Fast Lane Plus Season Pass

[IndyGuy4KI]

Just notice that KD is offering Season Pass Fast Lane Plus! Good at KD Only. What do you think about this?

https://www.kingsdominion.com/tickets-passes/season-passes

[TOPGUN1993]

Along with, Carowinds, Valley Fair, Michigan's Adventure, Great America.

Which all been updated to the new CF website style.

[Bansheeback]

What's going on and why don't I get this. I want it now.

 

 

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[Oldschool75]

I will guess to say Kings Island will be getting this as Dorney, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds now have it on their websites. I honestly think this is not a great idea. I can foresee slower moving lines.
 

 
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[Bansheeback]

I will guess to say Kings Island will be getting this as Dorney, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds now have it on their websites. I honestly think this is not a great idea. I can foresee slower moving lines.
 
 
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Perhaps, but not by too much. There aren't too many that will pay an extra $115 up front for this. Most pass holders are families that don't go too often.


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[CoastersRZ]

I would argue that most pass holders do go often to the park.  Likely not as many times as we go to the park, but they still go often.  The more often they go will mean the less likely they will be to purchase a season long Fast Lane pass.  If the lines are too long for them on a particular day, they can always come back on another day to enjoy the park.  I am surprised that the KD FastLane season long pass is only $115.  I thought it would have been more expensive than that.

[Oldschool75]

I just looked further. Only a limited number of Fast Lane Plus Season Passes.


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[VekomaRulz]

I wonder how limited it really is. Last year it never sold out at Dorney or Valleyfair. I bought it last year at Dorney when it was $99.99 for half the season. There really wasn't much of an effect on lines because so few people were using it especially on the ride side of the park. At a more crowded park I could see it being an issue though. I really bought it for Wildwater Kingdom and it was nice to be able to skip a 30 - 45 minute line for some more popular waterslides.

[BeeastFarmer]

I would totally get this for KI.  I wonder when we can expect our upgraded website?

 

I also wonder whey they chose to put the copyright mark on Carowinds' page after the "r" in the word Carowinds?

[Magenta Lizard]

I think this would be an extraordinarily bad idea for KI. Remember what it was like when all renewing passholders got a single free one to use on something like one of six days? Remember how the regular line and Fast Lane ended up being about the same? Even though there is supposed to be a daily limit on the number of Fast Lanes?  That was only 1/6 of people who had renewed early, not including new pass sales, etc. I suspect it was as though maybe 1/10 of passholders had a Fast Lane on each of those days. 

But most of us didn't care because it was free. However there were also some people who paid full price for their Fast Lanes (and probably tickets) on those days, because they didn't know about the copious free ones handed out. I bet that is money they will /never/ be willing to pay to Kings Island again, if they even come back. 

Now imagine this is pretty much every day, all season. Passholders have paid extra money to stand in line with mostly the same season passholders they would have likely otherwise. But, people paying full fare are going to be upset, and likely not come back again to spend nearly the same amount in one day at the park as some season passholders do all season. 

Right now, it is good for the park to have season passes relatively cheap, because when we fill the park, it makes regular guests (and a handful of passholders) much more likely to pay quite a bit extra to shorten their lines. However, if we start filling the Fast Lane lines too, it doesn't make anyone happier (including the season-long Fast Lane purchasers), and loses that extra potential big money from daily Fast Lane sales. 

So, unless the sale of these is limited to maybe 500, and/or priced a lot higher than a single day's Fast Lane (like, at least 5X), it would be a very poor financial move for a park like KI that is already so heavily passholder populated. 

I absolutely love KI and I want them to do well financially, even if it means losing something that might make things a little better for me. But I don't think it even would be a pleasant experience for the people who buy in. I think it is throwing away big potential money in return for trying (and likely failing) to make enthusiasts happy. I know personally as an enthusiast (with season-long dining added) I probably end up costing the park money over the course of the season. I don't want the park to fail because they've added more perks for jerks like me!

[Voicetek]

It would suck if KI introduced this now since I already renewed my season pass for this year.  If they were going to have this as an option, it would've been nice if they would've offered it by now.  Oh well.  If it works out and they offer it again next year, this might be something to look into when renewing for the 2018 season.

