E-I! E-I! O! Michigan's Adventure to add new attraction to commemorate their 60th Anniversary!!

It would be interesting to know how FL sales go at the various parks. The four excluded parks are the busiest, certainly, but do they sell more FL than the others, even on a relative basis?

At the risk of being labeled a jerk or a great squanderer of money, let me say that I'm a long time season pass holder and a frequent FL+ customer as well. Some seasons I only visit the parks three or four times and others I might visit ten to fifteen times. Do I FL for a solo visit on a chilly Wednesday in May? No. Do I get it if I've taken a friend for the day and want to make sure we're able to include all of the big stuff at a relaxed pace? Yes. Do I spend the money even on a solo visit when I show up and it turns out to be busier than I thought? Sure. I drive 2.5-3 hours so if it's a day when I really want to bust out some rides it allows me to do it and get home at a decent hour. I'm a fool not to.

So, see, I spend my retirement/soc sec money on what I feel provides value. I really appreciate the ability to choose enhancements to the experience, or to decline and just roll with it. Even if it only helps me out with a handful of rides on a given day I still think it's well worth it.

I don't know who an all season FP is geared toward. I'd consider it for sure, and I'd take dreadful advantage of it as a single rider, but I'm a very small wedge on their pie chart. A family of four who are frequent visitors would shell out a lot of money for it even at those "cheap" prices. There could potentially be a noticeable uptick of FL users every day which would not only impact non-users' wait time but that of those day-trip FL users as well, like me. That overall wait time could increase.

I guess living half way between KI and CP excuses me from having to make a decision right now. But if I lived near a less busy park I'd probably do it. I think I'd be encouraged to visit more often even if it's for just a little while.

Carowinds tweeted today that they sold out of their all-season Fast Lane.

Remember when front-of-line 'schemes' were gonna put the parks out of business?

I miss the good 'ol days.

Ya know, when this topic came up I could think of no one but you.

Not even Timber Rider?

Selling out of the fastlane passes means that the price was too low, in my opinion. They leave money on the table, and they offer the worst possible experience to everyone. The more passes sold, the worse the experience for everyone. I hope they understand how many is too many.

I'm really happy it's not being sold at the more crowded CF parks.

FastLane IS being sold at the more crowded parks...it's at Cedar Point and KD at least, and those parks are both crazy busy (every time I've been to either one anyway).

There was a limit of 500 all season fast passes for Carowinds. Pretty sure that's not going to ruin any experiences at a park like Carowinds.

bunky666 said:

FastLane IS being sold at the more crowded parks...it's at Cedar Point and KD at least, and those parks are both crazy busy (every time I've been to either one anyway).

Travis was talking the all-season FP specifically, I think.

"If everyone has a cut-the-line pass, no one has a cut-the-line pass."

kpjb said:
Not even (name deleted)?

Don't say his name! If you say it 3 times he will appear! You're better off saying Beetlejuice, Candyman, or Biggie Smalls 3 times!

I'm a little worried about our T-R. At last report, by his own admission, his health was failing badly and he was in dire financial straits. I fear he's not around even for us to conjure up.

That's sad. Even an annoying person is still a person.

And, yes, I meant all season front of the line passes.

Cool feature with the GM from Michigan's Adventure at Blooloop

Really good article. It is pretty cool that the GM and her children are part of the family that started the park, nice to see a bit of a family operation that is part of a big corporation.

Either that's a 20 year old picture, or she's the youngest looking 63 year old I've ever seen. Nice to see the original family still has such a large stake in the park.

A couple of thoughts on this from my recent Disneyland trip:

a) Why don't they do a "weekday-only season VQ pass?" Much like the Disney SoCal local pass with a tremendous number of blackout days, it would help fill in on days when demand is low anyway and not piss off the extremely large number of people who are there on crowded days. Plus the customers feel like they're getting a great deal since they're not paying the million dollars the "suckers" pay for the full pass that also works on days you don't want to be there in the first place.

b) People are really bad at planning. I don't understand how any ride at Disney with FastPass ever has a line above 60 minutes, but Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Soarin', and Radiator Springs Racers consistently did. Some were listed at 150 min. We did almost everything we wanted on a jammed weekend without ever waiting 30 minutes. Given that experience, it does not surprise me at all that people would get a season pass and only show up on 3 mid-summer Saturdays.

It seems hard to believe that too many people on an amusement park fan page would even need to buy a FL pass, ever, especially if you have a season pass. I go to Cedar Point on Sundays or Halloweekend Friday nights. Most rides don't need a FL pass on those days and the ones that do, don't justify, to me, the amount per ride that the FL pass costs. In many cases, I see it take longer for the FL users to get to the merge points than if they had used the GA line. I would, literally, need to ride 50 rides in a day to justify the amount per ride plus what my admission cost was. I am usually ready to leave by 6 on Sundays at Cedar point because I've ridden all of the coasters I like, at least 2 times per visit.

Most Sundays, I use my platinum pass to get early entry for Maverick...all other rides usually have a short enough wait throughout the day except for Valravn which will have no wait once new Mean Streak opens.

I went on a 14 day, 14 amusement park tour last summer. The only park that I could have justified a FL purchase at was Canada's Wonderland. I-305 on the Saturday after the 4th of July, Fury 325, El Toro and many other great coasters all had less than 10 minute waits or were re-rides....CW was the only park that was completely packed on that Sunday, which was the final day of my trip.

So, anyone on here that needs to buy an FL pass more than once in a blue moon, in my opinion, is just wasting their money. If you do buy one, don't use the FL entrance when you aren't actually saving any time in that line....you just look a little douchey.

zoug68 said:

don't use the FL entrance when you aren't actually saving any time in that line....you just look a little douchey.

I thought the satin jacket, coaster t-shirt, fanny pack and "I survived" buttons had something to do with that.

Personally, I like to purchase an entire sheet of fast lane bracelets, and wear them on my arms like gauntlets. Goes perfectly with my "I hate kitties and rainbows" t-shirt while I skip through the line, punching babies.