Kings Island Fast Lane

Or, in the words of our beloved former president, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...we won't get fooled again."

How about putting the station below 20 feet of water and then everybody can dive down, strap themselves in and the coaster will climb out of the water. This will keep the lines down :P

Pat.

Lord Gonchar said:

I'm not sure anyone posting in this thread is neutral enough to be trusted with such info. ;)

Gonch wins post of the week!

^It is pretty good :)

But I'm still your little gay cheer leader *go travis*go travis*

Wait, Andy, so, what you're saying is that now that you know that the burger joint changed it's policy? It's you're fault that you made an informed decision and decided to continue to go anywho? Knowing the potential consequences?

Then why are you still whining? ;-)

ApolloAndy said:
If I went to a burger joint that normally served third pound burgers and ordered and paid for a burger, only to find out they had changed to 1/4 pound burgers, I'm not sure I'd say the burger joint was blameless.

After the first time, then it's squarely on the customer.

To retro quote Emeril: "Bam!"

Once you "find out" your half-gallon of ice cream (or OJ) no longer contains 48 oz. or so of ice cream, you can either begin to read the volume for all brands, or continue to go blindly forth assuming all the other companies have done the same. While it could be considered kind of sneaky when the change first happens, you really do have to live under a rock not to pick up on it. Guess I really do see both sides: First, no one "advertises" the fact that a similar-looking container holds a lower volume of said product, so it does tend to catch the average consumer by surprise. Second, an *educated* consumer can figure out what's going on pretty quickly, and can than decide for themselves whether the NEW product is still what they want at the grocery store.

In business economics terms, there is often an assumption made, (known to be faulty?) that everyone in the marketplace is operating with FULL knowledge of differences in price, quality, and quantity - or size per lot from among the potential suppliers. Knowing it's a faulty (but ncessary) assumption isn't that big of a deal - knowing HOW that affects consumer decision-making...is borderline Freakonomics... ;)

Oh...we probably can assume at this point that everyone's "caught up" with VQ'ing. And, as from the beginning, I'll say again - the important question for me isn't IF the product will stay, but how can it best be implemented.

edit 1: remember, other amusement parks aren't the competition - movies and pro sports and boating are more like "the other guy" than another park.

edit 2: "best" implemented might mean customer satifaction, shareholder satisfactoin, or some combination of the two. You decide... ;)

Yup. I still love me some Gator.

rollergator said:
Oh...we probably can assume at this point that everyone's "caught up" with VQ'ing. And, as from the beginning, I'll say again - the important question for me isn't IF the product will stay, but how can it best be implemented.

Needed pointed out again. :)

And I'm thinking the best implementation makes it virtually unnoticeable to those in the stand-by line.

Whoever comes up with that has the million dollar idea.

Something I've been thinking is that since the park holds all the cards, they just need to change the perception of who is taking what from whom.

That is to say people in stand-by may feel like something is being taken when a VQ'er gets loaded on a train they've been waiting for. But what if you could somehow present it to the stand-by line the other way around? Like they were getting something extra?

The idea I'm about to present is admittedly very flawed, but at its core is an example of what I mean.

Imagine if a coaster running three trains had one designated as a VQ train. The first two trains run with only stand-by riders. The third is filled with as many VQ'ers as available (up to train capacity) and any empty seats are 'given' to stand-by riders. They're getting on a train quicker than expected. They're getting onto the train that people had to pay to ride...for free!

Yes, I understand the nightmare of the logistics, but the core idea is changing the perspective of who is getting a little sumpin' sumpin' out of the deal. Again, don't get hung up on pulling a train (heh) because that's not important - just the best quick example I could muster - and keep focused on how the script has been flipped for the stand-by riders.

If you can't find a way to seamlessly integrate it to make it look like it's not even happening, then pulling this switcheroo is the next best thing.

Of course, all of this assumes it's not fine as it is. :)

Guess I won't be pushing to make it back to KI yet this season. I know there haven't been any first hand accounts yet, but I don't see how the implementation of this won't make the "standby line" abysmal unless they're only selling a very very small number of wristbands a day. The price is too low, and KI's capacity is already awful enough without cramming through the "ride all you want without waiting" people.

I'm really curious to hear some reports from people going to the park, and not the ones from the FL user's vantage point.

Ensign Smith said:
Or, in the words of our beloved former president, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...we won't get fooled again."

Pete Townshend was President?

Cool.

rollergator said:
Oh...we probably can assume at this point that everyone's "caught up" with VQ'ing. And, as from the beginning, I'll say again - the important question for me isn't IF the product will stay, but how can it best be implemented.

I would agree that everyone who goes to an amusement park knows that VQ exists in amusement parks. My incredibly minor concern would be for those customers who assume it hasn't yet come to KI, pony up the money with a certain set of expectations, and get those expectations trampled.

^Ah, and another good point. People know *about* VQ. It's still going to come with the "48 oz. surprise" when it comes to a park where it hasn't been previously impeented. Let's hope the patrons catch on quickly....and accept the inevitability (i.e., VQ isn't going away, so complain about HOW it's done rather than IF it's done).

Expectations trampled?

That's a stretch. It's a system used for 10 rides in the park for a little more than half an operating day. If the averge non-user is losing more than one lap a day, I'd be surprised.

For a mediocre park that already has too many upcharge attractions instead of flat rides, this is the final icing on the cake! Six Flags overpriced Fast Pass is bad enough, but at least it puts you in a virtual queue. This is a pure pay-to-cut system. Its ridiculous for a park that already only has minimal rides to start with!

What are they trying to do? Create the most miserable day possible for anyone who buys a regular ticket?! All this system does is make the line longer for those that don't pay.

The park only has a handful of worthwhile rides to start with, and few of them are worth a wait. This is going to chase off as much revenue as it generates, when people have to wait even longer for those rides.

Everytime this happens at a park a doomsday prophet arises. And yet these systems haven't brought down a park yet. Somehow I think the management is probably more aware of the risks than we are.

Lord Gonchar said:
Expectations trampled?

That's a stretch. It's a system used for 10 rides in the park for a little more than half an operating day. If the averge non-user is losing more than one lap a day, I'd be surprised.

Oh I don't doubt that one bit. However, as you have said a trillion times, it's the expectations that matter. If a family waited in line for 30 minutes, only to have their seat taken twice in a row by VQers they'll probably only lose 5 minutes, but they'll be pissed. On the other hand if that waited 45 minutes in line and just got right on they'd probably be happy as a clam.

People are not rational.

Mike Gallagher said:
Pete Townshend was President?

Cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

Thank god they are getting rid of the single rider line for the diamondback. Never understand how/why they ran it, as it always seemed to open and close at random times, and always seemed to have more groups of people than single riders.

I use to love ERT on Sundays last year, now it seems its completely worthless with the que filling up within 15 minutes or so of the ERT starting. My KI trips have been limited this year mainly due to crowds so I for one am loving this option even with a PP. Last year I made 12 trips to KI, 3 to CP. This year has been the opposite, all due to crowds.

The single rider lane is one thing that actually makes sense and helps utilitize maximum capacity. If a train is going out with an empty seat, why not put a single rider on it?

Just to play devil's advocate a little...

If a separate VQ line negatively affects capacity and operations because of the logistics of merging two lines to one ride, then couldn't the same be argued for a single rider line?

And isn't it just as unfair as the VQ complainers say VQ is in that someone gets to skip to the front of the line for some arbitrary reason. (in this case willingness to ride alone instead of willingness to pay a few bucks)

If you hate VQ, I can't see how you can be ok with a single rider line. It's practically the same thing.

(and arguing that the money makes the difference isn't the right answer :) )