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?

The odd thing is… so many people on this thread appear to not like them… yet continue to visit.

Why isn't it sad? It's clearly a shit experience.

Incidentally, as a part Pole I will say that Poland also seems to have good theme parks (though I can't personally vouch as I've not yet been to any there).

Energylandia is the biggest in Europe.

https://energylandia.pl/en/

And some others which look nice..

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g274723-Activities-c52-Poland.html
Generally it seems like Europe has better queuing systems for theme parks- I wonder why? There shouldn't theoretically any reason why England couldn't have more efficient theme parks too.

It would be sad if you’d been forced to go

it is disappointing not to have an experience you had hoped it would be

and so you then don’t return

but these theme parks carry on year after year because of repeat visitors

We took ours to Legoland years ago, and I was so traumatised by the crowds that we never did another in the UK. It was overcrowded, full of badly behaved kids and the food was dire. We went to one in Spain on holiday the following year and it was amazing in comparison - spotlessly clean, great food, and barely any more than 15 minutes in any given queue.

Yeah I guess the last part is what's sad. That people accept shite.

Well that isn’t sad either! If I find something shite… then I don’t return.

This is definitely true for several things... I do think theatre is still pretty accessible though.
Lots of London-based but not West End theatres (eg. the Old Vic) offer preview tickets for around £15. Lotsoffer discounts for under 25s and sometimes under 30s, as well as over 60s. The Globe has the £5 standing tickets. And booking early helps : I've been able to see a lot of West End shows including musicals for around £30-£35 by booking months in advance.
A lot of the time the most affordable seats are restricted view but this often doesn't affect much.

Ah yes the pleasure beach now have more bag security searches than Heathrow but not for terrorist activity but FOOD no longer are you allowed to bring your own food and drink in, rather than be held hostage to paying for shite pleasure beach food we didn't bother this year and won't be going again.

Queues are probably lower in there as its so run down and has an awful vibe.

yeah I always laugh at those sort of disgruntled posts. Fancy a BUSINESS wanting to make MONEY! 😂

It is irritating but it's not rocket science. Options are to go in term time, whether that means pulling a sicky for the kids or taking advantage of an inset day in your area that is different to the place you are going. Or accepting you will have to splash out for a fast track yourself. Or doing one of the overnight deals so you can do the big rides later in the day on day 1 and then first thing in the morning day 2. Or going to parks in Europe which sometimes aren't as bad.

Yes, I’ve got that too, but I still think the process is a huge faff. You have to send loads of information to Nimbus, wait for them to issue the Nimbus card and send it in the post. Then back to Legoland website to try to coordinate RAP availability on the same days as a hotel booking. (We live too far away to do it in a day!)

I must admit I’ve never used Nimbus for anything else, but it takes a fair bit of commitment to use it for a RAP at Legoland, so I tend to think that means most using it are genuine!

We’re off to Billund soon and they have a combination of “extra consideration” wristbands and sunflower lanyards. It will be interesting to see how it compares to Windsor.

except that paying customers are allowed to expect a certain level of service.

Restaurants don't water down the wine or alcohol to "make more money".
Selling tickets full price when it's so busy people can barely go on a couple of rides is not right. There should be a minimum amount of rides you can access.
If you pay for a fast track, you should at least have a "fast track" service which you don't anymore.

we can only hope people will stop going and force businesses to rethink their numbers

Instead businesses work because of their yearly membership or yearly passes, so people don't see the issue of a full day but only a ride or two, because they come back all the time.

I get the whole ‘ it’s a business’ , but everyone is out to make money out of people and you end up being fleeced. I’ve no skin in the game as I don’t go to theme parks , but it’s hard on families isn’t it. Sorry to sound an old gimmer! ( #sick of people being ripped off!

True...for people within easy reach of London.
But yes, of all the activities, theatre seems to have become less out of reach than others, if you're smart and can be flexible.

We actually did this. It was buying the fast pass factored in or not going at all. There was absolutely no way I was standing around in the blazing heat or freezing cold for 45mins for a 2 minute ride, let alone my toddler. We got to do everything we wanted in one day. And spent the other 2 days being so very relaxed and doing rides if the queues were very short. We were able to do shows and other
stuff at leisure.
I really think the parks are just insanely over capacity. Magic hour is also such a con. It is heaving in the morning.

Firstly I'm another big fan of Paulton's Park - clean, well themed, no fast passes but they keep their queues to a reasonable length - whenever we've been (used to have a season ticket when the kids were small) we've always managed to go on all the rides at least once. Top tip is to go to the Peppa Pig later in the day as the majority of users are toddlers and run out of steam by about 3pm.

My other tip would be to wait til the children are old enough to queue whilst scrolling their phones. We've just come back from Florida (where theme park numbers are admittedly down this summer due to Trump & higher fuel prices). We didn't get fast passes but instead used the Single Rider queues - it cut the wait from from over an hour to about 15 mins. You're mainly screaming on a ride so we didn't feel we needed to be sitting next to each other.

Absolutely this. If you just blindly turn up with no planning or research that’s on you. We never have an issue and never buy fast passes.

And it never occurs to you to question this ?

8 rides x a generous 5 minutes per ride is 40 minutes of ride time. The rest of your entire day walking/queueing/spending money while managing children's disappointment about waiting waiting waiting ... doesn't seem worth it tbh

Shareholders come first ! It’s always the same isn’t it.

I have 3 near me have never been

You do not have to send loads of info to nimbus!!

literally one document with proof of receipt of PIP or DLA etc

I used to go to Alton Towers a couple of times a year. Never in the school holiday (I have no kids).
Then we started going to Scarefest, and fast passes were essential. The park was heaving. 3 hour queues not unusual at all.
We always stayed in the hotel, and you would get an hour long fast pass for any ride during the first hour that the park was open. The trouble was, you had to run to it, because that hour would be spent waiting to get on the monorail.

what question capitalism?

um no.

Its part of people management. Removing all physical queues when the park is busy would make all services overwhelmed.