[Magenta Lizard]

^Like season-long drinks or dining, I would assume you could add it to your pass later, if it does become available this season. 

[Sythe]

It would suck if KI introduced this now since I already renewed my season pass for this year.  If they were going to have this as an option, it would've been nice if they would've offered it by now.  Oh well.  If it works out and they offer it again next year, this might be something to look into when renewing for the 2018 season.

It's listed as an upgrade on the KD website so it should be available to purchase after already renewing your pass. Think about it, why would they make it only available when people buy their pass anyway? They would lose soooooo much money XD

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[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

I'm part of the camp that would not like to see this at KI. I think it would negatively affect the normal lines for those of us who don't want to pay extra. 

[rhyano]

please no... 

[malem]

Personally, I don't see this coming to the Ohio parks. Fast Lane is a cash cow here; season passes could diminish the value that guests get for the $90+/day they already pay.

That said, if it comes to KI, I'd definitely buy it. Wouldn't be hard to visit on enough Saturdays to make it worth my $1xx.

[TombRaiderFTW]

Wow. Wow.

Okay, first impressions: That is stunningly cheap. Like, mind-blowingly cheap, or "ditch the pricing integrity; get people to spend money"-kind of cheap. Here are the prices:

Kings Dominion: $115

Carowinds: $125

Dorney Park: $99

California's Great America: $89

Valleyfair: $89

Let's talk comparisons: At the Six Flags parks in New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, and Georgia, all-season The Flash Pass will run you from $349.99 to $399.99. And that's on sale. Later in the year, it will jump up to $799.99. And that's for the Gold version, not the Platinum that gets you near-instant access to rides and is the only one that gets you on the newest or most popular rides. You still have to wait some amount of time with Gold. And that amount of time is changeable by management as the park gets busier.

This is Fast Lane Plus, which gets you into a shortened queue whenever you want, regardless of how many Fast Lane-wearing friends you bring with you. And hey, for just $115, why WOULDN'T they have all-season Fast Lane, too? This add-on is almost half the price of the pass that gets you into all Cedar Fair parks. Did I mention that there is literally no metering of the Fast Lane queue, by the way? If there's room for you to stand, you're in. You can't even pay for that kind of service at Disney, regardless of whether you're a one-day ticket holder or an annual passholder. Universal handles their system similarly to Fast Lane, including season-long Express Passes--but the only annual pass that has it costs $489.99, doesn't let you use it till after 4:00pm, and limits you on which attractions you can use it on (i.e., not the super-popular ones.) The single-day Express passes, like single-day Fast Lane, seem to be priced at a price that will sell them but not detract from the standby guests' experience.

By comparison, Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point on July 4th will run you $108. This is only $7 to $17 cheaper than all-season Fast Lane Plus at Kings Dominion and Carowinds, the latter of which is poised to become the Cedar Point of the South and needs to have a solidly positive reputation as it reinvents itself. The pricing is more understandable at the smaller parks, but it still seems dangerously cheap. If these things are going to be sold this cheap, they NEED to be very, VERY limited. If this is an attempt to bring the same perceived value that FastPass brings at Disney parks, I think this is a dangerous line they're tiptoeing. Too many of these things sold is going to bring the sorts of wait that food service has had at KI recently to Fast Lane queues. That's not a best day experience.

I'm trying not to overreact or be melodramatic about this. I'm not opposed to front-of-the-line options at all--in fact, they've improved several of my visits to multiple seasonal AND destination parks. I am just very concerned that these season-long ones will be more available than they probably should be, especially with how many I expect they'll sell at these price points. At least introduce some blackout dates or something. Wowee.

[CoastersRZ]

I agree.  I think that they are leaving some money on the table by not charging more for this.  I wonder how much they actually place a limit on these, and what that limit actually is.  I am sure we will never actually know.

