Fast Lane

I will reserve my opinion on FL unitl I can see more days in action but here were my observations from opening day. When waiting in line for Raptor I watched the side stairs where the FL entrance is and the people were not waiting more than 2 minutes to get into the station. There was a large group with bright orange shirts that were flowing in like a river run wild. I counted sixty people in the time I was in the area where I could watch it until I got on the train. Another time on Windseeker I watched as they were assigning seat numbers to those in line, a group walked up the fastlane path and they were immediately given numbers in front of anyone else with zero wait. If opening day was any indication I think limitations will need to be assigned to the rides per day on each ride but then that would make the product less attractive.

Pete said: All the people in the Fast Lane line would just be ahead of you anyway.

That is not entirely true. With the current Fast Lane implementation, you could effectively have the same person in line ahead of you 4 times.

Note that I do support having a system like this, as long as the impact on the normal riders is minimal. However, the current 50% number that is floating around is too high to minimize the impact to the non user.

Fast Lane should be sold in very limited numbers and not unlimited or high percents like rumours going around. 20% or higher just minimizes the value of Fast Lane and it isn't a premium option any more after that.

I really don't think the park is going to turn anyone away who wants to buy the FL passes. Do you really think the will turn away dozens or perhaps hundreds of people will to give the park and extra $50? I don't think so. Will we ever know if on a certain day they exceeded their limit on fast pass sales?

Hopefully its a success for CP, but at the same time has minimal impact on the general public crowds who don't have FL.

From this past weekend, me and my sister both agreed that it seems unfair that just because they pay the extra $50.00 for the Fast Lane, and can send multiple groups of people through at a time. The only thing that I think they need to do is limit these people 1 time per ride so that way it's fair to the other people that have to wait an hour or so in line when summer gets into full swing. My Sister was very upset the fact that people were bragging about being able to jump on a ride 3 times while the rest of us had to wait an hour or so in line.

bholcomb said:
Life isn't fair. Boo hoo someone doesn't get the same experience in life or at an amusement park. Do you think everyone should be able to drive a Lamborghini because more or less everyone should get a similar vehicle?

IMO If you can't afford an extra $50 on top of admission, parking, food and traveling to the park you shouldn't probably be going or have set different priorities in life than others.

It has nothing to do with not being able to afford it. It's more so "Why would we have to pay that much for it when we were told it wouldn't impede on a normal parkgoers day?". And everyone does have priorities. We can afford a trip to an amusement park or a pass to it, but what if being able to ride a ride over and over and over again for fifty bucks isn't a priority. Who said that was a requirement to enjoy a day at the park that YOU already paid money to visit. I'm not against the Fast Lane concept, it just needs some fixing to be fair to all players. Sure I'll buy it once or twice, but come on, coughing up that much every trip isn't worth it.

As for the Lamborghini reference, nice try.

I do believe, however, that once things really get going, Fast Lane may not be that big of a deal.

What percentage of people at Cedar Point on any given day do you suppose are repeat customers? In other words, this isn't their first ever visit. I would guess that percentage is pretty high. And why do you suppose they return? I'm guessing it's because they have had previous positive experiences at the park. Would it be fair to assume that such repeat customers greatly impact Cedar Point's bottom line? Suppose everybody visited only once and then that was it. This is your customer base, CP. While I can see the value of FL for both those willing to part with the money, and the park, doubling the wait time for TTD--for example--by reserving the front train for FL only is unacceptable. Fortunately, this is a free country, and I have the right to take my business elsewhere. I really think that there will eventually be modifications to this system that will make this whole topic moot. Until then, we all also have the right to whine and complain.

Welcome to the 21st century folks, money can buy you things. To ask Cedar Fair to continue to avoid this easy way to cash in is crazy. Six Flags has been doing it for years. And while I hate watching everyone moving ahead of me in line, it's life in the big city. Get used to it.

It's a matter of supply and demand. So while season pass holders enjoy basically the same rates year after year for visiting the park non stop, you have to expect the park to try and increase revenue. So that makes me wonder, why I don't hear about complaining about the hotel rates on the island? Nobody talking about food rates today? Walt brought up the new parking thing in this thread, and no one has said a peep. I'm guessing because most of the complainers feel they are too expensive and don't spend a dime of money on the stuff.

