Fast Passes

I just think this really sux since I am going to CP for my first time this summer, and I dont want to wait in a TTD line all day.

in reply to arms-down

So you are upset that your wait time is less than what was posted. what if we posted 30 min and it was 45 min then you would be upset because the wait was longer. I would rather have it the way it is. and it can be very hard to guess how long the wait is for Dragster one rollback and you can add time to your wait.

im not upset that it is less.. and i know its not an exact science but we all know as cp'ers that from a certain point in the "Q" its normally takes this much time, yet the sign will not agree.... if you guys can relate to what i'm saying.. for example gemini said 30 minutes and the "Q" is hidden i walked all the way up to just outside the station.. how many people walked bye and said.. "i'm not waiting 30 minutes for gemini" then went over to the happy friar and ate instead of riding... im certain there is a method to their madness but the wait times are almost always shorter than there really state on the signs
*** Edited 1/27/2006 4:19:16 AM UTC by Bill Horvath***

You also have to consider that the signs only have a limited number of times they can display, usually 15 or 30 minute intervals. arms_down is right, it's always better to err on the longer side of the estimate. Guests are far more likely to get angry when they think they've waited longer than should have instead of less. And like arms_down said, a rollback or loading difficulties (I'll leave it at that) can substantially increase the waiting time when you're only judging by how far back the line is in the queue.

Bill Horvath said:
i"i'm not waiting 30 minutes for gemini" then went over to the happy friar and ate instead of riding.

I'm thinking this situation would be beneficial to the park. Guests who are riding (waiting in line) are not spending money. ;)

*** Edited 1/27/2006 3:04:54 PM UTC by JuggaLotus***

I have to say that I miss freeway. I'd always get to the park, jump into the freeway line for MF, get my stamp, then hang out in back all morning, go to TTD at 2 for a stamp, then work my way to MF to use my stamp and then to TTD to use mine. I'd much rather wait 30-60 MIN on the midway + 15 MIN to ride the ride than waiting 3+ hours in the queue to ride it.

Because of how far i live from CP and Kings Island I can only vist each once a year. CP in spring..KI in fall. I just returned from KI and it was such a nice day the lines ran 1.5 to 2.5 hours wait. My day would of so sucked if it were not for fast lane. If I would not have bought fast lane I would have rode 5-6 rides for my entire year at KI. I purchased fast lane and kept track. I got on 41 rides from 1 pm till midnight. over 10 dimenbacks and 15 delirium(love it). 5 beast.

Anyway wanted an opinion on it. I love it because I cant get to the park much. Do you think it makes waits longer? Will Ceder Point ever have a fast lane?(I hope so) in my defense, a 5 hour drive to and from only to have a packed park and only able to ride five rides really sucks. When you live as far away as I do you have to plan far in advance for vacation time off work and sitters and you can not plan according to weather. I think fast lane is perfect for people like me.

You may not agree but, paying twice the fee to get on over twice the rides in a day when I only get to go once a year is worth it to me. Come on. Example..... KI ticket at door 52 bucks= 6 rides for whole day. KI ticket + fast pass 50 extra bucks= 102=41 rides.

Your opinions?? I am all for it. It gives people who only come once a year a fair chance of getting some rides in no matter how busy the park is on any giving day.

Maybe that extra money would be better spent on Strunk & White.

Hahahaha. I love a good joke for English majors. :)

Fast passes only make the lines longer for everyone and depending on how they are set up, they cripple load times ala Seawolrd/busch gardens. The experience you had with fastpass is exactly why I am against them. By you constantly going into the fastpass lane and constantly riding is artificially increasing the wiat time on that ride.

I too live 5 hours from CP but instead of wasting extra money on something that will hurt others experience at the park I rather go at less peak times of the year such as any time in June which allows me to ride far more often than your silly fast pass will ever allow you to do.

We were just at kennywood for their Phantom Fright Nights, and did take advantage of their fast-pass system for their haunted houses, which seemed to work for us. They were PACKED that night, and had we not bought the passes we probably would have only got in 3 or 4 attractions total (rides and haunts combined). The fast pass allowed us to go to the front of 4 of the haunts lines (you had to choose ahead of time which ones) and that allowed us to get in a couple of the other haunts and coasters as well.

A fast-pass system like this could work for CP - doesn't get you through to the front all day, but allows you to bypass a set # of lines for certain rides. I was there on Columbus Day saturday (we were there for the the weekend and fortunately got a lot of riding in on Friday night) and probably would have paid extra had it been an option to get onto some more rides on Saturday.

When it comes down to it, the parks that offer these privileges for purchase (as opposed to for free) are just in it for the money, not the benefit of the guest. Thus, they are typically poorly thought-out and implemented.

At Kings Island about 2 weeks ago, the park was packed (you know, Saturday in October packed), but no worries, they only sell a "limited number" of Fast Lanes to guests... Wrong. There were ride ops taken out of position and sent to "peddle" the sale of additional passes on the midway all day! Each cycle on WindSeeker was at least 40% or more of just Fast Lane guests, with a standby line poring out of the queue and down the midway. Unacceptable, in my view.

All businesses are trying to make money. If they weren't, they would be called charities. And their goals are to make as much money as they call over the long term. And as a general rule, businesses cannot maximize profits in the long term by ripping customers off or making them feel ripped off.

