Takador I once got stuck behind a couple who wanted to be together but went through single rider 😡 and the only park I go to that has single rider has removed it from all but one ride (Alton Towers and The Smiler).
@@brightfurys I feel like if people go to a park together they shouldn't use the single Rider line since they're not actually single Riders, whether they care about riding together or not, it defeats the whole purpose of it and ruins it for those of us who are actually single Riders
Pretty much, I kind of Hit and Miss though, and it still depends which day you go; Fridays aren't usually the best even though they're still in school that day. I've actually found Tuesdays to be some of the best days to go, it's not quite the middle of the week, and it's also not close enough to the weekend for people to just "take a long weekend"; men week sometime is your best bet, but the random off days are more consistently good
anytime my school specifically doesn’t have school for whatever reason, me and my always go to Busch Gardens because we have passes, and seriously some of the rides that have the longest waits like sheikra and cheetah hunt never have any wait
@@allevant my band class was going to go to six flags over texas in may but that's probably not gonna happen. I have a membership there so people were jealous and wanted to be next to me on the trip lol
Well ever since 1982, you could ride the rides for free, because they used to have a ticket system for attractions. The term E-Ticket is still used to this day to describe a a big main attraction.
Yeah but its useless. They do it by the ticket and limit the amount available for each ride for each day. In short if you show up later in the day there will be nothing available for Soarin'.
Disney is definitely my favorite. It’s already budget breaking enough to get into most parks with food and everything, can’t ever justify paying double or triple for a shorter line. I’ve always planned well and done everything I wanted to in a day even on busy days, so Disney’s being free is incredible, because the only reason it works at other parks is because it’s too costly for most people. Who knows, maybe I’ll be rich someday and it’ll be no big deal!
MaxPass is definitely work 15 bucks, just went 2 weeks ago on a saturday and rode everything! Only had to wait for Smuggler's Run since I couldnt get any passes for it
Disney is also my favorite. The system is more about redistributing people throughout the park than making an extra buck. I don't mind going to do other things for an hour or so than coming back to a ride. When I was a kid my family would often send me to go grab fast passes then meet up with them elsewhere, and I enjoyed the time maximizing strategy we had
At Walt Disney World, guests staying on property can book fast passes like a month or two in advance. Also, all reservations are done on your phone, no extra charge for that.
You say that like its a good thing, which it certainly is not. Its not even comparable to simply booking the FP you want on the day you want it, as opposed to fighting with hundreds of people online 3 months in advance for fastpasses 90% of those people wont even use (because who the hell knows which park they will be at 3 months in advance?)...
It has its pros and cons. With Walt Disney World you kind of have to plan out a detailed itinerary for what park on what day. Even dining reservations are made far in advance. If you don’t book fast passes and reservations in advance for Walt Disney World , have fun trying to get popular ones day of.
@@Hairycabbbage "because who the hell knows which park they will be at 3 months in advance?" At WDW, many guests actually do. For most, WDW is a full vacation, and not just a weekend trip like Disneyland in Anaheim. Many people actually plan in advance which days they'll visit which park, because you also have dining reservations (booked 180 days in advance) and the extra magic hours for resort guests. This way, most people already know in advance when they'll visit a certain park.
@@spacebug30 I know, i go for 3 weeks at a time, so i know first hand that 3 months before i go, i dont know where im going to be on any given day. now if it WAS just a weekend trip, then i probably would know where i was going to be on each of those 2 days because of how short the trip is... How do you think people are more likely to plan out every park day in a 2-3 week trip than a 2-3 day trip?
@@Jambamjar maybe, but he travels to parks, not only visits his local parks. WDW fast pass is imo better since you can get your ride reservations up to 60 days in advance
@@gabrielduarte3904 yeah but at least in CA you can just kind of go and do stuff without having to plan everything ahead of time. I honestly prefer enjoying things that way, spontaneous and without stress.
