Goodbye FreeWay, how we will miss you so...

I cannot say that I am terribly upset, but I cannot say that I am happy about the departure away from the Freeway program. Sure, it was fun to cut in front of folks, but seriously, the lines at Cedar Point are never that bad. I was very impressed this year with the speed through some of the rides on a Saturday in August.

I do think that if it helps staff some of the coasters, then it is something that will be needed. Max Air had all of two people working on it, which I thought was not enough at all.

RideMan said:
I'm surprised, given the extent of the Disney resort, that they do charge for parking instead of rolling it into their admissions. But their parking charge is the lowest of any park I visited last year that actually charged for parking (I forget whether it was $4 or $6...). And they even have some tricks they use in the lot that really work quite well. As I noticed when I visited last fall.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I can't believe I've never read that Tr... there's a line at Star Tours?! WTF?! ;)

Disney does have quite a few efficient techniques when it comes to making things easier... then again, some things aren't. *cough*oldparkhoppertickets*cough*

I'm surprised at how the "ultimate thrill riders" are praising Disney. They deserve to be by all means... I guess I was expecting complaints about lack of thrills. :)

Jeff da Beat said:
I cannot say that I am terribly upset, but I cannot say that I am happy about the departure away from the Freeway program. Sure, it was fun to cut in front of folks, but seriously, the lines at Cedar Point are never that bad. I was very impressed this year with the speed through some of the rides on a Saturday in August.

I do think that if it helps staff some of the coasters, then it is something that will be needed. Max Air had all of two people working on it, which I thought was not enough at all.

Jeff "Da Beat": Is an hour wait for Magnum bad enough?

Edit: Post Numero 300 :) *** Edited 8/15/2005 7:45:35 PM UTC by Cedar Dan***

I have two kids, aged four and six. I am squarely in Disney's demographic, and will be for at least the next several years.

This has NOTHING to do with cost cutting.
I was out there everyday guarding FreeWay, and its because of the 5 guests that get cut off after we've given out the 600 (TTD) or 1200 (all other) passes at the rides. EVERYONE that gets cut off complains, and its the complainers that ruined it for EVERYONE. That and the system was flawed, and it seems only 5% of guests know about it.

What I think broke the camels back was my last day of work (the 10th). I had a family of three SO UPSET at Park Ops they came to me (in zone 1) for help. They were frustrated the rain and breakdown at MF caused them to lose their spot. They got back in and started raining. They were 2 day guests, staying in a resort. They simply got so mad because the people at PO wouldnt give them a handstamp, and another couple came in behind them and got some.

People don't realize what they had until its gone, and thanks to the handful of people, they ruined it for everyone.

You have no idea how many people were inline for TTD Freeway, and due to 100/hr we HAD to cut them off. They all threatened us by going to Park Ops or asking the # for customer service.

Its because of those people that FreeWay is gone.
NOT cost cutting.

My hours--- THATS cost cutting. Admissions people (who do stamps) simply gather more surveys. Theres no cost cutting in 4 people giving out stamps for an hour...

Although what you experienced is nothing out of the ordinary, all the rides people I've talked to who have a FreeWay line have told me it's because of budget cuts. It makes sense since it comes soon after the porr 2nd quarter earnings announcement.

I don't believe for a minute that they would stop to program with two-three weeks of daily hours simply because of guest complaints. Those complaints aren't new. I'm sure those complaints have been coming since the day the park started the program.

But again, I can't imagine the savings on withdrawing it now would add up to much of anything. There has to be more to the story.

those complaints ONLY really happen on BUSY saturdays, NOT everyday so people get turned away...

I mean, people were just vicious when we had to turn them away.

I have to say when I first came to this site 5 years ago, the majority of what was posted about the park was good stuff. Not a lot of gripes or complaints, mostly praise. Now the majority of what I'm reading is gripes and complaints about the park from the people who love CP. That can't be a good thing and I think it should say a lot to CF management.

