think the best solution would be to raise the prices on the Fast Pass Plus option and add Maverick and Millennium Force to it.

Instead of $105 per Fast Pass Plus, how about $155 or $175.

We are talking about the park that charges $3 for a 20 ounce soda, and $8 for a burger that includes a piece of meat that is worse than what they serve the kids at school and a great value Walmart bun.

If the guests are paying $8 for that crap burger then surely they would pay more for Fast Pass Plus.

If the lines are too long for Fast Pass, they aren't charging enough.

Detroit Basketball said:
I think the best solution would be to raise the prices on the Fast Pass Plus option and add Maverick and Millennium Force to it.

Bad idea. If you put MF and Maverick into Fast Lane plus, there really is no need for regular Fast Lane. Most other rides with Fast Lane really don't need them as there is never much of a wait for them.

What gets me is that they are doing this "mini-fastpass" idea with the Plinko games which also slows down the regular line of the top 2 coasters. If they at least had some sort of consolation prizes that were actually desirable - $5 wouldn't sound that bad.

These locker rentals are also getting out of hand at $2, and it seems much more common now to be told what has to be offloaded before riding - but it seems we only hear that speech where lockers are nearby.

Would you rather they tell you when you're not near a locker or some other place suitable for storing your stuff?

Most Fast Lane purchasers are really looking for quick access to the 3 or 4 most popular rides. That holds true at any amusement park with a quick queue option but it especially holds true at Cedar Point. Even if Cedar Point decided to put every ride in the park on Fast Lane most Fast Lane users would decide to ride the same 3 or 4 rides.

The only way to solve the long Fast Lane queue problem at MF, Maverick & TTD are to restrict access to those coasters. It can be done either through (a) how many Fast Lane passes they sell or (b) the amount of times a user is allowed to ride those coasters during the day. It seems as though the most practical solution is the latter simply because selling less passes (without raising the price of said pass) leaves money on the table.

It's also possible that the GP doesn't care about long Fast Lane lines on the big 3. They still may find value in shortening an hour standby line wait down to 20-30 minutes, but I still contend that the 30 min - 1 hour Fast Lane wait times regularly seen on Maverick haven't gone unnoticed either with guests (much slower moving regular line) or with park management. Volcano at KD had a two-ride Fast Lane limit last year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some derivative of that with Maverick next year.

gad198 said:
It seems as though the most practical solution is the latter simply because selling less passes (without raising the price of said pass) leaves money on the table.

Except that enforcing that limit would cost money. Consider, right now the only thing FL queue employees have to check for is whether or not you have a wristband. Having a ride limit on certain rides adds complexity to the system, and thus cost.

It's also possible that the GP doesn't care about long Fast Lane lines on the big 3. They still may find value in shortening an hour standby line wait down to 20-30 minutes...

I think this is the key. I suspect many folks are happy paying for a reduced wait. It would seem moving Maverick to FLP (with an accompanying price bump for FLP - removing Maverick from FL would reduce FL value, thus being equivalent to a price bump) would alleviate some of the perceived problems.

Out of curiosity, is Maverick the only coaster that is having this issue? Are people waiting 45 minutes for other coasters like Millenium or Gatekeeper?

Yes, Maverick is the only one with a slow Fast Lane. One time I stood still for a good 5 or 10 minutes before going forward again. I think the problem with it is the low capacity trains. All other coasters, I got on in about 20 minutes or less.

djDaemon said:
Except that enforcing that limit would cost money. Consider, right now the only thing FL queue employees have to check for is whether or not you have a wristband. Having a ride limit on certain rides adds complexity to the system, and thus cost.

I'll agree and disagree. I agree that adding ride limits increases complexity a little, but I'll disagree that it increases costs.

Six Flags has been upcharging popular rides on their premium Flash Pass system for years. If you want to ride X2 (or X-Flight, etc.) as a one-time deal on the Gold or Platinum pass you pay an extra $10. Those rides simply aren't on the system otherwise.

Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point functions in much the same fashion where Gatekeeper and TTD are involved. I'm sure most standard Fast Lane guests know that they can't access TTD and Gatekeeper because it's clear on the signs and descriptions that those rides are not on their level of Fast Lane. The merge attendants are already checking bands for (1) if the person has the right Fast Lane band and (2) the color and date written on the band. The attendants are already there checking bands, so I don't see where any additional costs could come from as far as checking the bands to enforce ride limits.

The only way I could see additional complexity with limiting rides on a select few coasters is if the ride goes down and the person leaves the line and doesn't ride, but that's a much smaller issue.

I think this is the key. I suspect many folks are happy paying for a reduced wait. It would seem moving Maverick to FLP (with an accompanying price bump for FLP - removing Maverick from FL would reduce FL value, thus being equivalent to a price bump) would alleviate some of the perceived problems.

