Ok, that’s a good point. Still, if parks had a VIP program that allowed free-spenders to get to the ride ahead of me, I wouldn’t mind. Seriously.
The Six Flags version of fast pass that I’ve seen works like this- it’s free,you get the pass with a specified ride time, and passes are only available for certain rides.There are reserved seats for people on the fast pass line (usually one middle car on a coaster, not the more desirable front or back seats) , so that a limited number get on at a time. Even if there are thirty people on the fast pass line, only four or six are going to get on at a time. But there never are thirty people on that line.And I think the reserved seats are part of the reason that people don’t get upset.There is no line to enter that car on the regular line side, so it’s not as if a person about to get into the car is told they can’t because there’s a fast pass rider. It feels more like the car closed for some reason.(They do open it to the regular line if there are no fast pass riders.) And I don’t know if people ever think about it, but a few fast pass riders doesn’t hold the line up nearly as much as other occurences do (a row going empty because the first group in line for that row is waiting to ride with a group in line for the next row, or a few rows of four half empty because there are only two people in each row)
I read through this entire thread waiting to see if someone would make any comparison between “VIP passes” and handicapped policies. My wife can only walk short distances and has both a wheelchair and a motorized scooter; she uses whichever is most convenient. It’s been a few years since we’ve been to an amusement park, but IIRC the staff was always discreet about “jumping” us to the front of the lines (something we never insisted on, BTW, but which usually seemed to be the only way to get the wheelchair to the ride anyway). Never had any trouble with anyone in line objecting either.
Of course, it’s not quite the same thing as people getting to the front because they paid more, but it does address the issue of how park employees and customers may have been pre-conditioned to handle the concept of “line jumping” for certain people.
At one point in college, I worked for a teen night club that offered passes to be able to skip the line. (It was generally pretty busy, it was not uncommon to have a very long line and people waiting for 90+ minutes).
The passes were sold in advance, and also while people were standing in line. They generally sold like crazy.
It did happen a few times that the people who payed to enter expeditiously had to wait 30+ minutes, but I guess since no one complained they were OK with that.
JC
I thought the E-Z passes were free. AND you get a discount on most tolls. So it’s really not the same thing.
As for handicapped vs. VIP, they are handled the same at most amusement parks. Handicapped guests generally go up the exit. Same with normal VIPs (celebrities/special guests/at Knott’s:terminally ill children :(, they’d wear yellow VIP ribbons ). My guess is that paid VIPs would go up the exit as well, so most normal guests would never see them.
At Six Flags Over Texas, you can buy a Fast-Pass for 10 bucks. It’s good for four rides, and it gets you to the very front of the line. I didn’t even find out about it untill halfway through my day there, but when I did, I booked it over to the stand and bought one and it made the rest of my day a lot more fun.
Most of the lines for the good rides are between one and two hours, so $2.50 per ride saved me at least an hour of time which seems like a deal to me. You do get some dirty looks from the people who’ve been waiting forever, but I managed to get over it, I’m sure most other people who use the passes do too.
It seems like a great business move. You get untold number of 10 dollar tickets sold to impatient (lazy) people like me, and most of the people who are annoyed by the practice probably forget about it by the time the roller coaster is done mixing their internal organs up.
How does not wanting to stay in line for so long make you lazy? Standing in line for long periods of time is one of the biggest reasons I stopped going to 6 Flags in Arlington.
Marc
No. What happens is you put a certain amount of money into your account, and every time you pass through it debits it from the account. It’s prepaid, which makes it very convenient.
No, right, I knew the prepaid part, dantheman.
What I meant by free is that you don’t have to pay for the device itself, right? All the money you put into it goes straight to your account.
That’s right; in exchange for making the other lines at the tollbooth shorter (by removing yourself from them), you get the device. In that sense, if a VIP program at a park would make the regular lines shorter, then maybe people would still be happy - they’d see a shorter line to get in, and wouldn’t mind the wait. Maybe.
I stopped going to amusement parks some time ago precisely because I hated waiting in the long lines for the top attractions. I especially hated doing so in parks where the park operators didn’t have the foresight to at least install concession stands along the course of the ride where you could buy a drink, if not get a courtesy cup. Asking people to wait in a line for 90 minutes in the heat without access to fluids is nuts.
But I can’t imagine anything in the world that’s lower on my list of “Things To Get Worked Up About” than someone paying more to get on the ride before me. Everybody ahead of me in line is getting on before me. One more person, or even ten more people, is not going to make my wait appreciably longer. I may have to wait one more train. Big deal. That’s only another 2-3 minutes even for the roller coasters with the longest rides.
One recurring theme I see from this thread is a sense of entitlement based upon monetary output. I don’t think someone is ENTITLED to have something better because they can afford better, but if the business makes that arrangement with them, then that’s fine it still does not equal entitlement.
I personally go to Six Flags after 6 PM when all the little kids are leaving. You get four hours of rides and the lines are nearly non-existant. I went through the Great American Scream Machine in under 10 minutes.
Erek
It seems like a fine idea if they limit the number of tickets or price the tickets significantly (though limiting the number seems a safer bet). The analogy to concert tickets is a good one, I think.
Why is it assumed that those people who spring for VIP passes must be rich, obnoxious bastards? Believe it or not, some people actually save up for expensive vacations. Maybe Ma and Pa Kettle have been stashing a few extra bucks in the pickle jar for a vacation at Mega-Funland where they can be treated like royalty for a change.
Yeah, what they said…
Well, sure they are. If I go to McDonald’s and order a value meal, then supersize it, I’m entitled to a larger meal - because I spent more money. Like I said before, no one would be entitled to something better purely on the basis of status, but money is more of an equalizer.
Start with the ones where limbs fly everywhere.
Well, the actual EZ-passes themselves are free, but you do have to have a minimum deposit in your account (mine is $25.00, and it automatically bills my credit card to replenish).
EZ-pass is mandatory to get the Hudson river bridge toll ‘discount’ (some discount, it’s 1, 1.50 over the previous toll - however it does save you .50-$1.50 over paying cash).
Just chiming in that I didn’t care for the idea of Disney’s FastPass system until I saw it implemented. I find it fair, equitable, and a time-saver.
Esprix
Just chiming in that I didn’t care for the idea of Disney’s FastPass system until I saw it implemented. I find it fair, equitable, and a time-saver.
Esprix