Here is my experience with Kings Dominion’s Fast Lane Plus on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, 2015. Since I wasn’t able to find a lot of information about Fast Lane or if Fast Lane Plus is worth the money, I wanted to give my Fast Lane Plus review, here.
Is Kings Dominions Fast Lane Plus worth it? Only you can decide that, but let me give you some numbers that may help you make up your mind. First of all, yes, it is expensive. About $75 a piece when we bought two. So we spent about $70 in park entry tickets and $150 in Fast Lane Plus tickets for two adults. Fast Lane Plus was more expensive then Fast Lane, but ‘Plus’ includes Volcano and Intimidator 305.
That $75 a person meant that between 4:00pm and 4:30pm we rode Volcano 3 times (twice in the front seat, once in the back seat)! Yea, three rides on Volcano in less than 30 minutes. From the time we got our Fast Lane Plus wrist bands checked until we were sitting in the front seat was 7 minutes and 21 seconds. The ride is only about 50 seconds long, so we disembarked, went all the way to the exit and back into the Fast Lane Plus line (the ride exit is right next to the Fast Lane Plus entrance). Our second trip took us 7 minutes and 23 seconds to get from the wrist band check to our rear ends being in the front seats. Yes, that is absolutely ridiculous. Two trips on Volcano, on a Saturday, in about 15 minutes. We had to try it again. For our third trip, we went for the back seat. This took us about 8 minutes and 10 seconds from wrist band check to sitting in the seats. Checking my watch on the way out of the ride, 4:30 pm. We asked the operators and some of our fellow riders and they all agreed that the wait for the normal queue was about an hour. So instead of being halfway through the queue, we rode three times. I couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of being able to ride that many times, in those seats, in such a short amount of time.
This was just a typical example (a Saturday, mid-afternoon, Labor Day weekend) and the one that I had the best data for. We had ridden Volcano many times earlier in the day, with similar results. As I mentioned above, the ‘Plus’ in Fast Lane Plus meant that we could use the Fast Lane at Volcano and Intimidator 305 as well as the rest of the Fast Lane rides throughout the park.
There was less value in the Fast Lane Plus at Intimidator 305 since the line never really got very long. We still used it there, and it likely saved us a train or two in mid-afternoon. However, since they were running two trains at all of the park’s coasters starting at park opening, the total wait time was pretty short anyway. It’s a small thing, but it was a few less steps using the Fast Lane line then going back and forth through the queue lines. However, the gate also drops you off at the end of the train, so it is a little more difficult to get to the front line queue.
In case you don’t know how Fast Lane works, in the rides that have Fast Pass, there is a separate line that takes you to an attendant who checks the date on your bracelet and less you into the final queue area. This is the area at the gates to pick your row and enter the train. So you still have to wait for as many people as are in the queue before you. This could range from no wait at an empty queue to as much as four trains if you want the front or back seats. We did get some strange looks from those in the longer queue wondering what was happening. At Volcano, most of the line cannot see you take the Fast Lane shortcut line, so no one was the wiser. In most cases, the attendants are stopping the regular line before this last, row choosing queue area so that they don’t get too crowded and getting around was quite easy.
In addition to Volcano and Intimidator 305, we also used the Fast Lane at the Backlot Stunt Coaster, Drop Tower, and Dominator. We rode Dominator at the end of the day and from what I saw, it saved us only one or two trains. Flight of Fear has a Fast Lane line but we didn’t need or use it. Anaconda, Rebel Yell, and Grizzly do not have a Fast Lane line. The Hurler does have a Fast Lane line, but the coaster was down all day, so we couldn’t ride it.
The Fast Lane was very useful on Backlot Stunt Coaster and Drop Tower. On Backlot, we bypassed about a 30 minute line, waited for two ‘trains’ (less then 10 minutes), and rode in the front seat. On Drop Tower, we walked right up the attendant who tells you which quarter of the circle to wait in and then right into our section of the circle. Total wait time was about 3 minutes between getting to the ride and being strapped into out seats. But the advantage really came when we disembarked after the ride and went right back around and into the queue, again. Because of Fast Lane, we were able to ride two trips in a row even though there was a line.
So, in my opinion, the biggest advantage to having the Fast Lane or Fast Lane Plus, is ride turnover. No sooner then you are done with one ride, you can be back in the final, seat picking queue, ready for the next trip. We were at Kings Dominion on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend for nine hours and took well over 40 roller coaster rides.
