Skippy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Feel free to skip the first paragraph as its only a history breif! In 1999 Disney began testing a new system that was intended to help reduce the waiting time at some of their more popular attractions. This system called "FastPass" was first introduced at the Animal Kingdom. Following its successful debut there and with the sigh of relief from Disney guests that were heard all the way to Disney corporate headquarters it was expanded to all four major theme parks. So successful that in the April of 2000, Universal Orlando introduced their own version of the FassPass system, dubbed "Universal Express." This slightly modified version of Disney's FassPass gave park guests even more convenience as they were now given a choice of times to select from. Nothing would prepare the world for what theme park giant SixFlags had in store for their themeparks. In 2001, they introduced the "Fastlane" system to many of their parks (which required an extra fee). This was an advanced form of the FastPass system that used "Q-bots," a pager like device that controlled your schedule (making it more convenient for the guest that pocessed them and a nightmare for everyone else). In 2003 CedarFair's flagship park Cedar Point introduced the "Freeway" system. This is a downgraded form of the fastpass system that used stamps for only a limited amount of guest on only a limited amount of attractions! So my question is: When will Paramount Kings Island get a FastPass type of system installed at their most crowded attractions (Italian Job: Stunt Track, Tomb Raider: The Ride, Flight of Fear, Drop Zone, Delirium, and Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle)? I don't remember when but I thought I heard a rumor that Paramount Parks had patented a new FastPass system Can someone please confirm or deny this and feel free to share your opinions! Note: Please take into consideration that not everyone who visits PKI has a season pass with all the benifits that we get Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeliriumDreamer Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Pki is one step ahead of ya, bud. They have already put fastpass lanes into a lot of the rides. However, only gold pass holders can use fastpasses (Walk on Weekends), and it only works on specific rides. Last year there were a bunch of rides that all the gold pass holders with WoW passes automatically got. Rides like Delirium and Drop Zone were the passholder's choice. (Either Delirium or Drop Zone, you couldn't have both.) I think that from a non-passholder's perspective, this is slightly unfair to those who only visit the park once or twice a year, and have to wait in those super-long Saturday lines. However, pki uses it as an incentive to buy the gold passes, as they get more benefits than the usual guest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
familyman Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Sorry about there luck then. I know when I visit a theme park other than PKI I carefully plan my day prior to arriving. I choose rides I must ride and secondary attractions follow. Other than the new rides like IJST most of the lines are not that bad at PKI. The most I have ever had to wait on a busy day for a ride like The Beast was an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien Seed Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 There's no way a fast pass system will ever be implemented on TRTR. We already have to many problems with overloading from bad counting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRTR Guy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 There's no way a fast pass system will ever be implemented on TRTR. We already have to many problems with overloading from bad counting. Its not that hard to count to 56 or 75 (yes i do mean 75 because when we ran a full ride we left 2 empty seats in case of overloads/ guest with disabilities) , I really dont see how it was always overloaded, maybe thats a reason for the new math test. Yes it would be hard to implement a fast pass system on TR:TR, maybe if the ever did it, it could be treated like a parent swap, and just call antechamber so they know to undercount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
familyman Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Lets face it parks are going to cater to there season pass customers more. We are spending more money in the parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRTR Guy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 I think if they were interested in doing a normal fast pass system, and still have a gold pass walk on day they could do something like this. Have the gold pass walk on day 1 day a week, and then charge for either a q-bot system or other walk up system of their choice, which would in my opinion bring in more money, while still catering to the gold pass holders, and those who don't have a gold pass that dont want to wait in line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 I don't think PKI is quite to the capacity of a Disney park yet. So they don't need a fastpass system. Though there are huge lines on Saturdays, most days they are manageable. I don't think they'd need a completely new system that they would only need to be implemented on certain days. I like what they are doing for Gold passholders though. I mean, we know what it's like on Saturdays, so why should we bother to go. With the walkon weekends, we have a nice little advantage, so we can go there and spend more money on food and games. Good times for everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Punk Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Lets face it parks are going to cater to there season pass customers more. We are spending more money in the parks. Bull crap! If you own a pass, when you go to the park, do you stop and shop at the shops. Do you spend the whole day and eat two meals at the park. And also do you pay $9 to park? Most of these you prob do not do, at least I know I do not. You go to the park twice and your pass is paid for. The general public goes to spend the whole day. They pay$9 to park. $45.99x#of family members, or whatever the hell it is to enter. Then more than likely eat at PKI twice during the day, around $25-40+ for a family of four. Then before they leave, they needs to stop at the gift shops and purchase items to remember their trip, anywhere from $20 to any amount. One trip to PKI, over $100+ You spend $80 something dollars once, maybe food a few times through the year, and if the park is lucky you will see a little trinket you want. Guests, who are non-passholders, spend more. Anyway, back on topic, IJST will be getting a "fastpass" line for Walkon Weekend, but I do not think the park will ever get a Fastpass to the extent of Disney, unless they REALLY feel the need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
