The fast pass system

[quote]--Let's step back and look at this from CP's point of view. They are TRYING to develop a FAIR system. Yes, there are many holes which can and must be fixed if the system remains.--[end quote]

The funny thing is they HAD a fair system. The same system they use on every other ride in the park. The same system they've always used. Standing in line and waiting your turn.

I was all for the "Fast Pass" idea when I assumed it would be handled more like Disney. But what they're doing with it makes NO sense. No one is reporting a total waiting time (for the TTR then the actual queue wait) that is significantly less than what it would be without the TTR.

As far as the abuse of the system, perhaps a seperate hand-stamp that signifies you already got a TTR? Sure you could always get the stamp off, but now you have to work for multiple TTR's.

Or how about making TTR's part of the entrance process, you get one when you enter the park if you plan on riding MF that day.

Just seems like:

A. There was no problem to begin with.
B. Assuming the need for TTR is still felt, there are much better ways to do it.

I'm sure if CP decides to stick with this into next season, then it will be fine. They'll have the entire off season to make it work. But tossing a plan together because lines are a bit longer than they'd like is well...

I'll let you know when I see it firsthand.

But trusting the opinion of my peers on this board is making me skeptical of TTR.

*** This post was edited by lordgonchar on 6/28/2000. ***

Hold up that cattle train Soggy!

I have a season pass and guess how many times I have gotten to ride Millennium Force. A whooping three times. To say that all people with a season pass get at least thirty rides is a huge overstatement.

I wish they would either let us pick are seats or get rid of the ticket to ride!

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!

My overall opinion of CP that has been brewing since the early nineties and has been solidified this season is that it has become too much of a good thing. I've tried to think that it wouldn't come to this, but it really has. The last time I left the park, I had little desire to return. CP's new policy merely serves to keep me home. Someone else can have my fast pass ticket :)

Just to correct you Cilegna, and just to make this thread even longer, Cedar Point was "brewing" since the late 1800s!

my "opinion" cpguy - not CP.

Sorry, Magnum is sinking, I guess TTR hits folks like you even harder. But, you have 3 more MF laps than I do! I am just saying that there ARE quite afew who DO have 30+ laps.

Like I have been saying, get rid of TTR, I'm on your side.

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Millennium Force Laps = 0
DOWN WITH TTR!! *** This post was edited by Soggy on 6/28/2000. ***

No seat choice was bad enough. No queue choice is intolerable. None of the above, with plans for spreading this disease mean I won't be Point-bound for a long time to come.

Not until CP can remove their collective head from their @$$...

As far as waits go, I went there June 15. Thanks to a flat charter bus tire, we got there about 11:30 and went strait to MF. We waited just over two hours. Then we went back to Mean Streak, which was walk to the platform. By the time I got off the ride, a line was forming at the entrance to the platform. As I recall, in past years MS had no wait in the morning. After some fries, I went to Magnum, which had a half hour wait. In years past from going, this seems about NORMAL. Mantis had a 30 min. wait. PTTD had a 20 min wait. Raptor had a short wait at 20 min. Aside from Raptor and PT, the lines seems just about normal to me. Sure it was a light day, but still. It seems to me that the extra number of people the park attracts are in the line for Millennium Force. Sure the TTR system keeps the physical lines down for MF, but crowds the other rides, which reduces the riders enjoyment.

One more thing, what's happening to the extra 500 seats per hour? The site clearly says that it has a capascity of 1500 per hour, not 1000 per hour. I guess that the reduced number is on the chance of breakdowns. Hmmm, nothing gained here.
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"the Force of the new Millennium is being felt by those who choose to seek it. *** This post was edited by JT Coaster on 6/28/2000. ***

But that's just it Calegna!

They should not have any problem with keeping 90% of guests happy and still maintain making a good profit. Season pass holders should be very important to them. I alone paid over two hundred big ones for my Combo pass. That's not to mention the food and souvenirs I by almost every visit. Plus my parking pass.

Dale Carnegie once said that "Each party should gain from a negotiation". Cedar Point is by no means negotiating with us but the same rules apply.

Lets say Park A has a decent collection of rides and attractions. Yet Park B attendance is considerably higher than Park A's. Is any better a park than Park A? Lets compare shall we.

Park A
_______________
1. Does not have curtis staff.
2. Has an over all "unclean" park.
3. Does not have any planning and design put into new food stands and restrooms.
4. Does not put in new landscaping and theme.
_________________
Park B
_________________
1. Trains staff to be kind and curtis to park guests.
2. Treats employees with respect and in turn they find that employees tend to work more predictively
3. Plans everything with the thought of there guests.
4. Has a staff of full time landscapers. As well repainting rides frequently and keeps guest entertained in lines with music and special effects.
_________________

The parks aren't worth anything. I could buy Park B and make it bomb in a matter of weeks. On the other hand I could make Park A just as good as the Park B. Who do you think will get the better business? It doesn't have anything to do with how good the actual park *is* but rather it's the great management the makes Park B a "better" park than Park A.

