Priority queues at theme parks!

[Bridget1983]

Who does this?! Cause I’m looking and thinking I would be mortified to be the person pushing in front of a 6 year old who has just queued an hour and a half for a ride!!

We did. You don't push in front. It's discreet and legal.

Nobody's disputing it's not legal, of course it is lol.
Just it comes down to are you happy with yourself pushing a queue back as your have the money to do so to let yourself to the front

Yabu, OP!

I get you OP, we had the muddy to visit Legoland during school holidays. Queues were horrendous and then when you get to the top people who paid even more push in as if it wasn’t expensive enough already. I just won’t visit these waste of money places again unless it’s a wet school day.

I have ZERO problem with SEN people or others who find it hard to queue getting priority, I have no problem with a system like Disney where everyone gets a certain number of priority tickets, I have every problem with theme parks charging people for priority queueing! That said if it’s there then I don’t look down on those using it. Personally yes I’m really annoyed at my queue being longer because of priority passes but that’s how it is. We usually use the main queue as live nearby and have Merlin annual passes so it doesn’t matter if we have to wait a while and don’t get on loads of rides plus we want to teach our DS the art of queueing. He has always been ok in queues as we play quizzes and other games to keep him entertained plus always have drinks and snacks. We have however bought priority passes for single rides and attractions on special occasions (I bought one for the horror mazes at Thorpe Park as knew I’d chicken out if I queued fir ages but wouldn’t want to waste my money by not going in them with a paid ticket!)

It’s all relative. Yes I’m annoyed by the fact that they exist and worry we are bringing up a generation who can’t queue but I can’t get too het up about people using them if they are there. We all managed to queue as children and still enjoyed theme park days out - the wait for rides was just “one of those things” but if there is a way to not do that and you can afford it then I can see why you would. (But also why many wouldn’t)

OP do you object if children at DC's school get a prize but DC doesn't?

Firmly on the not pushing in side but I do understand the ops frustration when you see them let through a whole load of fast track people and one or two standard people but that’s life - I’m sure if the op was given a free fast track ticket they would use it.
I did think of this thread yesterday when I witnessed a mum make her young child wait in a queue for a ride he wasn’t tall enough for but she wanted to go on. So this poor kid waited an hour in this weather for his mum to ride...

You don't "push in front " of anyone. There is normally a separate queue for priority customers and dammit I'm happy to use it !

I have no guilt at all thanks. Although it can also involve a longer cue. Happy to pay extra and hopefully get to do more, and as I'm not physically pushing past or into anyone, feel not the smallest modicum or guilt.

With the basic "q bot" at legoland you aren't really queue jumping at all. You register the ride you want to go on next and it effectively clocks what time you would get onto the ride if you joined the queue right now, and reserves your place in the queue. You still "wait in line" (you can only be in the queue for one thing at a time and wait the same duration) but can spend that 90 minutes getting an icecream, using the loo, buying souvenirs or just chilling. It's a nicer day than one spent basically standing in a queue all day except for half a dozen two minute rides. It makes so much sense to do it that it makes more sense to thank of the entrance fee plus basic qbot as the "real" entry price and then have small-print that you can choose to save 30% of the cost if you opt out of the queuing technology and spend the whole time between rides standing in queues.

There's nothing weird about teaching kids that richer people get nicer experiences. It's true. They need to understand that there is a balancing act - they are richer than, and having nicer experiences than, millions of children in developing countries. They are already very very lucky even if they are relatively poor in the UK. There will always be another family which is even richer, but the very richest are not the happiest because happiness comes from love and that's free, but many of the richest families are deeply miserable because somewhere along the line someone chose money over love. So whilst they need to strive to build a good career and earn a decent salary so they can afford luxuries like fun days out at legoland without queuing they need to balance the acquisition of such wealth with ensuring they don't lose sight of love in the process. It's a complex topic, the discussion of which could while-away a good 45 minutes of queuing time.

I waited for a hour with my son and then the queue person asked us to move backwards to let in queue jumpers. The woman was saying that she would never not go VIP... £90 for unlimited fast track, unfortunately for normal people the theme park cost is enough let alone another £90! I hate it as you never know how long a queue is as they all push in BUT I wish I could be them!

I waited for a hour with my son and then the queue person asked us to move backwards to let in queue jumpers. The woman was saying that she would never not go VIP... £90 for unlimited fast track, unfortunately for normal people the theme park cost is enough let alone another £90! I hate it as you never know how long a queue is as they all push in BUT I wish I could be them!

They're not queue jumpers, they are priority pass holders.

I'm not a fan of them, but basically it's because I'm jealous-I can't afford to buy them. If I could I'm sure I'd use them too.

