Let's talk about Fast Lane

Zoug68 said:

While I despise fast passes of any kind unless they are GIVEN to everyone for free...

Aren't those are called park admission tickets?

Something that does make me feel warm and fuzzy inside is seeing someone who has bought a FL Plus pass only to find the line for TTD is only in the building. It actually take them longer to get to the ramp than the regular line. I love that!

As someone who has happily used FL to skip ahead even 1 or 2 spots in line, I can assure you that their despair is minimal-to-nonexistent, so your schadenfreude is imaginary.

^^How would entering through the exit be better?

You correctly point out that Premium access systems should have a minimum impact on other guests, but in my opinion, nothing is destroys the experience than than thinking you will be next on, only to be told to wait. It also makes it much harder to get your entire group on the same ride if you need more than one row.

^^^ Wow! You clearly know what Cedar Fair 'Must' do. You should go apply for a job there, since current management has been doing a lousy job with all these consecutive years of record performance.

The thought he shares isn't uncommon though. It's pretty much guaranteed on a day I have a FL pass that on a ride like Gatekeeper where many times its irrelevant someone feels the need to point out "That pass was a waste of money today huh?". I politely respond with a chuckle and say that you are probably right. No sense in arguing over it, they will think differently when they hit Valraven or Maverick.

Kill 'em with kindness I say!

Zoug, what you're saying just sounds like sour grapes. I think the CF system is much better for Fast Lane users than the LoQueue system, unlimited access gives more value to it. Sounds like your policy would be to sell a fast access system and then do everything to try remove value from it. I think you just don't like seeing people waiting less than you, do you have road rage on the highway?

Let's take the envy out of the equation, okay?

It makes no difference how many times a given user visits a particular ride. There is no reason to limit this.

What DOES make a difference is the total number of FastLane users per dispatch. People managing the queue need to understand that FastLane does not promise "no wait" but rather "less wait". In order for the system to work without both queues melting down, the FastLane maximum percentage needs to be enforced.

To put this in terms an Internet geek can understand, this is the same reason data caps make no sense. In the data world, the scarce quantity isn't bits, it's bit rate, or bits per unit of time. Limiting bits makes no sense, while limiting bit rate is necessary. On the ride, the number of rides available is basically unlimited, but the rides available per operating hour are severely limited. Limiting rerides by a FastLane rider is like a data cap, when to keep both lines moving efficiently, the limit has to be on the bandwidth, the rate at which FastLane riders are permitted past the merge point.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.