Kings Island Fast Lane

LostKause said:

And when I pay for CoasterBuzz membership, it's not to get rid of the ads. It's because I love CoasteBuzz.

Here's the strangest part. You know what I love? I love not waiting in lines. That means, if I can pay for what I love, I will.

LostKause said:
It's going to be a really big moral dilemma with me because I will pay the $50 extra.

That will learn 'em. Hit 'em right on the bottom line. Oh wait. :)

Someone a bunch of pages prior mentioned how a typical Disney one day ticket is about double that of a KI ticket, but you get free fast pass. Or to put it another way a KI ticket plus fast past is about the same as a Disney ticket.

Which got me thinking, if Disney started offering a one day ticket for $40, with the restriction that you can not use fast pass, what would be wrong with that?

Or to turn it around, what if KI were to announce that the standard ticket price is now $90 and includes FREE fast pass. And then also announced a new economy ticket that is the same as the standard ticket, but no access to fast pass.

So the mind set changes from 'I need to shell out extra cash for a fast pass to completely enjoy the park' to 'to hey, I can save some money because I really don't need that fast pass option'

Maybe the industry should simply return to the days of individually ticketed attractions. That way, you always get what you pay for.

^LOL Mike, *someone* suggested that about a dozen pages back... ;)

"Everything old is new again"... :)

Don't take us back to those Disney ticket books where you were buying addtional E tickets by mid afternoon and were left with full books of A and B tickets at days end.

Yup. I specifically remember my family's trip to WDW in '87. My dad was glowing because he could drop a wad of cash for 5 tickets to Magic Kingdom and his stress was essentially done for the day. Rewind to our first trip in '79, where he had to calculate how many ticket books to buy for 5 people for however many different rides we wanted to ride (as if we knew), then separate the right amount of tickets and hand them out to each of us while waiting in ridiculous lines...and repeat the process several times throughout the day.

PoP rules. Now, so does VQ...even more.

What I'm thinking of is a system related to Waldameers (which I mentioned a few pages back). Here's how it would work.

All customers would pay admission to the park. Said admission would be relatively nominal, and would cover the price of seeing the shows, taking in the landscaping and charm, and perhaps include some smaller rides, such as most children's rides and a flew classic flats.

On top of that, customers would then be able to purchase individual tickets to the bigger and more popular attractions, perhaps with a ride-all-day option.

Though perhaps not the simplest or most efficient system, this design would ensure the highest level of fairness to the highest level of customers. Which, for me, philosophically is the most compelling criterion.

And, not to double post, but the above system really wouldn't be that far removed from the way Knoebels does it now.

Vater said:
Yup. I specifically remember my family's trip to WDW in '87. My dad was glowing because he could drop a wad of cash for 5 tickets to Magic Kingdom and his stress was essentially done for the day. Rewind to our first trip in '79, where he had to calculate how many ticket books to buy for 5 people for however many different rides we wanted to ride (as if we knew), then separate the right amount of tickets and hand them out to each of us while waiting in ridiculous lines...and repeat the process several times throughout the day.

PoP rules. Now, so does VQ...even more.

That's why you attached a credit card number to a wristband and scan at each queue entrance.

I should also mention that each ride will have three separate entry points side-by-side.

One is the 'regular' queue. By all accounts it's set-up as the place you enter the ride. A coaster ride would cost...say...$2. when you scan your wristband to enter.

But to the left of that would be a sign for 'stand-by' queue. The play here is that you only pay $1.50 to ride, but you may have to wait longer for empty seats to be available.

On the far left is the 'quick' queue. Here you're charged $3.50, but your line is the first to board the ride.

Now, of course you can't downsell people. No one is really cheap enough to use the 'stand-by' in that situation. So we shift the terminology to create a better level of perception for the guest.

We present the price to ride as $1.50 and the 'stand-by line as the 'normal' queue.

We then call the $2.50 queue, the 'preferred' queue. And we rename the $3.50 queue, the 'express' queue.

We've changed the perception.

And this would fun to see in play. What choice would people make on the spot when it's not $100 for fast acess but just a buck or two here and there throughout the day. A la carte VQ/FOL.

We're already past the idea that there's only one line for the biggest attractions at parks. This is the pay-per-ride model of the same idea.

At one point, weren't most parks on a pay-per-ride basis? Why did they abandon that policy for the one price for everything model? Was it administrative hassle that now can be overcome with scanning wristbands tied to credit card numbers? Was it customer views of getting nickeled and dimed for everything during a visit?

And I would think that many folks on this site would not be in favor of the system proposed above by Gonch. Right now, power riders of big rides are subsidized by folks who ride few, if any, rides and/or who ride smaller rides.

