Sea World hops on the pay-to-cut bandwagon

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LostKause said:
Why are the wait times so unbearably long at SFGAdv, Bunky? Could it be because there are so many people cutting?

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Nope, they're long because of poor operations and cheap as hell gate.

ApolloAndy, I'd say we are both right if by cheap, you are talking about discount admission and season passes. $50 is not cheap. Line cutters do not help the already unbearable situation.

Vater, Yes seriously. I am audacious enough to stand by what I feel and voice my opinion accordingly.

The conversation was very pleasant. I told her what a great time I had and only had one complaint. She wrote my comment down. She said that she understood. It really wasn't a big deal.

You all look at the title of this topic and tell me that "pay-to-cut bandwagon" is not wording that is going to bring out the negative comments on the subject.

The lines at Great Adventure are so long because it's the best park in the area, it's got the tallest and fastest coaster in the world, and two other top-ranked coasters BESIDES Ka. When I HAVE had the Flashpass, every coaster that I've been on, the seats are going empty until me and my Flashpass buddy fill them. I really don't believe I've held up the line all that much.

But the point of this discussion was how is this new ride-cut program really benefitting Sea World patrons? There doesn't seem to be a need for it there.

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rollergator said:
^Assuming YoshiFan came during the Christmas/New Year's week. Other than that, December is generally an excellent time to visit...or fall ill with a case of "I've gotta go ride something".

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Yeah it was during that week. Disney is at least mangeable with FastPass but not so much at the other parks.

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LostKause said:
You all look at the title of this topic and tell me that "pay-to-cut bandwagon" is not wording that is going to bring out the negative comments on the subject.

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Absolutely, no question. In fact, because it was worded that way, I was surprised when I saw it wasn't you that started the topic.

Those empty seats should have been filled when not occupied by FlashPass users. Empty seat leaving the station makes lines longer.

I like you, Bunkey. It's not personal. Cutting in line is becoming a normal thing, and it kills me.

Let's talk about Sea World...What do you mean by "need". I would argue that their doesn't seem to be a "need" for line cutting anywhere. It is being used as a crutch for poor operations in some cases. Every time I've been to SW, the lines may be long for the rides, but the ride staff looked like they were going at a decent pace.

This is not a good solution for long lines. It will simply make the lines longer. A good solution at Sea World, which they are already working on, would be to build a few more rides.

Because they essentially make lines longer, I really don't think that line cutting systems are in response to the long line problem that plagues many parks. They would like for us to believe this, but it is somewhat deceitful. It's simply a way of making more money by offering a service to some people even though it displaces most people from their rightful place in line.

Since these line cutting systems have began, more and more people have been asking for the service at parks who do not offer them. The Busch Parks are beginning to offer the service because the service is in demand. It doesn't mean that it's right, but people want it. That's what the lady at Guest Relations at BG told me.

If I really had to complement this particular line cutting system, I would say that it works better than most I've seen. The amount of people who cut are limited because of the price and the amount of times that they are permitted to use it. I witnessed maybe 1 group boarding a coaster every 2 or 3 trains at BG. At SF I witnessed mass chaos because many more people had the privilege of cutting.

I don't start a lot of topics, Vater. They are usually already started by the time I get around to it.

Some of you guys are faster than me when it comes to topic starting. lol.

My take is that when I was a kid (way before these systems were implemented), lines were stupid long when the park was crowded, non-existent on very light days, and everywhere in between. What's changed? Zilch. Except now I have the option to shell out a few extra bucks to get more rides on those painfully crowded days.

Of course Busch Gardens sees this as a way to make more money. If the demand is there, why not take advantage like most of the other chains?

^Because it's an elitist, suckass policy, that's why

Disney's policy makes a lot more sense and that is one of the reasons their parks will stay sucessful. Seaworld is following the trend of an incredibly crappy policy implemented probably by bleed-your-brains-and-wallets-dry six flags in their most greediest heydey. The pay-to-cut policy will hurt their businesses in the long run when pissed off regular joes stop returning - there should be warning signs for people paying regular admission that they are not getting the value they are expecting due to others who are paying to delay their number of potential rides throughout the day - a flash pass real-time counter to track those sales and warn the paying customer of their reduced value level

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In fact, because it was worded that way, I was surprised when I saw it wasn't you that started the topic.

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You caught me. I was intentionally tweaking the "no cutting" folks.

I'd suspected that might be the case, Brian.

I can honestly say the only time I was irritated at such a policy was during a visit to SFA, when Six Flags used to keep two seats on a coaster train reserved strictly for front-of-the-line passes (whatever they were called at the time). It was ridiculous because not many people were using the passes at the time, and consequently the two seats remained empty with a station full of people waiting in all the other rows. It was also a disadvantage for those that bought the passes since you had no choice of seat. I don't think that system lasted long.

I reiterate that my perception is that the wait for rides has not changed since when I was a kid. There were fewer rides then in my home park. There were fewer visitors then, too. Now you have more rides, more visitors, and somehow wait times are no worse than back in the day. If these perks affect wait times at all, it's so minimal that I just don't notice. Or maybe it's such a non-issue that I don't care. And, as I said, I have the option to buy a pass myself to avoid waiting.
*** Edited 8/27/2008 3:47:39 PM UTC by Vater***

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Rye.D.Ziner said:

The pay-to-cut policy will hurt their businesses in the long run

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If I were Gonch I would say, "Pay-to-cut has been around for what, a decade now? Some parks have fallen, some parks have risen but it's not on the pay-to-cut line."

Even the enthusiast sweetheart parks (DW comes to mind) have gotten on board.

Thanks, Andy. :)

I do love how everyone keeps talking about "the long run" when we talk business - how long is long enough? 10 years? 20? 50? 100?

Heck, there's only a handful of parks that have existed for 100 years. It's not exactly a bold statement to predict that a park will fail "eventually" - given a long enough timeline, most do.

LostKause, I know ya like me. I like you too. :) My posted reply sounded crabby, but I didn't take ya personally. I was just pointing out that Great Adventure in particular likely has the long lines because of other things than the Flashpass. Sure, that could contribute, but I haven't noted it to be a real problem because seats were going empty if we weren't filling them. This to me is an issue of poor ride operations. I mean, if the trains are going out with empty seats and the lines are two hours long, the lines are still going to be two hours long whether or not I jump line legally. What Great Adventure could do is simply fill all those seats, and then I think you'd have a better argument for long lines at this particular park. :)