Theme parks are ruined if you don't pay for a fast pass?

[Twoweeksinaugust]

AIBU to think it's hardly worth even going to a theme park on a sunny day unless you want to pay the £300 extra for a fast pass?
The queues are absolutely awful, and it's very hard for the dc to understand that although it looks like we'll be on the next turn, a dozen people come through woth a fast pass and teh queue doesn't move at all.
It just feels beyond the reach of a normal (but expensive) day out, and is now in the realms of a once every two years thing if you want to buy the passes?

I wouldn't even entertain the idea of not having fast pass as I see nothing appealing about standing in queues for hours on end.

We went last summer and had a much better time than at Thorpe Park. No more than 20 mins queue and that was the log flume.

“They” being disabled children and their families, presumably?

The RAP pass means that my son (profoundly autistic with ADHD, oh and a Lego nut) can access Legoland. TBH even the RAP queues can be long there, but I’m not complaining because I know a RAP is not easy to get. We had to submit the same medical evidence that qualified DS for DLA, and it’s a massive ballache to get the Nimbus card in the first place….

We were gifted some fast passes by a lovely family who were just leaving when they saw me struggling with DS. I think the passesare absolutely worth it, but the price!! She gifted us £75 worth iirc, and that was only the remaining 5 or 6!

I remember when Disney had free fast passes. Those were the days. I don't buy the fast passes because they are only one use per ride so I use the app to see what each ride is showing as for the queue time and then if there is one I really want to go on and the queue isn't shifting or I am running out of time, I just buy the pass for that ride.

If capacity was reduced the price of everything would have to increase quite dramatically as the theme park exists to make profit. The food and beverage outlets and shops would have lower footfall, the same volume of employees would still need to be paid and the operating costs would still be the same.

We were at a theme park recently and won’t be going back.

Each ride was minimum one hour queue time.

one ride broke down while we were on it

They don’t open until 10 so those with children up at the arse crack of dawn don’t get to go in early when it might be less busy.

Im sure they will be more that close down because they can’t balance the books.

I went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach once and there was a family in front of me being made to throw their sandwiches away. You could tell they were genuinely gutted and embarrassed

But surely they meant absolutely squat all if free and everyone could get one??

We did fast pass before they started ridiculously charging and now the kids are just told look you have to queue and you’ll have a laugh and the. We’ll get to the ride. It does suck watching the queue go by you in some cases

Nothing’s changed, I went to Alton towers on a school trip in the 80s and only went on about half a dozen rides due to the queues

No, they were restricted so only certain rides had them. You had to register for a ride and it gave you a time to go on the ride, but you could only have 1 ride activated at any time.

How long ago was that?

I lived right near it during my teenage years, enjoyed many many visits there with barely any queuing.

UK theme parks are terrible when you compare them to Europe and USA. The biggest issue for me is early closing times. Why does Alton Towers close at 5 or 6pm most nights? Including weekends and summer holidays. Surely if they stayed open till 9 or 10pm then there will be less people trying to pack in as much as possible between 10-5. Would also be better for season pass holders or locals who could pop along in the evening.

After covid. They brought in paid versions instead.

But it wouldn't be better for local residents as they'd have to endure the noise of it late into the night. The main reason for not opening later is the noise abatement restriction.

Ban fast passes. Money should not get you preference over a queue.

What would happen if everyone bought these passes?

Keep them open longer? I'm sure some sort of compromise could be made. At this rate many people just aren't going because its not worth it. Maybe they could learn from other countries business models that seems to be more successful and more enjoyable for the customer.

Glad I don't live next to a theme park on the continent (we are in Europe - look at a map, a bit of water doesn't change what continent we are on) or the USA. Noise most of the year until 10 p.m. No thanks.

They would be worthless.

It was a system where each ride that had a fast pass would have a couple of machines and you would go press a button and it would give you a ticket for a certain time to go back so you couldn't just bowl up and expect to go on it that minute. Oddly enough I found a couple of the tickets a few weeks ago when I was packing up my house and apparently they fetch a bit of money online for some reason.

Fair point. Im not local to any half decent theme park so didnt think of that. But the early closing times do suck for visitors who travel a good distance to get there. Even 7pm would better than 5pm. And the fact the parks are generally closed for a number of months throughout the year for weather/maintenance etc.

They shouldn’t be used for minor disabilities, the purpose for them is for people who either physically cannot stand in line for that amount of time or for people who have learning difficulties and can’t manage queuing. If they are run properly, you’re not skipping the queue, they just allow you to be elsewhere sitting down or somewhere quiet until the time you’re allowed to go back onto the ride. You’re not able to go on any other rides during that time. I have a dd who wouldn’t be able to experience a theme park without this. But I agree too many people are saying they need them when they may actually not.

UK theme parks are awful value. Efteling, Phantasialand etc are all way way better. Cleaner, better rides, better value, shorter queues. We only do European parks really.

What would you define as a minor disability?