AIBU that fast passes and disabled access lines should be different.

[2021isnottheyear]

We went to a well known theme park yesterday with daughter who is disabled.
The ride access passes are now moved to virtual queues so you wait the same length of time as everyone else but just not in the actual line. This is absolutely fine. However the issue is you wait the same length of time and then when it is your time you go to the access and end up waiting in a line / longer because it’s the same system they use for people who have purchased fast passes.

1. It means you still end up waiting in a line and 2 actually end up waiting longer than without a ride access pass ?

Also in terms of the other customers who don’t have fast passes this then makes their usual long waits even longer.

The system seems very flawed.

If I've understood correctly, you are given free fast passes? So you join the fast pass queue at the allotted time with everyone else who has fast passes? How long was the wait?

Agree, OP. l would write to the park and tell them so they can look into it. Presumably it's a COVID policy rolled out quickly and perhaps hasn't been fully thought through/tested.

They are not fast passes they are virtual lines

So I’d say the line is 60 minutes for the usual line then we wait 60 minutes but virtually - which is absolutely fine.

But people with fast passes are then lined up when you arrive for your slot and then you end up waiting even longer.

Is the issue not just that there are too many “fast passes”. Like that Come Fly With Me sketch when everyone on the plane has paid for “speedy boarding”. These things only work if they are actually strictly limited. I wouldn’t have been happy to have paid for a fast pass to find the normal queue be shorter!

@Happy36 unfortunately I doubt they will care because the amount they charge for these fast passes and the fact that they are normally all sold out in the holiday trunks the needs of what used to be the disabled access or in fact there original customer base. It’s almost like you have to actually pay 100s to go on more than 2 rides in 8 hours. 🤣

Do those who in the actual line also have to wait behind those with fast passes?

I agree - I thought that disabled access wasn't about speed, it was about avoiding queues. I'm "high functioning" autistic and don't do well in them, I can't imagine trying to care for someone who struggles even more.

@MattHancocksSexTape I think there is a certain amount that go through fast pass at one time and normal line at one time.

I think Only one access pass can go on at once.

Yeah, I'd agree that defeats the point of the disabled access virtual queue.

Normal queue: People all join and wait their turn
Disabled virtual access queue: People who are unable to wait in the normal queue still wait for the same amount of time as someone in the normal queue
Fast pass queue: People pay for the privilege of effectively queue jumping and getting in the ride sooner

I would expect that with the virtual queue you should either be taken straight to the front of the queue once your time is up, or there is a different entrance that gets you straight onto the ride. Either way getting someone to then do additional queueing in the fast pass queue is annoying. I guess they may have assumed the fastpass queue wouldn't have any measurable wait? But either way they should have someone at the front of the queue that is managing virtual queue people and taking them straight to the front.

We've spent quite a bit of time in some of the big American theme parks and that's exactly what they do.

It’s honestly not worth the money for families who can only afforded the usual park tickets anymore.

@MattHancocksSexTape

Do those who in the actual line also have to wait behind those with fast passes?

Yep. Fast passes notoriously slow down the standard line as they have to let so many fast passes through before a standard line.

But either way they should have someone at the entrance of the queue that is managing virtual queue people and taking them straight to the front.

Is this a Merlin park? I noticed they'd changed this when we visited recently. They were saying that it was in response to customer feedback and increases in numbers of visitors with disabilities.

I thought it looked fair. Don't you have a pass that covers all of their parks now and lasts for a year?

I know you corrected my use of 'fast pass' but that's what they used to be called I think. You turn up at the allotted time and join a much shorter queue?

Did you have unfettered, immediate access before? If so I can see why this feels worse. I would write to them with your feedback. If enough people do that, they might listen.

All these fast passes should be banned and theme parks required by law to limit the numbers. Already costs a small fortune to go. They are just greedy bastards.

@fourminutestosavetheworld that’s isn’t the point.

So the change to virtual lines where we wait the same length of time as usual line is absolutely not the problem.

