Kings Island Fast Lane

OhioStater said:
Many posters on here have stated how wrong it is. Let's say, though, you won a contest at Magic Mountain, or Cedar Point (hypothetically if they adopted it) where your whole family or group won free fast passes. Would you turn it in and reject the prize? Or would you enjoy it?

Unless you would reject the prize and say..."no thank you, I find your system to be immoral and hyper-capitalistic, and rejecting your prize is my way of showing you how I feel"...well....you're a hypocrite.

I feel that I am forced to use it because i don't want anyone to cut in front of me. The stress this causes me makes me pretty upset at the parks that offer it, because it mixes me up so much. I don't feel like hypocrite though. I would be a hypocrite if I did pay-to-cut for the specific reasons that I don't give a crap about everyone else's experience when I am visiting the park... If I only cared about me me me.

I won a VIP last year for Kings Island. I enjoyed it, and I'd even recommend it to anyone who can afford it. I feel that at $250 per person, it's not going to cause too much of a problem with lengthening the lines. My group of two was the only group who used VIP that day. Two people cutting is not going to clog up the regular lines the same way one or two (or more) thousand will with this new pay-to-cut scheme.

Gonch, your Knoebels example... The person who purchased a all-day ride pass for $35 is not taking anything away from the guy who buys $10 worth of tickets. That's why that example doesn't jive with me very well.

All of your other, well thought out, arguments, don't jive with me either, except for the part about I am already conditioned to accept how a regular line works, and now I have to be reconditioned of how this pay-to-cut scam works. In all of recorded history, mankind have waited their turn. I'm afraid that this is a slippery slope. Let me use my wild imagination to foresee a bleak future...

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&¬e_id=238883106134765

I think my opinion of this is also shaped by the fact that, being season pass holders for Cedar Fair, we are very picky about when we go. I would never step foot in Cedar Point in late June through late August, unless some family member or friend wanted to drag me along with them. We only go multiple, multiple times in May, and hit up some Halloweekends when we can.

...and now I have to be reconditioned of how this pay-to-cut scam works.

It's not a scam if you get what you pay for. A scam is when you are duped. It sounds like you just really get stressed out by the idea of people getting on the ride before you. :)

And I completely agree with you about the pricing of VIP; it's very limiting. Plus, people who purchase VIP are limited in their rides, aren't they? I thought they got one trip on each coaster (of course it could be front seat).

VIP allows you to ride as many times as you want wherever you want (front seat or otherwise) on any ride (not just the 10 listed). The funny thing is that the VIP tour won't allow you to immediately re-ride where the Fast Lane pass will. Interesting.

I still don't understand how a luxury item is forcing you to do anything. Amusement parks are simply that. Luxury.

Just read up on VIP.

What I found most funny was that the 10 dollar parking charge is NOT included. :)

375 per person (this is Cedar Point), and re-rides are permitted as Gary mentioned. You must ride another attraction before coming back. Plus, the park limits the number of VIP riders per day.

In other words, no impact on "average joes".

I don't think that unlimited re-rides are that big of a deal. Most people will ride something and then move on to something else...maybe hop in a ride like Diamondback a few times, but I still don't see the impact as being dire enough to induce a panic attack.

I'm waiting for the day SFGADV charges $25 for parking, then $55 to enter the park and be given a bracelet with a RFID tag inserted. Ride all the rides you want, because each time you pass the sign with the warnings, the RFID tag is recognized and automatically charges $5 to your account. When you walk out the park the tag registers you have left and charges your credit card accordingly.

You forgot to add that you didn't have to wait in line for anything.

And that the ride ops kiss you on the forehead before the train leaves the station.

Lord Gonchar said:
And that the ride ops kiss you on the forehead before the train leaves the station.

And for certain rides, you can get a "Happy Ending" for only $10 more!

OhioStater said:
Just read up on VIP.