I can honestly say that the number of trips we take to CP decreased last year and has decreased even more this year. The fun has slowly been dissipating. We even had a MF freeway stamp on our one trip this year and didn't use it when we found out that our friend had just waited 45 minutes with a stamp because of the "seat belt issue." We never used to pass up a ride on MF but the operations anymore are just ridic.

Granted we didn't get to the park once a week but we used to manage 4 - 5 trips that would total about 10 days in the park per year, but we always had great visits until the past couple of years. Reading others recent reports that do get there more than us and adding our last couple of experiences, have only made me want to go less. We've gone to CP the last week of August for at least the last 8 years, but it's not looking like we will this year.

We have one more trip planned for September and we are taking non-enthusiast friends that haven't been there yet. It'll be interesting to see what they think of the park. Then again, they haven't experienced how good CP can be.

I really question the timing of this. Why not wait til the end of the season and just not bring it back? After all, it is mid August and they are annoucing this now? Makes very little sense.

MrScott

Let me chime in on this, As I was one of the lucky ones that got to use the freeway system in 2002 when you were able to re-ride the ride as many times as you want within that hour, I thought to myself, damn that is a good value and that sold me on a season pass for 2002 and 2003... BUT ALAS, CP decided to change the freeway policy in 2003 to Current to One Stamp = One Ride.. I told myself okay thats an acceptable solution to some of the A-HOLES in line that were complaining because you in-avertly(sp) cut them off.. Yes, Freeway had its problems, but to just shut the program down when the busiest part of the season is approaching makes no sense.

As a business owner, I could see why they are doing this, To move those important souls to rides like MF, TTD, and Maggie. Hopefully, Things will improve with loading times etc on those rides. Now let me play devils advocate here...

No one has even metioned how bad the ecomony is getting here in Michigan and Ohio.. We are hurting.. Gas prices approaching $3 a gallon are starting to hurt everyone. People losing their jobs, etc..

Lets see CP started the year on the safety program, less staffing on rides, overpacking the stations, closing food stands early, less hours for employees, Demon DROP being sold, and now Freeway... What is next?

Maybe they'll re-tool the freeway lines to allow JC guests to cut in line. Now THAT would make JC worth the 15 bucks for sure!

If your unit is over budget, every little thing helps. Especially if you're getting heat from above for not toeing the line.

So Freeway goes the way of Ticket to Ride..

Cedar Dan said:

Jeff da Beat said:
I cannot say that I am terribly upset, but I cannot say that I am happy about the departure away from the Freeway program. Sure, it was fun to cut in front of folks, but seriously, the lines at Cedar Point are never that bad. I was very impressed this year with the speed through some of the rides on a Saturday in August.

I do think that if it helps staff some of the coasters, then it is something that will be needed. Max Air had all of two people working on it, which I thought was not enough at all.

Jeff "Da Beat": Is an hour wait for Magnum bad enough?

Edit: Post Numero 300 :) *** Edited 8/15/2005 7:45:35 PM UTC by Cedar Dan***

An hour wait for Magnum isn't that bad at all. A few years ago, I used to wait about 2 and a half hours for Magnum. Raptor was the same way a few days ago.

Ticket to ride was a moronic program that was doomed the day it started.

What's a Q-Bot?

I find it odd how many people have mentioned other guests getting angry at people merging into the Freeway line. I've used the system dozens upon dozens of times and never saw any guests get upset about it. There were always the people who were curious why some people were getting to skip the line, but there's a large difference between being curious and being angry.

Yeah, I've had the same mileage Chris. I assume some people probably do get angry, but I've never run into it the dozens of times I've used freeway.

I loved the system but more than once we got lots of attitude by cutting in line. People would always ask "How much did that cost"? I always said 50 bucks. ;) Seriously I would explain the system to them, but is it my fault they chose not to read the brochure or check out the website?