Fast Lane

MForce said:
Time will tell if this is a good idea.

How much time is needed? From what people have said, this worked well at Kings Island which is why it is now at Cedar Point. Must have been a good enough idea to continue it.

99er said:

MForce said:
Time will tell if this is a good idea.

How much time is needed? From what people have said, this worked well at Kings Island which is why it is now at Cedar Point. Must have been a good enough idea to continue it.

Kings Island doesn't have the "big ride" factor as Cedar Point does. Kings Island's coasters a great no doubt, but are more consistent ~ nothing really over shadowing another. Cedar Point, you can clearly see Maverick/Top Thrill/Millennium are the three best, making them the targets of fast lane people. Would people waste their day lapping Corkscrew then MF? I think not.

I think the main problem with this whole fast lane thing is that people with wristbands were getting off rides and getting right back on the same ride, over and over and over again. And this is in the middle of the day. I spoke with a gentleman at magnum who said he had 6 laps on the ride in an hour with fast lane....meanwhile I only got 1 lap in half an hour (which now explains why it took 3 hours just to ride Millennium Force once). That's just flat out unfair. Cedar Point better address this before July (and god forbid, Halloweekends) hits, because there will be some major complaints, and/or fights.

I'm going to laugh when only 5% of the visitors had Fast Lane passes. Wonder whats going to happen with a full 20% using them.

I could see this going away after next year if they don't make any changes.

I've been against the Fast Lane concept from the time they announced its arrival. I do not want to judge it too quickly either until they have time to tweak it. I am just predicting that more people are going to be turned off by Fast Lane than that are going to benefit from it. The park is making some terrific changes this season, although I am just not getting a good feeling about the Fast Lane concept and how it will impact guest satisfaction.

If you can spare the cash, fast lane is definitely the way to go. Like I said, I only hit 6 coasters today and I heard guys talking about 30 coaster rides with fast lane, at 5:00 p.m. I think the only rides that will truly be "twice the wait" they used to be will be MF, TTD, and Maverick. Unfortunatly those are the good ones.

If you can't spare the cash or don't like it, send a letter or at least an email. They said they recieved just one complaint at Kings Island. Probably because people complained on forums and not where it mattered.

Mathyou said:
I think the main problem with this whole fast lane thing is that people with wristbands were getting off rides and getting right back on the same ride, over and over and over again.

Do you think that maybe some of that had to do with it being the first day people could ride coasters since last year? Or maybe the amount of coaster/Cedar Point enthusiasts that were there? I know a large group from Theme Park Review were there and I believe they all had FL. I don't think you will see much re-riding over and over again once summer hits.

Sealedseven said:
Kings Island doesn't have the "big ride" factor as Cedar Point does.

If you mean big as in size than no, but if you are talking big as in wait time, then I disagree with you. Diamondback, The Beast and Vortex are all big enough and typically get a long enough line to call them "big".

99er, were you at the park today?

99er said:

Sealedseven said:
Kings Island doesn't have the "big ride" factor as Cedar Point does.

If you mean big as in size than no, but if you are talking big as in wait time, then I disagree with you. Diamondback, The Beast and Vortex are all big enough and typically get a long enough line to call them "big".

Yet to visit where any of the three are near 1 hour. Must be picking great days.

99er, i'm just telling it like I saw it. You seem to be in favor for Fast Lane and I'm cool with that. However, just promise me to spend a day without the FL and you'll quickly see what I mean; regardless if they are coaster enthusiasts or not.

Actually, Dragsters ramp joins back together after the service stairs to allow the regular line to get to the front train. I doubt it's a good idea to save the front train for just fast lane. I think this morning was a special occasion

^^I am not a fan nor am I against it either. I just don't understand dismissing it on the first day of its use. Plus I had many friends at the park today who were riding rides and none of them seemed to have the long waits or the FL nightmares that some of the people on here are talking about. I do know the park was busy and many rides experienced downtime which is going to give you a longer wait. I am just saying that I don't believe these long waits today were just because of FL.

Kyle2154 said:
99er, were you at the park today?

No, which is why I am trying to get an idea of what the day was like. On Pointbuzz, people are saying the waits were long (3 hours) and Fastlane was the cause. On Theme Park Review and from first hand accounts of friends who were at the park, they are telling a different story. So which is it? Long waits because of Fastlane or moderate waits because the park was busy? Are people bitching about Fastlane because they already didn't like it or did Fastlane really cause Millennium Force to have a 3 hour wait?

Yeah, it sounded like you weren't there. To answer, Fast Lane caused MF and TTD to have twice as long of waits from specific points as last year because of the 50/50 loading. The "smaller" rides, where fast lane went empty periodically, weren't impacted as bad.

Maverick was running front train fast pass, second train regular. Talk to a few fast lane people at Maverick. The fast lane wait was about 25 minutes for them.

Hopefully you're correct Adam because after what I saw this morning at Dragster, it looked like a real mess.

I'm trying to keep an opened mind about Fast Lane...and I realize there will probably be changes/tweaks, however; first impressions are important. And my first impression is disappointing. Kinda has me worried about visiting the park on a busy July day.

Kyle2154 said:
Yeah, it sounded like you weren't there. To answer, Fast Lane caused MF and TTD to have twice as long of waits from specific points as last year because of the 50/50 loading.

This is why I am asking because from a few phone calls today of friends who were there, they each waited about 45-55 minutes for Millennium Force. I talked to one of them while they were in line so I know that was at around 1:30 this afternoon. I also knew someone who was using FL today and they said they didn't run into very many other FL users while using it. That lead me to believe these long waits I was hearing about was due to downtime and first day operations, as it seems to happen every year on opening day.

Just confused since Pointbuzz is saying it was a mess and other sites are saying the opposite. Thought maybe those who were against it already were not giving it a chance.

Even the rides that didn't have FL had long lines. It could be just because of how crowded it was. Tweaks may come but today was a super busy day.

My opinion is you can't blame fast lane. DT had about a 1 hour wait. The park was incredibly crowded, plus there were lots of rides down throughout the day.

Blaming fast lane for the long lines, at this point, is nothing but a knee jerk reaction to something new in the park.

CoasterKid20 said:
Even the rides that didn't have FL had long lines. It could be just because of how crowded it was. Tweaks may come but today was a super busy day.

But remember, I don't think that was any where near the 20% mark of Fast Lane Users that the have the limit set to. The lines can get far worse before any action takes place.

prozyan said:
DT had about a 1 hour wait. The park was incredibly crowded, plus there were lots of rides down throughout the day.

That says it all right there. I heard that DT had an hour wait today so that means the park was really busy, add that to the slow new crews and you are going to have long lines. Not seeing many FL users to me means that FL did not actually impact the wait times that much today.