Fastlane Pass

Jeff said:
This idea is entirely predicated on the assumption that those people wouldn't be riding in the first place. I think that's a big stretch. I might be willing to concede a minor delay in the time it takes to ride from standby, if only for the repeaters, but I doubt it's significant.

It sure has been for me. I consider an additional ~30 minutes/day in total to be significant.

Why? Because this has been debated about Disney's Fastpass for years, and it always comes down to the fact that if all the FP users were physically in the line, the wait time would not change. What's different here is the apparent butthurt over the fact that Fastlane isn't free.

Perhaps I don't understand FP, but it is my understanding that you get a ticket and come back to ride once the "wait time" has elapsed. And even if you wanted to marathon one specific ride, you'd have to wait for the duration of the "wait time" following your first ride. In that sense, it's true that in the case of FP the only difference between FP and standby is where you wait to ride. But the number/frequency of rides is limited by the length of the standby line (or by whatever Disney anticipates the standby wait time would/should be).

With FL, you can literally run from the ride exit back to the FL entrance, and as I and others have mentioned above, this happens pretty frequently. I've watched multiple families cycle through 3 or 4 times while I wait in standby, on multiple rides around the park.

A good example is Valravn. That line crawls when the fast lane line is full. But as soon as the park closes and the fast lane line empties, it moves pretty fast!

It's a good ride to watch the affects that fast lane has on it since you can see both lines from the path.

The Fast Lane Plus at Kings Island in the water park was laughable. I only saw one person use it, but they scanned the bracelet at the bottom of the stairs to Tropical Plunge, and then the person had to wait in the exact same line as everyone else on the stairs (probably 30 minutes). I wouldn't be too happy about that if I had decided on the Plus for the water park perks.

I'd imagine that the FL+ people are probably very happy, even though they also have to wait in lines, that they made the most of their day at the park and enjoyed themselves.

Well, I guess I am just basing it off this dude who was in line by himself and sunburned beyond belief and did not look like he was having a good time.
I just don't think it's worthwhile to advertise it as a FL+ perk when they are waiting in the exact same line as everyone else. The only time it would get you there faster is if the line is to the bottom of the stairs or longer. But even then, that's a very long wait, and it would have to be incredibly busy since this was on a Saturday afternoon when it was sunny and near 90 degrees and it wasn't that long.

And that is the problem with the Kardashian-izing of our society. People are way too concerned with what other people are doing instead of focusing on and taking the time to enjoy their own lives.

lol, seriously? I just thought it was funny that I see him get his wristband scanned and then he's waiting in exactly the same line I am. Although I guess it's advertised as "unlimited rides on Tropical Plunge, Rendezvous Run, Zoom Flume and Thunder Falls." And I suppose I had unlimited rides as well, as long as I wanted wait in line.

Ripcord said:

I'm not sure you understand how it works. There is a main line, and then people cut in toward the front of that and fill in trains.

And whether those folks were waiting in an expedited access lane or the same lane as you, they'd still be waiting in line in front of you.

Ah, but they wouldn't be waiting in line in front of you, get on the ride, get back in front of you, get on the ride, get back in front of you, get on the ride, and get back in front of you yet again before you ever had a chance to ride the thing once yourself.

Logic fail.

And? Assuming that's true, they've paid for that privilege. You haven't. You got what you paid for.

You have two differing points of contention. The first is that non-Fast Lane riders lose nothing because Fast Lane riders were going to be in line anyway.

The second is that it doesn't matter if your first point is incorrect because Fast Lane riders paid for it anyway.

Do you see the conflict in your statements?

I believe what noggin is saying, is that the admission you paid for gets you to stand in line behind a merge point with the fast lane passes entrance.

Therefore the length of time you're staying is not changed, unless you were using a comparison in a world where fast lane does not exist

Ensign, exactly right. Not sure why some people can't take someone else's statement without arguing. A few years ago, everybody paid admission and waited the exact same amount of time. Now we wait much longer. There isn't a debate here. We wait longer. Some park I heard of gives you a buzzer and you check in at the ride and it buzzes you after you've waited the full expected ride time. You wait the same as everybody else, just not in line. That is a much better system.

Eh, let's not personalize this. We're just engaged in a friendly debate.

I am OK with fastlane, but I think they need to limit the number of fastlane users a bit more on the more popular rides. I can't say for sure how much it impacts the actual wait time, but it can certainly increase the PERCEIVED wait time. In other words, how fast the line seems to be moving. In my opinion, 20% fastlane is about the most you can have, without a significant impact on the perceived wait time.

I believe you've struck upon something there. Fast Lane/Pass upcharges are a lucrative and relatively new revenue stream for parks. But it's important to strike a balance between the added profit and the impact that the model can have upon business. Too much of a good thing for those who can afford it can negatively affect business at the other end, hypothetically. After all, families and teens have many other things they could be doing with their wallets and time.

Speaking of Fast Lane, it sold out today, I've never witnessed that before on a weekday.

What I've been saying, and I'm sorry if I've expressed it inarticulately, but I'm slightly older than dirt, so please forgive me, is that people who are waiting in line via Fast Lane are still waiting in line.They've just paid a premium to wait in the line without being on the line. If there were no Fast Lane they'd still likely be in line in front of you.

noggin said:

If there were no Fast Lane they'd still likely be in line in front of you.

Yes, but they wouldn't be in front of you, taking multiple laps.

To Mike's point, there is a balance to be struck between the value of FL and the value FL removes from standby guests. At one extreme, FL users (hypothetically) get 30 of the 32 seats on every train, making the standby queue grind virtually to a halt. At the other extreme, FL gets only 2 of the 32 seats, making the loss of value for standby guests practically non-existent. Finding the appropriate middle ground I think is what this discussion tends to center around (merge points, number of FL guests per cycle, price, etc.).

But they would have to (virtually) queue up again and again to enjoy those multiple laps. They're not just standing in the station taking repeated rides. And even if they were -- if you're in the stand by line, you got the level of access you were willing to pay for.