Fastlane

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gardener14

Jun 23, 2010
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How does King's Dominion handle Fast Lane? Is it like Busch Gardens and Hersheypark where they sell only a few Quick Queue/Fastlane passes, and they block off one row of a train for Fastlane (having a minimal affect n regular riders), or is it like Six Flags where they sell tons of passes and allowed everyone in the Fastlane line to fill a train leaving very few seats and an incredibly slow line for regular riders?

At BG and HP, their versions of Fastlane have minimal affect on everyone else, so it doesn't bother me. HP even works hard to ensure the blocked off seats are filled by regular riders when no one is waiting for Fastlane (which happens quite often). At Six Flags it was handled so poorly that I have no desire to return to the park again since I'm not inclined to pay extra for the system.

How does King's Dominion (or Cedar Fair in general) put this system into practice.
 
Sort of, they don't have a reserved lane, they just ask the people that should go on next to wait for another train so the fastlane people can get on, if that made sense. I don't know if it's like BG in that you can buy a pass for only one ride or if you can get one for all day. Not sure about that.
 
So, do the Fastlane people take up much of the train? Are there enough of them to have an impact on regular lines (like Six Flags New England where they took up most of every train leaving regular lines to crawl along), or is it more like BG/HP where there are so few users of Quick Queue/Fastlane that regular lines are not afffected greatly?
 
#BlameCedarFair The only time that this really is good, is during Halloween Haunt considering that Saturday Haunts were horrifically busy, but like any other place Fast Lane is only nice for the people who pay for it.
 
Unlike Quick Queue, which sets up a designated lane for Quick Queue holders, which doesn't affect the standby line. Fastlane slows down the standby line to a ridiculous point.
 
Thanks for the input, but some of the comments seem contradictory to each other. I wonder if this is based on different people's experiences on busier vs. slower days. On weekends when the park is crowded, do enough people participate in Fastlane to make the experience worse for everyone else compared to slower days when Fastlane isn't needed and less people are using it?

I'm less interesting in knowing if Fastlane is a good option for those who buy it and more interested in knowing how badly it effects the experience of those who don't buy it. I was hoping it was more like Busch Gardens and Hersheypark where this type of program is run very well compared to Six Flags where it keeps me from revisiting.
 
On busy weekends,the fastlane does have a line. They also let people on like every couple trains, so fastlane people don't get on every train. The lines are usually based on popularity of the ride, like the wooden coasters, shockwave, anaconda, those types of coasters don't usually have rides, but I305 and Volcano and the newer rides do have lines. Hope that helped.
 
Unlike Quick Queue, which sets up a designated lane for Quick Queue holders, which doesn't affect the standby line. Fastlane slows down the standby line to a ridiculous point.
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Fastpass-style programs in general slow lines down regardless of where you go. It all boils down to how its executed on rides. Even if you hold only specific rows for Fastpass, you're still technically holding the line back for 2 (or 4 in B&M's case) people.

I'm less interesting in knowing if Fastlane is a good option for those who buy it and more interested in knowing how badly it effects the experience of those who don't buy it.
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Fastpass is always a good option if you enjoy skipping lines. It's rather controversial though. Since CF is still new to the Fastpass game, they still have a few kinks to work out. Other parks that have worked with FP systems for the past 10+ years generally have a better system.

Of course there are still cases where FP slows lines down because it's not executed well, but that really depends on where you go.
 
Having been an annual passholder at Disneyland, I can tell you, it makes perfect sense for them to have their FastPass system in place. Only difference is, it's timed, and better yet, it's available to everyone at the park.

Disney got the system down right. It manages ridership flow FAR better than any of these other systems both KD & BGW or even Six Flags has.

And just for kicks, every DL E-ticket ride has it's own FastPass queue up to the point where you then get blended in with the final station lines for each row to get on the coasters themselves.

+1 for Disney to show everyone else how it's SUPPOSED to be done.
 
Well, unfortunately, Disney did it right and then proceeded to patent the entire system. We would have seen many parks implement a similar system if they were able to.