I'm a business man at heart, I want everyone happy. BUT, also will listen to anyone that has money they would like to spend. They havent taken anything away from the season pass holder. You still can come as many times as you want. You can walk around and act like you own the park. And wait in line just like the rest of us. Somedays the lines will be quick, somedays not so much. Just like any other day.

But I support one thing with the complaints, they should make the line merge like the old 'fast pass' stamp days. That would be the only change I would like. But if they don't, so be it. I have the choice to pay the money to have the privileges. If I choose not to, the fault is only my own! .

I think the jury is out at this point as to what the effect of Fast Lane will be on those people who do not pay for it. From what I saw yesterday, there were issues with mechanical problems and inexperienced new crews that were increasing wait times. So its tough to know how much of an impact that Fast Lane had. Some people I talked to seemed to want to pin all longer wait times yesterday on Fast Lane which I did not see as accurate. I can't comment on Dragster as every time I walked by it, the ride was closed. MF wait times (at least the 3 times I was in line) were impacted significantly more by mechanical issues than Fast Lane.

In the end, I don't think that most people will have issues if 5 or even 10 minutes are added to wait times (5-8 trains in most cases). From what I have seen over the years, most people at CP are not looking to marathon big rides. Take a couple rides out of their day and they will still have a good time. I am amazed at the number of people who seem to have a good time waiting in line. Its social time. Talking with friends. Surfing on their phones. Etc. And a lot of folks seem to need breaks between rides so waiting works for them.

CP will need time to get Fast Lane into a groove. As well as working out new crew issues and beginning of the year mechanical issues. I am sure there will still be people who do not like Fast Pass. And there will be times when the system causes more issues (perceived or otherwise) than normal. I expect it would be a continually evolving system.

There were a lot of different reactions to Fast Pass in the "commoners'" lines. Most people had no idea what Fast Pass was (which I am sure comes as a surprise to folks here who spend hours each day on this site, scanning webcams, etc). Some didn't like it. Viewing it as a pure money grab. Others were thinking about getting it themselves. I saw one group who was in the commoner line in the morning in the Fast Pass line later in the day. But most people seemed to have no true reaction to it. They just went on their way as they had planned.

I've been on the fence on the whole Fast Lane thing since it's been announced. I don't typically visit the park during busy summer days so I don't see myself being very affected by it. What gave me a bit of a surprise was a coworker at work the other day. To put this in perspective, I'm a 23 year old who has been a season pass holder since 2006, up until this year where I haven't decided if I will buy one or not yet, who travels to the park with friends or family. My coworker is a +/-40 year old woman who travels to the park with her husband and two teenaged kids. Over the years we've several conversations about new additions to CP and other parks we've been to.

The other day at work she came up to me and said, "Did you get the email about what Cedar Point is doing this year? They got a fast pass system." And I just told her that I got that email and new about it, to which she responded, "That's just ridiculous! My family has been going to the park for years and this year we won't be going, it will just be a waste of time. We saw how it worked at Universal Studios. My husband sent an email to the park about how upset we are."

I get that the park is offering a service that people want and that it is a great business move for them, but I also get the people complaining about longer lines for those who don't buy it. I've read this whole Fast Lane topic so I've heard everyone's view on here, those who are for it and those who are against it. But I was just really surprised by my coworkers attitude towards it. She is just a member of the general pubic that made the decision not to visit the park this year based on that promotional email that CP send out announcing and advertising Fast Lane.

tst2620 said:

I like the idea of having fastlane access for people staying on the onsite resorts.

If the on site resorts were worth paying for, you might have an argument there. Right now the only thing they have going for them is location.

walleyewhacker said:
I counted sixty people in the time I was in the area where I could watch it until I got on the train.

4seats x8 rows = 32, so basically you were effectively set back 2 trains, or less than 5 minutes.

BlueStreak64 said:
Don't really want to get into the whole FL argument, but wanted to point out what I'm going to assume is a misunderstanding of how it seems FL was being implemented yesterday at TTD and what was being said by BayernKurve. If the front half of the TTD station was being used only for FL users, the effective capacity (yes, the "raw" capacity number supposedly is not effected at all by a VQ system, however we're not talking about how many people the ride removes from the line overall, we're talking about how many it removes from the regular line) has just been cut in half, since only one train is available to load people from the regular line. What would have been a 1 hour wait with the line using both ends of the station has now become 2 hours. You have effectively removed half of the trains from use for the "normal" line and reserved them solely for FL users.