Come on people. This thread shouldn't even exist let alone have ten to twenty posts added every day. And NO ONE should have to tell the park that they should be pleasing at least 90% of there guests and still put Millions of dollars in there pockets a year. From a normal everyday Joe's point of view the park was not thinking of it's guests when it incorporated the Ticketing system otherwise this thread wouldn't have had five posts since I started typing this post.


My deepest apologies. I was speaking figuratively

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!


*** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 6/28/2000. *** *** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 6/28/2000. ***

I guess I will put in my 2 cents also. Have been going to CP for 30 years and will be spending two weekends in July there. Hopefully they have gotten rid of this crazy system by then or re-tooled it to make it more fair. One thing they might consider if they keep this silly system is reduce the times for the tickets. From what I have read it is from 11-8...instead make it 11-5 or 12-5. This is the peak times for the park when they would have the longer lines and by cutting it off at 5 instead of 8 you make those with the season passes and starlight admissions happy because they can come after work and not be told they can't get in line till 8. I will definitely be keeping a close watch on this up until the first weekend I go.

Well I just called CP and the lady said that they were indeed still using the ticket to ride, but it is still on a DAY-TO-DAY trial basis. If it is really on day-to-day, though, I am surprised they haven't ditched it yet... I think that it will definitely stay until holiday weekend, when I believe it will truly crash and burn. I will be there Friday, and I dont care if it works for me or not (I will try and do what all these other people are doing to get as many passes as I can - sorry everyone who shows up late :-( ) I will still be opposed to it.

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Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
-SUPPORT THE ANTI-TICKET-TO-RIDE MOVEMENT!-

servo says, " but in my opinion, the only way to show how we feel, besides picketing the park and begging people not to ride MF in protest is to NOT GO AT ALL!! " I cannot believe that a system that is being used on 1 ride is going to keep people from going to the park. Listen to yourself. Its ridiculous. Getting all worked up about an amusementpark is completely off the page. Tell ya what, why dont you just pretend it is the summer of 1999 and that way you can pretend that MF hasnt been built yet. Now you can still say that Magnum is the big daddy of the park and you will probably be able to get on quite a few times in one day. There now , feel better?

(In this message, I chastised Magnum_Is_Sinking for some comments he made directed at a particular park, in an effort to keep anybody from jumping on those comments and turning this thread into a non-CP-park-bashing thread. In light of M.I.S.'s edits, I'll withdraw my most acidic comments from the message that used to be posted here...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 6/28/2000. ***

Bravo Dave!
Now if only we can get CP to stop this TTR so quickly!

At Alton Towers (the first park in the world to use this) they have a similar system to the fastpass called the virtual queue. I was there last Saturday and I've been a few times in the last few years where the system has worked well - a 20 minute queue for Nemesis and Oblivion. The problem on very busy days is that these 2 rides do not have a high enough capacity to handle the demand. Also, there is no limit to the number of Virtual Queue tickets you can get. The end result is a 2 hour+ queue and mass confusion. At Cedar Point (although I've never been) I would have thought that there are enough rides to allow guests to ride whatever they want. Millenium Force will obviously attract hoards of people but I dont reckon that a similar system to the Virtual Queue is needed.

It was fine w/ out the fast pass thing. Maybe it should be called the slow pass!

Jeff, have you been there to witness the ticket to ride? If so, what did you think?

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Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
-SUPPORT THE ANTI-FAST PASS MOVEMENT!-

The FAST PASS SYSTEM is a joke. Why do they want to make lines longer? Don't they need to pay for Millennium Force? With all the money they will be losing it will take a long time to get out of DEBT. This means less new rides and Cedar Point will go down the TUBES. Does C.P. want other parks to gain money and buisness and lose the title of BEST PARK IN THE WORLD? This could result if the Fast Pass System is put in use.

Youre right, CP Guy, and this will also result if they continue doing what they are now - ignoring (at least we think, they haven't shown any signs otherwise) all of the complaints that they are getting about the TTR, which must be thousands. And if they really are taking us seriously, then why dont they make a notion that they are? And what is this, "the public is taking the system very well and the response is almost all positive"? It seems to me like the majority has been negative. And I dont see anything positive about TTR in the Millennium Force Rider Comments, and of course they deleted all of the negative ones... I really do believe that protest is needed to get rid of this thing, as it seems like stories about people having their trips to CP ruined by TTR and letters listing all of the reasons why TTR does not fit CP are NOT doing anything.

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Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
-SUPPORT THE ANTI-TTR MOVEMENT!-

Chitown - you and servo really need to take the personal crap somewhere else.

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"I cannot believe that a system that is being used on 1 ride is going to keep people from going to the park. Listen to yourself. Its ridiculous. Getting all worked up about an amusementpark is completely off the page."
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Yes, that system will keep me from going to the park. Am I worked up about it? Nope. Does CP have every right to run their park as they see fit? Yep. Do I, in turn, have the same right to spend my dollars elsewhere? You betcha I do.

I've been to the Po!nt. Spend lotsa cash. Might try SFO un July instead. My choice.


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Duane Cahill 2000 Park Tour:
April 1-7, WDW
May 27, Dorney
June 3, KW
June 16-20, CP