The invention is a method and system for managing admission to an attraction. In one or more embodiments, the system comprises a first queue by which customers may access the attraction by waiting in line and a second queue by which customers may access the attraction in a manner which avoids the first queue. The system includes a first validator for validating an entitlement of a customer to receive an assigned time in the future for accessing the attraction via the second queue, a media distributor for distributing a media to an entitled customer, the media including the assigned time at which the entitled customer is entitled to access the attraction in the future, and a second validator for validating the entitled customer access to the attraction at the time provided on the media. In accordance with a method of the invention, a customer may access an attraction in a manner which avoids standing in a first waiting line by verifying entitlement to utilize a second queue, obtaining a pass entitling the customer to access the attraction at a future time, and returning to the attraction at the future time and gaining access with the pass. In this method, the customer may leave the vicinity of the attraction between when the pass is issued and the future time at which the customer is entitled to access to the attraction.
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Patent
 
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IndyRacingNut said:
And just for kicks, every DL E-ticket ride has it's own FastPass queue up to the point where you then get blended in with the final station lines for each row to get on the coasters themselves.
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Universal has this for express on some rides(Hulk, Dragon Challenge, Dudley Do-right). Also, Revenge of the mummy has a very good system in place. It's a duel loading system, one side is express and single riders, the other side is the standby line.
 
Ben, Universal now does this w/preference for those who pay to stay at their resort hotels. In other words, if you fork over twice what you'd pay for a room outside the resort, they give you unlimited express queue passes. Kind of what Disney does now. :/
 
Well, you can also pay for it as well. and considering if they want to have something like this, they HAVE to charge for it because of the fastpass patent.

Also, if you can afford it, Uni's hotels are amazing, the convenience of it is out of this world, a 5 minute walk to the parks and citywalk PLUS Unlimited Express passes? Its a better experience then Disney's deluxe hotels IMO.

EDIT: Just looked up how Much Unlimited express is during Spring Break, 70 bucks a person! Considering their was three of us, that's 210 bucks! Lets do some Math, if we were to pay 200 bucks a night at an off property hotel, plus the 170 bucks for express for unlimited express, I'd pay 410 bucks. I paid 450 bucks a night at the Hard Rock.

40 bucks extra a night at a world class hotel plus a 5 minute walk to the parks and city walk ain't too bad.

BTW-I stayed two nights- so i'd pay 420 bucks for express in just two days....
 
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It sounds like Cedar Fair could learn from Hersheypark and Busch Gardens by limiting their Fastlane system to one entry per ride. For a non-user, it's a great system at Hersheypark because it doesn't have a significant impact on regular lines while those who do use it gain instant access to every major ride once during their visit, and it makes the park extra money. If they aren't able to implement a timed system for everyone like Disney does, then eliminating the unlimited aspect of it would help greatly while still offering value to those who want to buy into it.
 
Technically BG does that w/Verbolten already, even w/the "unlimited" Fast Queue wristband. It's only good for one run through.

Made no difference to me yesterday. I was able to walk straight onto the cars on Verbolten w/ZERO wait. Same went for every ride. Talk about your perfect day to visit the park. Rain in the morning on a school day = NO LINES for the rest of the day anywhere. :)
 
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It sounds like Cedar Fair could learn from Hersheypark and Busch Gardens by limiting their Fastlane system to one entry per ride.
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BGW still allows unlimited use on other rides if you purchase the Unlimited/Unlimited+ options.

I'd love to see more parks use Q-bot/Flash Pass-style queuing systems. You basically works like Disney's FP system, but without the whole scanning your ticket/wristband. You still get a return time (on a pager this time) and there are options for unlimited use. Of course this system can be abused, but BGW's system could be abused too.
 
I assumed that King's Dominion offered this on the major rides like coasters, drop tower, windseeker, etc., so I was surprised when I looked over the list recently and discovered that not all the "big" rides are included however many unexpected smaller traditional rides ARE included in Fast Lane. I was surprised to see the antique cars, Dodgems, Flying Eagle, Wave Swinger, and Triple Spin.

I'm wondering how does Fast Pass impact these rides. Again, I'm looking at this as someone who hopes it has minimal affect on non-FastLane users. I'm not an advocate for this kind of pay-to-cut the line system. I've just never seen a park offer such a system for these types of rides.

Anther question...Does King's Dominion do a good job of filling the seats when there aren't Fast Lane Users present? I've noticed that Hersheypark does an awesome job at this while Busch Gardens doesn't do such a good job unless patrons take the initiative to do it on their own.
 
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