@@gabrielduarte3904 He has said before that he is not very interested in Disney so he might have not visited Disney World or doesnt care. With Disneyland he does live close by and so he probably maybe goes from time to time. Also WDW's fastpass is awful. It basically means that you have to stay at the resorts to actually be able to get the best fastpasses. Its much better at Disneyland with max pass, its first come first serve and if youre smart you can get some many different fastpasses on the same day. With Disney World you can only get those for the best rides if youre staying at a resort or get REALLY lucky, and theres also even tiers and such which also ruin what fastpass is even about.
I noticed recently that the five rides excluded from FL Plus at Cedar Point all have 52-inch height requirements. So I think the main purpose of the lower tier is to provide a price break for families with kids who have only hit the 48-inch mark. I'm not sure about the other Cedar Fair parks, though.
I have a friend who is from Chicago, and I am in SF, so you know, six flag kingdom... We bought the "skip-the-line" pass, and we rode every ride for like 5 times... I was getting sick after all of these crazy rides, but my friend is totally enjoying the thrill. So in total, we used the pass 43-ish times, and it is summertime. People at the regular line hated us, and yell at us. OK, I admit it is rude to ride that many times, but hey, if you let us in... we will take the ride! So far, this experience is the best value I ever get out of the "express" pass.
My dad and I went to Carowinds a few months back. We're picky and I had some jangle in my pocket for once so we bought two fastpasses bc why not. We usually get fastpasses for CF parks now regardless of the wait times because of this incident. Basically the lines were 2-3 hours for everything and assigned seating. We were able to ride Fury 15 times with picking our seat. Even though I was profiting, I literally feel like the CF system is too good. they've improved it (worsened) at CP, but the other CF parks are ridiculous
Yeah, FastPass is just great. Me and my buddy went to kings island a few years back, and it was a 2/3 hour wait for everything. Delirium was a 1 hour wait. After we rode it, I bought us two normal fast passes. Everything but Banshee, which has a super fast line anyway, we rode multiple times. 15 rides on diamondback. It's such a good system imo
I was at CP this past Saturday. The park reached capacity after only 4 hours of being open. As someone who didn’t have a fast lane pass, wow was it terrible. Because the park was so full, the ride ops were dedicating half of each train or even every other whole train to just fast laners. This made the regular queue CRAWL. You basically had to take the standard queue wait time and add the fast lane wait time to it. Millie, SV, Valravn, and Maverick all had 4 hour waits because of this. I get that fast laners pay more, but HALF of every train? The regular queue doesn’t stand a chance.
If you have a physical disability or are with someone who has one, guest services gives you a free pass to skip the lines and walk through the exit line to the station. I rode steel vengeance 4 times in one day and got to personally pick out front and back row rides with this method, among every other ride in the park, it was amazing !
Great vid! It's not that other parks "saw dollar signs" (well they did, but hear me out). It's actually that the idea of ride reservation is a copywriten Patten bla bla bla. When I worked in guest services at a particular Orlando resort, one of the first questions I asked was why the "skip the line pass" was no longer free (it was about 5-10 years prior of my employment). And someone from legal explained to us that we started charging not just to make money, but because Disney could sue anyone using the system since it is their idea. So to differentiate, said park(s) came up with different ways to claim it was not the same as Disney's. Charging for it, offering one time on every ride, unlimited options, electronic pagers etc etc. In my time in that department and to this day most guest would tell us they preferred our system to Disney's because of the limitations. Three per day, long return times, etc etc. Just a fun fact thought I would share. Love your channel.
Busch gardens also has a system where if you have a disability, injury, or recent surgery, you will receive a free fast past for certain rides based on your injury. This is especially useful for howl o scream
Quick queue is awful. On most rides you are assigned to the second to front row which just destroys the point of getting the pass. Also, you have to carry around a piece of paper.
Six flags regular flash pass you can reserve the joker per se and be waiting at Superman then you're done with superman and jump right over to joker. Or you can reserve Medusa while having lunch . The good thing is that you can reserve it anywhere around the park. With Disney you have to go to the front of the ride which creates a lot of land hopping.
