To think the fast track queues at Thorpe park are unfair?

[NameChangedSummer]

Disagreement with DH.

we have an annual pass for Chessington and I don’t mind waiting there as we can easily go another day. However on a busy Saturday there are so many RAP users and Fast Track that the main queues can take 2 hours and move very slowly. As I say i don’t really mind as are annual pass holders but the young DC get quite impatient! DH does get annoyed that people can pay to literally queue jump.

However, DS has just reached 1.4m and is desperate to go to Thorpe Park in the Easter holidays for his birthday (the ticket being his main 10th bday gift). It will be his first time, the only time he goes this year, we won’t be buying annual passes. I’ve looked and for £200 (x2) we can buy a ‘ultimate’ pass that would allow fast track to every ride and very little queueing. We can afford this and I think it would just make the whole day so much more enjoyable and special for DS’s 10th Birthday, rather than queuing all day and getting on a handful of rides.

DH however thinks that people who pay to queue jump are dicks and it just makes it worse for the main queue on busy days, so is very reluctant and just wants to get a normal ticket and deal with the queues. And put the money towards a Merlin pass next year when the younger DC is taller and we can just do more often.

is DH being unreasonable to say they are unfair?

Why is it OK to pay money for a "normal" theme park ticket when others can't afford to go at all?

I honestly can't see the difference between choosing to do that, and choosing to pay money for a fast pass when others can't afford to pay for a fast pass.

Both times you are just paying money to get a nicer day. I don't see why your DH would have a ethical problem with one, but not with the other.

If anyone is being unethical here, it's the theme parks who don't put a decent limit on the number of tickets they sell per day. So they cram in massive numbers of people, who then have to queue for hours.

Your dh sounds tedious. Buy the pass
Spending more money gets you a better time, it's just how the world works

She didn’t say it specifically but they’re included in the group of “dicks” being referred to. And I’m sure they think people like DS who has an invisible disability has skipped the queue. It’s REALLY fucking shit being a disabled person or their carer right now - Labour have basically reduced their status and we could do with fewer people grouping us in to any sort of “dick” category

Pay the money, it’s so worthwhile! If you don’t you’ll queue much of the day. If DH thinks they are socks for paying, you and DS get them and DH can watch you. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with fast passes they are a giant money spinner so parks do have them and if you are able to pay you sometimes have to join in for an enjoyable day.

Oh God so the OP forgot a caveat.

No need to assume that because there was no disclaimer, her DH thinks people with disabilities are dicks 🙄

Your DH sounds a bit silly, to be honest - the fast tracks are clearly advertised, fair and square, and they cost extra. Everyone who doesn’t pay for them isn’t being diddled - they’ve made an informed choice.

I assume he never pays extra for a better quality of anything? Always gets the cheapest seats and lives off budget brand foods? I’m guessing not.

@Screamingabdabz ok I over simplified. Not just hard work but also making good life choices and decisions. Choose a career which pays well. Presumably your postgrad wasn't in a high paying industry. Which is fine, totally your choice. But it was a choice rather than fluke. I'm just saying that if having the money to buy fast passes is something you value then barring the obvious lack of academic aptitude it is possible to strive towards and achieve that goal. So a good lesson to children that they can aim for that if they want.

I think as part of a birthday treat it’s absolutely fine. It’s not like you do it as Chessington too! It’s a one off. And you not paying for fast track won’t stop others paying for it - so you’re the only ones losing out by not doing so.

I’m not a fan of fast passes as it’s only those who can afford it that can buy them. I can only just about afford to take the kids to a theme park in the first place, let alone adding on another £400++ on fast passes! That’s the equivalent to a caravan holiday in Easter holidays for 4 nights. It’s just nuts. Luckily we do have a blue light card so we only go when it’s a member day and the queues tend to be a lot better. Otherwise we would just have to suck it up and wait. If only it was like the good old days when Disney world used to let you book fast passes for certain rides for free. Even they don’t offer that anymore. It’s all greed and money making and the ones losing out are the ones who can’t afford it.

I think most people who can afford theme park tickets in the first place can probably afford to save up for longer if they really want a more expensive ticket.

For example some will pay eye watering prices for lunch, drinks and snacks whilst there and some will bring their own to save money.

I don't really think what they choose to do for a living has any relevance.

Thatcher's Britain

yes agree. Then it's up to people if they want to pay or not. I'm like the OP and I'd choose to pay! leave the husband at home OP or let him stand in the long queue if he's that keen!

If it makes you / your DH feel any better, Merlin have restricted the availability of RAP passes so significantly that we have to book months ahead in order to have any hope of our disabled DC being able to access any rides at all.

No it’s not. The people who have to queue longer still get to experience the whole of the ride. It’s like making the people in the cheap seats have to arrive early and wait.

Leave DH in the normal queue to ponder the meaning of life and go on the ride three times with FT passes for you and DC, while he is waiting.

I'd look at the fast past queue as the normal price for it, and the regular queue as a discount for those who are willing to queue.

But some people can’t afford theme park tickets full stop - so should people be banned from going at all?

Don't like them

We always tried to go to theme parks on teacher training days and it was always much quieter.

Everyone's a dick and being unfair until it's you with the pass! Get the pass and have a great day.

your husband is being ridiculous. When our DC were little I could no more have afforded to take them to a theme park that I could afford a private jet to the Maldives. We just didn't have enough money. I didn't think it was immoral that other people could afford those things.

Exactly.

And I take it the OP's DH won't be buying lunch there, because some families will be eating the curly sandwiches they had to bring.

Will he buy a coffee?

Nah that's immoral if some people had to bring a flask.

We went to legoland last weekend and it was the same story. I did even look at the fast track pass price because I wondered the same thing, whether it was worth it. Apparently it’s horrendous in the summer. But I don’t think you can call someone who has shelled out £200 a dick - that’s a lot of money to pay on top of a ticket just to not queue.

Id see if you can go on an inset day or something. I found a really good website that tracks park
business times that we use quite a lot:https://queue-times.com/parks/2/calendar

i would buy queue jump for just a couple rides. It makes the journey to Thorpe park worth it, as otherwise you spend 9 hours queuing for 3 rides (an experience of mine when I was younger).

Every theme park does it, time is money.

do not do full access, it does not seem worth it!

Better to teach your son that if he works hard, saves hard and does well in life he too can get a fast pass. Good motivation to work hard at school. If you knuckle down and succeed then you too can have nice things in life.

Nah, what you inherit is more important these days!

How is it unfair to buy a fastpass and use it? It would be unfair to push in the front of a queue without a pass but if you have bought a fastpass then you have paid to get on the ride faster. For years when I had 4 small children I could not afford to go to Thorpe Park at all so I took them to the local park, swimming or the library and that's just how it was. I never looked at people who could go to Thorpe Park as being unfair. They just had more money than I had at the time. But now I am a grandmother I can afford fast passes so as soon as my 9 year old grandson is tall enough for the big rides I am paying for a fast pass for me, my daughter and the grandson and we are going to have fun (and not queue for too long). I'm in my sixties but I do love a roller coaster....