[silver2005]

 I agree with TombRaiderFTW that they are ridiculously cheap.  One part that makes these programs work better is exclusivity.  Ex.- the idea of letting only a partial train of people from the Fast Lane line in and filling the rest with regular guests.  But the idea that CF doesn't limit FL like they should and the adding this relatively cheap alternative for season pass holders is opening Pandora's box.  They're truly selling themselves short on this.  If season pass holders have so much given to them as part of the pass (FL+, the meal programs, etc), they're going to spend less in the park.  They already spend less than non-pass holders without those programs in effect by essentially getting their money up front for all these items and now turning it up to 11 with making them more affordable than they should be. 

[calakapepe]

Hopefully it limits 1 pass per day per ride or something..

[Sythe]

Hopefully it limits 1 pass per day per ride or something..

Definitely should be more than one. Maybe it could give you one fastlane for each major ride? Like at KI you could get one for Diamondback, Banshee, beast, and mystic timbers.

I believe that's what Disney does

 

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[PKIVortex]

Keep in mind the number of Fast Lane Passes available per day won't change. So the way I understand it if Fast Lane is sold out for the day you won't get your Fast Lane even if your an All season Fast Lane Holder. Also if Plus is sold out but Fast Lane is available they will give you the instead. I do not see this coming to KI or CP as these parks sell a ton of Fast Lanes.

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[Kenban]

I am really torn on this.  I want it and based on the prices I have seen so far I feel like it would likely be around $150 at Kings Island and I would purchase it at that price.  But I do feel like it would be detrimental to the lines at Kings Island.  Not sure any of the parks listed so far will see too large of an effect.  For example Carowinds lines are typically short even on Saturday, but they only have a total attendance around 2 million (announced by Cedar Fair around when Fury 325 was built).  Kings Island is claimed by third parties to be around 3.3 million.

Cedar Point is the only park with the new website which does not list the season long Fast Lane plus.  If parks of similar size also do not receive the option that means, Kings Island, and Canada's Wonderland.

[bjcolglazier]

I'd pay a lot more than $115 that's what I think.  Only the park knows for sure how they make their best money, but I used to buy single-day Fast Lane at KI (family of 5) a couple times a year for all of us.  They priced us out last year.  Just too much for this family.  I don't know where the sweet-spot is for things like this, but I'm sure the park can find it if they keep trying.

[jdf21972]

I will honestly say that the Top 4 attendance parks are omitted from this currently is a good idea because they don't need it and guests spend enough on Fast Lane to not make it a fun option for season pass holders. If one of these locations start offering it , Knott's Berry Farm, Canada Wonderland, Cedar Point , then Kings Island would start to offer it also. Keep that money train a rollin'


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[calakapepe]

1 hour ago, Sythe said:

Definitely should be more than one. Maybe it could give you one fastlane for each major ride? Like at KI you could get one for Diamondback, Banshee, beast, and mystic timbers.

I believe that's what Disney does

 

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That's what I said though
One pass per day, per ride.

[TombRaiderFTW]

8 hours ago, PKIVortex said:

Keep in mind the number of Fast Lane Passes available per day won't change. So the way I understand it if Fast Lane is sold out for the day you won't get your Fast Lane even if your an All season Fast Lane Holder. Also if Plus is sold out but Fast Lane is available they will give you the instead. I do not see this coming to KI or CP as these parks sell a ton of Fast Lanes.

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You bring up a very good point--if the maximum number of Fast Lanes the park will sell in a day doesn't change, then the number of people in the FL queues won't be any worse than what we've seen before on the busiest days of the year. Hopefully, they won't change those maximum daily FLs numbers. If they leave that alone, then I'm okay with the idea of season-long Fast Lane.

[goettablitz]

10 hours ago, Sythe said:

Definitely should be more than one. Maybe it could give you one fastlane for each major ride? Like at KI you could get one for Diamondback, Banshee, beast, and mystic timbers.

I believe that's what Disney does

 

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This is not what Disney does.  Disney has X number of fast passes per ride per day and they all have return times to spread out the fast pass queue.  When they are gone they are gone.

 

 

[Creed Bratton]

This is from a friend


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[harveyhaddixfan]

I'd be ok with 500 sold at KI. I don't see more than half ever being in the park at the same time.