Sometimes I honestly think the lines would just go faster if they didn't have any "skip the lines systems" in the first place. Still, they are convent at the Disney parks. I just desperately hope Disney never starts charging for it. I am perfectly okay with all these catches that it comes with as long as I don't have to pay for it.
I think that parks are better off without it. My local park, lagoon, doesn't have this. Lines move pretty quickly and there's no alternating between fast pass and regular guests like at cedar point. It means faster boarding times and a faster moving line. Although lagoon staff dispatch cars incredibly fast
Voletarium has a system based on the Disney model, but it's only because the ride is net to the entrance. In the rest of the park, they work like the operators at Fury325 in Carowinds with 30 seconds dispatches.
I always get the pass because I don't have a home park and want to maximize my limited time when traveling. But still my favorite systems are now dead days, or options with early entry. Experiencing early entry to CP and Europa park, for example, really changed a lot and gave me more rides on favorite busy coasters more effectively than most fass passes could achieve in regular park hours.
As a ride operator in a cedar fair park the fast lane plus and fast lane are the best way to go. Yes I agree there are some problems but most of the the lines they merge into the main line where they don't get priority seating on the ride. it cut off half the wait time only.
As Kennywood being my home park, I'd never recommend anyone pay for their pass. You can ride every single ride there in one day, no problem. Park is so tiny lol.
So I don't use them very often but I had a good experience with the Quick Pass from Phantasialand which gives you 4 rides in total for all the main attractions except Taron, River Quest and Raik (which I can understand because the lines would get way too long but they do have a single rider line that makes up for that). There is no restriction with rerides and you can even share a pass with other persons but that will cost you 2,3 or 4 rides from the Pass. And for 15€ thats totally fine. I always use the entire pass for Black Mamba or spend one ride on Chiapas. But most of the other attractions never get longer lines than 45 minutes. Even on the most crowded days
This is a very informative video, but there is one aspect of these systems that I wish you had covered: their impact of on the standard wait times. I think that's a very important factor to consider when trying to determine which system is best.
Buddy and I went to CP on a Saturday this summer and got FLP. Saved our lives as we only did a day trip from Pittsburgh. Got on SV, Mav, Valravn, Raptor, GK, Rougarou, and MF with rerides on MF and Maverick before we had to leave. Won't go without it anymore.
I STRONGLY recommend the fast pass at Port Aventura. It’s absurd how much of a difference their pass makes. Turns basically everything into a walk on when the main queue can be hours.
I am happy that you made a fast pass or line cut pass video. For me I have used the following Disney Fast pass with max pass Universal one time express pass Six Flags Platinum Pass Six Flags Mexico Platinum Pass Cedar Fair Fast Lane/Plus Personally the Cedar Fair Fast Lane is my favorite since there are no restrictions involved usually and it is a very simple system where you don’t have to worry about a reservation or not being allowed to not get unlimited rides. Six Flags Mexico’s system was also cool because if you travel with multiple people, you can switch around hole punch passes if someone in the group didn’t want to ride a certain ride. Universal’s was fine but expensive for one time only. Disney’s ran out of fast passes too quickly, but at least it’s a free system. And the Six Flags Platinum Pass would be great if certain rides weren’t restricted to one ride only. Also the pod is annoying to hold.
One of the densest ( as in jam-packed with information) videos on YT. 100% agree CF's basic FL is about worthless. The package I buy for my annual trek up to CP has always included FL+, so I consider myself lucky.
Siam Park's Fast Pass allows you to ride every water slide once (Tower of Power doesn't include it) and then you can use it again for your favorite ride.
Living in Brazil makes visiting theme parks in SoCal my number 1 priority when visiting my sis, so it’s basically one shot to visit the parks I can... so this one time, overpaying for a fast pass on Six Flags Magic Mountain was kinda worth it for a one-day park visiting since I cannot have a season pass for any parks whatsoever... But haven’t purchased any fast pass (whatever the name is in each park) ever since (my bucket list each time I go to the US is Knott’s, Universal Studios, SFMM, DCA and if possible but not priority - Sea World SD and Legoland.
actually, at bgt, it is pick your ride. they say "one ride per major attraction", but really they don't track that, which is kind of interesting. when i was there, i got the "one ride per major attraction", but didn't do 4 of the rides included. instead, i got 5 consecutive rides on cheetah hunt before it maxed out.
