New Single-Use Fast Lane System

[BeeastFarmer]

31 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Don't forget bigger bonuses, car allowances and dry cleaning allowances 

Well, you produce results, you get rewarded. 

[chad_1138]

Maybe the profits will allow them to bring the large water cups back to the lounge.

[disco2000]

2 minutes ago, chad_1138 said:

Maybe the profits will allow them to bring the large water cups back to the lounge.

That will be on the drink plan plus plan 

[BeeastFarmer]

I think my point is made with the Prestige level pass .

Offer it and they will come. 

I personally don't buy prestige or Fast Lane at ki because it's not something that gives a big enough benefit.   But throw some decent shirts, socks, posters and stickers at me and I'll buy.

I also will budget for skip the line pass attractions at parks I travel to, like Canada's Wonderland.  But with ki as my home park, I don't have to cram everything in every visit.  

[robintodd]

22 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

But if people want it, then why not?  I mean, per caps mean higher revenue, future investment, debt reduction and unitholder satisfaction.

In my opinion there is so much talk about Fast Lane and getting it early and they sell it literally as soon as you enter the park.  I can imagine more than one family of 4 dumps over $500 on Fast Lane passes only to find that the regular lines are all less than 30 minutes because of light crowds.  I for one would be furious and feel taken advantage of.  They always talk about how Fast Lane sells out so I could see people dropping the money early and not waiting to see what the day has in store.  I'm not talking about people who buy Fast Lane in advance, more over those who buy it the day of.  On a light attended day I would think the number of Fast Lanes sould would be small so I would think it would be better to just not sell them rather than see how many gullible people there are that day.

[BoddaH1994]

22 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Don't forget bigger bonuses, car allowances and dry cleaning allowances 

But there’s a fallacy to that. If that’s what it takes to attract or retain the best then that’s the cost of doing business. Is it working? That’s up for debate of course, but a lot of people think “OMG those fat cats in corporate get their fat bonuses” etc when it’s done for a reason. 

[disco2000]

3 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

But there’s a fallacy to that. If that’s what it takes to attract or retain the best then that’s the cost of doing business. Is it working? That’s up for debate of course, but a lot of people think “OMG those fat cats in corporate get their fat bonuses” etc when it’s done for a reason. 

True, but many seem to think that Fast Lane money goes directly to improvements to the park and we simply don't know what that breakdown is.  Is it 10%, 50%, or 0%, we really don't know.  Maybe it all goes to salary and bonuses of the big wigs...we really don't know.

Saying we have Banshee or Mystic or Orion or whatever simply because of Fast Lane may not be correct - what about all the previous rides installed before Fast Lane came into existence - was this just a farm field with tractors and horses to ride until Fast Lane came into existence? It may have been a farm prior to Kings Island, but since it's inception, it has periodically made improvements to keep it relevant and encouraging folks to visit - they had the award winning Planet Snoopy, The Beast, Vortex, Drop Tower, etc. etc. all built before Fast Lane. Heck, Diamondback, adjusted for inflation, is comparable to Banshee spending and Fast Lane did not exist at that time.

We will never know for sure what the money goes to - one can assume it is improvements, but it could be bonuses to execs, paying down debt, purchasing those water parks in Texas, purchasing Sawmill Resort, building the dorms, minimum wage adjustments, additional staffing, rainy day fund, or any variety of things. It could even be used to help keep daily entry and season passes at the prices they are now! Unless you have seen the accounting books to know for sure that our recent improvements would not exist without Fast Lane, it is simply speculation as to what the funds generated really go to.

Parks have to make these investments periodically to keep them relevant and I think Banshee, Mystic, Orion, Adventure Port, etc. would exist with or without Fast Lane money.

Going back to when Fast Lane was first introduced, for all we know the thought process might have been something like "You know, if we add this Fast Lane option, we can lower the gate price and increase attendance by bringing in an additional economic demographic that could afford lower gate prices. In turn, those that are used to paying more or have the funds can purchase the Fast Lane option if they don't want to wait in increased lines. This will increase attendance by introducing an economic class that may not have visited previously, as well as increasing profit from those purchasing Fast Lane."

So now we are in a situation where they sold a record number of season passes for 2023.  Group sales and daily admission guests still aren't what they used to be, so the majority of the people in the park on many days are pass holders, so they have to generate additional revenue from this group.

This is the first year that all season Fast Lane didn't sell out.  One can assume daily Fast Lane is probably taking a hit as well.  They probably hope the single-use Fast Lane option can make up or exceed that gap.

So what happens if it doesn't and the anticipated revenue from Fast Lane drops significantly.  Do they cut capital improvements, raise admission costs, give away the gate, etc.?

