The fast pass system

Any chance that this stupid system will only be used on busy days like 4th of July and Saturdays? I would hate to go on a day when the line would be under an hour and have to use this system.

On another note -- doesn't putting you on a schedule for your day (or at least having to go in that one particular hour) kind of ruin what the whole point of going to an amusement park is all about? Isn't it about not worrying about anything and doing what you want?

I guess the whole idea of this fast pass system doesn't make sense to me (esspecially when it isn't necessary).

I'm with Jeff and RPerz. Someone at CP is either thinking too much or has forgotten what park they are running. Fast pass is a good idea and necessary at some places, but CP isn't one of them.

Well...here are my two cents since I worked at both Disney and Universal and finished my 4 week contract with CP today. I also was there today when the system was first tried out.

From 9-11AM anyone can ride MF. From 11am on, you MUST have a Ticket to Ride with the specific time on it.

The problem I see with this is that if you DON'T get a ticket, you will not be allowed to ride. At Disney, you have the option of getting a fast pass or waiting in the standby line...which sometimes is shorter than the Fast Pass one.

What happens if a guest purchaes a Starlight ticket for admission after 5, gets to MF, and then finds out that all tickets have been distributed? Also, what is to prevent a guest from returning every hour to get another ticket? With the Disney system, the fastpass is linked to your Park Hopper ticket, which also prevents forgeries since they are dated and computer printed at the distribution location.

Hopefully there is a happy medium somewhere. I am just glad I got ride it 7 times in my four weeks there. I am ALSO glad that almost every other coaster (except RAPTOR) have become almost walk-ons.

Wait a minute...so until 11:00am, anyone can ride MF w/o a "Fast Pass". But, after 11, you MUST get a ticket to be able to ride until 8:00pm when the queue is "open" and you can ridde w/o the pass again? Somebody please help me to understand!!!!
-------------
MF and that's my Final Answer ;)
MF count:15

Ok this is confusing as hell! I'm going tomorrow and i just hope i get on once.

Ok here is the way I see the fast pass system. If you have read my post above you can see that I strongly dislike the system. One reason is that when I see a ride I want to ride it now! I don't want to have to get a fast pass and then wait a few hours and then get back in line. If I want to ride a ride I will get right in line for it now. I know that you can still wait in line, but I feel almost cheated when people with fastpasses walk right infront of me like they are extra important or something. I feel that everyone should have an equal opertunity to ride MF all day long. Heck if someone wants to spend all day waiting in line for MF riding and then getting back in line for it I say go for it! Its your time in the park do what you want to with it. Its not like there is a rule forcing MF to part of everyones day. If they dont want to ride the greatest coaster in the world because they dont want to wait an hour and a half thats there decision. If you want to ride it stand in line I can assure the people the wait will be well worth it. Second as RPerz said I hate to deal with keeping times. A vacation is a vacation where you shouldnt have to worry about a schedule to follow. I want to do what I want. At disney a lot of times I would get a fast pass then have to wait 45 minutes, because often times there was not enough time to get on to another ride. The way I see it is Cedar Point wants you to keep out of line so that you can walk around and spend money at the gift shops or buying food. Well this is just the way I see the fast pass system, and I thaught it would be a good time share my feelings. To conclude my thaughts I agree with everyone who says dont fix what isn't broken! Amen!
-------------
-Chris
"Any day, is a great day, to ride a rollercoaster!"

Oh man, if they really do have the queue closed to non-FastPassers from 11:30-8 they screwed up MAJORLY. I was starting to get drawn in, maybe thinking that it would be ok on crowded days, but now I am totally against the idea. Please CP, ditch this idea - you don't know what you could be getting into! There are just so many potential problems with the system - I'm not going to list them because this thread contains far too many...

-------------
Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
Next CP trip/MF thrill 6/30
*** This post was edited by Majin Heero on 6/24/2000. ***

Maybe the fast "past" just needs that Cedar Point touch.

The fact remains that implementing a fast pass system would be a waste of time and money. The park should have more than enough rides to keep well over suggested capacity happy. Put that onto of the fact that they have the highest rph in the world.

-------------
Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control! *** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 6/24/2000. ***

I was at the park this evening with 2 of my kids (no MF rides for Dad!) We stopped by the entrance of MF. It was about 7:30PM. After forcing my way through the congregated mayhem, I was able to talk to one of the ride hosts. If you've read all of the questions that we've asked here on GTTP, multiply this by about 1 million, and you've got an idea why everyone was congregating at the entrance. People WITH passes were having difficulty getting through. People who were "just showing up" had questions. I asked the ride host if today was the first day for this system. She exhaustedly replied "Yeah". I asked her if the system had been working, and she just gave me a sour look and replied "No, not really". There were some management types monitoring this, so there'll probably be some late night/early morning meetings over this tonite. Let's hope so, because what I saw was a lot of angry people, and that was frightening. Just imagine a 95 degree day! Let's figure out what works and get some of the bugs out of this, please.

Jeff-

Oops, I didn't see this thread before, like I said I just got back from parkhopping!