Fun fact, at one point in time (probably around 2005 or 2006 when I used to go every weekend), Universal Florida's express passes were something you could get in front of a ride at a kiosk for free, and it'd tell you to return at/in between a certain time to ride. Then they started charging for a little booklet of one time use fast passes for each ride.
I normally don't use any system, because I'm cheap, but I had a free Fast Lane Plus at Carowinds a couple of weeks ago, and I really liked it, especially once I realized there was no restriction on what row I chose. Since the Fast Lane queue just dumps you out onto the platform, you don't have the awkwardness of coming up the exit and clearly taking somebody's seat. If I'm on a business trip, and have a limited amount of time at a park for a specific day, I'd probably do Fast Lane again.
What about the disney world version of fast past that's free with a ticket and you can book any three attractions at a time and as soon as one is used the next one can be booked and can be booked at any time with the free my disney experience app or from stations arround the parks
When I was at Heide Park couple of years ago, they had a different system VERY similar to the one at Disney. You got that little pod-thing as well, which would allow you to stand in line "virtually". You booked yourself into a slot, and just had to be there a few minutes before your booking. As far as i remember, it allowed unlimited rides on everything, you could book several seats and wasn't bound to just one person. Being able to walk around the park, explore, sit and chill and have a drink somewhere or enjoy a meal was sooooo nice, instead of being caught in a queue.
LOL, love the name of this video. When I went to Disneyland a few months ago Max Pass was $15 per person. It made me angry. Families are already paying so much to get in, and of course being able to reserve the ride without walking to it at such a huge park is an asset to families. Some people only go once a year, once every few years, once a decade! And they should be able to appreciate as many rides as they can, not pay even more, after paying $25 for parking, $10+ if they need a locker, if they need a stroller, then they can pay for an app that Disney is making MASSIVE profits off of? It seriously made me so mad. I say this as someone who grew up with a mom who worked for Disney Studios for 35 years, and when she left she kept her Silver Pass. I’ve never paid to get in, besides Grad Night, never paid parking, never paid for a stroller, and we get discounts on everything in the park. I’m not saying that to brag (trust me, there were a ton of pitfalls growing up with an overworked mom that was constantly stressed out and gone and hardly got to enjoy the perks herself), but I have watched Disney change so much over the years. They raised admission prices recently, that app should have been built in. It really frustrates me when I see how hard it is for families to go anymore. I can’t imagine it’s what Walt wanted. But this is a really interesting video. I’ve wondered about other parks before, but just didn’t take the time to look into it. So thanks!
I agree maxpass could definitely be free for paid park guests. I don't blame Disney for having high prices...can you imagine how crowded it would be if the tickets were cheap? But theres no reason for them to charge for it other than to make some extra money
I get that from a consumer perspective it’s frustrating that they are raising the prices, but you have to realize that it doesn’t matter if you can only go once a year, once a decade, once every few years... it’s still more than what most people can afford to do, and you definitely don’t HAVE to go to Disney. Disney is in no way a need for anybody regardless of their situation, it is a pure “want”, and raising their prices with how popular the parks are makes complete sense from a business standpoint. Why let people do something for free when they’d still be doing it if it cost money? It just makes sense to profit off of something that is profitable instead of giving it away for free. after all, it’s just another business at the end of the day
You also get all digital photo downloads (from rides and photographers) from that day included in the $15 as well as an hour and a half turn over time between getting fastpasses rather than 2. You get more fastpass opportunities without walking. For Disney $15 is cheap with all that it includes, so in my opinion it is completely worth it.
