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

True...for people within easy reach of London.
But yes, of all the activities, theatre seems to have become less out of reach than others, if you're smart and can be flexible.

I get the whole ‘ it’s a business’ , but everyone is out to make money out of people and you end up being fleeced. I’ve no skin in the game as I don’t go to theme parks , but it’s hard on families isn’t it. Sorry to sound an old gimmer! ( #sick of people being ripped off!

except that paying customers are allowed to expect a certain level of service.

Restaurants don't water down the wine or alcohol to "make more money".
Selling tickets full price when it's so busy people can barely go on a couple of rides is not right. There should be a minimum amount of rides you can access.
If you pay for a fast track, you should at least have a "fast track" service which you don't anymore.

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

Instead businesses work because of their yearly membership or yearly passes, so people don't see the issue of a full day but only a ride or two, because they come back all the time.

Yes, I’ve got that too, but I still think the process is a huge faff. You have to send loads of information to Nimbus, wait for them to issue the Nimbus card and send it in the post. Then back to Legoland website to try to coordinate RAP availability on the same days as a hotel booking. (We live too far away to do it in a day!)

I must admit I’ve never used Nimbus for anything else, but it takes a fair bit of commitment to use it for a RAP at Legoland, so I tend to think that means most using it are genuine!

We’re off to Billund soon and they have a combination of “extra consideration” wristbands and sunflower lanyards. It will be interesting to see how it compares to Windsor.

yeah I always laugh at those sort of disgruntled posts. Fancy a BUSINESS wanting to make MONEY! 😂

It is irritating but it's not rocket science. Options are to go in term time, whether that means pulling a sicky for the kids or taking advantage of an inset day in your area that is different to the place you are going. Or accepting you will have to splash out for a fast track yourself. Or doing one of the overnight deals so you can do the big rides later in the day on day 1 and then first thing in the morning day 2. Or going to parks in Europe which sometimes aren't as bad.

Ah yes the pleasure beach now have more bag security searches than Heathrow but not for terrorist activity but FOOD no longer are you allowed to bring your own food and drink in, rather than be held hostage to paying for shite pleasure beach food we didn't bother this year and won't be going again.

Queues are probably lower in there as its so run down and has an awful vibe.

This is definitely true for several things... I do think theatre is still pretty accessible though.
Lots of London-based but not West End theatres (eg. the Old Vic) offer preview tickets for around £15. Lotsoffer discounts for under 25s and sometimes under 30s, as well as over 60s. The Globe has the £5 standing tickets. And booking early helps : I've been able to see a lot of West End shows including musicals for around £30-£35 by booking months in advance.
A lot of the time the most affordable seats are restricted view but this often doesn't affect much.

Well that isn’t sad either! If I find something shite… then I don’t return.

Yeah I guess the last part is what's sad. That people accept shite.

We took ours to Legoland years ago, and I was so traumatised by the crowds that we never did another in the UK. It was overcrowded, full of badly behaved kids and the food was dire. We went to one in Spain on holiday the following year and it was amazing in comparison - spotlessly clean, great food, and barely any more than 15 minutes in any given queue.

It would be sad if you’d been forced to go

it is disappointing not to have an experience you had hoped it would be

and so you then don’t return

but these theme parks carry on year after year because of repeat visitors

Incidentally, as a part Pole I will say that Poland also seems to have good theme parks (though I can't personally vouch as I've not yet been to any there).

Energylandia is the biggest in Europe.

https://energylandia.pl/en/

And some others which look nice..

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g274723-Activities-c52-Poland.html
Generally it seems like Europe has better queuing systems for theme parks- I wonder why? There shouldn't theoretically any reason why England couldn't have more efficient theme parks too.

Why isn't it sad? It's clearly a shit experience.

The odd thing is… so many people on this thread appear to not like them… yet continue to visit.

I cannot stand Chessington and Legoland for this reason. Can’t trust the app queue times either as you never know how many passes they’ll sell and subsequently how many people will push in in front of you.

Luckily, we live close enough to get to Paultons Park which is absolutely fantastic and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Some people really like theme parks! Just like some people like beaches and some people like sightseeing. People who like things tend to do them as often as they can. Not controversial.

It’s the way of the world. The well off can do more. An increasing number of activities/fun day outs are becoming less accessible to more and more people (theme parks, zoos, theatre, cinema, even soft play). A shame.

Yes, there's an interesting podcast called Keys To The Kingdom about people who work in theme parks. American but I can imagine a lot applies here. It sounds like a tiresome job a lot of the time, especially if you're doing something like dressing up in a sweaty costume in summer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=open.spotify.com/show/4qOw4roJANLfrPGiuyZy0l&ved=2ahUKEwjW3cP39JOWAxVEVUEAHbzCFUkQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0a-krrNKf-Ax1I_qioggx9

It isn’t “sad”

If it wasn’t working for many people, they’d go out of business

Is going to a theme park a normal thing to do frequently? Even once a year sounds a lot to me.

Yeah but it's sad they can't run places like that in a much better way in terms of consumer experience. You pay your money, you should get better service than that. No other sector could get away with it.

I definitely wouldn't bother going and wouldn't recommend it as it stands now.

Exactly

The way some people are talking you’d think these theme parks were charities or public bodies that owed us something

Meh. They're businesses, it's normal for them to want to make a profit.

I love fast passes, and definitely wouldn't go without them - 9 year old DS and his friends aren't exactly renowned for their patience with queuing, and an expensive theme park isn't the place to be teaching them life lessons about queues, I'd rather pay and get the most out of the day.

You’d think they’d been forced to go to this theme park

No she’s not wondering whether worth it. Clearly she’s just had an experience whereby she has concluded it isn’t worth it.