Posted
Many amusement parks -- including facilities owned by Disney, Universal and Six Flags -- give guests the option of avoiding long lines, either by distributing come-back-later passes or allowing visitors to pay a fee to access shorter lines.
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The question isn't whether or not the haters complain, it's whether or not they come back. So far, there's no indication they're not returning, homicidal glares or no.
Brandon | Facebook
So the new business model for amusement parks is to jack up profits as much as possible by stripping away as much courtesy and convenience as they can get away with, so long as the customer doesn't stop coming?
Oh, and Vater: trust me. That last time someone glared at me in lust, I think I was in my mid-twenties. ;)
My author website: mgrantroberts.com
Ensign Smith said:
...stripping away as much courtesy and convenience as they can get away with...
That's a pretty hyperbolic view, no?
Brandon | Facebook
Ensign Smith said:
So the new business model for amusement parks is to jack up profits as much as possible by stripping away as much courtesy and convenience as they can get away with...
Of course, as someone who uses VQ, I see it as adding a courtesy and creating more convenience to my visit.
On other days, as someone who isn't using VQ, I don't see any meaningful change in the level of convenience or courtesy.
And that leads me to another point - for all of us who are pro-VQ, it's not like we're not ok with being on the other side of the fence too.
Does anyone here use VQ every time they go to the park? Or even a majority of the time? Half the time? Hell, even more than once or twice a year?
It's not just "I don't care" as far as other guests are concerned. I'm one of those other guests at least 10 or 12 times for every one time I use VQ. I don't have a problem with it from either side*.
I think sometimes that fact is lost in the discussion.
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*Which makes me entirely non-hypocritical and totally a better person with a more valid argument. :)
Bingo.
Another way to look at it: as one who is not at all opposed to VQ, I don't want to use it. That is, I don't want to have to hand over 50 bucks if I don't have to. Therefore, I try and hit parks during the week when crowds are lighter.
Now, read the above paragraph, but substitute 'is not at all opposed to' with 'abhors' and it's no less valid.
based on the number of homicidal glares I got last year using pay-to-cut at Kennywood.
Strangely, you'd think 'burghers would be more tolerant, not less. After all, this is the place in which the "Pittsburgh Left" is not only accepted, it is *expected*. On the other hand, it's also the place where the "parking chair" is moved by someone else only on penalty of death.
A place of contradictions, that 'burgh.
Ensign Smith said:
So the new business model for amusement parks is to jack up profits as much as possible by stripping away as much courtesy and convenience as they can get away with, so long as the customer doesn't stop coming?
Thats not just the business model for amusement parks. Its the model for business in general (particularly for profit entities). And its not new.
^GoBucks89 - It *is* somewhat new....not in terms of months and years but decades. Time was that there WAS such a thing as "small business owners", people who grew business slowly over time, by treating customers fairly, with the intention of passing saisd business along to their kid(s). Now, it seems VERY rare to see anyone concerned about anything beyond the next quarterly report/distribution to shareholders....
Ensign Smith said:
...at the expense of the courtesy for and convenience of others' visits, of course.
Sure, to some small degree.
But then we'd have to guess the net result is a wash at worst. And the habits of park visitors seem to comfirm it.
I'm sure the parks are keenly aware of the effects. As much as anyone tries to argue the downside, if it were there then the park would kill it in an instant. (see CP's FreeWay)
And that's not to say nobody gets pissed or that customers aren't lost. But the ratio of those people compared to the number who are happier and compared to the additional revenue is obviously something the parks that use VQ/FOL must see as positive.
I'm starting to think much of my dislike towards pay to cut systems is b/c I have seen them implemented stoopidly. Can't say I'm for pay to cut, but I now understand the use of them a little more. Ahhhh... that feels like a little better ground for me, not too extreme ;) The waters are warm but not too hot.
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