Therefore, for us, who last went to Kings Dominion 4 years ago and probably won’t be going back for another several years, yes, Fast Pas Plus was worth it because we were able to ride so many rides so many times.
Is Kings Dominions Fast Lane Plus worth it? Only you can decide that, but let me give you some numbers that may help you make up your mind. First of all, yes, it is expensive. About $75 a piece when we bought two. So we spent about $70 in park entry tickets and $150 in Fast Lane Plus tickets for two adults. Fast Lane Plus was more expensive then Fast Lane, but ‘Plus’ includes Volcano and Intimidator 305.
That $75 a person meant that between 4:00pm and 4:30pm we rode Volcano 3 times (twice in the front seat, once in the back seat)! Yea, three rides on Volcano in less than 30 minutes. From the time we got our Fast Lane Plus wrist bands checked until we were sitting in the front seat was 7 minutes and 21 seconds. The ride is only about 50 seconds long, so we disembarked, went all the way to the exit and back into the Fast Lane Plus line (the ride exit is right next to the Fast Lane Plus entrance). Our second trip took us 7 minutes and 23 seconds to get from the wrist band check to our rear ends being in the front seats. Yes, that is absolutely ridiculous. Two trips on Volcano, on a Saturday, in about 15 minutes. We had to try it again. For our third trip, we went for the back seat. This took us about 8 minutes and 10 seconds from wrist band check to sitting in the seats. Checking my watch on the way out of the ride, 4:30 pm. We asked the operators and some of our fellow riders and they all agreed that the wait for the normal queue was about an hour. So instead of being halfway through the queue, we rode three times. I couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of being able to ride that many times, in those seats, in such a short amount of time.
This was just a typical example (a Saturday, mid-afternoon, Labor Day weekend) and the one that I had the best data for. We had ridden Volcano many times earlier in the day, with similar results. As I mentioned above, the ‘Plus’ in Fast Lane Plus meant that we could use the Fast Lane at Volcano and Intimidator 305 as well as the rest of the Fast Lane rides throughout the park.
There was less value in the Fast Lane Plus at Intimidator 305 since the line never really got very long. We still used it there, and it likely saved us a train or two in mid-afternoon. However, since they were running two trains at all of the park’s coasters starting at park opening, the total wait time was pretty short anyway. It’s a small thing, but it was a few less steps using the Fast Lane line then going back and forth through the queue lines. However, the gate also drops you off at the end of the train, so it is a little more difficult to get to the front line queue.
In case you don’t know how Fast Lane works, in the rides that have Fast Pass, there is a separate line that takes you to an attendant who checks the date on your bracelet and less you into the final queue area. This is the area at the gates to pick your row and enter the train. So you still have to wait for as many people as are in the queue before you. This could range from no wait at an empty queue to as much as four trains if you want the front or back seats. We did get some strange looks from those in the longer queue wondering what was happening. At Volcano, most of the line cannot see you take the Fast Lane shortcut line, so no one was the wiser. In most cases, the attendants are stopping the regular line before this last, row choosing queue area so that they don’t get too crowded and getting around was quite easy.
In addition to Volcano and Intimidator 305, we also used the Fast Lane at the Backlot Stunt Coaster, Drop Tower, and Dominator. We rode Dominator at the end of the day and from what I saw, it saved us only one or two trains. Flight of Fear has a Fast Lane line but we didn’t need or use it. Anaconda, Rebel Yell, and Grizzly do not have a Fast Lane line. The Hurler does have a Fast Lane line, but the coaster was down all day, so we couldn’t ride it.
The Fast Lane was very useful on Backlot Stunt Coaster and Drop Tower. On Backlot, we bypassed about a 30 minute line, waited for two ‘trains’ (less then 10 minutes), and rode in the front seat. On Drop Tower, we walked right up the attendant who tells you which quarter of the circle to wait in and then right into our section of the circle. Total wait time was about 3 minutes between getting to the ride and being strapped into out seats. But the advantage really came when we disembarked after the ride and went right back around and into the queue, again. Because of Fast Lane, we were able to ride two trips in a row even though there was a line.
So, in my opinion, the biggest advantage to having the Fast Lane or Fast Lane Plus, is ride turnover. No sooner then you are done with one ride, you can be back in the final, seat picking queue, ready for the next trip. We were at Kings Dominion on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend for nine hours and took well over 40 roller coaster rides.
Therefore, for us, who last went to Kings Dominion 4 years ago and probably won’t be going back for another several years, yes, Fast Pas Plus was worth it because we were able to ride so many rides so many times.
