Six Flags makes changes to FastLane

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Six Flags has rolled out new functionality for their FastLane priority pass system that combines the legacy Cedar Fair Fast Lane functions with that of legacy Six Flags' The Flash Pass. The regular Fast Lane/Fast Lane Plus system will still be in use at some Six Flags parks in 2026 while others will be switching to the new Fast Lane Reserve/Fast Lane Ultimate system. I've included a screenshot and quote (for TTS screen readers) with some FAQ points from Magic Mountain's Fast Lane website below.

Quote

What is the difference between Fast Lane Reserve and Fast Lane Ultimate?

Fast Lane Reserve virtually holds your place in line for rides so you can explore the park while you wait. You'll receive a return time to access the Fast Lane for priority boarding.
Fast Lane Ultimate allows you to make an immediate reservation to instantly join the Fast Lane, reducing your wait time by 90%. Fast Lane Ultimate is the best way to maximize the number of rides during your visit.

 

How many Fast Lane reservations can I make at once?

Guests can make one (1) reservation at a time with Fast Lane. Guests must fully complete riding a reserved attraction before checking in for their next ready reservation. Guests may cancel or change their reservation at any time before redemption.

 

How do I activate Fast Lane on the date of my visit?

1. Once inside the park, scan a Fast Lane QR code

2. Select GET STARTED, enter the email address used to purchase and create a password if this is your first time.

3. On the home screen, tap the product tile and click REDEEM. 4. Select one attraction from the list of available attractions! *If your session does not automatically appear, select ADD MY Fast Lane and type in your ticket numbers.

 

Are there any restrictions with Fast Lane?

Fast Lane is priced per Guest and cannot be transferred or shared. A limited number of Fast Lane products are sold each day. Online Fast Lane purchases are valid only for the date selected. Ride availability is subject to change without notice. Guests can make one (1) reservation at a time with Fast Lane. Guests must fully complete riding a reserved attraction before checking in for their next ready reservation. Guests may cancel or change their reservation at any time.

 

As for which parks will be included in the new system:

Quote

All Season Fast Lane does not provide entry to all locations and entry is determined by your associated admission pass. When the associated season pass is used for admission, All Season Fast Lane passholders receive the following benefits at the listed parks.

Fast Lane Ultimate (mobile device required) at:

• Carowinds
• Kings Dominion
• La Ronde
• SF Discovery Kingdom
• SF Fiesta Texas
• SF Great Adventure
• SF Great America
• SF Magic Mountain
• SF New England
• SF Over Georgia
• SF Over Texas
• SF St. Louis

Fast Lane Plus wristband at:

• Canada's Wonderland
• Cedar Point
• Worlds of Fun

Fast Lane wristband at:

• California's Great America
• Dorney Park
• Frontier City
• Hurricane Harbor Arlington
• Kings Island
• Knott's Berry Farm
• Michigan's Adventure
• Schlitterbahn New Braunfels
• Schlitterbahn Galveston
• SF Darien Lake
• SF Great Escape
• SF White Water
• Valleyfair

It looks like the GoFast Pass (formerly used at Darien Lake, Frontier City, and LaRonde) has been switched to Fast Lane at every park except for Six Flags Qiddiya City.

[disco2000]

I haven't experienced that system, but I would think it would cut down on all the sharing that they clearly say is not allowed of people posting pics on FB where they left their used wristband when they left for the day.

I could see those that like to marathon rides not liking the new system.

No phones on rides, yet they go to a system that encourages it.

I also see lots of phones dying needing to access the phone so much, as well as people not being able to get the app running based on network congestion.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The phone and internet requirement is my biggest gripe about this new system. I'd be more fine with the reservation concept if it worked more like one of the FastPass systems did where you got a return time ticket. It currently sounds like you'll only be scanning anything at the merge point, which would be awful for anyone who doesn't understand how the system works. 

This new system just has me begging for in-line lockers at every coaster even more. I don't like needing to use my phone for everything, but apparently it's more cost effective for Six Flags than using physical pass cards and wristbands.

[disco2000]

Can't wait to see how many have their phone out on the ride or the brake run scheduling their next ride....

[TombRaiderFTW]

Bless. The Flash Pass (more accurately, the Q-Bot) has always been the better Front of Line system for seasonal parks because it actually regulates the FOL queue instead of letting guests flood the queue without restrictions like Fast Lane does. I'm so glad to see it stay--I was fully expecting legacy Fast Lane to go chainwide since it almost certainly has lower operating costs.

I just wish they'd use the actual Q-Bot devices (which typically came with ways of hooking them to your belt loop, in my experience) instead of going fully cell phone-based for the same loose item reasons as others have mentioned, but whatevs. The mobile app-only version already exists and works well enough at other parks--it has been in place at Lake Compounce for a few years, at the very least. I have to imagine it was also at the legacy Six Flags parks in recent years, maybe as an optional alternative to the Q-Bot devices?

It's interesting that they're selling the base version (FOL wait time = standby queue wait time) and the ultimate version (FOL wait time = as low as 10% of the standby queue wait time) but not an intermediate between the two. The legacy Flash Pass system, at least anytime I've ever used it, also had a middle tier that reduced the standby queue wait time by 60%. I don't think it's some huge mistake for them to not offer it, but I think it's interesting that they've streamlined the system to just the two options.

[WoodVengeance]

I'm wondering how a park like Great Adventure handled their Flash Pass/Fast Lane system, considering most of the notable coasters there require all loose articles to be placed in a locker.

[CedarPointer]

I'm just hoping that the "immediate boarding" version either isn't available as an all-season product next year or is significantly more expensive. It is pretty funny, though, seeing the sour grapes about this change from the "well, it SAID subject to change when you bought it!" crowd.

