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?

It's not queue jumping. It would be queue jumping if people with the same ticket category elbowed their way to the front of the queue. Buying an upgraded experience is simply a legitimate option in normal functioning of businesses. It's not like they keep the passes a secret. Your option is to buy a basic ticket and spend 7 hours queuing to go on 5-7 rides, or pay for the midrange ticket and cut the queuing time and go on a few more rides, or buy the top level ticket and get loads of rides with little queuing. It's a free and fair choice mediated by your budget. No one makes you buy anything you don't want to, but whining that the thing you want isn't cheaper is something you are supposed to grow out of by age 10 or so.

Ok so this wasn't calling someone tight lol. " Because are too tight to buy fast passes themselves but bitter and jealous about those that do"

i don't need fast passes as I don't go to theme parks thanks.

I often buy fast track if I can afford it. I can’t stand queuing so I’d rather go less often and pay more when I do. (I am actually autistic and I find queuing and large crowds really stressful sometimes but I’m not “not able” to queue so I don’t need a disability pass. So instead I save and buy a fast pass.

I don’t judge others that buy them at all if I don’t have one/have used my slots for the day. I may see them walking past me in the other queue but I tend to just think “lucky bastards”.

Do fast track queues ever really get as long as the main queue? They do limit numbers of fast track available. In the years I’ve been going to theme parks I’ve never seen a ridiculously long fast track queue. Plenty of times I’ve had to queue for like 20-30 mins. This happens. I’ve never seen anyone get annoyed. The main queue is normally way over 2 hours at this time. So it’s still fast track. I’ve only ever seen a family with a disability pass start shouting at the staff because they thought their pass took them directly to the front of the queue and weren’t happy they needed to queue behind other disabled people. I’ve never seen anyone else in the fast track/disabled queue get angry at a slight queue ever.

We have Merlin Annual Passes and go to all of the parks regularly and the queues at Thorpe are much better than at Chessington, even on a busy day we usually get on 8 to 10 rides, whereas at Chessington we have had many days where we have only done 4!

However, given it’s a special day and you can afford it I would get the fast tracks to guarantee you get on everything you want, queuing is bloody boring!! 😀

Oh whatever, I've seen enough of your posts on previous threads not to give a flying fig what you think of me.

Just because I think there is nothing wrong with people paying for a service that is offered at a theme park... 🤷🏻‍♀️

That wasn't the reason...

I’d go on a school day. A Saturday at Easter will be heaving.
Take him out of school as a one off birthday treat.

Fascinating that taking a child out of school for a day at a theme park is less ‘immoral’ than paying for fast passes. Do either but it’s an interesting approach.

I don’t think having a fast pass is a dick move. I hate waiting in queues! we don’t get the chance to go to these places often and I don’t actually think it’s good value if you only get on about 4 rides all day??? We got fast passes at Legoland once - I know it was expensive but it was the BEST day with the kids, no stress, no trying to entertain them in long lines and we got on everything with ease which in my opinion made it value for money :)

The difference with paying extra for fast pass compared to paying extra for better seats in a theatre s that paying extra for fast pass makes things worse for those who don’t have it - if some people can go to the front of the queue, other people have to queue for longer. In the theatre, the seats exist as they are - the choice is to either book an available seat, or don’t go. Someone sitting in a more expensive seat doesn’t make the experience worse for those in a cheaper seat

@123ZYX but that's not true. The amusement park is going to sell the fast track passes to someone (they have a target number to sell). If OPs family don't buy the fast track passes, someone else will, the queues are going to be the same length for those with the cheaper tickets.

Marketing means getting the right product to the right buyers at the right price that both buyer and seller are willing to agree for the transaction. If theres X people who are happy with a basic ticket for £P that requires more queuing and Y people who are happy to pay twice £P for a premium ticket with less queuing then that's good business sense. Demand for the more expensive premium tickets will vary according to how much extra it costs and how much of a difference it makes, so skilled marketers will research to find the best price point to maximise their revenue. There isn't going to be a noble boycott of the premium option by all the people who can afford a premium experience on their day out, from a chivalrous desire not to make poorer people feel sad.

Has he got a friend or family member with autism / ADHD / mobility challenges who he’d want to go with? It’s quite easy to get a free Merlin Access Pass and that allows the group to go with the person with the access needs . My friend in a wheelchair actively asks to go with others as he has an annual pass and knows others like to go with him if they’ll get quicker ride access so it’s win win for both - friend to go with and quicker access times. Obviously requires you to be close to someone eligible to go with.

I agree to an extent but I disagree with you referring to RAP and fast track in the same breath - they are VERY different things, even if they sometimes have to queue up in the same queue:

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.

RAP isn't a privilege for wealthier people in the same way fast track is. It's a way to enable people with disabilities to access the theme park's rides.

I hope he has plenty of time queuing to reflect on his moral high ground.

Meanwhile, everyone who has paid for one is busy enjoying their day and thinking 'lifes too short to be the righteous queuer'.

Yes, it’s a total con. Amazing how people afford it too. Money under the mattress. I suppose he is worried that if you do it, you’re part of the problem. But really, more needs to be said about this - perhaps he should contact the Trading Standards Office. It’s a terrible business model because the price for a day out isn’t a fair reflection of the value you get - i.e. no value!

i agree, fast track are unfair

Of course it’s the same as theatres. If no one bought the expensive tickets and all just stayed up high behind the columns/with restricted views the company would
have to sell the expensive tickets at a discount. At the airport it’s the same thing: if I buy fast track and you don’t you will be delayed by me.

Sigh. It's not 'easy' to get a RAP, you have to send private and personal proof about the nature of your disability to Nimbus to be assessed. And Merlin limit how many RAP users can come in a day. On a non school day it's hard to get a place.

Airport security has different lanes and fast track, far from delaying those who don’t buy it, makes the queue shorter for those who don’t. The fast track tends to have fewer fuckwits who hold everyone up too.

I wouldn’t go without fast passes tbh. I have before but it’s a trek for us and makes little sense to go all that way and then not get on stuff. I’ve not been for about seven years though so probably unlikely to happen at this point.

It’s the same, it’s a different set up. It’s just that they pass in front of your eyes in the line so you consider it differently. At the end of the day is n. of people vs n. of workers/attractions. They wouldn’t change the n. Of workers/seats if they created two lanes,
you’d just have fewer people and therefore the same time for queues

There is a key difference in that theme park fast pass users (with the right 'level' of pass) can use it as often as they like, so a fast pass user might use the ride two or three times while a standard user is still in the queue, creating a higher number of 'n'. With an airport queue you can only board the plane once, so this doesn't happen.

I’m not keen on these theme parks but organised a family weekend at one to celebrate a major milestone in a way that the ‘littles’ could enjoy. The more usual long dinners are much less fun for them and it’s hardly their fault they are still too young to enjoy.

bought fast track to make the most of the short time we were there together. DC were delighted, their parents less do as they could predict that nothing less than fast pass would be acceptable.

Happy unexpected outcome, the young members of the family prefer to go much less often and include the fast passes.

not the outcome their parents had hoped for. But a big vote for fast passes.