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

Merlin theme parks in the UK are crap. Long queues, rides break down regularly, short opening hours, most rides have fewer trains running than they can. My kids love them, sadly, but they are awful in so many ways. I think it because then they make more money - you have to go back, or pay more to jump queues.

Compare to Efteling in the Netherlands - very short queues, longer opening hours each day, the park is open all year, and rides rarely break down and run at full capacity most of the time. And their equivalent of the RAP gives you a safe and sensory-safe place to wait, but you don't get on quicker. In the UK, RAP means queuing in a busy space (just not the same one as everyone else). My kids have RAP, but in Efteling we didn't need it at all - no queues, despite a busy time of year at the park.

Our local socials are always filled with complaints about passes full stop, and how it was much better when you just went in and paid for each ride. That was last the case in about 2004, but still, they ain't wrong-you got on rides much more quickly and it wasn't always packed, and you didn't spend most of the day queuing!
Fast/speedy passes are another layer of hell. Theoretically, if everyone bought them, they'd become meaningless. So really, it just needs us all to refuse to buy them, and problem solved. Won't happen though, so the theme park makes money for nothing!

Why don't they allocate times for each ticket. So if they can do 10 rides an hour holding 60 people give half an hour slots to 300 people on the big rides, or some other time management system. Means you can plan the day and the park can say every ticket is guaranteed one ride on each of the main attractions. Have a reserve que for people wanting 2nd rides or people who missed their slot, who can fill the none shows. It seems weird you pay the admission but can't actually use all the rides you paid for without hours waiting.

Agree OP, not keen on many UK theme parks now except Poulton’s Park, they have some good rides, the queues pretty reasonable and the grounds are immaculate.

Legoland Bilund is amazing and so much nicer than Windsor, May half term is not the holidays in Denmark so it’s not mega busy and you can also do the Lego House for a day (highly recommend) and Lalandia if you want to make a week of it.

Hoping to go to Efteling maybe next year. Had a great time at Port Aventura in Spain but that was years ago now, would like to try it again.

I’m not sure which of these it is tbh. It’s a massive pain to get the Nimbus card and you’re dancing between the RAP page and the general booking trying to make sure there is space…. So it’s hard work to get and use.

otoh when we were gifted fast passes it was zero faff - straight through to the ride. I’d probably buy a few fast passes next time even though we’d mainly use the RAP.

Yeah, that's just wrong. I wouldn't give my dog what they serve at theme parks, it's so disgusting. people should be able to take their own better quality food in if they want, especially if they have allergies or fussy kids or dietary restrictions. They are coming for the rides after all, not a hot dog made of toe nails or chips with black bits on that taste of stale grease.

Fast pass aren't even worth it at peak time, they sell too many anyway.

Fast passes are limited so everyone couldn't just buy one.

Took DS to Legoland, went there when it opened to when it shut and in that whole time he was only able to get on 3 rides.

Visitors choose to travel to theme parks, knowing full well what time they open and close.

People who live nearby have no control over the operating hours, and often lived there before the theme park was built, or before x number of expansions, introduction of bigger and noisier rides etc.

And yes they close for periods of time because they're deadly expensive to run, difficult to staff outside of seasonal work and nobody wants to go trudging around one when its freezing cold, pouring with rain and miserable.

We have a season ticket for my child with disabilities because she can't manage a full day at the park, and we can go on good days, not if she has a day when she needs rest.

Except RAP is now so restricted in numbers (or so many people have it) that RAP slots run out well in advance. The entirety of the summer holiday runs out before it even begins.

It's really frustrating.

I remember those fast passes at Disney, we actually bought Annual passes as well and went several times that year (staying off site). But with the Annual passes (access at 8am )combined with strategic planning of rides and the free fast passes meant you could have a really good day. This was back in 2015 mind you!

🥱

Blackpool Pleasure Beach has shot itself in the foot because you could go in as a spectator for £10 and only pay full price for the DC (or whoever wanted the rides) and then the management decided to charge £30 even if you were not going on the rides. This has cut footfall massively for the food stalls etc. This is probably why the sandwiches had to be thrown away (put the in the bottom of the bag and deny existence). Sometimes I wonder if the people who have these ideas have any idea how to run a business at all.

What would you define as a minor disability?

UK theme parks are awful value. Efteling, Phantasialand etc are all way way better. Cleaner, better rides, better value, shorter queues. We only do European parks really.

They shouldn’t be used for minor disabilities, the purpose for them is for people who either physically cannot stand in line for that amount of time or for people who have learning difficulties and can’t manage queuing. If they are run properly, you’re not skipping the queue, they just allow you to be elsewhere sitting down or somewhere quiet until the time you’re allowed to go back onto the ride. You’re not able to go on any other rides during that time. I have a dd who wouldn’t be able to experience a theme park without this. But I agree too many people are saying they need them when they may actually not.

Fair point. Im not local to any half decent theme park so didnt think of that. But the early closing times do suck for visitors who travel a good distance to get there. Even 7pm would better than 5pm. And the fact the parks are generally closed for a number of months throughout the year for weather/maintenance etc.

It was a system where each ride that had a fast pass would have a couple of machines and you would go press a button and it would give you a ticket for a certain time to go back so you couldn't just bowl up and expect to go on it that minute. Oddly enough I found a couple of the tickets a few weeks ago when I was packing up my house and apparently they fetch a bit of money online for some reason.

They would be worthless.

Glad I don't live next to a theme park on the continent (we are in Europe - look at a map, a bit of water doesn't change what continent we are on) or the USA. Noise most of the year until 10 p.m. No thanks.

Keep them open longer? I'm sure some sort of compromise could be made. At this rate many people just aren't going because its not worth it. Maybe they could learn from other countries business models that seems to be more successful and more enjoyable for the customer.

What would happen if everyone bought these passes?

Ban fast passes. Money should not get you preference over a queue.

But it wouldn't be better for local residents as they'd have to endure the noise of it late into the night. The main reason for not opening later is the noise abatement restriction.