When reading this thread I wondered if people would feel the same about people with priority passes being able to cut in front of them in the supermarket or at a bar or in a long traffic jam. Then realised this is already starting to happen in bars and restaurants in holiday resorts. Businesses reading this thread must be rubbing their hands with glee as clearly there are unending ways for them to charge more and it seems hardly anyone will object. My objection to these things is that they reduce the opportunity for people from all walks of life to share experiences. Fairly soon a rich person will be able to go through life without ever talking to, or even standing next to a poorer person. Presumably you are all fine too with those blocks of apartments in London that have a separate entrance around the back for those who live in the social housing apartments that the builder is forced to include in their development. After all if they want to use the front entrance they should earn more.

While I don’t blame people buying them. When it comes to legoland in the school holidays there is really no point going if you can’t afford one of these as you won’t be able to access more than a few rides even after a day of queuing and the qbots add to this problem. The thing is when you buy your theme park ticket you might not realise that there will be people paying even more than you who will be able to access the rides ahead of you, meaning you won’t be able to go on many rides. Theme parks are meant to be a treat for everybody and it isn’t really a treat if you have to spend the day telling your child that the world isn’t fair and people with more money get better things.
My advice is to boycott theme parks in the holidays if you can’t afford the priority tickets and treat your family to something nicer.

a separate entrance around the back

that's not the same thing at all. A back entrance has negative connotations. A fast track at boarding gates or theme parks goes alongside the regular entrance - or is put on the other side to manage crowds, not to make judgments on which client is using what.

Online deliveries have different prices. YOU chose what time to receive yours, and you organise yourself based on the price you are willing to pay.

How on earth could people from all walks of life share experience? Shall I pop in in Buckingham Palace next time I have to stay the night in London and demand a room because it's only fair?

Bizarre that you wouldn’t pay to a priority pass when you could afford to. Standing for a stupid amount of time when you could get to the front much quicker! Why would you do that?

If you chose to go at peak season and not pay for a fast track, then it's a choice.

You could still refuse to pay extra and go at quieter times!

We were waiting in a busy office at a car hire place once, to pick up a pre paid car. It was a take a ticket and wait in turn system, with the number displayed when it was your turn. We waited patiently for half an hour or so, then started to take a bit more notice of what was happening as we realised that people who had come in after us were leaving before us.
We discovered you could pay for a priority pass!!! And on closer inspection everyone was doing this because it was so busy in there with people from new flights arriving all the time. The result was that we were getting further and further back in the queue.
We had no choice but to pay the extra to join and the net result was we paid extra to join the same queue that there would have been if nobody had paid the extra in the first place. If you didn't pay you would have just got further and further back. The extra was only about 12 euros but in effect, became a mandatory cost that you had no choice to pay.

Sorry if this seems obvious to some...any priority passes in most theme parks or venues are separate queues and you’re not pushing in front of others. Or you have a specific time slot booked.
It’s only a small majority of parks who do that now and will eventually change to separate queues.
I think your just being a little ridiculous. It is their choice and that’s all there is to it. If I could afford it... I would do the same.

Goodness, hope the local GP isn't reading this thread!

It would make the main queue bigger, but the waiting time for the main queue is definitely made longer by having the fast pass queue.

The queue times DO take express and priority pass allocation into account. They monitor queue times all day every day, often using little cards which they ask people to carry and hand in as they board a ride.
The priority system exists and won't go away, and of course people will use them if they are available and they can afford them. like with anything else in life!

When you join a queue you look at the time and decide if you want to join it. In our experience of visiting different theme parks regularly over the past 15 years we have found queue times to be fairly accurate, unless there is a break down. This hasn't changed, in our experience, since priority was made more popular. The displayed time is usually a fairly accurate indicator.

Now proper queue jumping really does annoy me - people sending one person into the queue, and then half an hour or more later, the rest of the family making there way through everyone to join them! That really isn't on!!

Aragog Proper queue jumping is against the rules in theme parks but the staff usually do naff all about it which is even worse! (We has ONE incident when a staff member noticed and did something... they made the person wait for the next ride! )
If a member of public dares challenge a queue jumper though you usually find that the queue jumper will get the majority of the support from the rest of the queue who just happily let them through. Usually because they are big burly loud mouthed people and people are scared to confront them!

expat101 Of course not! Stupid irrelevant comment!

I haven’t looked at this thread for a couple of days - interesting to see the various points of view.
Definitely understand the POV of people who say they have very little money but pay to be priority as this is their special day out with their family. On reflection I understand this makes sense from a financial and practical perspective.

I am able to see both sides of something unlike the arseholes who attacked my parenting with comments like you should be ashamed making your dc queue in extreme heat etc 🙄😂
Glad I’m not the only person who feels that the system is shit though. Agree the Disney pass system sounds good. Also places where it’s more discreet, less of a problem but the place I was at it was very noticeable when people were being bumped to the front - as pp have pointed out this is difficult for those with SEN family members who may not have a visible disability.