Theme parks are ruined if you don't pay for a fast pass?

What we put up with??? What are you going on about. This is a theme park!! YOU decide if you want to go to somewhere where you can whizz around fast on a rollercoaster or down a water slide. It isn’t a god given right!! If you don’t like the experience… you leave or you don’t return.

So weird peoples sense of entitlement to something like a theme park!

It’s so depressing what we put up with. And people saying you can do stuff cheaply but then it’s book years in advance and sit behind a pillar at a mid afternoon show so it’s almost affordable or yay we managed 8 rides in an entire day, how wonderful is the most depressing thing. We just accept huge queues and shit service and that our children will prob spend longer in the toilet than they will in total on all the rides they manage in one day. And we then pay £100s without fast passes!!! That’s the thing that angers me! These are EXPENSIVE days out to start with. Over £100 before you’ve bought a bottle of water or a snack and then you have to queue for 6 hours of the day because someone else can afford an additional £300 for a slightly quicker queue! It’s madness that we’ve all just gone yeah sounds great

How would all the people moaning solve the issue?

Stop fast passes? okay but the queues would still be just as long.

Cap the number of people allowed in the park?

Okay so but carry that through to the logical conclusion = YOU might be the unlucky 10,0001 person who tried to book and therefore can't go to AT at all. Which, if you are currently unhappy with it being too busy, is a solution you can achieve yourself anyway now by...not buying a ticket. There you go, sorted it for you!

Why would AT implement a system that people could do themselves if they wanted to vote with their feet and stop going in protest - but, despite years of the same issue, they clearly don't, as parks are only getting busier!

Yes, I did say that to DH the first time I took him to Blackpool. It was actually October half term and the illuminations were on and I remember that when I was younger the Pleasure Beach would always be open in the evenings when the lights were on. I thought it was strange (we got there late afternoon so there was still some daylight), then thought about security and they probably think it’s more hassle than it’s worth now.

I remember that too, and from a family perspective it would be great, however… Blackpool has a huge problem with drink, drugs, stag and hen parties. If everyone could just wander around without paying it wouldn’t be a safe or nice place to go.

Normal restaurants do not water down their wine, where on earth do you go?

I don't take ice in my drinks, if you ask or accept drinks full of ice, then of course, they are watered down. It's your choice

I’m old enough to remember when Blackpool Pleasure Beach was free to enter and you could pay per ride or get a book of raffle tickets and use them to go on rides! Couldn’t believe when they started charging just to go in. Loads of people would go in with their kids and pay for a few rides and probably get food and drink. Now those people just won’t go.

They tried the same with Pleasureland at Southport and their footfall dropped dramatically. It’s now free to go in there again and you just pay per ride (or was the last time I went a couple of years ago).

We’ve been to Coney Island many times and it’s free to enter and you can get a card and load it with money to swipe for the rides. Barely any queues there, unless it’s for food!

we can only hope people will stop going and force businesses to rethink their numbers

I tried to google when fast passes started in AL and found an article from 2011 referring to them having been introduced "many years ago". So we are probably talking nearly 2 decades, and the parks are only getting busier. Therefore I think it's unlikely people are going to vote with their feet in protest.

and, um, restaurants absolutely DO water down drinks to make more money, why do you think they chuck so much ice in to soft drinks etc.

It's private equity firms that ruin everything.

Off the top of my head Europapark has been owned by the same family from the start and Efteling is owned by a non-profit foundation.

I've seen Paultons Park recommended a lot on this thread so I've looked up who owns it, it's independently family-owned.

The last time I went to AT was about 10 years ago, and 13 had massive queues even then. Is weird because it is rather a sedate ride (until the last bit 😉).

Bloody amazing in the dark.

Was at Alton Towers on Friday and longest we queued was an hour for 13. Everything else was 30 minutes max. We did nemesis three times and managed all rides except Rita as it was closed.

Never been any different for me either and we’ve been loads - we have Merlin passes again this year.

You'd think this but the busiest day this year at Chessington so far this year was a term time Friday! I think lots of people locally had the same idea... 😂Might work if you go further afield

Love the Efteling, the scenery is amazing!

I went to Pleasurewood Hills recently and had a great time but why so much concrete?! And barely any parasols near the picknick tables so no reprieve from the sun.

We went to Thorpe park last week and the longest queue we had was for the water dinghy one which was 45 mins. Everything else was around 20 and some were only 10 mins so we went on a few times each. I was pleasantly surprised as it had been a long time since I’ve been. We went on all the rides we wanted to and only missed stealth as it was shut. When the kids were little, I got fed up at gullivers by the management of the RAP though, whole rides were being taken up by one family as one child had a RAP-not their fault but the teenagers running the rides who didn’t understand that only a portion of each ride should include RAPers.

Theme Parks are a great example of where quite a few people think there are too many other people without considering that they are one of excess of people in someone elses eyes.

No, fair points. I just hate how people are ripped off that’s all.

Theme parks are not an essential service. No one is being exploited. If you think fast passes etc are unfair, then vote with your feet. I can guarantee that you not going is not going to affect the theme park and their profits whatsoever.

They are trying to make as much money as possible
Why?
They are a business
if they thought it was putting people off… they would have abandoned long ago

Noones being exploited. Noones being rounded up and forced to go to Chessington. People go out of their own free will. Most people appear to enjoy it from the level of return visits.

No , I made the point that people can vote with their feet, but it’s clear the companies are trying to fleece people. That’s all. It’s like most things these days though! I used to save up vouchers for the odd trip to theme Parks, but I bet that’s not as easy to do anymore.

They are only "getting away" with it because people want to pay. There is no social good from a theme park it is pure capitalist entertainment. It is not some kind of human right. Some people value it enough to pay the £40 to get in and queue, some people value it enough to pay to get in and then pay more for the rides. Some people don't value it enough to even go in the first place.

Theme parks are busy because a lot of people put high value on that type of entertainment. It is simple supply and demand capitalism. Just like theatre tickets are expensive because a lot of people put high value on seeing a performance live.

A “poor” person is unlikely to be able to afford the entry.

This is silly. There is absolutely no obligation to go.

Sorry, but I think they are being exploitive. We all have different opinions on this. I know people can vote with their feet , but it feels off to make the whole day out experience another division between rich and poor.
only my own opinion though.

They aren’t “getting away with it”,

They are selling something. And people are buying it or not buying it .

This isn’t pharmaceutical corruption or similar!

I have recently renewed DS’s Nimbus pass and got the impression that they may be tightening up eligibility. Last time we applied we just needed a diagnosis letter. This time there were multiple specific questions on the form about what type of disabilities he has and how they affect him with regard to being in a theme park. The form stated that they may come back to request more evidence, so I sent several documents to ensure they had enough. It was a significantly more faffy process than I remember from before.