Unfortunately it sounds like they haven't properly accounted for how many people would be using fast pass. In Walt Disney World currently if you have a disability access pass you do the same thing where you wait in a virtual queue and then go through the FP lane when its your turn. However there is no FP currently so it works really well as you don't hit a small queue of FP as well.

They should definitely have either a seperate entrance (i know some parks take you through the ride exit) to make sure you get right to the front. Or an employee who directs you to the front ahead of fast pass.

@LemonViolet

Is the issue not just that there are too many “fast passes”. Like that Come Fly With Me sketch when everyone on the plane has paid for “speedy boarding”. These things only work if they are actually strictly limited. I wouldn’t have been happy to have paid for a fast pass to find the normal queue be shorter!

This always seems to happen on budget flights! They often package together what they call extra baggage (which tends to be the amount of baggage anyone actually needs to go anywhere) and ‘priority boarding’ so the queue for that is miles long compared to sometimes no queue for normal boarding.

YANBU theme parks seem to be one of the many types of businesses whose greed and desire to have it every way has gotten out of control during Covid. It should be obvious from day one that if the system means disabled guests queuing in the longer line then the system doesn’t work and needs to be changed, like, by opening time the next day.

We were planning on going back maybe looking at fast passes so she could re do the day ( was meant to be the kids very special treat ) 95.00 per person on top of admission so there is no way they will make changes.

"So the change to virtual lines where we wait the same length of time as usual line is absolutely not the problem."

Yes, but then you expect to immediately get on the ride.

But that's not possible because other people who were in the virtual queue are also turning up, so some queueing is still required surely?

You maybe waiting longer than if you just joined the normal queue in the first place but your queueing time is greatly reduced. Instead of queueing for 60 minutes you can get a coffee, shop, go on a less popular ride with no queue etc and then queue for 15 minutes.

If other people are paying lots of money for that service, it must be seen as preferable to normal queuing, otherwise why would anyone pay?

Maybe there are some unintended consequences that need ironing out. I'd definitely write to give feedback.

@forum the point of the access pass is not to line up because you have valid reasons not to. It’s also not a 20 minute wait at times.
We had 7 people in our group.
On a particular ride my DS was in main line and we were in a virtual line both at the same starting point however when we were told it was “ our turn “ we then waited much longer once getting in to line. They were on the ride and off and in another line before we even on the ride 🤣

@ but that’s the point why is there fast passes, which are out of reach for most families with children at the cost.

The original Merlin customers are being completely forgotten about and not only the disabled ones.

Yanbu, OP.

We recently went to legoland, where the ride access pass has changed to a virtual queue.

My dc were able to notice that we were actually waiting longer than the normal queue to get on rides - eg a ride has a queue of 60 minutes. We have to wait virtually for 60 minutes (all fine, part of the system, a ride access pass is not an instant access pass, etc, etc). After our queue time had elapsed, we could join the fast pass/disabled entrance queue, where we often waited an extra 15/20 minutes to get on the ride, meaning we had actually waited 75/80 minutes to ride, rather than the 60 minute queue length.

I can only assume the system is not working as intended.

It used to be the case, when I first started using virtual queue ride access passes, that the time we had to wait between rides was the normal queue length minus 20 minutes, which I suppose might have been to try to mitigate the wait once in the disabled queue? FWIW, I’ve been using ride access passes with my dc for about 15 years now, and the legoland system this year is the worst system I’ve used (across multiple parks, not just Merlin parks, both in the uk and abroad)

We turn up at the FP line 10 minutes before our time is up. More often that not even if you get to the front before the time is up they'll let you on. If not you do what most other people do, stand to the side and wait for the counter haha.

@ElfDragon yes it was Lego land !

Tbh we went to Alton towers a few years ago and I don’t remember it being as bad but that could have changed I suppose.

People say “ the sheer numbers of disabled people was a problem “.
I can’t see how due to the nature of the eligibility not all disabled people are even entitled.

@HarebrightCedarmoon

All these fast passes should be banned and theme parks required by law to limit the numbers. Already costs a small fortune to go. They are just greedy bastards.

They are required to limit the numbers by law - that is the parks capacity. Fast passes make commercial sense as some people will always be willing to pay not to have to queue as long.