Fast Lane is now Officially "The Flash Pass"
Last summer at my home park, SF Great America, my one visit was horrible. Rides not open/not run to capacity, the usual stuff we've been used to from six flags increasingly over the past few years. What do they say, "if you don't like it, leave?" well, it'll be a while before I go back there.
Good thing we have places like Holiday World and Indiana Beach. Better coasters too... I'm sure no matter what the crowd is at Holiwood Nights, it'll be a blast, b/c they seem to care about their 'guest'. unlike other parks...
It's 11am on a crowded Saturday at Disneyland. I arrive at the front of Indiana Jones and the stand-by wait time is already 120 minutes. As a man with a red shirt enters the stand-by line I grab a Fastpass with a return time of 12:30-1:30pm*. While Mr. Red Shirt waits in line I go and ride some other rides that have shorter lines, or grab a bite to ear, or shop.
At 12:30 I enter the Fastpass line, scoot by 3/4 of the people who are waiting in the stand-by line and walk ALLLLLLLLL the way up to where both lines join. I rejoin the main queue and it is another 30 minutes to board.
Wanna guess who I see just ahead of me in line?
mOOSH
*In my many, many experiences in a crowded Disneyland if it's 11am on a Saturday and the stand-by wait time on Indy is 120 min the Fastpass return time is going to be for MUCH later in the afternoon. So while Mr. Red Shirt waits 2 hours to ride I have to wait much, much longer. The upshot: I get to do other things during that time.
But to constantly use that in an Six Flags discussion is a cop out imo. It's like comparing resteraunt food to mom's home cooking, of course the big, corporate themers will come up short everytime, duh.
There's no reason Six Flags can't do what they do well and send you off with a feeling of satisfaction. That's what we all want from the chain. I don't expect them (nor do I want them) to become Holiday World.
I got to work on the CP Blue Streak the last 2 years before they ripped up those trains, etc. Geez... I guess alot of it is emotional and how I think people should run their parks.
Ohhh... Ohh... Mr. Red Shirt?
Mamoosh said: Wanna guess who I see just ahead of me in line?
*** Edited 3/23/2006 7:53:11 AM UTC by Neuski***
ONE person can only phisically wait in ONE ride line at a time. If he waits in TWO lines at ONE time, he is cutting in front of people who do not have the same opportunity to do the same.
Cedar point can "eject" a person from the park if the leave the line for any reason and try to return to their spot. Cedar point calls that line jumping. Six Flags calls it Flash Pass.
Would it be fair to all park guests if Dad waits in line for Nitro while his Two teenage sons go stand in line and ride Skull Mt., and then the sons just get back n line with Dad? This is my "dishonest" story.
The same exact thing could have been done if they had a Q-Bot, except Dad could have rode SM with the kids (adding another body to fill a seat on the ride, thus making it even more wrong imo), all while virtually waiting in line for Nitro. This is my "honest" story.
I see both of my stories above as the exact same thing giving almost the exact same outcome. In both honest and dishonest line jumping, the Teens got to ride Two rides for the "price" of One ("price" being the time it took to get on both rides).
People pay for a day at the park. Time in the park is money you have already spent at the gate. If someone visits the park all day, say 10 hours, they have the same amount of time as everyone else to get on rides and see shows and attractions. The balence it tipped when Q-Bot is added. Q-Bot gives the same advantage to people as it gives to dishonest people who line jump.
I want to repeat SF's definition of line jumping...
"Line jumping constitutes cutting in front of other waiting guests or leaving the line for any reason then attempting to reenter. Please respect your fellow guests by waiting your turn in line."
"cutting in front of other waiting guests"...Well that is exactily what you are doing if you use a Q-Bot, right?
"leaving the line for any reason then attempting to reenter"...reasons like leaving the line to go enjoy other rides, shows and attractions? Reasons like going to get a snack or a meal? Reasons like buying T-shirts and plush toys, or playing games, or using the restroom, or getting autgraphs from Elmer and Tweety?
