To think the fast track queues at Thorpe park are unfair?

It's an entertainment business, it is a treat to go there, and so I don't consider fast track passes immoral or unfair. Whilst it would be good for a ten year old to learn patience and waiting, I don't think that is the best place to do it.

Fast track is an extra, is not unfair or fair is just an extra. You may have to wait if there is many people fast tracking in a busy day.
I think none of you is unreasonable I think you both want the money for different thing.
Sometimes we have to be a bit of a dick to make the most of a day. I would get the fast track if I were you.

The OP didn't even hint that disabled people who need fast track passes are dicks 😳

I go to Alton towers for 1 day, once a year and always get fast passes, yes it's expensive but it ensures we get on all the good rides. Years ago, we'd manage 3/4 rides after queuing for hours, never again.

just be aware the the rides at Thorpe park are pretty ‘brutal’!
I find that you need the queueing time to recover! 🤣 But maybe I’m just old now!
We live very close by and I avoid going if I can. It’s stupidly busy the whole summer, even before schools have broken up. And then you can be queuing for an hour and the ride breaks down so that time is basically wasted as they give you a choice of continue queuing in case it’s fixed or walk away. No fast pass or queue jump even though you’ve sunk an hour already.
Worth waiting if it’s shut for ‘cleaning’ as that’s usually pretty quick to deal with (and quite common!) 🤮

We buy them and I do feel bad skipping straight onto a ride when the standard queue is long, and did get comments once when we did the same ride twice whilst others had barely moved in the queue. But we’d paid to improve our experience so….

I'd skip Thorpe Park altogether and take a trip to Germany. The theme parks are amazing and make our parks look absolutely shite. Cheaper, cleaner, shorter queues , rides break down far less, fabulous food and brilliant rides. Europa Park, Hansa Park, Phantasialand to name some.

OP please consider that not everybody is a dick who buys these passes. My 8yo son is disabled and because he has a blue badge we normally get them thrown in at theme parks. He can’t queue for a long time due to his disability so this means we can actually enjoy these days out like everyone else. It means that life for disabled people is just that bit less shit. Nothing dickish about it.

When I was at Eurodisney they filled 3/4 of the ride with fast pass / disabled queue if they were there the last quarter with us plebs so you did move but v. Slowly.

Never considered fast track unfair or unethical, weird that some people do! I’ve never bought it though, we only go on bank holidays as the cheaper merlin passes are now restricted and most people avoid as they think everyone will be there, so they are the quietest days (don’t tell anyone!). Would never go on an inset day after a horror experience at legoland a few years ago on a Friday inset day in June! Otherwise a wet weekend in April or September is the way to go.

as an aside, Merlin restrict their RAP (disability) passes now (ie how many people can use them each day, not eligibility) which should improve normal queue times.

Agreed. We went to Europa last year and it was fabulous. I’d spent the £200 on flights and do a European one instead!

I won't go to UK theme parks anymore, the rides are not great, the park facilities are poor and you spend most of the day queuing. We took ds to Efteling last year during school holidays and didn't queue more than 35 minutes for anything and the whole park was much nicer.

I’ve only ever once been to a theme park on a regular Saturday. It was for a hen night about 20 years ago at Chessington and we went on precisely three whole rides, and spent the rest of the day queuing. That would be zero fun for a special occasion for your son.

Just buy the pass. Thorpe park is 80% gangs of teenagers happy to queue and giggle together. As an adult I would rather tear my own arms off than wait for 3 hours for a ride. It’s miserable. DS won’t want to hang out with a parent for hours either.

There's absolutely no way I'd be going to a theme park on a Saturday or a school holiday. Just go on a random Tuesday in May.

That’s just life ! I chose to always glamp at music festivals now cus I can’t be fucked to carry a tent and all the stuff and have to pitch the thing and find a spot ! That could be seen as unfair that I get a nice cosy place to sleep each night and lovely showers etc - but I chose to spend my money on that

we got past track passes at Disneyland Tokyo too cus I just couldn’t cope with the queues

some people pay for fast track at the airport,or to board the plane first 🤷‍♀️

Your DH is the dick.

People are just upgrading and paying for a quicker service.

selfish and immoral 😆

The other problem with it is that at some places the fast track queue is the same queue as for those with additional needs who are less able to queue, and it increases queue times for those people

It is insane to me that people queue..with kids...Two hours !!! Even 30 mins is too much

Stop.giving these awful companies your business

The second to last time I took my children to Chessington it was an INSET day and they still only got on 4 rides. Last time we went I paid for the cheapest queue jump option (where you book a time to go on one ride at a time and queue for others in the meantime) and they went on everything.

It does feel unfair but equally overall we got so much more for our money - going to a theme park is a special treat so when we spent £200 to go on four rides that felt like a colossal waste of money versus paying a bit more and actually getting value from it.

Pay for the fast pass. Theme parks and generally awful places if you don’t pay for the extras.

You are not queue jumping. You are paying to join a shorter queue.

Life is unfair and full of occasions where you can pay for privilege. E.g. Why is it OK for you to pay to go to a theme park when others can't afford it? Why can you drive there when others take the bus or walk? Will you be able to buy the overpriced food?

We all draw the line somewhere between what we think is acceptable or not but it's usually quite arbitrary And highly subjective. As far as unfair is concerned this is quite low on the list, I think especially considering thst if you don't buy the fast track pass the advantage to the other visitors will be totally negligible.

Poulton do, but only for disabled

You do get the whole performance, but sometimes you are standing (and for a four-hour performance that's not nothing), and/or sometimes you are behind a pillar, and/or sometimes can only see half the stage.