Parks that offer fast passes for free (not really free but rather included in price of admission, being a resort guest, etc.) are also doing it to make more money. They figured out that guests who are waiting in lines are not spending money on food, souvenirs, etc. So why not allow them to be virtually waiting in line allowing them to eat in park restaurants, shopping in gift shops and playing games? The park makes more money.

From what I have seen and heard about the KI fast pass program, the park rolled it out and a short time later expanded it. Tells me the program was successful and the negative reactions of other guests were not very significant (at least didn't outweigh the financial benefits of the fast pass program). That doesn't mean there were NO complaints. As with any decision like that, businesses understand that some people will like it and others won't. You can't please everyone but the goal is to please as many people that you can (at least as many people who will spend money at the business as you can). Same is true for food pricing/quality decisions that parks make. Goal is to maximize profits rather than maximizing volume.

And I agree that parks need to be careful in how they implement fast pass programs. I expect that CF will roll out programs at other parks and tweak them along the way and continue to tweak them based on results.

I think it was understood that KI's system is a work-in-progress throughout the season, with constant tweaks and adjustments.

This would be the first Halloween season of its existence; hence, expect hiccups. You could have chosen to purchase a fast-pass, and avoid the hiccups. Of course, if you feel it is morally wrong, then don't.

The phenomenon that makes me chuckle is people I hear complain about it on some moral ground, yet they purchased it, thereby supporting the program in the most fundamental way.

These programs have been around for a while, and they seem to be usually fairly well received. (I think the case could be made that there are reasons for this, such as some parks -- like Disney -- doing a good job of concealing it from their 'coach' guests.)

But I do think it's quite possible to poorly implement a fass pass program, and parks introducing it ought to be careful how they do so. Or be prepared for blowback.

Isn't Disney's system "free"? (I say free due to the obviously higher cost of a ticket)

I agree with Mike; in fact, I have heard similar complaints (in fact worse) about KI's passes during their Halloween event. Apparently, they are indeed selling way beyond what would be considered a "limited amount", and the fast-pass lines are becoming non-stop funnels to the rides/attractions, causing enormous delays.

I would not be opposed to a system that allows only one entrance per day and on a truly limited basis. What offends me are the people who constantly ride over and over like the one stated above. I know parks want to make money but IMO they are prostituting themselves with these systems. They are also knowingly hurting the overall guest experience in favor of a extra $30 or $40 bucks.

Fast passes are perfect for people like flstc. They allow people who are coming for one day to ride everything. It also allows the park to pick up a few extra dollars that they didn't make from you staying at one of their hotels. The park also gets a few extra dollars because (in theory) you'll spend more time in the midways playing games or buying food.

However, every single experience I've had with parks that charge for a fast pass has been infuriating. There are a few things wrong with the system. The park claims that there are a limited number of passes, but they sell them to anyone who is willing to pay. Much of the time they do not limit the amount of uses the pass holder can have on a particular ride. When people ride the same ride multiple times in a row, it makes the lines longer for those who didn't (for whatever reason) purchase the pass. It's very aggravating watching the same group of people entering the queue 5 or six times in a row knowing that you've been waiting more than an hour in line.

If they change the system around (maybe limit the rides per attraction, offer a premium vs regular pass, or actually limit the passes given out) it could work. I still hope that they don't do this at cedar point. The old Fastlane system worked well. Two hands, two rides. And it was free.

I personally do not think cedar point needs a fass pass system. When I go to Disney world I love getting fass pass. Alot of the rides can get up to 90-120 minute wait. It works very well too, the best of anybody. There's so much stuff down there that you need fass pass if you wanna ride everything. Where at cedar point, there's a good deal of great rides, but if you stay from start to close and wait 45 minutes for all of them, you'll easily do everything. Only TTD, MF and maverick ever get to be that long. Anything that's longer on any other ride is not worth more than 45 minutes.

What I'm saying is, you need fast pass at parks like Disney to get through all the rides. Even when your not riding, there is a ton of things to do at the parks. While at cedar point, if you fast pass for TTD, MF and maverick, you'll do everything in half a day. There's not enough to do if you get a fast pass for the big rides and plan on staying all day.

I do not expect to wait it long lines at Disney, but at Cedar Point there's not much to do other than wait in those lines.

TheHSBR said:
What offends me are the people who constantly ride over and over like the one stated above.

Do you also find it "offensive" when someone pays more for a better seat at a sporting event/concert/etc.?

I know parks want to make money but IMO they are prostituting themselves...

"Prostituting"? Wow.

They are also knowingly hurting the overall guest experience in favor of a extra $30 or $40 bucks.

Do you have any data to back up this absurd claim?

Willijs3 said:
The park claims that there are a limited number of passes, but they sell them to anyone who is willing to pay.

How would you know what their limited number is? You'd have to know said limit in order to proclaim that the park is selling "too many".

Maverick00 said:
...if you stay from start to close and wait 45 minutes for all of them, you'll easily do everything.

Only if by "everything" you are referring only to a dozen or so of the park's numerous attractions. They do have more than just roller coasters, you know.

When a person buys a seat at a sporting event you know exactly what you are getting. This analogy may be one of the worst Ive seen on this site and has nothing to do with this conversation.

Why would I need data to support observational evidence. We have a number of people throughout this site who have said this and many others in both my travels and on other boards who have echoed the same feelings. I dont see how data would support or refute this claim since it is an opinion.observation.

Thank you once again for adding absolutely nothing to this conversation besides proving once again that you are confrontational and petty.