Awesome Vid. I was always against it but tried Fastlane Plus once with my son at Dorney Park and loved it. It helped get on so many rides and made it an extremely more enjoyable experience especially in the Water Park. Now we have it included on our passes and couldn't be happier. If I could take a quote from Chief Wiggum: Spoken like a Kid who never lived in a Non Flash Pass World!!!
I can’t express how much I love the Maxpass product. I love having the ability to select what ride you wanna get a fast pass for while you roam the parks. Not to mention you get to download the photos that are taken during rides, photo ops, and meet and greets. Ever since I was first introduced to it earlier this year, there hasn’t been a single time that I haven’t gotten it.
So, idk if I'm supposed to put this out there or if its changed. The second time on disney tickets isnt strictly enforced. They want you there then, but you can redeem it anytime after the initial time. They might enforce it on busy days, but I have never once seen it.
The gold flash pass came in handy for me at sfft to marathon my favorite coaster iron rattler WWGLC is good but the shoulder restraints kind of take away from it it also helped me since it was a busy day at sfft
Merlin, at least in the case of Alton, Thorpe and CWOA use time slots too. I think they’re 30 minute ones too. you can get none timed ones though by getting the bundles which work out the same price and can be used any time. Legoland uses acceso afaik though.
Went to Alton Towers recently and on top of the 3 tier system they also offer single fast-passes. On the day, you can pay on your phone for a one time, one ride pass. You select a ride, select a time, and pay £6 per person (or £10 for the Smiler and the Wicker Man) and walk straight on. Pretty neat and worth it for your favourite rides if they aren't included in the tier you want. :)
For Disney, the Fastpass and maxpass system, are only at Disneyland(CA). In Disney World(FL), they use the Fastpass+ system, which is free and you can book 3 fastpasses up to 30( or 60 if you’re staying in a Disney hotel) in advance, and then book more day of after you used those
Let’s not forget, Disney’s admission price is ridiculous, so they’re more or less forcing you to Pay for their short line system whether you want it or not; yes it’s nice, but it’s hardly free
This so true. Heck, most of the stuff that claimed to be "free" basically comes with a price. Whether it's 100% actually money is sometimes questionable, but usually, it's cheaper or free because they already got you in some other way.
Well when you combine the price of admission and the skip the line passes at parks at Six Flags and Cedar Fair, its basically just as much as going to a Disney Park anyway, if not more. Also, Disney just offers a much more complete experience that their prices are worth it, sure very expensive still but its a much funner and fuller time than going to any old Six Flags and Cedar Fair. Steel Vengence is fantastic and I would ride it anytime, but give me the Haunted Mansion over that any day.
@@TS_Mind_Swept Well it's not always about thrills. They are very nice and I do love some great thrill rides but theming, experience and story is so much better and leaves you a lot more satisfied. Also, It's so funny when people say that Disney has like no thrill rides when by far one of the most thrilling rides in the entire world is their Tower Of Terrors and Guardians of the Galaxy Mission breakout.
Great video. I just went to KI last weekend and bought the fast lane plus for 90 bucks and was a little irritated about those lines being so long. I feel they should limit the amount of fast lane passes sold. Otherwise everyone in the park may be in the fast lane line lol
Another great vid man! Really great stuff. One you didn't get into is the Fast Pass Plus system at Disney World. That's an entirely different deal and there should be a class you can take to understand it all for first timers. lol It's incredibly entailed and can begin as far out as 60 days out from the day you visit if you are staying at a Disney Property. 30 days if you are not. If you don't know this before you go you will more than likely find out that there are no fast passes left for the good rides on the day of your visit. I've actually lost fast passes for the time window (which you can choose on line) I wanted because I waited an hour later 60 days out. It was there and then poof it was gone. The people who know about it are on the site at home the minute it becomes live for them. It's intense! The same thing applies for dining reservations which you can plan 6 months out if I remember correctly. Just try getting a reservation at Cinderella's royal table in the castle closer than 6 months before you go. Almost a 0% chance. If anyone is going to Disney World read up on that Fast Pass Plus system before you buy your tickets so you can jump on it the minute your window opens up. Happy Fast Passing!