What I found most funny was that the 10 dollar parking charge is NOT included. :)

I realize that you are talking Cedar Point there. I just wanted to comment that it is different at Kings Island. Kings Island has a VIP parking lot, with a separate entrance, located right near the entrance. It's a pretty nice perk, included in the price, for anyone scheduled for the VIP tour.

Wooohhh there, 67440Dodge. Umm, I don't want some of those ride operators touching ME where the sun don't shine, especially if they don't wash their hands between customers. lol

Lord Gonchar said:
And that the ride ops kiss you on the forehead before the train leaves the station.

Yuck! I'll just take me some of them hugs ;)

When I heard VIP tour, why was I having visions of being shown around the park, while the guide pointed out some of the park history, gave some facts/trivia about the rides and attractions, maybe told some anecdotal stories - and as you explored the park, they backdoored you onto the ride as a side benefit.

Because that's pretty much what it is?

Wait, I don't get it, David.

Oh, nothing - just some posts that suggest the only reason people sign up for the VIP tours is the no-wait access to the rides, seeming to infer they don't give that much interest in all the historical/triva info.

And no posts yet about how the parks first busy Saturday with the program was armagedon with standby customers having to stand by in the very hot and humid sun, while risking heat exhaustion and dehydration at every turn, watching helplessly as trainload after trainload of FastLane wristband users stroll merrily up to the loading gates as they are being held back?

(No, I wasn't there, so I have no idea how it actually shook out)

I really can't wait to read about how it's working (or not working) out.

People with more money get more. Look at how some of the corporations are running the American government as a good example.

So now it's immoral to work hard and make money and be rewarded by spending it, to the point that those that make more and spend more are corrupt like the government? Now that's kind of offensive.

Didn't mean to offend anyone here, Tek, and really, you kind of didn't get my point. Darn now, I have to elaborate.

Companies who are successful are allowed by the government to buy policy from the government(Lobbyists).

Just like (in my whimsical mind, anyways)...

People who are successful are allowed by the theme park to buy line cuts from the theme park.

They both accept bribes to allow the person paying to break the rules, which is tempting to even the most honest person.

I am one who sometimes has to bribe them myself, because they happily advertise that they accept bribes, and if I can't be on a level playing field, I guess I'll have to be one of those who is benefiting from the situation. I'd much rather that they didn't offer it in the first place. When forced to make the tough ethical decision to either allow people to cut in front of me, or to cut in front of others, in this case I have to choose to be selfish, because this is my hobby and very important to me. It really weighs heavy on my conscious sometimes.

So, if one can say that it is corrupt for the government to accept bribes in order to shape policy that will benefit the company that they are accepting the bribe from, I don't know how they can accept that it is okay that a theme park allows people to buy their way onto the front of the lines at the park. They are both wrong in my eyes.

They both accept bribes to allow the person paying to break the rules, which is tempting to even the most honest person.

Those rules only exist in your mind, or perhaps the Kings Island of last year. Now there are new rules.

Say it with me...

You are not cutting. You are not cutting. You are not cutting.

And it's not a bribe. It's a product you are purchasing. If there is enough demand, it will continue, and if not, they will figure something else out.

Since when did a theme park owe you anything? It's just a "store" full of consumers, enjoying a product that they own.

I get where you are coming from, though. I don't "like" it either, but objectively there is nothing immoral about it in my opinion.

I'm not trying to sound snarky, LK.

Yeah there is no comparison. Travis, you act as if you have some sort of rights here but you don't. You don't have nit have you ever had the right to go to a theme park. You never had the right to ride roller coasters. You don't have any rights to luxury. You are privileged. Your privilege of being able to go is a luxury not afforded many millions, if not billions, of people.

And as with any luxury, there are, and always have been, different levels of luxury depending on what someone was able and willing to pay for.

There are no bribes. You never had the right to go to a theme park in the first place. You took advantage of a luxury offered to you, just like those paying to get quicker access to a ride.