AIBU to hate the concept of fast passes?

[IloveConkers]

Hi, we went to a theme park recently and purchased fast passes. I will never do it again. It felt so wrong for my kids to walk past people in the other queue and take priority because we had paid extra. My husband thinks I am being ridiculous. AIBU?

We get fast passes as our children have autism, my youngest can’t wait in line, he gets in revolt anxious so the fast pass really makes a huge difference for us and our child gets to enjoy their day without that added stress.

Having been to Alton towers/ legoland without fast passes I personally wouldn't bother unless we had fast passes. It's a big distance for us to travel and I feel like we'd have to make the most of it.

Not sure I could justify the massive cost so I probably won't ever go back. So there will be one less family in the queue. Your welcome!

Presumably you also hate…
private health
private school
speedy boarding
indeed anything where you pay extra for speed or better quality?

The only comparable one here is speedy boarding. Private health and private schools may mean that the user gets a benefit that others don't get but they don't actually contribute to making others' experience worse- people who go private for an operation, say, don't jump to the front of the NHS queue- they're using a completely different service*- other people don't get treated later because someone went private.

With fast passes, you're literally paying to step in front of someone else. It's really grim.

(* obviously there are other arguments against private health)

Oh I think these are so unfair (unless there's a genuine reason like child with autism), but not fair just because you have the cash.
Having queued for an hour at a ride I then almost couldn't go on it as was bursting for wee by time I got to front!

We’re going to Alton Towers this summer and staying at the accommodation. Without the Fast Passes/some kind of guarantee we’re not going to be queueing for hours for rides, I wouldn’t have booked and they wouldn’t have spent £1300 (plus dinners etc) on a couple of nights 🤷🏼‍♀️

My kids will want to go when they are at Uni but won’t be able to afford the FP option and will be happy to have a longer day/queue more.

You pays your money, you takes your choice quite literally in this.

I went to Alton Towers (on a weekday) without a fast past a few years ago. The people with fast passes didn't bother me. They paid for them. I'm cheap so opted to take my chances and it was fine.

I want to live on a world where the idea of fast passes doesn't even cross any body's mind. Theme parks are already ridiculously expensive with ridiculous queues.

Welcome to capitalism. It stinks but it's how the world works right now.

If you went to the theatre and paid £60 for seats at the front with a great view, would you feel bad when there were other people who paid £20 seated right up at the back where they'd almost need binoculars to see the actors' faces? What about things like holidays? If you were staying in a posh hotel by the seaside, would you feel terrible walking past people who were about to check in at their £30 a night B&B? How about clothes? If your kids' trainers were Nikes, would you feel bad every time you walked past a child whose trainers were from Primark?

I think if you go to places like theme parks, you've already very much bought into the commercial nature of those attractions. Plenty of families can't afford to go to a theme park at all.

I love em. Had priority at Harry Potter, a deluxe ticket or something like that. I was pissed off at the end as it didn't entitle me to skip the queue in the shop and I'd gotten used to going past everyone!!

In fairness it was a special birthday for me

@10HailMarys but the examples you have given are not comparable.

Even in the cheap seats you still get to enjoy the same performance at the same time and on the holiday the beach and sea are enjoyable to all regardless of quality of accommodation at the end of the day.

The issue I have with fast passes now is that if you don't buy them, it's pretty much not worth going to say Alton Towers during the school holidays, despite the fact that a standard ticket still costs around £40.00. If you don't pay it you'll probably queue the best part of 2 hours for each ride.

It would be better- if less profitable- to make all the tickets a bit more expensive and reduce capacity so that it's possible to have an enjoyable day without a fast pass, and for those who do purchase them it's the difference between queueing for 30mins - 1 hour max, rather than 2-3 hrs.

How timely! I’ve been isolating with covid and just watched this ridiculously long video on Disney fast passes

m.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE

I think it would be difficult for staff to main 3 queues - standard, disabled and fast pass.

If you don't like the system a business uses, take your custom elsewhere.

If everyone did this they would change their business model. As they are popular (hence the passes) it looks as if a very large number of people like the system enough to go with it.

