Fast Lane is coming to the park

I hope that Fast Lane users won't be boarding Millennium and Dragster from the exit ramps, but I fear that they will. I can accept it when VIP, parent swap, and handicapped persons are sitting on the trains as they pull into the loading station, but I won't be too happy if I have to deal with FL people doing this, especially when I'm with a group of 3 or 4 and we're trying to line up so we can all ride on the same train. But I will try to keep an open mind until I see how this actually works.

Fast Lane "people"? They're just like you and me...

:)

Business today is about making the most possible money. Not for a second do I belive that by instituting this system it will keep the other prices in the park down. Those prices will continue to rise and this will start to generate a new cash flow. I do not see it signaling any other benefit for the general customer other than the stated purpose of the Fast Pass either now or in the future.

MForce said:
I hope that Fast Lane users won't be boarding Millennium and Dragster from the exit ramps...

I believe it was said that no Fast Lane users will be entering through the rides exit ramps.

TheHSBR said:
Business today is about making the most possible money.

Ah, yes... the good ol' days, when businesses set out to not make money. ;)

You're right in assuming FL income won't lead to lower prices elsewhere in the park. What it may lead to, however, is increased value elsewhere in the park.

Or maybe it won't. Regardless, FL won't make roller coasters any less rolly or coastery. So there's probably not much to worry about.

^Agreed...added value in the park. Who knows, it may help pay for that next coaster.

I'm still on the fence about this. Part of me wants to take advantage of this and ride all day long, but another part of me doesn't want to have to shell out an additional $90 every trip (me and my wife). Ideally it doesn't turn into the type of thing where it's hard to enjoy a day on the big rides without it, but is still an advantage for those that purchase it. I hope it doesn't take them too long to find this harmony, or worse... get so blinded by the cash they don't care.

Kyle2154 said:
but another part of me doesn't want to have to shell out an additional $90 every trip (me and my wife).

You don't have to get it on every trip.

99er said:

Kyle2154 said:
but another part of me doesn't want to have to shell out an additional $90 every trip (me and my wife).

You don't have to get it on every trip.

If there is a significant advantage with the Fast Lane tickets, then you pretty much need to get it every trip.

And once you've done it once, it'll spoil you for later trips. At least it would spoil me.

Well great, it sounds like Fast Lane already has a strangle hold grip on some of you before it even starts. Me, I'll only be using it in dire circumstances, especially considering I have a season pass and have ridden all the rides countless times before.

Here's something else to think about with Fast Lane: How much can you and your group handle? When I used Fast Lane at KI last year, my friend and I were still fine, but the other 4/6 in our group were on the brink of puking just 3 hours into the day, having walked on all the rides in rapid succession. So, we had to start working in breaks. You know, kind of like the breaks while waiting in a line...

Ffej said:
Well great, it sounds like Fast Lane already has a strangle hold grip on some of you before it even starts. Me, I'll only be using it in dire circumstances, especially considering I have a season pass and have ridden all the rides countless times before.

Here's something else to think about with Fast Lane: How much can you and your group handle? When I used Fast Lane at KI last year, my friend and I were still fine, but the other 4/6 in our group were on the brink of puking just 3 hours into the day, having walked on all the rides in rapid succession. So, we had to start working in breaks. You know, kind of like the breaks while waiting in a line...

I know my limit is 20 Millie Force Rides in an hour after eating 2 burritos from Mcdonalds... That gets me to stop for about an hour. XD

It seems to me that the best way to implement this would be to hold the queue outside the station (as has customarily been done with most of the coasters, most obviously and annoyingly on Millennium Force) so that there are only a couple of trainloads of riders in the station at any given time, and offer the FastLane riders access to the station. That way there would be NO effect on operations, at least not between shotgun and exit gates. Other riders would be permitted into the station to keep the shotgun full, as is customarily done now. If the FastLane queue is long enough to keep the shotgun full by itself, then a quota should be instituted so that neither line stops moving.

This would be easy on Millennium Force because there is a "chicken chute" from the platform to the midway. It would work on Maverick as well, thanks to the present single-rider line, and the queue exit right at the bottom of the stairs. Not so sure about some of the other rides.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^This 100%

The regular queue and the FL queue need to both empty into the station so the only extra wait is (maybe) a couple minutes in the station.

That's already the way it was being implemented at KI, except there was no Fast Lane quota to my knowledge. So, on the super busy days, the regular line did stop moving on a handful of attractions. Though they didn't appear to change this late into the season after it happened, I'm hoping it's addressed for 2012. That is a situation that simply isn't right.

Sealedseven said:

Ffej said:

I know my limit is 20 Millie Force Rides in an hour after eating 2 burritos from Mcdonalds... That gets me to stop for about an hour. XD

Wait... They have burritos at McDonald's?

breakfast burritos

Sealedseven said:
If there is a significant advantage with the Fast Lane tickets, then you pretty much need to get it every trip.

Even on days when just about everything is a walk-on? I think not. If you are a season pass holder and the ONLY days you visit the park are Saturdays in July/August then sure, you might want to purchase it more then once. The original post I quoted just said that he didn't want to have to spend the money every trip.

RideMan said:
It seems to me that the best way to implement this would be to hold the queue outside the station (as has customarily been done with most of the coasters, most obviously and annoyingly on Millennium Force)...

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but are you suggesting that queue management (only allowing a few trains' worth of riders in at a time) affects capacity or operations negatively? I always considered the practice sensibly efficient.

I think Raptor might be the real test for FL, in terms of worst-case scenario. As we all know, Raptor is inundated with guests early in the day, making the wait quite long, which makes for a juicy FL target. And because there's no obvious, easy way (to me, at least) to incorporate FL access, short of constructing an additional entrance, it'll be interesting to see how things are handled there.

I also was confused by that. I hate when stations are mobbed with people and appreciate being held back on rides like Magnum, Millenium, TTD, and Maverick. As long as a couple trains are in the station at all times, I don't see how capacity or operations would be altered in any way. Thus, I don't understand why RideMan is annoyed by Millenium's queue management.