TheLip2

A Disney type system would be useless? As sharp and succesfull as Disney parks are you think that they did something that was useless to them from a business standpoint? BOTH systems create revenue and value for the parks. Disney creates value by increasing and bettering the guest experience at no cost to the guest. This promotes return visits, loyalty, image, etc. Their system also allows the guests to do other things besides stand in line . . . like play games, eat or shop or ride other rides. At the and of the day it is VERY DIFFICULT to know how much extra revenue the park realizes because of these intangible, hard to measure benefits. Most guests love it, few complain about it. Kings Island's system simply increases their revenue. At the end of the day they pretty much know how much money they made off of it. Some of the other things come into play as discussed above, but to a much smaller extent because the people that benefit is a very small number of people. The parks SEES and can quantify the economic benefit. They do not, however, in my opinion account for the problems it causes with negative feelings and image from the guests who cannot afford the perk. The bottom line is always . . . well . . . the bottom line. Disney promotes guest experience, image and customer satisfaction as top priority and they see it as the best way to make money by promoting top notch service and high quality and value. They have a higher gate price, but reasonable food and other items. Cedar Fair seems to be focused on gate receipts and how much cash is piled up at the end of the day. Maybe they should focus less on making money today so that they would make more money tomorrow?

Nothing in life IS free...but the Fast Pass cost is included in the ticket price...just as is the cost of the rides, the landscaping, the light bulbs on Main Street... My main complaint is the principle of the whole thing...not whether I will even notice...with that said, I have read your calculations...but you seem to be overlooking the obvious. If someone spends $50.00 for one of these passes you would assume they are going to want to get their moneys worth and keep riding and riding. How many times do you think someone could keep getting back in line over and over while someone is waiting 45 minutes for Diamondback? I would also assume that not too many people are going to travel a great distance by themselves and so that means they would each have one of these fast passes and be riding together...the numbers would add up faster than you think. Like I have said, with me it is more of the principle of the whole thing. I am not going to debate this much further, but I will tell you something that happened while I was in the park this Tuesday. Whitewater Canyon about a 20 minute wait . . . we get to the front and they ask how many . . . we answer 3 and I eyeball the next boat. Get ready to walk over there and we get stopped. I said, "Did something happpen on their ride or do you let people go more than once now?" Reply, "They have fastpass wristbands and they wanted to go again." ME: "So they can go as many times as they want and not get off?" They said, "Yes."

Yes, I have seen those. I just don't think many people drive a few hundred miles to specifically ride them or other rides like them.

Maybe they can use the extra money to keep spare parts on hand for the rides. I like capitalism. It made this country great, but that was during a time when business seemed to have morals and ethics. They treated customers like guests and employees like family. I think what we have now is capitalism run amok. Capitalism goes awry when unprecedented greed drives it. I'm not saying that is what this is right now, but we don't know how many a LIMITED NUMBER of passes is and we don't know how possible increased revenue will be spent to improve the guest experience. It sure looks like an elitist money grab on the surface though. On another thread I posted that Kings Dominion sold Beagle Bucks at a 10 percent discount to platinum holders. Does anyone know if they do that here?

Good point. If it was cheap then everyone would get one and it would be pointless. Reading the comments on KI facebook is making me mad. Why are season pass holders so angry at this, its not like KI is making anyone pay more money its a choice. I know you payed a lot for your season pass but still it's not the end of the world. Just wait in the line like you always do and pretend the Fast Lane isn't even there. People are upset because this essentially allows people to legally "line jump" as long as you "bribe" the park with your $50. Bottom line is now the lines will be even longer for "regular folks." I hate the idea. Disney implemented the idea correctly with fast pass the virtual queue. Everyone is treated fairly and the same for no additional price. Patrons enjoy the park more and possibly spend more money cause they aren't stuck in line. We all don't necessarily "know"....everyone just needs to experience it themselves while they're at the park BEFORE we start complaining like this... I don't know what you are smoking, but the WAIT HAS TO BE LONGER! You could argue that people won't notice but you can't argue that there will be NO DIFFERENCE! That is impossible unless they figure out how to increase ride capacity to offset the people that get to cut in front of you. To say it another way . . . you may not see lines that much longer, but you will WAIT longer whether you notice it or not.

What is a rare Octopus? I seriously don't know and am interested. I just imagine in my mind that all of them I ever road all seemed about the same I was never saying that no one would be interested in these types of rides, I am just saying that i don't think they provide a particularly "unique" ride experience that is very different than you can easily get without driving a few hundred miles and paying $43. So, in a nutshell, It was my first visit to Holiday World and I was looking to experience rides and things that I hadn't experienced before and that I could not easily experience or replicate within a shorter driving distance. On another note: Spent two days at Kings Dominion in the middle or late June and was totally blown away. Loved the park. Intimidator 305 was easily my favorite coaster of all time. Volcano coaster was awesome. Theming was awesome. Boo Blasters theming on the outside was on par with Disney. The Crypt . . . give us that ride! Liked the old El Dorado ride that came from up north. $5 wristbands refill your souvenir cup all day! Rides lines were very short. Ten percent off Beagle Bucks with your platinum card and they can be used at any Cedar Fair Park. They would not, however, let us use our Kings Island or Cedar Point souvenir cups and both other parks have let me do this.

I personally can't imagine needing to spend 2 days there. If you get there at opening you should be able to hit most of the feature larger rides. Why would you NEED to ride a scrambler (with turkey heads), monster, bumper cars or any other ride that you can find at any county fair or town fair? Ride 'em if you like 'em but you can't really honestly say it's a can't miss or anything. I went there on Tuesday, July 12th. Rode The Raven, Legend, Log Ride then waterpark and hit Pilgrims Plunge and Wildebeast was going to hit Voyage a bit later and rest of the park, but severe storms with lightning shut pretty much everything down by about 2:30p. We were going to try to wait it out cause I wanted to ride Voyage, but then discovered a long line at customer service where they were giving free tix for a return visit with the only caveat being that you had to leave the park immediately and not return that day. That was at 5pm and we took their offer. I can't imagine in a million years a Cedar Fair property taking care of their guests in that manner. On the downside . . . water park slammed on a smoking hot 100 degree Tuesday. Worse . . . expecting to cool down in the waterpark only to find water temperatures that exceeded 90 degs. Absolutely ridiculous that they don't get some new water in their to cool that down. Completely ruined it IMO.