"Please respect your fellow guests by waiting your turn in line."...Shouldn't people only have one turn on the ride per wait in line? SF encourages you to rent a Q-Bot so you can disrespect your fellow guests.
I have another story. What if I Q-Bot for Kinda Ka, and choose to wait in line at the same time so I can get TWO KK rides in the time it takes for me to wait in line once? The second time I ride, I am line jumping. It's the same thing if I don't have a Q-Bot and I decide to cut in line for a re-ride.
Maybe that cleared up why you do not understand how Q-Bot is line jumping. maybe not. I'll respect your opinion anyways.
On the subject of why I prefer disney's Fastpass...I still think that it is somewhat unfair to those who didn't get a fastpass early in the day. What I think makes Fastpass work better is that Disney runs their ride at full capacity.
I am guilty of using Q-Bot on my last SF visit late last Summer. I had to try it to see for myself. I am a pretty honest guy, and I felt like crap standing in Two lines at once, but I did it anyway.
I don't think anyone with opposing views are wrong. I think we have a different perspective. I am trying to post reasons why I see Q-Bot as a very bad "service" for SF to provide. The "service" would improve greatly if capacity was better, but I would still see it as creating a negative experience for all park "guests". Who wants to go to a park to feel stress? I want to go and enjoy my day.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Those people paid to cut in line, and I don't like it!" :)
-Tambo (who loves to pay to cut in line, and can aford it! Get over it!)
*** Edited 3/23/2006 11:55:25 AM UTC by tambo***
1. "Them that has, gets"
2. "There aint no such thing as a free ride"
dexter said:
Cedar point can "eject" a person from the park if the leave the line for any reason and try to return to their spot. Cedar point calls that line jumping. Six Flags calls it Flash Pass....
I want to repeat SF's definition of line jumping...
"Line jumping constitutes cutting in front of other waiting guests or leaving the line for any reason then attempting to reenter. Please respect your fellow guests by waiting your turn in line."
......
I have another story. What if I Q-Bot for Kinda Ka, and choose to wait in line at the same time so I can get TWO KK rides in the time it takes for me to wait in line once? The second time I ride, I am line jumping. It's the same thing if I don't have a Q-Bot and I decide to cut in line for a re-ride.
....
On the subject of why I prefer disney's Fastpass...I still think that it is somewhat unfair to those who didn't get a fastpass early in the day. What I think makes Fastpass work better is that Disney runs their ride at full capacity.
I want to comment on the 4 parts quoted above.
CP used to have a Freeway system that also if anyone used it were they cutting? And then why didn't CP eject everyone using it. Because THE PARK makes the rules and they will decide who is cutting and who isn't.
2) Six Flags also can eject you from the park if you are caught line jumping PER the rules they enforce. Let's hope the new regime does hire more security for this and more employees to staff their rides since we all know most Six Flags parks are understaffed.
3) Actually that has been tried and failed at times... why? Because Q-bot gives you a 15 minute window to ride. If you aren't at the Q-bot entrance within that 15 minute window your reservation clears and you have to re-reserve. So if for some reason the line slowed down without the Q-bot system being notified your reservation could expire. Yes Q-bot reservations do move back due to down time and other things.
4) Let's hope the new leaders of Six Flags do fix the staffing issues then all rides should run at capacity on days that warrant it. Because we all know running empty trains isn't good for capacity also.
*** Edited 3/23/2006 2:22:12 PM UTC by Brian Noble***
-Tambo
WAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEEE UUUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!!!! ;)
I understand there's no adding a train to Deja Vu...but when the lines merge nicely (staff member, hello?), and the lines are MOVING due to multiple training (I *did* mention Disney back there somewhere, right?), then there's really no REASON to complain....
*If* they're single-training in an effort to make lines longer in an effort to sell more fastpasses/Q-Bots/Fastlane tickets) - then there WILL be *hell toupee*....the officially endorsed hairpiece of Satan...
