Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[SharkTumsSite Admin]

^Wow, you were a really old teenager?!?!?

[nosroI Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Fast Lane review - Tuesday May 15

Unless I missed something (I am only an infrequent lurker and frequent viewer of the videos), I did not see anyone summarize their Fast Lane experience. I just visited on May 15 (Tuesday) with a Fast Lane pass so I might be one of the first around here to try out Fast Lane in the middle of the week.

Reference Point
For those familiar with Cedar Point, there was a decent crowd of high school students as the opening week is now traditionally "Physics Week". Nevertheless, Blue Streak and Wicked Twister were walk-ons for everyone. Mantis had a line approximately 10 minutes long and Mantis did not have a Fast Lane. I hope this serves as a barometer of the day's crowd size and puts my Fast Lane experience in context.

Fast Lane experience
Fast Lane provided direct access to the loading platform for all rides that I attended (including some that were walk-on and thus provided no advantage): Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, Maverick, Mean Streak, Skyhawk, Maxair, Wind Seeker, Power Tower, Magnum. Raptor provided a merge point half-way up the stairs to the loading platform that was moderated by an attendant. In all cases, an attendant checked our wrist bands. There was no Fast Lane path for Mantis or Wicked Twister on this day.

Only once did we actually end up "waiting" behind other Fast Lane holders (on Top Thrill Dragster, where there was 5 people ahead of us). Fast Lane essentially turned every ride onto a walk-on ride.

Due to the nature of the ride exit path and where the Fast Lane is located, Millennium Force and Maverick have very convenient paths to walk right back on without ever leaving the platform building. Using Millennium Force as an example, we were able to disembark and get back in time to buckle into the coaster that had been behind us (not the same coaster that we disembarked from).

Although such an advantage obviously offered the chance to re-ride (I rode Millennium Force 4 times in a row), I think the real advantage is that my friends and I were able to relax enough to take an hour off to chat and drink beer in the middle of the afternoon without worrying about having enough time to get all of our credits in. Also, none of us got sun burned - the reduced sun exposure was a big energy booster.

I hope this helps those who are on the fence. If nothing else, I can not see how this significantly effects the main line simply because I saw so few Fast Lane users. Obviously, this may not be the case in the future or after this post.

[RealUber Designer]

I think the real advantage is that my friends and I were able to relax enough to take an hour off to chat and drink beer in the middle of the afternoon without worrying about having enough time to get all of our credits in. Also, none of us got sun burned - the reduced sun exposure was a big energy booster.

Bingo! My wife and I were able to enjoy Kings Island absolutely stress free. And while we did still get some sun to our skin, I know we spent WAY less time in the sun than had we not had the FastLane.

[larrygatorObsessive Overlord of the TPR Park Index]

"Dragster Girl", will you marry me?

You need to donate to her Coasting for Kids effort first for her to consider it.
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/r0flcoasterniki/CedarPoint

And then she'll probably say no, but donate anyway.

[robbalveySite Admin]

Only once did we actually end up "waiting" behind other Fast Lane holders (on Top Thrill Dragster, where there was 5 people ahead of us). Fast Lane essentially turned every ride onto a walk-on ride.

The only coasters we waited behind any other Fast Lane riders was Dragster and Millennium Force. We did have one wait on MF that was about 15-20 minutes, but the entire queue was full, and it was much better to wait 20 minutes than over 2 hours! That being said, I think I got at least 4 rides on MF using the Fast Lane pass (not counting the rides I did on MF for the film shoot), and only one of the rides had any sort of wait.

All the other times we used Fast Lane, we pretty much just walked directly into the station.

--Robb

[Six Flags EnthuseastDoesn't know how to spell "Enthusiast."]

Great report! I'm glad to see that Cedar Point has put so much effort into making the park better since my last visit in 2008. The new Fast Lane system sounds like it works very well; I remember waiting in Dragster and Millennium Force's lines for at least an hour and a half apiece when I visited. I'm also impressed by the many touchups the park made over the offseason; Millie's new paint, the ferris wheel's new lights, and Mean Streaks retracking all help to keep CP a great place for us theme park fans! (of course they're still a great vacation destination for other things too, as the hotels and beaches prove)

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

Something that's getting forgotten is that CP started repainting MF last offseason and that it's going to be a three-year project. The return hill from the island was one of the places that was already painted last season. So it should be finished by this time next year.

[CommandoI'm a know-it-all about donkeys!]

Due to the nature of the ride exit path and where the Fast Lane is located, Millennium Force and Maverick have very convenient paths to walk right back on without ever leaving the platform building. Using Millennium Force as an example, we were able to disembark and get back in time to buckle into the coaster that had been behind us (not the same coaster that we disembarked from).

That's the problem. From what I heard from people who didn't use the fast lane system is that it is nightmare. It apparently doubles the wait for everyone else in the normal line because of how many people use it and because you can abuse it like this. So it screws over everyone who doesn't have it. Honestly is your not going to do fast passes like Disney, you shouldn't do them at all. Its supposed to be helpful to the guest not a money making scam. Am I the only one who thinks that this is bull$#!%?

Hear come the flames......

[SharkTumsSite Admin]

^It's not a scam at all, but it is money making. We live in a free market, people will pay more and less money for differing experiences. It also sounds like your friends are exaggerating quite a bit that it 'doubled' everyone's wait on every ride.

[robbalveySite Admin]

Something that's getting forgotten is that CP started repainting MF last offseason and that it's going to be a three-year project. The return hill from the island was one of the places that was already painted last season. So it should be finished by this time next year.

Other than the newly painted section being right next to the faded parts looking kinda funky, it's great that they are taking this project on!