I know I don't have much experience but last year when I went to Cedar Point, the fast lane plus pass let me skip the lines for Maverick. That didn't work for Steel Vengeance, but only reason for that was because it was May where there was one train ops due to the slow station collision on opening weekend. I only needed to use it on the Friday I was there on May 25th after over riding three days earlier that week.
I’m pretty sure that only works if you stay at one of their 3 original hotels. If you stay at a newer hotel like Cabana Bay or Aventura you don’t get this perk
@@bigfatrockstar4991 That's exactly right. It's worth the extra money to stay at one of the 3 original (now the premium) hotels. The Hard Rock, Royal Pacific or Portofino Bay. If you have a party of 4 for 2 days that would be $800 just for the unlimited Express Passes alone for both days. It would probably cost like $2-400 more to stay at one of those hotels. Well worth it. I remember the days when they were the only hotels and everyone staying there got the unlimited fast passes. Thoooooosssseee were the Daaaaaaaaayyyys =)
Cedar fair's fast pass beats six flags flash pass by far for me, someone who wants to ride as many rides as possible and visits for a single day. I will only get the top tier of flash and it is so friggen expensive compared to a cedar fair fast pass. The single rider lines are great for people who do not want to spend the money. I would also like to point out that cedar fair takes their new popular rides off the fast pass. When top thrill dragster and steel vengeance came out they were both taken off the fast pass and steel vengeance was off it for quite a while when it was doing single train ops.
Me and my cousin used Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point on a Friday last year! We waited for Steel Vengeance for 45 minutes for the first ride, and 30 minutes later in the day for the second!
Carowinds’s version is definitely the best cause you don’t have to have a ticket or a window or anything. You buy a wristband and you just walk into the fast pass lane (which is usually empty) and bypass any line no matter how big.
I have season long fast lane for cedar fair, love it. I spent $1750 and me and my son go to cedar point weekly and kings island a few times a year. We also did dorney last week as well. We’ve done the time saver at Dollywood which worked great for us (we got unlimited of course). We were going to get the flash pass at great adventure last week but didn’t need it, the park was dead. And we did the one at Hershey which was very useful. No matter what the system is you jump on and save the most valuable
Thanks for this video, I am designing an alternative system to all of these which should address many of the weaknesses in these approaches while helping all riders get on rides faster.
The Express Pass that Universal has is absolutely amazing. Sure, you miss some of the queue line, but you get to see some cool stuff that's kind of behind the scenes. 100/100 would recommend if you're staying on property.
I did something I never thought I’d do. I bought the 3 of us All Parks Season Fast Passes for Cedar Fair in 2020. 💰With Cedar Point being packed with Gold Pass people, and Kings Island getting Orion, the lines will be long next year. So I bit the bullet. $849 each 🤦🏻♂️ I do love Steel Vengeance and TTD but not their 2 hour lines.
I live 35 minutes from CP so normally can fit going on less busy days fairly easy. I would love to get PLUS on thr busy days so I am extremely jealous of you. But here comes the question. Is Cedar Fair giving yiu 2021 free like is season pass holders free? I cant imagine they wouldnt. I just havent heard anything in the news media about Plus....
Good look into the fast pass systems of amusement parks. I used a fast pass last year at Kings Island and it really got me to go on more re rides of The Beast and Diamondback. But I haven’t used a Six Flags flash pass yet cause I’ve usually visited those parks when the crowds are low or go there more than one day.
When you have a diamond or diamond elite memebership and bu the flash pass at MM, you get an upgrade and a discount on the flash and end up paying little for making almost no line/wait time; ypu practically go from one ride to the other if you know how to manage the watch thing they give you.
For the quick queue at Sea World, you get 50% off if you hold a platinum annual pass. With quick queue, they block off rows 2 and 7 on Kraken for quick queue only, and I have been able to request whatever row id prefer on Mako and Manta.