What q-bot does is virtually increase the attendance at the park. If I come alone and use a q-bot at Kingda Ka then go physically stand in line at Nitro it's exactly the same as if I brought another person with me and they waited for Kingda Ka while I waited for and rode Nitro. There's no difference. I'm waiting an hour in the KK line (virtually) and waiting 45 minutes in the Nitro line (physically) vs waiting in the KK line for an hour physically while my friend waits in the Nitro line for 45 minutes physically as well.
However, if I came alone and simply snuck my way into the front of the line at both KK and Nitro there'd be a huge difference, I didn't wait as long as everyone else and I forced their wait to be just a little bit longer.
There's a big HUGE difference in line cutting and virtual queue use.
That's as simply as I can explain my angle.
Who wants to go to a park to feel stress? I want to go and enjoy my day.
Exactly the reason we often use fastpass. None of the annoyances of a long, hot sweaty line full of bodies pressing against each other (hey, that sounds like fun, right Moosh? ;) ), no pressure or worries of being able to ride everything in a day, if it starts to look bleak you pick up on the two lines at once thing, etc. To me q-bot makes the day less stressful.
Besides, we're probably weird in the way we use ours. We take the kids to the park with us. My kids are 4 and 8. There's still things they can't or won't ride. Now if it's just me and my wife one of us stands in a long line alone while the other amuses the kids alone and then we switch. It takes twice as long to ride and the kids become more agitated. (we have done the baby swap thing a couple of times, but honestly, it's a bigger hassle than q-bot)
With q-bot, we can virtually wait in line and take the kids to do things they want while we wait. I'm not alone in a long line, she's not alone with the kids, the kids aren't sitting on a bench outside the ride saying, "When's Dad coming back we're bored" repeatedly and we get to squeeze in rides we otherwise couldn't have. Everyone in our group wins.
You'd be surprised at the sheer number of coasters I haven't ridden simply because it was too big of a hassle, but if the park offered some kind of virtual queue I'd have them on my track record. Heck, we did SFGAm this summer (they only offer the ticket dealy-o and those are only good on certain rides) and ended up scoring just 5 of the coaster credits at the park.
Then again, I've become a bit jaded towards lines/wait times over the years. The excitement and anticipation of waiting in line for an hour is now little more than an annoyance and quite frankly, not worth it in most cases. Maybe I'm getting older? Maybe it's the fact that I've been to 72 parks in the last 5 years?
But even on the off chance that it is an 'all adult' party, I'd still much rather scan my q-bot and go get a drink and have a smoke than stand in line for an hour. I've been to PKI three times and every time it has just been my wife and myself (two BeastBuzz events and a preview weekend) and even still I only have 7 or their 12 credits (and most of those came with the ERT) - If PKI offered some kind of virtual queue, I can guarantee I'd have all 12 (or 13 if you count Racer as two).
Basically, the virtual queue is the less stressful option that provides more fun for me.
rollergator said:
*hell toupee
The title of both an episode of the Simpsons "Treehouse of Terror" and an episode of the old TV show "Amazing Stories" by Steven Spielberg. :)
Absolutely...especially if I'm standing next to you in line! ;)
mOOSH
As long as the parks offer it I plan to use them again if it is my first visit to the park and it has many coasters and I probably won't return to anytime soon or has a really long wait for a coaster that I haven't ridden before.
My trip to GAdv was only possible on one specific day and I had to get back to NYC for the ECW PPV that night. Gold Q-Bot was the only way I was going to have the time to ride everything and was a lot less stressful. Didn't have to worry about how long lines were and if I would have time to do this and that. I could go grab food while waiting. It was too convenient. Especially early on when I didn't even have time to go do other things because the wait was too short. My only regret with this purchase was I didn't get to use it on KK since it was during the big breakdown last summer.
MM just has too many damn coasters. X was down so lines for everything else were worse. I'm not going to be back out there anytime soon so Fastlane, even with it's $15 for four setup, again provided more convenience for me making my way around the park and riding as much as possible. Even with Fastlane I still didn't get to ride all of them.
The only thing I will say negative about q-bot/fastlane is the policing of q-bot at Nitro. I saw people not even with a q-bot or going up despite it not being their time because nobody was checking it. Park cannot allow that to happen.
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