[FUN&ONLY!]

I agree with @disco2000 that Kings Island would get some investment regardless of Fast Lane for the sake of staying relevant. However, I am not sure Kings Island would get as much investment as it currently does without Fast Lane. Kings Island is a more mature park compared to other Cedar Fair parks like Cedar Point (a true destination park) and Carowinds (a park in a fast growing area), so it does not see the same attendance bump with the addition of a brand new coaster like other parks might. However, Cedar Fair still sees it beneficial to add major additions to Kings Island (beyond additions to just stay relevant) because it does boost revenue. When Kings Island adds a new coaster, it gets long waits because it it new, which drives Fast Lane sales and Season Pass sales because people want to experience the big new attraction.

This quote from Brian Witherow (Cedar Fair CEO) during the company’s 2019 fourth quarter earnings call sums it up perfectly. He is responding to a question about what increases in attendance or sales the company expects to see as a result of the addition of Orion to Kings Island:

Quote

“Yes, I mean, I would just say for parks like Kings Island, a little bit more toward what I would call mature in our portfolio. Sometimes, the attendance lift is a little bit different for a ride like Orion at Kings Island than maybe it would be at a park that is earlier in its growth cycle like some of the tenants bumps we've seen out of big new coasters at -- like Fury at Carowinds. Where it does definitely benefit us at a park like Kings Island is in the season pass sales and then in terms of in-park spend Fast Lane, the front-of-line product.”

Source: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2020/02/19/cedar-fair-lp-fun-q4-2019-earnings-call-transcript.aspx

This is different from back in the 70s, 80s, and maybe even the 90s when Kings Island had significantly less market penetration, so a major addition would boost attendance more dramatically. Even in 2009, Diamondback made sense without Fast Lane because Kings Island lacked a modern thrilling coaster (Son of Beast did not count). Therefore, the addition of Diamondback likely did attract many new guests as Kings Island had not added something like it in a while, and it allowed them to further penetrate the market. Also, the addition of Diamondback would have helped with Season Pass sales.

[Tr0y]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:32 PM, brenthodge said:

I fail to see how a 1x use ride pass diluted a season-long, all ride fast pass. It will most likely be targeted at single day visitors who don’t see a value in getting a Fast Lane for all rides, but have 1-2 must do that they want to ride. You still got what you paid for! 

It doesn’t, Busch Gardens and Seaworld offer single use quick queue and platinum pass holders get 1 single use quick queue a visit. They also offer all season, and all day quick queue passes. They’ve had these offerings longer than Cedar Fair I have platinum and I’ve never noticed long quick queue lines. The only time I’ve noticed longer quick queue lines is for certain rides at night.

[RWS]

When I saw the single use kiosk a few weeks back I was kinda irked but really since then I've not seen any marked difference in FastLane wait time so I'm pretty indifferent to it (I have all season FL and pretty much go with my kid every weekend). To be fair though, I avoid FoF in general b/c 1) FastLane takes forever compared to every other single ride at KI and 2) Even if FL was not slow the ride just isn't that enjoyable to me. 

[knexsss]

Really if the fast pass make the ride half the wait time at least, it did it job. I think these are great, and hopefully there like $25 dollars a pop each.

[NegativeGs]

I was at Alton Towers in the UK last week. They have a similar à la carte menu, where visitors pay per attraction using a mobile device app. Cost per Fastrack Pass was about $15.

[Stoan]

I noticed when getting my prestige FotL passes so the Diamondback store they rang up at 20 dollars single use fast pass.

[Orion742]

According to the updated Cedar Point and Carowinds app’s, it seems like they will continue to offer single use Fastlane’s at those parks. I imagine when we see our app update soon it will show single use Fastlane as well. Does anyone know how much they charged last year?

[Orion-XL200]

6 hours ago, Orion742 said:

According to the updated Cedar Point and Carowinds app’s, it seems like they will continue to offer single use Fastlane’s at those parks. I imagine when we see our app update soon it will show single use Fastlane as well. Does anyone know how much they charged last year?

It depended on the ride mostly. I'm not sure if I am remembering right, but I thought it was dynamic pricing. 

[disco2000]

9 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

It depended on the ride mostly. I'm not sure if I am remembering right, but I thought it was dynamic pricing. 

That is correct - I think I saw it range from $5 to $25 in casual observation depending on how busy the park was.  Doubt it was lower LOL, but there may have been some days it was higher.  

[CoasterJack]

I remember seeing them sold for Flight of Fear for $15 and $20 on different occasions. Reminded me of similar pricing to buying an individual lightning lane for the popular attractions at Disney