Stealing Fast Pass Plus

CoasterKyle1121 said:

I don't understand whats so wrong about it. If 2 friends split the money to buy 1 fast lane pass and they swap it each time so one person rides and one person sits out then that should be perfectly fine. It would be equivalent to one person not even being at the park. If I saw someone sharing a pass then I couldn't care less, but if they were somehow sneaking both friends in using one pass then thats a different story. But as long as ONE person goes in with ONE pass, then most people wouldn't/shouldn't care.

If this is true and no big deal to share then the pass price will double overnight.

If this is true than why isn't the fast lane plus a card you show instead of a wristband obviously meant for a single person?

krzperfo said:

CoasterCam said:

This thread though....Who cares if it is stealing or not. Leave it to the park to decide what should be done and MOVE ON.

The whole point of the thread was to see the opionions of other patrons of Cedar Point.

Just seems like a bunch of unecessary back and forth arguing to me. After all, we don't have much say about what should be done. Sorry I misunderstood though.

Kevinj said:
I'm surprised that anyone who cares about the park on any level would be so "ho hum" about a group of adults ripping the park off. I'm even more surprised that people are so passive about it considering this ripping off dealt with the abuse of not just Fast Lane, but Fast Lane Plus. The last thing any guest of the park needs is people abusing this system.

The vast majority of people on here have agreed that what these young men did was blatantly wrong. Whether it is viewed as criminal or not seems to be the center of the discussion. None of us has any direct control over how the park handles these issues so there isn't much point in getting all worked up.

Now having said that....

krzperfo said:

Two people using the service versus four isn't equal amount of usage.

When I go on a lunch break there is less usage of the pass. When I stop by my car for snacks or drinks there is less usage of the pass. I have no one using my pass when I take a break.

The amount of usage doesn't matter. Some are buying Fast Lane to power ride as many rides as possible. Others, to avoid long lines if necessary. In either case the park is selling one person the opportunity to enjoy that privilege, not one person and five of that person's friends.

When we were in Montreal recently we did a lot of metro riding. Someone in our group wondered if we couldn't all ride on the same all-day 10 dollar pass, just go thought the turn style then pass the ticket back to the next guy. So once, even though we each had our own fares, two in our group tried one ticket as an experiment and it worked. While it seemed like we might've gotten away with it, we never did it. We always bought the appropriate number of fares.

So what were we to think? That an all day fare is unlimited riding anyway so who cares how many pass through on one? That four guys on one ride is the same as one guy on four rides? Should we think it doesn't matter because the trains run all day anyway, empty or full? No- the only thing that we knew was that our scheme would have been stealing and in the end it just wasn't the right thing to do.

These twenty year olds were doing just that. Stealing. Would those here that consider their actions a minor infraction think the same if the park offered general admission and the a-holes were passing the more expensive unlimited ride bands around? I hope not.

Really, friends, think this through. Maybe it would be helpful to put yourselves in the position of a business owner who'd rather not give away his or her services, and rightful profits, to scam artists.

Edit to add: I don't care what happened to them that day as long as their deceitful antics were put to a stop.

This is why I say screw all the fast lane access and make people wait in line like the olden days. :)

This is why I say screw all the fast lane access, and give us the option to buy Faster Lane and Faster Lane Plus Plus, to bypass the people in Fast Lane that do actually wait in a line, just like the Olden Days. :))

topthrilldragster4lyf said:

When you purchase an All-Day Dining Plan, you are purchasing a license for one individual to acquire and consume a meal every ninety minutes during one operating day.

Agreed with everything you said aside from this. You cannot share a seat on a coaster, but you can share a plate of fries.

There is no language on CP's site that I can find that states you're not allowed to share food acquired via any of the dining plans, and I don't recall seeing anything to that effect on my dining plan receipts this season. In fact, would they even be able to enforce such a restriction? Once you've purchased your food, it's your food. When you get in line for a ride, you're queuing for access to one seat for one ride cycle.

Beyond all that, there's no way Cedar Fair didn't anticipate food sharing via the plans, and surely that consideration played a role in pricing. Sharing FL/FLP is effectively prohibited by the process by which FL/FLP customers gain access to the queue.

I feel just awful knowing that people are cutting in front of FL users. Breaks my little heart.

CoasterKyle1121 said:

This is why I say screw all the fast lane access and make people wait in line like the olden days. :)

I agree 100% with you!

Except that in the "olden days", guests at CP purchased individual tickets for each ride, rather than admission to (most of) the entire park as is the case today. So in that sense, those who paid more got to ride more, which is exactly the case with FL/FLP.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that ORC 2913.02 is pretty clear.

No person, with purpose to deprive the owner of property or services, shall knowingly obtain or exert control over either the property or services in any of the following ways: (1) Without the consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent; (2) Beyond the scope of the express or implied consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent; (3) By deception; (4) By threat; (5) By intimidation.

If someone sneaks into CP would they be charged with theft of a ticket at the value of the ticket, or with criminal trespassing? I know in most cases CP might decide not to press charges, but if they did what would the actual criminal charge be?

