Fastlane Pass

noggin said:

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.

No, they're made to walk from the ride exit back to the station. And on damn near every ride, it's trivial to get 3-4+ laps in a very short time, which makes the wait for standby guests behind the merge point longer. You keep saying that "they'd have been in front of you anyway" as if FL guests are limited to one lap. On top of my own experiences, many people here have pointed out that they've watched the same group ride multiple times while they wait. That results in a significant increase in overall standby queue time at the end of the day.

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.

I'm not sure who you're arguing against with this comment. I get the impression that everyone here is aware that not purchasing FL means you wait in standby. The discussion here - at least the one that I'm focused on - is more about value.

djDaemon said:

....I get the impression that everyone here is aware that not purchasing FL means you wait in standby. The discussion here - at least the one that I'm focused on - is more about value.

Value is the word in question, I guess. On the rare occasions I'm in a park but not at an enthusiast event, I'm not standing online obsessing about what the people who paid for FOTL access are doing, or how many rides they're getting. They paid for what they're getting, I paid for what I'm getting.

You seem hell bent on equating a discussion over the value to ignorance and obsession. We get that "they paid for what they're getting". And noticing that folks are getting several laps via FL isn't being "obsessed". That's simply being aware of one's surroundings.

Brandon, I much prefer being on the same side of a Fast Pass argument with you than on opposite sides of a Bernie Sanders discussion. :D

Ensign,

You pretty much got what I was getting at. Fastlane provides a great revenue source for Cedar Fair. It also is a good benefit for people who want to spend a bit more money for get a premium experience. However, it does come at the expense of the apparent wait time at a minimum. As I stated before, if much more than 20% or so of the seats are given to fast lane, then it does start to impact the apparent wait time to the point that some people might notice it.

Monday with our Platinum Pass we got FL+ for $53 when the prices were $73/$93. It was absolutely worth it, although they sold out and some of the FL lines were still 45 minutes.

I will absolutely buy them again at that price. The $150 it costs on the weekends? Well, a $40 discount still isn't going to bring it down to a price I'm willing to pay, but considering my Platinum Pass money is already spent, dropping $106 for my daughter and I to have FL+ is a no-brainer.

The Platinum pass deal is a FL + for the price of a FL, they were $73 for FL + on Monday with that deal as I bought 3 of them.

I'm willing to dig out my receipt. I got $40 off. I bought two FL+ and a glasses strap and paid $111.

Maybe the cashier screwed up, but she rang up an $80 discount.

Well they did mess up then, because it is a FL+ for the price of a regular FL so consider yourself lucky if that is the case. The platinum pass FL deal for Monday was $73, not $53. I just don't want people reading this thinking they'll get a deal that isn't in place.

Sounds like they entered the platinum pass discount for the glasses strap and it may have given an additional discount on the fast lane wristbands, which shouldn't happen. Yes, consider yourself lucky and don't expect that for next time. 🙂

Note: Copy/Paste post from Coasterbuzz if you "go both ways". Giggity.

I thought it would be fun to find an older thread to post this in, instead of starting a new thread called "What a difference no FastLane makes". Also memories of posts from some no longer with us. RIP.

And no, I'm not complaining about FastLane, just an observation we made at Cedar Point yesterday (Thursday, July 16th).

I'm not sure why, but there seemed to be very few FL + sales. Crowds weren't necessarily light (the weather was perfectly fine all day). For example, the Maverick queue was completely full on the inside and just into that one lane around it. Typically this is a line we would avoid, as you're looking at about a solid hour, and we would simply move onto to something else.

However, the youngest mini-me (now 13, gulp) wanted to ride it, so we all said OK we will just wait it out. 23 minutes later we are on Maverick, and the line never stopped moving. During that time I counted exactly 19 FastLane plus holders go into the queue. (if you don't know, there is usually a constant full staircase-full or more at Maverick on a moderately busy day).

Valravn's queue was 2 rows deep into the larger switchback. Again something we would usually avoid. 7 FastLane + users (from what I could see). On in 18 minutes.

Top Thrill 2 was all the way back to the entrance (although it is a straight shot with no switchbacks). On in 30.

Rinse and repeat with Steel Vengeance.

This was the last day of a 5-day trip, and the amusement park gods were smiling down on us.

It was a reminder of how quick these lines actually move without a massive amount of FL+ users everywhere. (they were seemingly all in the Siren's Curse line which consistently had a 30 minute FL wait and a 60 minute regular wait).

And no, this isn't an anti-FastLane post. Just a flukey day that we got lucky to be a part of at the park.

But it does make one wonder; back in the 90's with only a few "major" jaw-dropping intense rides (for the time...Raptor, Magnum, Mantis, etc.) we happily waited a couple hours to ride something. But 1) attendance hasn't changed, and 2) the number of those "marquee" attractions has grown exponentially.

We just got to experience what the park would be like without it. For a day.

I can remember waiting 1.5+ hours for Blue Streak and Mine Ride in addition to the other later rides you noted. Those rides are typically short lines now (sometimes walk ups). There are a lot of rides in the park that were one time long waits but are now routinely short lines (even with Fast Lane users).

And there are a lot of people who experience the park with little/no impact of Fast Lane users pretty much any visit. They are people who don't ride the most popular 5-6 rides. That has been me in many of my visits to the park. Don't expect there are many people posting on this site included in that group though. ;)

Sounds like that’s how FL should function most days. It’s wild that there are times when both lines are almost the same.

CP has the unfortunate problem that their ride lineup is very top heavy in terms of what people want to use their Fastlane on. TT2, Siren's Curse, Maverick, and Steel Vengeance have long lines made even longer by gobs of people trying to power ride with Fartlanes. I will say though that SV and Maverick's Fastlanes and lines in general have seemed to be not as bad this year since the new kids on the block have opened - at least in my limited observation.

The issue is compounded that these four rides also don't have the greatest capacity and suffer from more than their share of downtime.

For these reasons, Fastlane at every other park in the chain seems to be a better experience for both the Fastlane buyers and the non-Fastlane buyers.

I wonder if Six Flags would ever adopt a fast lane structure similar to what is used at Disney & Universal, where you can only use the pass once per attraction each day. I'm curious about what % of the FL lines are repeat riders, as opposed to first-time riders for that day.

^Also I'm sure "Fartlanes" was a typo, but this amuses me and makes a lot of sense, as it pertains to the behavior of certain Oddball Coaster Nuts...