Fast Lane is coming to the park

Last year at KI when i bought fast lane in sept. They never let FL line fill the rides until FL line was empty. They would let main line in for two or three rounds then FL for one and repeat. Delirium had a certain number of seats for FL like 10. They let so many FL on then fill the rest with main line. If you are 11 in line for FL you wait another cycle.
I personally would never buy FL ahead of time. You never know what the crowds will be. I would hate to spend money on it and get to the park and it rains all day and i ride nothing. Or say it rains early and stops yet the park is empty because no one came because of rain.

If they implement fast lane the way you describe, I think things will probably run more or less smoothly.

Usually the wrist bands are made of paper and they put them on for you and tight. If you try to loosen it, it may rip. But who knows how what these are going to be. Good luck.

I was looking at the FL rides offered at KD. I happened to notice that front row access for Volcano and Intimidator305 FL users wasn't available. Furthermore, due to "ride capacity restrictions", Volcano was restricted to two rides per day per FL pass. I haven't been to KD in 25yrs, so if anyone could tell me how "restricted" it is, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, do you see CP doing this with any of its FL rides (i.e. TTD or Maverick)?

By ride capacity restrictions, they mean the line moves slowly. Though, word is, they are working on alleviating that in the near future.

I just wanted to add some more info. about Fast Lane from my experience and what I read on KIcentral.

First off, I used Fast Lane my second time at Kings Island this past Sunday. For many years, I've visited KI on weekdays in May where the park was completely empty.

I was going with my friend who could not go on weekdays, but I read on forums that Sundays in May were just as dead. I took the advice and went to my first Sunday in May at KI.

Maybe it was the nice weather, but the park was absolutely mobbed. There were 2+ hour waits for Flight of Fear / Fire Hawk, and even Boo Blasters had a 1 hour wait - I had never seen that ride with a line in years!

I tried to stick it out, telling my friend we could just have a lazy day and go on the typical low wait rides. After walking around the park, I realized even this was not going to be enjoyable. Adventure Express & Vortex had a full queue and onto the midway, Racer's queue was mostly full, and Flight Deck even had a 20-30 minute wait.

It was 2:30PM and the park closed at 8PM. My friend and I decided we were either going home (a 3 hour drive), or buying Fast Lane. We chose Fast Lane, and it saved the day once again (we wished we had purchased it earlier).

The way Fast Lane was implemented at KI was no different than my experience 9 months ago there. The amount of Fast Laners in the park was still crazy low for such a packed day.

Some of the rides are held at the entrance of an empty station at KI (like Flight of Fear / Fire Hawk). For these rides, Fast Lane gets their seat selection first (we'd always grab the front seat of the train). For other rides (like Beast / Vortex / Diamondback), the Fast Lane entrance just merges onto the station (where it was restricted to 1-3 trains of riders). So, there was basically no wait for anything in the park. We rode all of the coasters twice, and all the other rides we desired.

The day was completely saved, and we were very happy. There was only 1 ride where I saw quite a few FL users: Fire Hawk. There was still no trickling FL in as another poster mentioned. We just took over a train, and the FL queue was cleared.

But, a forum member at KICentral claimed to have run into Don Helbig on the midway, asking him about how Fast Lane was restricted each day. Supposedly Don Helbig pointed out that they were very aware of the fiasco that I menioned several times in this thread (where FL was not restricted on the Columbus Day weekend Halloween Haunt). He said that going forward, they will be restricting Fast Lane passes sold to around 20% of the attendance for any given day.

20% of the attendance still seems ridiculously high, especially given the low capacity that exists on most of Kings Island's rides.

You're right that it was completely slammed on Sunday. I was there all weekend, and Sunday was easily as busy as Saturday. I went in around noon hoping to score some quick rides before heading home, and ended up only riding Boo Hill.

As for Fast Lane, I will say that the "standby" lines moved noticeably slower than they had the last time I was at the park, before Fast Lane was around. Some of that was attributable to the ride crews moving at a glacial pace (I'm looking at you Backlot Italian Stunt Job Coaster) but Fast Lane certainly impacted things.

The most noticeable instance was Diamondback towards the end of the night on Saturday. We entered the line for what previously would have been a 45 minute wait, and bailed after an hour twenty so we could get to The Beast before the line closed. There were roughly 20 people who were marathoning it over and over, and a steady stream of other Fast Lane users coming through for a ride or two. That really slowed things down a lot.

Yeah, I agree that 20% still seems high.

I mentioned that the numbers of FL users I saw was crazy low, but realize that I never really saw them, since KI always clears them out first.

I was walking straight empty ques to the station, but maybe more of those people on the station were Fast Lane than I realized.

I could definitely see FL seriously affecting the wait times of the regular line, especially Fire Hawk. That ride already has a ridiculously-slow moving line. With Fast Lane gobbling up trains, I don't see how anyone could take waiting in that line.

I agree that seems high. Not because I think it's unfair or some nonsense like that, but if one in five people have that access, it dilutes the value of it if I buy it.

Sounds like the fast lane lines will be longer than the real line.... ;)

My family and I went to Canada's Wonderland on Sunday (opening day). According to some of the other people we talked to, it was busier than usual. Even so, I only noticed about a dozen or so people with the FL wristbands. I don't know if it had an impact on the big rides like Leviathan Behemoth, but those rides were running at what appeared to be full efficiency. I was worried because half the rides were down often or totally for the day; others were not running at max capacity (I too am talking to you Backlot Stunt Coaster). However, we were really lucky that those with the FL passes were few and far between; otherwise, we would have waited super long for the few rides that were working. I asked one of the employees how she has to operate the FL, and she said if you already have a seat assignment before FL customers arrive, that you will not lose your seat, but if you don't, she has to clear the FL queue first.
CW, like KI, has many low capacity/ low efficiency rides. If FL passes catch on (which I see happening during peak season time), I foresee these type of rides having extremely long waits. If this is combined with rides being down, running 2 cars, etc., then the results could be even worse for those without FL passes. I think many people will be very mad. I don't think this will affect CP as bad as the other CF parks, though, because there are many more efficient rides. It will be interesting to see!

Anyone know where the fastlane redemption booth will be? I bought one to test it out on Mother's Day...Because I can only spend 4 or 5 hours in the park....I only get one day off this month so...why not. lol

I believe there are various locations around the park at KI. I imagine it would be the same at Cedar Point.

Yes. Top Thrill, Millenium Force, Gemini, Magnum, and many others will use Fast Lane in 2012.

^ We already know the attractions, they're listed.

Already can tell, I already have a bad feeling about this.

Coaster Boi said:
Yes. Top Thrill, Millenium Force, Gemini, Magnum, and many others will use Fast Lane in 2012.

Dude, stop trying to be the life of the party. You've made 12 posts, and every one of them you act like you're sharing some scarce information that in reality most of the people on this site already know. Sit back and watch.

According to the map I picked up over the weekend. You can purchase Fast Lane at Guest Services, Pagoda, Speed Zone gift shop and Cedar Creek Trading gift shop.

Thanks pointperson, I'm pretty sure that's the info Phantom was really looking for.