Fast Lane allows line jump at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure

I think Proletariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby.

Here's the simplest example I can give:

Millennium Force, a coaster on which I easily have over 200 rides in 19 years.

The final set of switchbacks before the long ramp used to be a 25 minute wait pre FL. Nowadays it's 45-60.

That's it.

Yes, there are people in the FL line already when I saddle up to the back of the regular line, so add another 5 minutes to the 25. But anyone who comes in the regular line after me is behind me. Anyone who comes into the FL line gets ahead of me, until the merge. And since the FL line is never empty, and they merge at a 50/50 ratio, the wait is doubled until the merge. There's no way to argue against this.

It's fine... FL is a part of life now. I've been both helped and hurt by it, whatever. But anyone who argues that it doesn't increase standby wait times... I just don't see it.

You're measuring distance instead of people though... if those folks would ride anyway, the time would be the same but your distance to the ramp would be greater.

Another way to illustrate what Jeff is saying:

What if it were two standby lines? Folks could choose either one. Are the standby riders in the other line doubling your wait? Is your line doubling theirs?

Jeff said:

... if those folks would ride anyway

That is the question that I wonder about. Would they ride anyway if they saw that the regular line for Dragster was 60 minutes instead of the 15 minute line that FL offers.

Would they even be in the park if they weren't going to ride?

I'm apparently the only one who remembers (or is old enough to remember) waiting two hours to ride Magnum... in 1998. That was a normal day. Aside from the newest ride on any given year, I doubt people are waiting two hours for anything except in the rarest of circumstances.

Maybe that is the better question.

My 15/60 minute example was from this past week. We rode Dragster 6 times with FL. Would we have waited 60 minutes without FL? Not a chance. Would we have even gone to the park without FL? Not a chance.

I first visited Cedar Point in 1998 and remember waiting in a full Magnum queue on a weekday. I also remember waiting in full queues for Mantis, Raptor, and Power Tower on those trips. Can anyone here imagine a case where you would ride any of those rides with a full queue - or even see a full queue outside of a Halloweekend Saturday?

I remember long lines for Magnum. And for Blue Streak and Mine Ride. Well after they were new rides. There is a lot of capacity that once supported long lines that now doesn't. Of all the things to do at Cedar Point, there are only a handful that have consistently long lines. And for a lot of people there on any given day, there is zero interest in riding any of those rides and it has nothing to do with the wait.

Shades said:

Would we have even gone to the park without FL? Not a chance.

Well there's the answer then: Tommy's wait indeed would have been shorter if Fast Lane didn't exist, because Shades wouldn't have been at the park at all. ;)

So to piggyback on my earlier thought, I suspect that unlike enthusiasts, most regular park goers will just change their behavior in the face of the FL inflated lines, rather than wait through them. So instead of riding Millennium Force with the 45 minute standby, they'll ride Magnum with a 15 minute line and be almost as happy. CP in particular has so many big, good coasters which I suspect are close to interchangeable for most guests (other than the new hotness) that even if many of them are 45 min., as long as some are 15 min. it's fine.