I would not bother going to a theme park if there were no fast passes. I don't feel bad walking past people in the normal queue. Why would I?

If only we all thought of that and were as clever as you 🤦🏼‍♀️

Everyone who goes will buy them soon, so you'll all be "fast". Seems like a short term racket to me, a way of putting tickets prices up gradually.

Even in the cheap seats you still get to enjoy the same performance at the same time and on the holiday the beach and sea are enjoyable to all regardless of quality of accommodation at the end of the day.

@rookiemere You see the same performance or the same beach, yes. But your overall experience would still have been enhanced or improved if you'd been able to pay more. Similarly, if you go to a theme park, your ride on a rollercoaster is exactly the same whether you queued for two hours or not before you got on, but if you can pay more you can enhance that experience by not having to wait.

It would be better- if less profitable- to make all the tickets a bit more expensive and reduce capacity so that it's possible to have an enjoyable day without a fast pass, and for those who do purchase them it's the difference between queueing for 30mins - 1 hour max, rather than 2-3 hrs.

Yes, I totally agree. I'd much prefer a fairer system where things like fast passes aren't necessary. I'd also prefer trains to have no first-class carriages, etc. But in a capitalist society things like theme parks will always be run for maximum profit, unfortunately, and if you go to theme parks you've already bought into that, so my point is just there isn't really a moral high ground in refusing to buy a fast pass once you're there.

YABU. A business offered to sell you an enhanced product, for a premium price. You were prepared to pay and got what you paid for. That’s business.

It’s exactly the same principle as buying a suite in a hotel instead of a normal room or a seat in First Class on a train, or an automatic car instead of a manual etc etc.

This year was the first time my kids got to properly see what it’s like to be left out- we went to a euro camp in Italy and they were oohing and aahing at some of the chalet thingies and commented on the mobile home we were in. I was saying if we had less people and more money we’d be in the other ones. Then I’m the airport the same with a business lounge they walked by. I said they’d have to pay to get in and they raised their eyebrows. On the plane they saw people skipping ahead for business and they were saying how mad it was people with more money got so much more but one said ‘what a waste, what we had did the job’ and it was so true!!

I agree, OP.

The problem, as has been mentioned, is that it is hardly worth going to a theme park during weekends/school holidays without them, as you spend hours queuing and only manage 2-3 rides. Not good value for £30-70 per ticket. We hardly ever do theme parks - I find it much better value and less stressful to take my DC to a funfair and let them do 5 or 6 rides and then have a balloon! Though I understand that's not going to cut it with older children.

I remember going to Thorpe Park a few years ago pre-DC and the queues were around 2 hours per ride. And when you gave up and got sick of queuing for the rides, there was then a queue for the (unappealing and overpriced!) food. You even had to queue for a bottle of water! I've never been back and don't intend to - it's one of the worst days out I've ever had and also one of the most expensive!

YABU. A business offered to sell you an enhanced product, for a premium price. You were prepared to pay and got what you paid for. That’s business.

This is true. What I do find surprising is that there are still people who are willing to pay for the 'basic' product, though. But there must be, otherwise theme parks would be forced to change their business models.

I agree, OP. It already costs a fortune to go anyway and theme parks just let too many people in these days.

On the other hand, fast passes bring lots of extra income for the theme park. Without them, the general prices would have to rise and this would put the ticket price out of reach of the section of people who can only just afford it. Not that I have been to a theme park recently. And certainly never ever in the main school holidays.

It is frustrating being “cattle class” in anything. My family are all extremely tall and the last time we flew, we envied the people in the better classes of seat. We were crap class as the seats were hideously expensive. But at least we did get to fly to where we wanted to go.

The cheapest and best fast pass is a rainy day. We went to Alton Towers back when the corkscrew first opened we were often able to get off the ride, run around to the entrance and get back on the same cars.

Different story when the sun was shining.

I miss the days when you got a certain number of fast passes included and time slot to return at Alton towers for rides. Showing my age as I think this was 20 years ago!