[disco2000]

caveat emptor 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

7 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

I just wish they'd use the actual Q-Bot devices (which typically came with ways of hooking them to your belt loop, in my experience) instead of going fully cell phone-based for the same loose item reasons as others have mentioned, but whatevs. The mobile app-only version already exists and works well enough at other parks--it has been in place at Lake Compounce for a few years, at the very least. I have to imagine it was also at the legacy Six Flags parks in recent years, maybe as an optional alternative to the Q-Bot devices?

Is this similar to the TapuTapu system that Volcano Bay just got rid of? I'd think a better system would be to keep the wristbands and have a system that lets you scan it at a kiosk. Basically TapuTapu but with disposable wristbands instead of reusable bracelets. That might be closer to one of the original FastPass systems, but the idea is there either way.

6 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

I'm wondering how a park like Great Adventure handled their Flash Pass/Fast Lane system, considering most of the notable coasters there require all loose articles to be placed in a locker.

Some of Great Adventure's big coasters have in-line lockers (I think at least Flash, Jersey Devil, and El Toro have them). Batman, Superman, and Skull Mountain don't have in-line lockers IIRC. I don't know about Nitro's locker policy. I'm against forcing guests to use their phones while also forcing them to get a locker, but it's much better if there are free in-line lockers.

[DoomPlague]

At least this could (potentially) solve the issue of the FL people crowding into one or two rides at certain times of the day, hurting the experience for everyone. In October I saw what a full FL queue does to the standby line at the end of the day on Siren's Curse. What an awful experience that was.

 

Not that anyone asked: but I've thought about how to improve the system for awhile. My admittedly flawed idea is that each guest has Fast Lane points or credits. Small rides use 1, bigger rides and most coasters use 2 and a small number of high demand rides need 3. Single day guests are given 2 or 3 points for free. Passholders also get a modest amount for free for the season and can earn more in different ways, similar to perks. Outside of that, they are bought in packs and are connected to a (preferably RFID) wristband. Obviously there are problems with this (like having to refund points when a ride shuts down or how it doesn't first people to spread out to different rides) but I think it creates a more fair system that lets everyone feel like that have a chance at using it.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I've also thought about an A-E Ticket style Fast Lane system (I think that's similar to what you're thinking) and the biggest issue would be how guests keep track of how many points/"tickets" they have left. Is it entirely a phone-based system that shows your remaining point totals or is it wristband-based with kiosks available for guests to check their points. Refunding points could be accomplished by enacting a "prime then process" system where a scanner at the entrance "primes" the pass (checks that it has enough points to be used) and a scanner at the merge point "processes" the pass (takes the points out of the account). Anyone in the FL queue would not lose their points as they exit the line and anyone past the merge point would be given an immediate return ticket to come back and ride (since their points had been deducted).

I think being able to earn a free Single-Use Fast Lane would be cool, though I don't know how that would work with the new Perks & Play system. 

[TombRaiderFTW]

11 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Is this similar to the TapuTapu system that Volcano Bay just got rid of? I'd think a better system would be to keep the wristbands and have a system that lets you scan it at a kiosk. Basically TapuTapu but with disposable wristbands instead of reusable bracelets. That might be closer to one of the original FastPass systems, but the idea is there either way.

Yes and no.

It's my understanding that Tapu Tapu was a virtual queue that everyone had to use. There was no standby option. You also had to be at the ride to reserve it.

Q-Bots (and their modern smartphone equivalent) were/are an upcharge, like legacy Fast Lane. You can reserve rides from anywhere in the park. The amount of time you wait compared to the standby queue depends on what tier you purchased. When it's time to ride, you join the equivalent of the Fast Lane queue, not the standby queue.

[BeeastFarmer]

I used the Flash Pass at Magic Mountain several years ago. It was a clunky device you had to carry around and it was not user friendly. 

It seems FUN is adapting too much of legacy SIX and making it more difficult to do business with customers.  

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

This new system looks like it will be entirely done through guests' phones instead of those devices you had to use at Magic Mountain. Some parks are upgrading their WiFi capacity for it, but we'll have to see how that works out since guests seemingly have to use their phones for everything now. Tickets, season passes, FastLane reservations, wayfinding around the parks, etc. are now forced onto the phones.

3 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

It seems FUN is adapting too much of legacy SIX and making it more difficult to do business with customers.  

This point is a little funny to me because early on in the merger all I'd heard was that legacy Six Flags had the superior technology of the two chains. I agree that they're making customers' experience far more difficult that it needs to be. 

9 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Q-Bots (and their modern smartphone equivalent) were/are an upcharge, like legacy Fast Lane. You can reserve rides from anywhere in the park. The amount of time you wait compared to the standby queue depends on what tier you purchased. When it's time to ride, you join the equivalent of the Fast Lane queue, not the standby queue.

I feel like the company who made the new FastLane tech was named something similar to Q-Bot, but I'm almost certainly misremembering. It'll be interesting to see how all of this works out and if we'll be able to figure out what companies they use for the new system. I remember someone on here at least found the make/model of the scanners.

[BeeastFarmer]

^ I have to have my phone all the time as it's a medical device. But there are times I wish I was freed from it. This new Fast Lane system forces the phone, as you said...most people are addicted to their phones of course, so it won't be that big of a deal. 

At least it's on a device that (most) already carry with them. In the big picture, it doesn't really affect me because I typically go when I know it's supposed to be slower, and I'm not into marathoning rides anymore...and my visits to the parks has dropped precipitously as I've been engrossed in other hobbies. 

Is it bad that after 3-4 hours at KI, I'm bored and ready to drive three hours home lol