Fast Lane

djDaemon said:
For TTD, perhaps. But that is one line, and as I said, it's the worst case scenario. So yeah, on a Saturday with nice weather, TTD's standard queue wait might double. But the other 19 FL rides' waits do not double for standard riders. The impact is not as dramatic as TwistedWicker77 is implying.

I haven't been to CP yet this year and I didn't make it last year to Kings Island post-Fast Lane implementation, but from my trip last weekend to Kings Island they were running Diamondback 3 trains of stand-by, 3 trains Fast Lane, the sign at the entrance pointed at an hour, we waited 2 hours, we waited an hour and 40 minutes for Backlot Stunt Coaster when the sign pointed at 1 hour. If CP's Fast Lane implementation is anything like the implementation at Kings Island it is an abject failure on the operations side (isn't CP Ride Ops supposed to be all about efficiency?)

tasmith09 said:
Just thought I'd chime in and let everyone know that I believe the prices of FASTLANE just went up. CP's website says $55/person now and goes as low as $40/person for groups of 4 or more. No additional discounts for groups bigger than 4. Guess CP caught on to groups forming within the park.

I would imagine the limit on group discounts has more to with the fact that based on demand, there's no need to discount it more than $15.

Very glad to see the park working to find the price sweet spot.

Add another $20 and cut out group discounts Cedar Point!

UpsideDown said:
...from my trip last weekend to Kings Island...

KI has poor capacity compared to CP. And they're still working out the kinks at CP.

JW Addington said:
Add another $20 and cut out group discounts Cedar Point!

The group discounts help families, and I think that's critical to this system being widely used. For a family of 4, the discounts basically work out to a buy 3, get 1 free deal.

As for adding another $20, I really think they'll get there. But it wouldn't be wise to jump that high quite so fast. They'll find the right price point, but it'll take a while.

I also agree that the FL line does not dramatically impact the normal line for the other 19 rides. Of course, the big three are probably longer by about 30-60 min. or so, with the other rides being about 15 min. longer. And this probably won't impact your day so much unless it's really busy. The only part that really gets to me is this:

A group of me and my friends were waiting in the line for the Magnum for about an hour in the heat. We were almost to the stairs, and then we find that FL line. A sour grape I was, to wait for an hour, and have people who just came in waltz in the line.

I also think that the price of FL should be increased to about 70-80 dollars. And also....does anybody know if they've actually seen a definite "We're not selling any more FL today. " Without any sort of "We'll restock soon."? kind of thing?

I don't agree with discounting a line jumping up charge. If they really want it, they will buy it, no need to discount it.

I'll throw this out there, if they feel a discount is needed for groups, start it at $100, with $75 being the lowest offered group rate. That $75 may level things out a little......who knows.....

Level what out? Aside from a few opening day kinks, there haven't been any widespread issues with the system.

Yeah you're right, the best is yet to come!

Fast Lane is sweet. Rode DB at KI last fall 12 times in a row. For those saying its not fair, grow up, life isnt fair. This is America, where we use capitolizm not communism. We have the freedom to try hard and do better than the other guy who did not. I work hard every day and I have no problem spending the money to get priority service. The people I hear complaining are those who dont have a Fast Pass. Too Bad, So Sad! He with the most money/toys wins! If everything were fair this wouldnt be a free country, of wich, I am very proud to live in!

Hammbone said:
Fast Lane is sweet. Rode DB at KI last fall 12 times in a row. For those saying its not fair, grow up, life isnt fair. This is America, where we use capitolizm not communism. We have the freedom to try hard and do better than the other guy who did not. I work hard every day and I have no problem spending the money to get priority service. The people I hear complaining are those who dont have a Fast Pass. Too Bad, So Sad! He with the most money/toys wins! If everything were fair this wouldnt be a free country, of wich, I am very proud to live in!

Your argument would be more respectable if you used proper spelling and grammar. Lol it looks like a elementary school student wrote that.

Anyway, people do have the right to complain about FL. It is currently a flawed system that needs improvement. Like I said before, Universal's model would work best at CP. Universal allows you to use the Express lane once per attraction, and that is it. Even Lo-Q would be an improvement...

Quick! Call the Grammar Police! With all the abreviations and text-speak I've seen on here(Lol), this is hardly the place to critcize others grammar. Hope I diden't misspell any-thing. It's been 12 years since high school, I sometimes forget wich which is witch!

I am not the grammar police, but if you are going to be a braggart with your pithy comments about being better than other people, you should at least spell correctly. That's all I'm saying.

The people who have platinum passes should be able to use Fast Lane after a certain time, like other parks allow you to do.

You get what you pay for. Maybe a discount to passholders but thats about all I can see. Dont passholders typically spend less in the park the a once a year guest? And for two days, they pay about half the cost of a Platinum Pass. Then add the cost of the Fast Lane. Passholders get more than there moneys worth.

I agree with you on that, a discount would be nice! Granted, I do go to the park almost every day, but I spend a good amount of money each time I go. I guess with ERT on MF, Raptor, and Mav, a FL pass wouldn't be necessary for a passholder, since I've been able to ride each ride at least twice each day. Maybe they should have a season pass that would include FL....

djDaemon said:
For TTD, perhaps. But that is one line, and as I said, it's the worst case scenario. So yeah, on a Saturday with nice weather, TTD's standard queue wait might double. But the other 19 FL rides' waits do not double for standard riders. The impact is not as dramatic as TwistedWicker77 is implying.