And Everyone-
Do we all realize that "FastPass" is a TM of Disney???
-------------
-The Pants Has Spoken
"Yellow line? What Yellow Line..." *** This post was edited by SquishyPants on 6/24/2000. ***

I don't think any one of us should worry. Cedar Point will either make this horrible pass system work, or they will think of something else.

---------------------------------
WWW.MILLENNIUMFPICS.HOMESTEAD.COM
VISIT CEDAR POINT BEHIND THE SCENES!!! *** This post was edited by CP Guy on 6/24/2000. ***

Or the most logical and easiest solution -- Do Nothing!

If it ain't broken, Don't fix it© -- The Official Motto of the Millennium Force Queue

*** This post was edited by RPerz on 6/24/2000. ***

I was at the Point today. The basic way the pass system works is this: From 9-11 A.M. the line is open to anyone. Then, from 11-8, you must have a "pass/ticket" to ride. To get this ticket, you go to the entrance to the ride and an employee will had you a color coded-slip that tells you to come back within a certain hour.

I went to get my ticket at a little after 11. I was handed a blue ticket which was good for riding between 2-3 P.M. When I came back at two, I entered the line, and walked directly to the ramp. The wait was no more than 10 minutes, which was incredible. I rode it once, went back to the gate, and got another ticket for between 2-3(they were still being passed out) and again, waited no less than 10-15 minutes, as I walked directly to the ramp. I did this again, and waited a little long because of a temporary shut down of the ride to remove the yellow train. So, I was able to ride Millennium Force three times within 50 minutes. I'm not quite sure why the line was so short then, but I noticed that later on in the day the line did seem to get much longer, all the way back to the vending machines. Why the line length varied so much, I don't know.

It's important to note that you do not get to choose what time you want to come back to ride, you have to just take what is passed out to you. Well, that's the best I could do describing it. I think that since today was the first day, its hard to tell how good or bad the system will work. Only time will tell. *** This post was edited by CDCoolguy on 6/24/2000. ***

Ok now that there's some definite info on the situation, I've officially jumped sides to the "Fast Pass is a mistake" side...at least as long as the good folks at CP decide to do it in the manner they currently are.

I thought the whole point of this was to help those people out who didn't want to stand in line but were willing to take the responsibilty of handling a "reserved" ride while letting the more spontaneous guests enjoy the park (and MF) as they normally would. It benefits both types of people this way.

The line is allowed to fill as it normally would and fast pass participants have a seperate entry. There is a limited number of passes for any given one hour period. The whole key should be the *limited* number of fast passes. This way everyone who chooses to skip on fast pass has only 5 (maybe 10) minutes added to the wait and fast pass holders get on with minimal wait (5 to 10 minutes at most) This would be the correct way to handle it. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case.

I know for a fact there's lots of people (many here at GTTP even) who make casual trips to the Point solely for the purpose of getting in a few rides on MF. Now these people are penalized. I also know people that would be perfectly happy blowing a 12 hour day repeatedly getting in the MF line and getting 6 or 7 rides in a day...

Now CP is telling you that you're not allowed to do this. Sounds like they're turning away the very people who are the livelyhood of the park...

Bad move, at least under the current system. Sadly they actually need to copy Disney (never thought I'd say that, let alone type it) if they want to use a "fast pass" type system and make it functional.

From what I understand, this is a sloppy play. Closing off the regular line from 11-8 is just a bad idea. The pass idea is to make a wait short while keeping the ride going at all times to all involved. Basically having it as appointment only during most of the day is not the way to handle things. If it is kept this way, I must side with the anti-fast pass crowd.

Well there we have it - I said above that all the fast pass would bring is tons of confusion and anger, and that's what it did. I still am really confused by CDCoolGuy's post, how they were still handing out passes for 2-3 from 2-3 and why the line varied so much... Oh CP, please stop this system.

-------------
Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
Next CP trip/MF thrill 6/30

Majin Heero, I really am not sure why the passes for 2-3 were being handed out between 2-3. My only guess is that they had not exceeded the number of passes that they alotted to hand out during that hour. When I came back to the ride around 6, no passes were being handed out, and no one was allowed to enter the line without a pass. Thus, I would guess that at that point they had passed out the maxinum number of passes for until 8

strange... you would think that they start passing out ones for 11-12, and then when they are done go to 12-1, and then 1-2, etc.

-------------
Times I have "Gone Full Force" on MF: 2
Next CP trip/MF thrill 6/30

One thing I don't get is why the pass system start at 11:30? Peak time? One good thing is they stop the pass sytem before night time riding. Another tihng I don't like, as stated above, is what if you've got limited time in the park? I.E you have a ticket for 5-6 PM, but you have to leave at 7 for some reason? What if a storm comes? Breakdowns? ??? More questions than answers right now...

-------------
Brian Z.
Hometown parks: Kennywood, Cedar Point!
Feel the Force NOW!!

I was wondering if they have tried it out again today, does anyoneknow? Beemancp65 that would suck if it did break down or a storm came during your hour of ride time, but CP would probly give out a pass later on in the day,or a line pass for other rides.