I would think it might depend on whether the park is open or not. If someone were to sneak in after the park was closed, I would definitely think trespassing. For consistency, they might just do trespassing at all times of day.

JUnderhill said:

If someone sneaks into CP would they be charged with theft of a ticket at the value of the ticket, or with criminal trespassing? I know in most cases CP might decide not to press charges, but if they did what would the actual criminal charge be?

trespass |ˈtrespəs, -ˌpas| verb [ no obj. ]

1 enter the owner's land or property without permission

That seems pretty clear to me. Entering the park without a paid admission ticket or attempting to re-use someone else's ticket would be trespassing, whether you went through an admission gate or hopped a fence.

If you unlawfully obtained a ticket, you stole the ticket. This would likely also include taking a used ticket and attempting to present it for admission.

^ I agree with that 100%, so how is this fast lane situation any different?

Like I've said, I know what they did is wrong, they know what they did was wrong - morally, ethically, etc... The entire discussion was based upon what the actual legal charge could be. Since they obtained the original ticket legally I still cannot see this situation as theft. However, I do believe it is trespassing.

As the property owner CP has decided to allow people access to part of its property, the Fast Lane line, for an additional fee. As a condition of allowing access to this area they have written rules that a wristband will allow access but only for one person and that it is non-transferable.

In the end I could easily see a trespassing charge, but still do not see it as theft. I know this is a technicality as either way they broke the law, but what has had me interested in this topic is trying to decide what exactly it would be since I can't call it stealing.

topthrilldragster4lyf said:

If you unlawfully obtained a ticket, you stole the ticket. This would likely also include taking a used ticket and attempting to present it for admission.

No, that's not theft. It would be trespassing. If you pick up a used ticket that someone discarded in the parking lot, you didn't steal anything from anyone. But if you attempt to enter the park using that discarded ticket, you would be trespassing. It is the park's responsibility to ensure that their system doesn't allow a ticket to be used multiple times. Same as the situation at a concert or game..

I wanted to read the park's official terms of Fast Lane and the dining plans before expressing my opinion, but it looks like no one can find them. So, I'll just post some thoughts...

Here's the problem I'm having with some posts in this thread, and why I think people have different opinions on the matter... I feel someone's intentions, societal expectations, level of abuse, concept of something being finite versus infinite, and other factors can really change whether or not something is stealing, and how the person should be punished. Some are basically saying that all scenarios are stealing, and they should have the same consequences. I disagree. Let's compare these scenarios:

1. Two people go up to the Fast Lane booth. One distracts the cashier while the other one steals Fast Lane Plus bands from the counter. Then they proceed to use them. I feel this scenario should result in the police being called and these people being arrested for theft.

2. A mother buys Fast Lane Plus for her and her 10-year old son. Her son gets sick after 2 hours and wants to go home. She supports his decision, and they walk to the car. On the way out, she sees another mother and son walking into the park, and in her mind, she wants them to take their place. She asks if they want their Fast Lane bands, they thank her repeatedly, and she feels good that someone got to enjoy the $200 bands she paid for. I feel this is a situation where if CP security saw this, they should go up to the mom and say, "Look, I know you were just trying to be nice, but Fast Lane Plus is strictly for 1 person and non-transferable. You can't do this."

3. The scenario in the original post. I wasn't there, but from what the OP states, these guys were very openly trading off their Fast Lane Plus bands in front of everyone. It is possible that they didn't think they were stealing. Maybe they thought they were being savvy with their money and simply inconvenienced by not being able to ride together. But, they're in a deeper territory of abuse than example 2. So, this seems like a scenario where CP security should intervene on a level between examples 1 and 2.

Yes, it doesn't really matter what our opinions are, but I found this interesting as well.

Walt said:

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that ORC 2913.02 is pretty clear.

No person, with purpose to deprive the owner of property or services, shall knowingly obtain or exert control over either the property or services in any of the following ways: (1) Without the consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent; (2) Beyond the scope of the express or implied consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent; (3) By deception; (4) By threat; (5) By intimidation.

This thread should have been over after this post from Walt - it is theft.

Reading through all these posts at one time is pretty hilarious. So everyone here that is so adamant that what they did was so awful and should be punished to the highest degree has never once torrented anything? Downloaded a mp3 ringtone off a website instead of buying it? Logged into someone's wifi that wasn't protected? Sure what they did was wrong but is there really any less people in line? Whether the person who bought the pass is in line or the individual that they passed it off to was in line there was still only one individual in line.

About the dining plan, if I paid for a meal every 90 minutes then I am going to get a meal every 90 minutes. Cedar Point knew what they were doing when they priced it and are still going to make a profit if someone gets that meal when they are allowed to. If I go to Disney and have the Dining Plan and use my snack credit to buy a Mickey ice cream bar and pass it to my child, is what I did stealing? I would say no. The transaction has taken place and I am free to do with whatever I want to do with the ice cream. Hopefully if I get a burger with some fries one of my children don't ask for a fry because then I will have to call the police to arrest them for food theft from Disney. The food argument that some people are making on here is such a poor argument that is only supported by uber fanboyism where omg!!11!!! Cedar Point is the most amaze thing ever and everything they do is awesome.