familyman Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 You are such an angry person..lol. But funny as hell. Now when I take my family they suck my wallet dry. We go at least 8 times a season. Add that on top of the $300+ dollar season pass fee with e Gold pass upgrade and yea were dropping more than the average family of four. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Lets face it parks are going to cater to there season pass customers more. We are spending more money in the parks. Not PARKS necessarily, but definitely PKI. 1/3 of the people who visit PKI are passholders, and that's why they need to take such good care of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOB_TOM Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 All I know is that there is no way that a good fastpass system would work on TRTR. The tunnel is too narrow, and if they were to widen it, almost all the theming in the tunnel would be ripped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOF/Z 4-ever Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 I dont think that would work for Flight of Fear either. The only other way on the ride is thru the wheel chair entrance and even that is hard to do b/c people dont want to let anyone in front of them after they waited in a hour line. Does anyone know if PKI is bring back double ride tuesdays? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Kinda Guy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 A FastPass system would work on TR. It's called rendevous point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 I like what Cedar Point has. You don't have to be a season pass holder to get their "fast pass" (or whatever it's called there). You can get two hand stamps per day. And that was plenty for me. It was nice to walk on Millennium Force and Raptor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRTR Guy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 All I know is that there is no way that a good fastpass system would work on TRTR. The tunnel is too narrow, and if they were to widen it, almost all the theming in the tunnel would be ripped out. Tom, read my earlier post on how a Fast Pass system could work on TR:TR, it could also work on FOF as well just have to have the guest come to backside. Fast pass lines don't have to go the same way as the normal queue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOF/Z 4-ever Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Bobby, you know as well as i do that it gets really crazy at back side with only one wheel chair. imange it w/ hundreds of people trying to get on it. I am thankful that we dont have to worry about that much w/ fof and wheelchairs. plus, that is where we put every bodies junk and i wouldnt want to fight people back and forth just to put their stuff back there and then launch the train. plus, there is that whole yellow line crap that we were suppose to follow which i had them do. backside gets too crowded w/ people watching the trains launch and the loader at backside gets sufficated. besides that, you will have a lot of angry people mad at you if you let a huge group on before them. that would also make our lines much longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOF/Z 4-ever Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Bobby, you know as well as i do that backside gets crazy. its bad enough when we only have one or two wheelchairs back there getting on at a time. plus, the loader at backside has to put all he junk in that self and i would hate to have to fight thru all those people to do it. plus, its crazy enough w/ people coming back there to watch the train launch. the backside loader gets sufficated and that is one reason why i urged all the drivers to follow that yellow line rule back there. plus, can u imange all the angry people we will have in line when they see a group of people get on before them. that will aslo make our q line wait longer b/c of having to load more people in. Im just glad we dont have to worry about that w/ fof. EDIT: Sorry, my computer crashed and didnt know my prev post went thru. sorry for the double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRTR Guy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Yeh I know how crowded, chaotic it gets, I was just saying it would be possible. Instead of using backside as the admission point, they could use the saucer door, it would require an extra person though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOF/Z 4-ever Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 it could be possible, but i for one would never want to see it like that nor would want to work at backside if it was set up like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erniebald57 Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 I have always thought that the Cedar Point freeway system worked pretty well. I think that the reason it does is because they limit the number of passes that they hand out per day, and they only work for one hour. I don't know how the Disney fastpass works, but I've heard that lines at Disney can get pretty long because of their fastpass system. If too many people flood the fastpass, than the regular line doesn't move very fast at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOF/Z 4-ever Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 I have always thought that the Cedar Point freeway system worked pretty well. I think that the reason it does is because they limit the number of passes that they hand out per day, and they only work for one hour. I don't know how the Disney fastpass works, but I've heard that lines at Disney can get pretty long because of their fastpass system. If too many people flood the fastpass, than the regular line doesn't move very fast at all. Thats why I dont think it would work very well on FOF and TR:TR. Their line is long enough as it is on a normal park day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 In general, when I was at DisneyWorld this past summer, their fastpass system is very effective. The lines do not seem to be affected too much at the merge point of the fastpass and regular lines. I found Fastpass very useful for certain rides, or when you grab one, and say for example are eating diner or lunch. That there is the true reason in which parks install fastpass systems. Less time in line, more time on the midways to spend money. The only ride at Disney which seemed to cater to the fast pass line was Test Track at Epcot. It had an advertised wait time of 35 minutes. But I ended up waiting for more than an hour and a half because of all the fast pass tickets they had given out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erniebald57 Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 It would be a pain on FOF and TRTR because they are indoor attractions, and it would be difficult to put a freeway line in. It would work well on most other rides though. I've yet to encounter any kind of big "traffic jam" on even the most popular of rides at Cedar Point. Fastpass systems, if run properly, help both the customer and the park. Waiting in long lines is wearing on the customer, and reducing line time gives the patron more time for riding, and also more time for them to spend money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
familyman Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 It is really great to have a place where fans and fans who actually work at the park can come and discuss things. I am so glad to hear that some of the employees actually care about the customers. Thank you for making my families experiences memorable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
italianchef Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 My guess is "no", PKI won't get a fast pass type system because of the cost associated with setting it up. Have a great off season! Italian Chef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Kinda Guy Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 But there's already one in place Charles...It's called Walk on Wendsday for you gold pass holders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRickster Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Correction Walk on Weekends unless they changed it back to wednesdays and I missed it which very well could be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Kinda Guy Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I think your right Rick. Sorry, it's the old school in me taking over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.