I think that the Merlin fast rack is the best because for the unlimited one you can go on the rides unlimitedly with no restrictions and at any time and the fast rack quese never get longer then 5 min on a VERY busy day just from when I used it
My personal fave is that some of the Cedar Fair parks have a game app where you can earn fast passes. When my church group went to Kings Dominion, we played the game waiting in line or walking, and we got 4 or 5 passes in 2 days. It's great! But I do agree, Dollywood's system is nice too!
Just a note on Disney: They aren't super strict about having you arrive within your window! We were 10-15 minutes late on one of our rides and had no issues. Could have been a nice staff member though. I've only used the Flash Pass once- at Magic Mountain on a busy Saturday in August. We got the cheapest one because that weekend the cheapest pass had all rides included as a promotion. It was godsend to be able to relax, get a snack, or wait in a different line with the flash pass. We got to ride everything we wanted and then some! We didn't opt for the fast lane at Cedar Point despite it being a busy day just because the price was too expensive- we did plan very well and hit all of the fast lane plus rides that were open on Friday then so we could focus on the rides with shorter lines on Saturday. Good planning can go a long way. We never waited more than ~30 minutes for any ride except Top Thrill Dragster... we may have tried to squeeze a 2nd Steel Vengeance Ride before TTD opened... except TTD opened early. Oops! Millennium Force was on the long side but not terribly so. I personally don't mind the fast pass systems. We've only ever used the one at Magic Mountain and that was less to get more rides and more because it was going to be hot and both of us had spent the entire day prior on our feet so just being able to sit and get a drink while waiting was worth it. Sure some see it as line cutting or a class system but I see it as a way for people out of town to get the most of their one day or for people to take a more relaxed visit. I also like to think the profits off these fast passes go into improving the parks so there's that. I'm okay paying a few extra dollars here and there to help keep the parks running!
I like Silver Dollar City’s system overall the most. Cheaper, 8 rides on anything, and no wait. I would of gotten Dollywood’s if they allowed more then 1 Ride on L-Rod.
Have you used Fast Pass at Disney World vs Disneyland? It's a whole other system where you book them 30 days in advance and is all on the app. It works really well for regular park goers. But I like Universal's system better if going just me and my husband.
Disney World allows fastpass registration through Mobile Phone, website, or at various locations throughout the park. The time-slot return time model is also used at the Virtual Line attractions at Universal (Fallon, Fast and Furious, Pteradon Fliers).
These skip the line options are the worst thing to ever come to amusement parks. It has done nothing but make people feel entitled. I understand completely that it is to make money, but Steel Vengeance having a a fast lane line of an hour is proof that they are bad ideas. These also add wait time to the normal line. Take a look at the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train This ride is 5 years old now, and still always has a standby line of over an hour, all day. this is because they overuse the fastpass system, take that out and that line would only be 30-45 minutes. The only ride that the system somewhat works with is Disney Worlds Space Mountain, only because it has 2 tracks, they use one for the normal line and the other for fastpass. The systems are a joke and should be removed. That being said, I would never pay for it, but do take advantage of Disney's only because most people don't know how to use it properly. However would still enjoy it more if it was removed completely
I had a huge stroke of luck with cedar point. I knew I was going on 2nd September last year (travelling from Hong Kong) so I went online in March to book 2 fast lane plus passes. Something screwed up with the online payment so I had to reserve and pay once I got into the park. The online deal is around 140 bucks per person for entry and fast lane plus so I was expecting to pay 280 bucks. When I arrived on the day the dude serving me must have messed up/ misunderstood my reservation email and I got charged just 140 bucks for 2 entry and fast lane plus. I managed to get on every ride in one day and I only paid for the 2 entrances. Best screw up ever! 🎉
I’m not sure if the policy has changed since I visited in August, but for Busch Gardens the regular quick queue let me ride as many times as I wanted but they’re were 3 or 4 of the biggest rides that were excluded altogether and were only able to skip using the Quick Queue unlimited.
I don't know if you've looked into it, but for next season, cedar point is going to be mad crazy packed all season because they were selling a season gold pass for 100 bucks and seems like they way over sold them. My family "without me since I'm in California" went in September when normally it's slower, but since the gold passes could be used for the rest of this season, it was crazy. My step dad and step brother had fast pass plus and said even those lines were never shorter than an hour.
