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!!

"You cant compare it to private health care, the consultant doesn't leave his queue of NHS patients to see his private patients, he has set times for this."

Yes but if no one was allowed to buy private healthcare, he wouldn't leave his queue of NHS patients at all.

Plus private healthcare isn't just about getting seen quicker.

"This puts me off theme parks to be honest, we went to Thorpe Park and were waiting 3 hours to get on one of the rides"

Three hours?! Surely no ride is worth waiting three hours for, is it??

We got priority passes at eurodisney as I was pregnant at the time

Fast passes are free at Disney (at the moment)

Do you mean you got a special pass for being pregnant?

My experience with a fast pass at Alton towers - all rides done by 1.30pm.

My experience without a fastpass at Thorpe Park - 2 rides all day.

They’re a necessary evil. Bit like paying to reserve seats on a plane. Just a money making exercise, but without them your experience can be far less enjoyable.

It's not pushing in the queue...we pay much more to have a smaller queue. Is it jealously? Because you could pay more and not have to queue so much .

A landrey card helps you skip the queues in some USA restaurants

Sorry...that sounds random

I’d just read a post about skipping restaurant queues in vegas and i was 😳

Then I remembered the langrey card

Can’t remember what it’s called

Can I do a quick check here?

Good:
Private schools
Private Healthcare
Business Class flights

Evil:
Paying £20 to get on a log flume a bit quicker.

Mumsnet, you never disappoint.

Three hours?! Surely no ride is worth waiting three hours for, is it??

Not really no haha, but we went specifically to go on said ride, and once we had been waiting about an hour or so (predicted wait was 1.5 hours) it had reached the point of may as well wait it out now.

"Good:
Private schools
Private Healthcare
Business Class flights

Evil:
Paying £20 to get on a log flume a bit quicker.

Mumsnet, you never disappoint."

Surely we should be teaching our children that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly.

If you teach them that, at some point they're going to be in for an enormous shock.

Life isn't fair - and it's not just about money - people are unequal in all sorts of ways, privilege and lack thereof underly all our experiences in society; our physical attractiveness, our level of ability and health, whether we are born into a stable family background or a chaotic one, whether we belong to a cultural minority - things that are a matter of luck rather than effort, but which mean some people have a much easier time than others.

I'm not saying that's a good thing, but that's how it is.

"Surely we should be teaching our children that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly."

No, we should be teaching them that everyone isn't equal in our society, that privilege and advantage and the opposite exist everywhere. And we should be teaching them that they should treat everyone fairly.

Offering differing levels of service isn't treating people unfairly. It's not treating people in a basic hotel room unfairly to give a bigger suite with balcony to people for a higher cost. It would be treating people unfairly if everyone paid the same, but some people got a huge suite with balcony, a bath the size of Devon to swim in and 24/7 maid service, and some people got a little single room with no window and a bucket to wash in. That would be unfair.

So letting people 'push in' who have paid exactly the same would be unfair, but having a higher price ticket option involving less queues isn't unfair.

Totally disagree with queue jumping passes. Surely we should be teaching our children that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly.

Should people not be allowed to pay for priority boarding on a plane either then?

Yep if you can't afford a more expensive ticket your time isn't as valuable so you should wait longer whilst the more important people go in

That's a very odd and bitter way of looking at it. People pay to save time, so they can go on more rides. That doesn't mean that their time is considered more valuable, it means they have paid more than other people and so are going to be prioritised. That's how services work. Queue jumping is a perk that people can pay for. Choosing to pay for that perk doesn't mean you're more important

People choose whether they want to queue for a particular ride based on the queue time which is written outside, or whether they want to visit the park at all. If they are so bothered about people going in a shorter queue, they can either save up for longer to afford the queue jump(like I did, I'm not rich at all but I saved up because I wanted to go on more rides) or they can go right for park opening time, or they can visit when the park is less busy. Theme parks are a luxury in itself. Queue jumping is just another on top of that. Should priority boarding on planes not be allowed either? That makes the wait times longer for people in the normal queue too.

Lolling at the PP who thinks if business and first class were abolished, all the economy seats would be bigger. HAHAHHAHA!!

The airlines would just add more small economy seats to....drum roll....MAKE MORE MONEY.

Some of these comments are like reading a Kurt Vonnegut.

And I highly doubt that OP can afford passes due to her insane jealousy and bitterness, and the fact that she can’t tell the difference between “to” and “too”.

How can you 'push in' if it's a different bloody queue? If I was into theme parks etc., I'd buy a priority pass too and wouldn't be giving a second thought to all the six year olds in the standard queue.
You sound like the sort of person who wouldn't pay to book seats on a plane but would expect others to move for you "BECAUSE I HAVE A CHILD!!!".

We stay at a Portaventura resort hotel and we always buy discount fast passes or we get them included with our room.

Nothing wrong with it.

Would you prefer it if they didn't offer it and just hiked the tickets up even more to cover the lost income? It would then be less affordable to to all and maybe shorter normal queue times?

So say, Alton Towers, 120 entrance flat for all. Would that be a solution to the fairness issue?

I can understand why people buy them but, in principle, I don't agree with it. It means that those, who haven't paid, wait longer

Surely we should be teaching our children that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly.

we are - everybody can purchase fast tracks.

The Monarchy on the other hand....

*and what about the families who can't afford a ticket full stop in the first place?

Doesn't seem to bother the OP too much that one....

You can do that without be a celeb strawberry

Its just very expensive

What an odd attitude and no I would not be embarrassed at all to go in front of a 6 year old who’s been waiting longer if I’d paid to do so. It’s up to their parents to explain why I was prioritised.

If you want everyone to have everything the same go to communist North Korea.

I think Disney fast passes are great, as they are free for everyone with a ticket to book in advance.

I think the Legoland etc fastpasses are awful, they are a ridiculous price and the standard queues are poorly managed so you're very much a third class guest if you cant afford the extra.