Raven-Phile said:

LostKause said:

Here's the strangest part. You know what I love? I love not waiting in lines. That means, if I can pay for what I love, I will.

You know what I love? I love drinking booze, and doing drugs. I also sometimes have the urge to beat people up, perhaps shoot people. I can pay to do all that. But you know what? I don't do ANY of that stuff. I end up hurting others (and myself) when I do.

I fail to see the connection between addiction and paying to bypass a long line.

You're addicted to rides, man - and you'll do anything, even at the expense of others, to get your fix.

Duuuuuh! ;)

Trivializing addiction by comparing it to the morality of premium queuing borders on offensive. Marriage is so gay.

Well, we've already seen a comparison between not being able to ride due to line jumping with the 9/11 attacks, so this doesn't seem all that much of a stretch.

Ok ok ok...
So it was a stretched comparison - or maybe it's how some of us see it?

The point I was trying to make is that doing things I like (yes, I am in recovery, and I still would love to indulge here and there, but I don't b/c of the impending consequences), results in harm to me and others. And cutting in front of people in line (b/c you have more money, or are willing to spend more) is a form of (arguably, yes) hurting others.

It's not a black and white thing, there can be more than 2 teams :)
I'll sit back and just listen now, I told myself to but outta this long ago.

They posted signs (provided by the park) for our company picnic. The tag line is "one low price gets you in the door". Notice they didn't say anything about rides or shows.

Just throwing it out there.

Ride tickets and the famous Disney ticket book were replacements for the way " they used to do it" which was cash payment at each ride. It is said Walt came up with the ticket books to alleviate the nickel and diming felt by his guests. The ticket book was also purposely designed so that with it's purchase you get so many rides from each tier. The idea was to "encourage" people to visit the parks lesser attractions, and to discourage you from too many top attractions. After all you have already paid for the former, and you have to pay extra for the later.

I forget exactly what moved the national standard to Pay One Price. I do recall it was jeered as much in the day as the free soft drink is today. "how are you going to manage the crowds? What is to stop everybody in the park from going to your best rides at the same time"

But consider, PoP probably started life as a marketing gimmick. "you can either buy a base ticket and then pay a nominal fee at each ride" or buy this deluxe ticket and ride everything, as much as you can!! The public liked it because they didn't feel nickel and dimed, not to mention people really don't like to mess with tickets. The parks liked it because they could set the POP price so that it either matched or exceeded the rides per cap they were getting with ride tickets. Then, once they eliminated the ride tickets, they could eliminate all the ride ticket booths and their staff, as well as the time and maybe the staff as ticket takers at the rides, not to mention the cost of the armbands

There is a story that Kennywood was fiercely against PoP, but there was a public outcry for it. They tried to shelve the idea through negative marketing, by making the first POP armbands so ridiculously expensive that nobody in their right minds would actualy buy one. Then they could declare the program a failure, and that there was no demand for POP, problem was that people went for it in droves despite it being absurdly overpriced.

Which brings us to today. Back then the complaint was "I don't like messing with tickets, and would love to be able to ride whatever I want without worrying about the cost" now it's "I don't like dealing with these lines, and would love to be able to ride whatever I want without worrying about the lines". In both cases in this capitalistic society the parks answer is to offer the guests what they want, at a higher price of course. Follow this into the future and the First Class vs. Economy model of theme park ride access will become accepted as "the way it is"

Coasterville Dave said:
I forget exactly what moved the national standard to Pay One Price. I do recall it was jeered as much in the day as the free soft drink is today. "how are you going to manage the crowds? What is to stop everybody in the park from going to your best rides at the same time"

Back then the complaint was "I don't like messing with tickets, and would love to ride as much as I want without worrying a out the cost" now o
It's "I don't like dealing with these lines, and would love to be able to ride whatever I want without worrying about the lines". In both cases in this capitalistic society the parks answer is to offer the guests what they want, at a higher price of course. Follow this into the future and the First Class vs. Economy model of theme park ride access will become accepted as "the way it is"

And that sums it up.

Like I've said countless times, today's kids will only know and live with VQ.

...and they'll probably complain about whatever comes after that. :)

Quite frankly, comparing pay to cut with enjoying feelings of harming others or addiction is laughable at best. That you don't see a difference is very narrow minded and offensive. You come across as looking for a reason and almost demanding to be offended, like someone who pays to cut is personally trying do their best to cause you harm. Get over yourself. A hug isn't going to make it all better.

PS I just wanted to make it clear that this post was not in any way directed at Travis. I can respect a differing opinion, but not total bull **it.