Fast Lane Plus coming to Cedar Point

bunky666 said:

I'm waiting for them to offer a season pass flash pass combo deal.

Sorry, but at Great Adventure, I'd be all over it like an Eskimo carving a canoe.

That would be awesome. I'd like to see some kind of all inclusive pass, unlimited admission, parking, season meal pass, maybe unlimited go kart rides and a couple of rides on Dare Devil Dive per season. Plus something like 2 - 3 vouchers for admission into the Flaspass line of a ride per visit (if unlimited Flashpass wouldn't work for passholders). I'd pay $250 - $275 for something like that since I already paid around $200 total for my season pass, parking and the season meal pass this year.

Even a visit or two with regular Flashpass for free in those vouchers would be awesome. I'd still pay for the upgrade too, so they'd STILL get a little extra out of me.

Hi Guys - I have a few questions if you don't mind.

I live in Boston and attending opening day, with confirmed reservations at Lighthouse Point.

If the weather is good, I know the park will be a zoo and definitely buying a FLP, but if the weather is bad, I'm not sure if it will be needed.

1) So how early do I need to buy it?
2) Will I still need a FLP if the weather is drizzle or rain?
3) How limited is the number of passes they sell for a given day?
4) With the FLP, any quesses on typical FLP wait times for the big 5 (GK, TTD, MF, Maverick, Raptor)

Thanks

Tom

I say make it as expensive as possible, and limit the number of them that can be sold to maximize the common folk's park experience.

Who am I kidding though? I just can't stand that the park allows people to cut in front of me, so I'd probably begrudgingly get it anyways.

I like how Busch Gardens does it. One line cut each ride for about $30. That is a pretty good balance.

^^ that's what the parks do already. The average park goer does not spend 40+ dollars per person to get into a park and then another 50-70 per person to skip lines. That why I'm saying I don't think it makes the biggest difference in the long run for the park experience.

Hi, Thom25.
Some of your questions will require a crystal ball to know for sure, but here's a stab.

I don't know what the limit is for Fast Lane. As far as I know they've never sold out. Fast Lane plus is new this year, there may be fewer of those, dunno.

Opening day can be busy, especially when there's a sensational new coaster. Weather can be iffy, though. I've been to a few opening days where it's been so rainy or bitter cold that no one showed up.

I'd definitely wait til you get to the park and check it out to decide if FL+ is going to be worth it. My guess is that if you don't want to wait a long time for Gatekeeper it's gonna be necessary.

With FL most rides should be walk on, the exception to that may be GK. I know there's been busy Saturdays in the past where the FL wait was long for Millenium Force, but it's hard to tell what it will be like opening day.

FL access varies by ride. Millenium Force puts you on separate stairs right to the platform. On TTD theres a merge point that's farther back in the line. It still may be 20 minutes before you're seated in the train.

For what it's worth, I personally witnessed at least one day last year where Fast Lane sold out at CP (at least according to the signs around the park). That said, I'm sure it doesn't happen often. If you get to the park early in the day, I doubt there's any risk of not being able to buy FL at the park.

Thanks, CP Chris.
And what kind of day was that? The busiest day in history? Like, some Halloweekend Saturday in mid October?

:-)

It was indeed a Halloweekends Saturday. I want to say July 4th also sold out, but despite being in the park that evening, I don't recall if I saw sold out signs or not.

Planning a trip to LegoLand next week and check this out. Bottom of the page:

http://california.legoland.com/en/tickets/admission-tickets/

$150 per person? In addition to your ticket? Makes FastLane look like a downright steal. (It does give you food as well, but a single person could never eat enough to cover the difference with Fastlane's price.)

So are these things bad because they let people jump to the front of the line or because they're expensive? Because in my mind those are opposite sides of the issue.

I'm getting confused.

LegoLand's website says the pass has "front of line privileges", it seems to be more like an exit pass than a separate Fast Lane line like Cedar Point has. Given that, $150 for front of line privileges and food isn't so bad.

Looks almost like an All-Inclusive VIP type deal, minus the escort.

In my experience an escort costs WAY more than $150.

Wait. What?

Oops. I've said too much...

Gonch, I'm so glad you said something. I was trying to come up with a clever joke, but I just couldn't pull anything together, and it was making my eyes and ears bleed with the strain.

In response to Lord G, I was merely pointing out the massive cost and how there is apparently a market for these Ultra-Premium VIP type deals like Legoland has. I was surprised at the high cost.

As I said earlier, I think Fastlane and the like are bad, but I don't want to start a huge discussion because, as it's been pointed out, the subject has already been beaten to death. Plenty of opinions in this thread here, all perfectly valid.

I was shopping for Legoland tix because we're gonna be in SoCal next week and this just kinda took me by surprise is all. I guess it shouldn't, Universal has had VIP tour packages for many years now.

I've always wanted to do a guided VIP tour. Not even necessarily for the front of the line access (though that is sweet), but for the factoids along the way. I'm a big fan of the useless knowledge trivia stuff, like "Disney has scents actually pumped into the walkways to further trigger certain responses to their products" kinda thing. That random stuff fascinates me.

Islands of Adventure has a lot of interesting factoids.

As some people may recall, I had the opportunity to enjoy a VIP experience at Kings Island a few years ago. I didn't get to hear a lot of factoids, but it was fun, and I'd consider doing it again sometime when I find that I have a few extra hundred dollars to blow.

And for Tommytheduck, I agree with you that these pay to cut schemes are no good. I hate them, because I feel that sometimes if a park is busy, I am compelled to use them to keep people from cutting in front of me. I hate it when people cut in front of me, whether the park allows it or not.

Some people are happy that the service is provided, and I respect that.

I am all for making it excessively expensive too. The less people using it, the better it is for everyone else.

And if a park offers a pay-to-cut service, they better run the rides at full capacity when necessary. Anything else is unacceptable mismanagement.

The best way for me to get around buying a line-cutter's pass is to go when the park is less busy, but that's not always something that can be helped.

The first year NTG debuted at SFoT it was only available on the platinum flash pass (the one that was $90 per person and allowed double rides on every other attraction). I didn't see very many people using it, but maybe that was the point. By the second year (I think) it went back to regular Flash Pass and didn't stand out either way.

Of all the people in the world who are against pay for FoL access, I find it interesting that it's people who are willing to spend thousands of dollars for a day at the park. I bought airfare, rented a car, booked a hotel room and showed up at the park on a crowded day. But $50 to double or triple my rides that day? Heck no!

Looking at that option for legoland, it really shows you how underpriced Fast Lane is with unlimited rides. At legoland you have to wait an hour before you can jump back in line with that pass.

More money being left on the table at Cedar Point! Get rid of the multi-person discounts. Have one flat rate!