I agree with this and think that's the most practical solution. Do you do two coasters on the Plus version or three? How much of a price bump from Fast Lane to Fast Lane Plus is right? $20? $30? I know why Cedar Point chose Gatekeeper and TTD for the Plus version coasters this year, but most other Cedar Fair parks with the Plus version chose specific popular coasters with crappy capacity (Firehawk @ KI, Nighthawk @ Carowinds, Volcano @ KD) to help deal with longer Fast Lane lines on those rides, so why not Cedar Point and Maverick as well?

gad198 said:
...I'll disagree that it increases costs.

So, how do they limit FL riders to a certain number of rides? I guess my point is that they'd need some way to limit people - from handing out raffle-style tickets on the cheap on of solutions, to bar codes on wrist bands on the expensive end. Regardless, adding complexity beyond 2 different wrist bands will inevitably add cost.

And SF's system is far more complex than CP's FL's wristband solution, so it doesn't make for a good comparison. Upgrading to SF's system would come at a huge cost, relatively speaking.

What if they stamp every person's hand as soon as they go through the line. If there is no hand stamp, guests can't get in again... and they will just trust the goodness of people's hearts that guests will not wash off the stamp!

djDaemon said:
And SF's system is far more complex than CP's FL's wristband solution, so it doesn't make for a good comparison. Upgrading to SF's system would come at a huge cost, relatively speaking.

The reason I included this analogy was more to illustrate that other parks have added queue line management techniques specifically to deal with one extremely popular attraction.

I'm not suggesting that Cedar Point adopt the upcharge pay-per-ride add-on option to the Fast Lane/Plus with Maverick. I am suggesting that limiting access to one particular coaster - even with Fast Lane - might not be a bad idea, particularly if you can monetize the value of it somehow.

As you mentioned, adding Maverick to the Plus version I believe makes the most sense at this moment. Having said that, you still have to monitor the situation even if you do add Maverick to the Plus version, because the long Maverick Fast Lane lines haven't benefitted anyone. The long Fast Lane lines only seem to be consistently problematic at Maverick, so why not tailor the solution to address that one specific coaster?

I agree that the system needs fixed. I just don't think limiting the number of rides makes sense, considering that it seems one of CP's priorities for this system is that it not be expensive to implement and maintain.

I think Maverick's Fast Lane should be limited to 1 ride. If you want additional rides, you will have to pay more.

djDaemon said:
I agree that the system needs fixed. I just don't think limiting the number of rides makes sense, considering that it seems one of CP's priorities for this system is that it not be expensive to implement and maintain.

I think that's the second reason they ended up settling on the current wristband system. The first is that they get to pocket almost all of the profits from the system (less wristband printing costs) without splitting profits with Lo-Q or anyone else. I don't want to get sidetracked though, hehe.

I agree with you that initiating ride limits probably isn't the right first step - putting Maverick on to Fast Lane Plus is. The problem is that Maverick is a very popular but low-capacity coaster at one of the busiest parks in the country. If you put Maverick and TTD on the Plus version only, what's the sweet spot between how much more people will pay for the Plus version AND at the same time alleviate the longer Fast Lane lines at both coasters?

They should also ban bringing items into the line on Maverick. I think that would significantly reduce wait times. They could install lockers over by the smoking area near the train station.

Has anyone actually seen, anywhere, what the actual limit is? Limited amount has a huge range of possibilites. It sure is amazing that Disney can charge the right amount to get huge crowds and still make tons of cash without having to use a system like this.

Disney gets a lot of revenues from resorts/restaurants that Cedar Point will never get because for most people, CP will always be a day trip not week long+ vacation. Disney also has merchandising revenues that Cedar Point will never have as well. Disney is open year round. Apples to oranges.

So, there is nothing else creative that CF could come up with in order to make the profits they need? How about they stop having sales on tickets and come up with a balance that will get the guests in without ticking ANYONE off who does go? How about setting prices on food that can increase their volume of sales? There are actual cases where stores carrying the same items actually make more money by selling their items for lower prices.

I just read an article that shows that amusement parks have gotten so expensive that they have lost many teenage customers to cell phones and video games. Do they not want these customers anymore?

\There are so many better ways for them to come up with the cash they need without using Fastlane.

I am single and make $75k per year...I used to average 4 trips per year there....Since FastLane, I have only gone once. And that was only because I got tickets for $25 after they announced GK. So, while I may go there the Sunday after Labor Day since the tix are much cheaper and the crowd should be very light, they will not be making the cash off of me that they used to. I would hope, if it's dead, that not too many will be buying FL that day.