As I stated before, I do not wish for this to turn into an online fight because it really isn't that serious. However, for starters, I wish to make my opinion be known without having somebody else with noticeable demeanor tell me what I am implying. Thank you for understanding.

Secondly, Millennium Force, Giant Wheel, Mean Streak, and even Magnum have all been longer waits than years past with this new system. TTD was just my example. I've noticed this the 3 times I've went so far this year (Opening Day, last Thursday, and even on Sunday). For this being the beginning of the year, the worst is still to come (mid June, July, and early August...Not to mention Halloweekend Saturdays), in regards to wait times because of paid FOL guests.

Third, On a Saturday with nice weather, the other 19 FL ride waits do not double? How is this accusation made? Just wondering. Wouldn't busier days typically mean more sales for FL passes.

Lastly, I don't think my post was overly dramatic at all since I spoke with a lot of Platinum Passholders while waiting in line for Magnum, Millennium, Giant Wheel, Magnum, and even Cad Cars'. They were saying how ridiculous the waits were because of this system and they've never waited that long for these rides. Granted, if it weren't for Cedar Fair taking the social network route, and the beautiful weather we have had so far this season, I wonder if attendance would be this boosted so far.

I do want to ask though: What do you think they can do to make the line move at a more efficient pace since you agree with me about the poor implementation.

Went to Cedar Point this last Thursday and Friday. Thursday no Fast Lane and Friday with Fast Lane, both days were fantastic weather to be there.

Thursday we managed to get on 31 rides and surprisingly Gemini was the longest wait of the entire day and that being 30 minutes, everything was pretty much a walk on ride. Rides we went on.

3 Raptor
3 Mantis
1 Windseeker
1 Maxair
1 Wicked Twister
2 Skyhawk
1 Magnum
1 Mean Streak
1 Gemini
2 Blue Streak
3 Millennium
3 Top Thrill
1 Mine Ride
1 Sky Ride
1 Corkscrew
1 Iron Dragon
1 Bumper Cars
1 Power Tower
2 Maverick

Friday with Fast Lane. The crowds were insane, wait times were routinely 1-2 hours for Top Thrill, Maverick, Raptor, Mantis, Millennium. Tons of buses and families in the park. I don't recall anyone getting mad at us for the Fast Lane only people asking where they could get one. We went on 41 rides Friday, skipping the rides we had no interest in going on a second time.

11 Maverick
4 Blue Streak
3 Raptor
3 Maxair
1 Wicked Twister
1 Power Tower
4 Top Thrill
1 Mean Streak
4 Gemini (had both trains running so thought is was fun to race.)
5 Millennium
2 Skyhawk
2 Magnum

We didn't see very many Fast Lane wrist bands on anyone with the exception of Top Thrill, they were loading the front train with Fast Lane and the second train with "regular" park people. The entire day the only place I saw a line slow down was at Top Thrill, the lines kept moving and as I saw the Fast Lane people didn't make the wait times any longer than if there was no Fast Lane.

We mainly wanted to get on a ton of rides and took any open seat we could get, never waiting for a front seat on anything wait times routinely being about 5 minutes.. We did have a much more relaxed time in the park Friday, we sat down and had breakfast and lunch, if we would have really tried I am sure we could have gotten on 50 rides or more if we had tried.

TwistedWicker77 said:
Secondly, Millennium Force, Giant Wheel, Mean Streak, and even Magnum have all been longer waits than years past with this new system.

The problem here is that you don't know whether or not, or to what extent, FL is responsible for the wait you're experiencing. Without attendance and other data, you're conjecturing. Maybe the longer waits are due to attendance? Or staff? Or perhaps you're a victim of confirmation bias?

...the worst is still to come...

Again, you're conjecturing. The system is new, and the park has already demonstrated that they're monitoring the system closely, and in fact adjustments have already been made. For all we know, the best may be yet to come.

Third, On a Saturday with nice weather, the other 19 FL ride waits do not double? How is this accusation made? Just wondering. Wouldn't busier days typically mean more sales for FL passes.

Your assumptions would only be correct if they sold nearly half as many FL passes as they do general admission tickets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the park indicate the mix will be somewhere around 10-20%? At that mix rate, waits won't be doubled for every FL ride.

...I spoke with a lot of Platinum Passholders... They were saying how ridiculous the waits were because of this system...
...I wonder if attendance would be this boosted so far.

And you've hit it. You're basing your assumptions on only what you see, rather than actual data. Confirmation bias, etc..

What do you think they can do to make the line move at a more efficient pace since you agree with me about the poor implementation.

As I said, raising the price of FL tickets would be the place to start, and that is, in fact, what the park has already done, less than 2 weeks into the season.

A paragraph from an article from Cleveland.com on July 30th 2011 that talked about Kings Islands Fast Lane addition last year and referenced Disneys Fast Pass system. Here is the link to the article, Paragraph 10 and 11 http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2011/07/amusement_parks_o...feren.html

Paragraph 10 and 11...

Cedar Point experimented with a similar system in the early 2000s (first called Ticket to Ride and then FreeWay) but discontinued it in 2004, in part, according to Innes, because of some discomfort with the notion that the park was sanctioning line-jumping.

"We believe in first-come, first-served," said Innes. "And these people were moving in front of other people in line."

What happened to their "belief" in the quotation marks in paragraph 11?

The attitude in the industry towards front of the line systems has changed since then. Additionally, from the perspective of the parks, there are profits to be made with those systems.

JW Addington said:
What happened to their "belief" in the quotation marks in paragraph 11?

Are you not familiar with PR?