"Speedy Parking" - Awesome or Worthless?

This year Six Flags announced "Free - Speedy Parking" for passholders. Speedy Parking.

I would like to hear other peoples experiences now that the first year roll out is over.

My take: Not good. At least after season one

I had about a 50% success rate when going through the "Speedy Lane". My car was registered with my license plate etc. One week it worked, the very next week (same lane) it didn't. The biggest problem was that there was no attendant in the booth to talk to if the camera didn't pick up your plate. You were stuck. You couldn't back up or go forward, until an attendant eventually walked up and opened up the gate (usually without even scanning my pass).

You also have the non-season pass, one-day folks who have no idea what is going on when they enter the park. Not their fault, however with all these different lanes and they get confused and end up in a "Speedy Lane".

I don't go to any theme park when it is crowded, so this really does not affect me. However, if you happen to go on a super crowded day, what does "Speedy Parking" do for you even if it is working? Woo Who! I made it into a super crowded parking lot in no time. Yes, I have to wait in the line at the entrance and every ride, but as long as my car was parked 5-minutes quicker, I am one happy camper.

It seems like a season pass perk/gimmick to me.

I still don't understand the people who pay for premium parking at WDW, which saves at most 3 or 4 minutes.

Jeff:

I still don't understand the people who pay for premium parking at WDW, which saves at most 3 or 4 minutes.

I’ve discovered there will always be a crowd of people that will pay for anything that’s says “premium or speedy”. No matter how much benefit it adds.

Reminds me of this.

I have tried to use it three times this year at not once did it recognise the plate.

I have been in long meetings about how to price premium items. The conclusion has often been what The_Orient_of_Express said - some people will pay if they think that they are getting something that others aren't.

However, sometimes it's clear the above is true and the folks that pay it, don't realise that they aren't getting much / saving much time for their money, often because they don't know what the alternative is. The people that do know, don't pay.

I don’t think this is preferred parking. I could be wrong—haven’t used it—but it sounds like an automated gate that is a season pass perk.

The main goal is probably to avoid paying as many parking attendants.

Vater:

Reminds me of this.

“Real people, not actors.” My actor friends resent that.

Speedy Parking is just an effort to de-staff the parking lot, and possibly capture more data. It’s dumb and I’ve never used it because signing up seems like it would take more time than I would save at the entrance. If I saved any at all.

And I likewise don’t understand paying $25 or so to save a couple hundred steps on a day when I’m going to walk 15,000.

And on all my previous visits to Kings Island, I simply hold my phone under the scanner and the gate aromatically raises for me to enter the parking lot -no attendant. That's speedy enough that I don't think an extra $25 for them to scan my plates would be worth it.

I can't imagine the Disney premium parking is much faster than just parking and riding the tram, at least at the TTC. It is a pretty good walk from the Premium area, depending on how far you are from the underpass. Maybe ti would be worth it at Epcot or the Studios.

And to be clear, this isn't the "Premium parking" section, this is just a "Speed Pass lane" to get you into all of the parking lots (premium and regular). I like what LostKause mentioned and that is the way it should be. You have a pass, run it under a scanner, it opens up, no need for an attendant. In this case (at Six Flag America) the scanner is in BACK of the toll both scanning your license plate number (which you pre-entered to match your pass). There is no option to scan your pass at the booth. It's just been hit or miss and I would much rather go up to a booth with a person to scan my pass rather than deal with a malfunctioning camera.

Defund the parking lot!

feels like this has slowly been a thing for awhile. First it was the trams that went away, then parking lot traffic attendants, now parking ticket attendants.

I suppose what the license plate scanner does is to make it harder to borrow someone’s pass for free parking. You might borrow a pass, less likely a car. (Or LostKause’s phone.)

I've only used it twice this year and had to be scanned in by the attendant both times. Not convenient. Both my visits were at non peak times so I can imagine it's a mess during the busy season.

Sounds like the technology may not yet be ready for prime time.

I think it's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Just let people scan their annual passes. The number of people cheating by using someone else's pass can't possibly outweigh the cost of installing and maintaining the license plate readers.

Agree with hambone that this is making a mountain of a mole hill. You might be able to get free parking with someone else's pass, but you won't get in the park.

I'm sure this was a cost savings based decision with the perceived upside that it could generate some revenue too. It also earns some media when you announce new technology, regardless of actual results. Just sprinkle in "AI!!" and it's newsworthy for some reason.

Announcing new tech was something legacy Six was really good at: https://www.businesswire.co...Experience

LostKause:

and the gate aromatically raises for me to enter the parking lot

That stinks.

I'm all for de-staffing amusement park parking lots. Just bulldoze the toll booths entirely and roll the parking costs into the ticket price.

Certain parks are already moving in this direction. Most of the season passes and pretty much any day ticket purchased online in advance includes parking; if you get to the toll booth and have to cough up $30 to park your car, you're doing it wrong.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Kings Island is slowly moving that direction. They'll abandon the booths (all gates up) hours before close on weekdays, and when the entrance is slammed (opening time at every haunt) you can hold up anything remotely resembling a season pass and get waved through without stopping.

Like, like...like an ACE card? Aw man, and here we thought they were only good for being roller coaster statistic law enforcement.