Hopefully it is indeed going to be changed to a more normal merge point, and I'm really surprised they didn't just use the old Freeway line on every ride that used to have it.

Also, it seems likely that there will be shifts in ride lineups for FL use come Halloweekends, as Troika (why does it have FL anyway?) appears to be using Happy Jack's line for FL access.

Thanks BlueStreak64, glad someone else realizes that in a situation like Dragster capacity has been reduced by 50% which, I am sorry, is just completely insane to do to 80%-90% of park guests not using Fastlane.

It seems like the biggest issue is allowing unlimited re-rides. If every FL allowed one or even two front of line access per ride per day, both FL purchaser and 'commoner' guest would be satisfied. Put an RFID chip in each wristband & a turnstyle at the FL entrance; green light as you approach if you have not experienced that ride that day, otherwise you are going to Bangkok. Not only simple for guests but allows real time tracking & control for extremely heavy crowds.

Unfortunately, the park (shockingly and TOTALLY uncharacteristically) implemented one of the cheapest systems possible, second only to rubber stamps and black markers.

bholcomb said:

walleyewhacker said:
I counted sixty people in the time I was in the area where I could watch it until I got on the train.

4seats x8 rows = 32, so basically you were effectively set back 2 trains, or less than 5 minutes.

That doesn't include the repeating part....

The only big issues with long waits that I saw on opening day were caused by slow crews and lots of downtime. It's nearly impossible to judge how much Fast Lane was affecting wait times with those two other conditions in the mix as well. Sunday had a much smaller crowd with what seemed like a considerably large number of Fast Lane users given how slow the park was, and things seemed to go smoothly.

I didn't ride Dragster, but I admit that the Fast Lane setup they have there sounds like a terrible way to implement it. Hopefully they'll adjust it. I rode Maverick twice on Saturday and only noticed a handful of Fast Lane users each time. If there was ever a 25 minute wait for Fast Lane, it certainly was an abnormality.

While I'm not personally a fan of these systems, I understand and accept the reason the parks are offering them. I think the only outright flaw with Fast Lane is that it's not a managed system like what Disney or Six Flags uses. With it being a free for all, there certainly exists the possibility of problems and abnormalities popping up, particularly on the most popular rides. However, we're only two days into the season, which is way too early for some of the judgments I've seen people making here. Give management some time to work out the kinks, and I'm sure things will be fine by the time peak season comes around.

Here I was thinking the dragster setup sounded pretty good compared to what we've heard about the Kings Island system where the normal line does not move until the fastlane line is empty.

The Coasters and other Rides that don't have FL in the Park will be Longer waits, because the people that can't afford the FL will be on them. I have Epilepsy, but I still can ride the Big Coasters and Thrill Rides. On the HOT days I can't wait in the Line that is over 2 hrs. I will just go to the Casinos with my family and maybe 4 times at CP this year.

Well, at least Fast Lane has cut down on the "Millennium Force's restraints were shortened again!" complaints.

And Sunday at the park, I don't think any rides, even the big three, had longer than 40 minute waits. Amazing what happens when its NOT opening day and the park is NOT packed.

^So are you saying they did shorten MF's restraints?

We-o-we-oooo said:
It seems like the biggest issue is allowing unlimited re-rides. If every FL allowed one or even two front of line access per ride per day, both FL purchaser and 'commoner' guest would be satisfied.

Are you out of your mind? Nobody would pay $50 to get to go to the front one time.

I think limiting the use to once per ride, per hour would be a good way to have it.

I expected there to be a number of half-baked complaints from those of you who attended opening weekend, but my goodness. It's clear that many of you had your minds made up before you even walked in the park that Fast Lane was going to signal the end times.

From what I can recall, opening weekend tends to have long waits due to crew inadequacy and ride downtime. Throw in glorious weather and a bit of extra delay due to FL kinks not worked out, and you've got a recipe for ultra-long waits.

And those of you swearing to not come to the park this year because of FL... well, CP will probably not miss you that much. After all, they only have to sell 5 FL tickets in order to financially replace the gate loss for a family of 5.