Watching the Anna Nicole Show it seemed like her and her friends didn’t have to wait in line for any of the rides at Six Flags in LA. I’ve heard that handicapped groups are allowed to do this. I’ve also heard that the parks, obviously, try to keep these perks very low key.
So does filming a TV show (and promising a little free advertising) get you to the front of the line? Or being handicapped? Or is there some secret, expensive, no-waiting “first-class” ticket that rich people can buy?
Let’s wait a few posts and see if they exist before we start arguing about whether its fair or not…
Busch Gardens does have a VIP pass that lets you go straight to the head of the line for most rides and attractions. It’s hideously expensive, more than twice the regular ticket (though other perks are included), and even though I can’t afford it, I don’t think it’s unfair. Is it unfair that the folks in first class on an airplane get bigger seats, more leg-room and better food? Sure. Anyone who says the rich don’t have different rules is shovelling it fast! I even have a rich friend who agrees with me.
Well, if you stood in line and could only get on x rides, but if you could cut and got on twice as many (2x) rides, then wouldn’t it be worth twice the ticket price?
It varies from park to park. Normally people in wheelchairs go to the front because they have a separate line that involves no stairs. Also they make take longer to load and unload from the ride.
Disney parks allow patrons to get “Fastpasses” which allow you to come back at a designated time and go to the front of the line (or very close to it). But you can only have one at a time. You can’t go and reserve a whole bunch of rides at once.
But the easiest way to get to the front of most lines is to go with someone in a wheelchair. I’m sure they will enjoy you exploiting them in order to save time.
Also, Mick Foley (the WWF star) talked about visiting Disneyland with his kids in his book, Foley Is Good. He describes how the park basically let him, as a celebrity, cut in as many lines as he felt comfortable with. I suspect Anna Nicole and others get the same treatment at other parks, given a little advance notice.
BobT - only true to a limited extent at the Disney parks.
If the line is not “wheelchair accessible” then you can bring the wheelchair to the wheelchair entrance and the Ride Operator will work you in as soon as they can (not always immediately, particularly on busy summer days).
OTOH, most of the new attractions (Indiana Jones, all the appropriate Toontown attractions and so forth) have queues that are designed to accomodate wheelchair patrons. Therefore, on those attractions persons in wheelchairs (and their companions) are expected to wait in line just like everyone else.
Persons who do not need wheelchairs but cannot walk long distances or stand for long periods of time can get passes from Guest Services, but I don’t know precisely how that works.
I meant that it is exploitative if you ask along someone in a wheelchair for the sole purpose of wanting to get to the head of the line instead of actually wanting to spend time with the person.
Oh, and I just remembered (not exactly related to the OP) that when we went to an IMAX movie nearby, we standing in a long line waiting for the theater to open. When one of the ushers saw us with the wheelchair, he let us get in and seated before letting the rest of the crowd in. But that made sense, because there are only a few wheelchair spots, and if non-wheelchair people sit next to them, we can’t sit with our sister.
To say it isn’t fair to let somebody buy a pass to skip the line is ridiculous.
If it isn’t fair that they get to skip because they paid more money than you, then it isn’t fair that you get to go to the park because you have more money than a poor person who cannot afford the park.
The whole point of the park is to exchange money for fun. Some people can’t afford to even enter the park. There are people that can pay the admission price, and if they want to cut in the line they pay an even higher price.
Right after I started being able to walk again after shattering my heel, my daughter’s birthday came up. You gussed it, she wanted to go to Dinseyland on her birthday which that year was on a Saturday. Great, Dinseyland on a Saturday in June with me on a cane, and in major pain.
OK ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Anyway my wife and I wanted to ride the splash mountain log ride The line went for just about forever. The line was so long I went to a Disney employee and asked if this was the correct line for SM and how long the wait was. Yes, and 45 minutes. I asked if there was someplace to sit down, and the answer was only at the entrance, no benches nearby. I made a face, thanked her, and hobbled back to my wife.
About two minutes later the employee that I had spoken to came to me and asked if I was in a lot of pain. I explained what had happend to my leg and answered that I was hurtin for certain. She asked me to step out of line. WTF? She explained about DL’s policy for disabled people. You (and your party) walk up the EXIT of the ride, and will be placed on the next car. The only limitation is that they will only place one disabled person on a particular ride at a time. So if someone else is in the middle of the ride, you have to wait for them to exit before you will be placed on the ride. She then wrote me out a pass for this purpose.
During that day I spoke to several parents that had brought disabled/ seriously ill children to Dinseyland, who had found out about the program pretty much the way I did, when an alert employee issued them a pass. Needless to say, we all thought the world of Dinseyland for doing this.
The next day I wrote Dinseyland a thank you letter naming the employee, and asking that they be thanked on my behalf.
I went to an amusement park with my cousin, who has mental but not physical disabilities. (She also loves roller coasters!) She has a special pass with her name and picture on it that allowed us to get on the rides at the exit immediately. We also were allowed to ride the rides twice through–we didn’t get off when the ride was over, we sat tight and rode it again. This wasn’t just ride operators being nice, it seemed to be part of the deal that came with the pass.
I too have no problem with these passes. I just didn’t know for sure if they in fact existed.
Some have said that they only cost double than regular admission? I say only because I would have thought they were an order of magnitude higher, like coach vs. 1[sup]st[/sup] class. Next time I visit a theme park I’ll definitely check it out. Not having to wait in line would be worth triple the price!
At Six Flags New England - and probably other Six Flags parks - the Fastlane device allows up to five people to bypass lines. When you enter the park you can rent the pager size device for around $30 (above your admission price).
Say you want to ride Superman-Ride of Steel. You go to that ride and plug your device into another electronic device. Then, it’s as if you were standing in the line, except that you can do other things. Several minutes before your place in line comes to the front, you are paged and go in a separate que. You can only reserve one place at a time - you can’t log in at Superman, then run over to log in at Batman-The Dark Knight.
The park visitors spend less time waiting in line, while the park gets extra money, not only from the rental but also from the money you spend on food, t-shirts, etc that you can’t spend while waiting in line.
I was the one who said the special pass was twice as much, but please don’t quote me on that!! It just seems I remember that a VIP pass for Busch Gardens Tampa was about $100.00/day. It may seem like it’s well worth it, but for a family of 5 such as us, it puts the figure way out of the ballpark (or amusement park, if you would prefer :)) There were all kinds of special passes available, including one that lets you swim with the dolphins in the dolphin tank. This would be too cool for words, but too pricey for the budget!