Disney world works just a little bit different. As their are 4 parks u can only hook 3 passes a day per a park. But once used up you can book again. But also Disney world has a app where you book the passes in advance. The only restriction is at Hollywood studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom as the rides are split into tear 1 and 2. Magic kingdom has no tears. But for the other parks ur first three passes are 1 tear one and 2 tear two..... anyway just wanted to say this hahaha I know it can be confusing have a great day and always love your videos
Fast lane plus is an absolute must when visiting Cedar Point. Don't go if you can't afford it, even on less busier days your top tier coasters are 90 min wait times.
Actually the max pass does give access to more rides than the typical paper fastpass where you have to walk over to the ride. Once you've scanned your max pass for the ride you've booked, while you're in that fastpass line still (because it's not instant usually) you can book your next max pass time without having finished that ride. Example, if I book max pass for haunted mansion, I scan my phone at the ride, and as I'm winding through into the mansion, I'm already booking a time for Thunder Mountain or another fastpass attraction. Whereas someone who's using regular fastpass would have to completely finish haunted mansion, walk over to the next ride, pull a fastpass, then go do something else while they wait. I love max pass. I use it EVERY time. Plus you get all your photo pass photos for the day included in the price. Makes it totally worth the price.
I really like the idea of relatively cheap one-time skip the lines that you can use on any combinations of attractions. To me that's most ideal cuz you don't have to break the bank and you're not forced to use a skip the line on an attraction with no wait.
I think the cedar fair fast lane is the best only because I’ve only gotten it at cedar point and it definitely helped out a lot. We didn’t use the flash pass at six flags great America because we pretty much got what we wanted too ride during our trip, but I plan on visiting magic mountain for my birthday so I’ll definitely try it out!
Great Adventure doesn’t have the ride restrictions with the regular Flash Pass, but one note on FP Platinum, Kingda Ka waits are still REALLY long, especially if the ride goes down
I can’t lie I like the merlin fast pass system best as you have a time to go ride the ride and each ride has a different price so your not spending the same amount for flat rides as you are for coasters. I also like how you can then buy bundles if you want to do all the main coasters or all the water rises
The best one is the free one: *single rider*
I hate when groups of like 6+ people clog up single riders
Takador I once got stuck behind a couple who wanted to be together but went through single rider 😡 and the only park I go to that has single rider has removed it from all but one ride (Alton Towers and The Smiler).
How long until they start charging for that too?
CVerse - now if only THOSE were implemented better (being included and regulated more, as Tekador touched on)
@@brightfurys I feel like if people go to a park together they shouldn't use the single Rider line since they're not actually single Riders, whether they care about riding together or not, it defeats the whole purpose of it and ruins it for those of us who are actually single Riders
How to skip any line *for free*
Step 1: Go on a school day
Basically describes my day at Busch Gardens Tampa
Pretty much, I kind of Hit and Miss though, and it still depends which day you go; Fridays aren't usually the best even though they're still in school that day. I've actually found Tuesdays to be some of the best days to go, it's not quite the middle of the week, and it's also not close enough to the weekend for people to just "take a long weekend"; men week sometime is your best bet, but the random off days are more consistently good
I’m going to CP in May (because my band class is going but I can’t).
anytime my school specifically doesn’t have school for whatever reason, me and my always go to Busch Gardens because we have passes, and seriously some of the rides that have the longest waits like sheikra and cheetah hunt never have any wait
@@allevant my band class was going to go to six flags over texas in may but that's probably not gonna happen. I have a membership there so people were jealous and wanted to be next to me on the trip lol
Disney and Free in the same sentence. Woah.
Well ever since 1982, you could ride the rides for free, because they used to have a ticket system for attractions. The term E-Ticket is still used to this day to describe a a big main attraction.
Yeah but its useless. They do it by the ticket and limit the amount available for each ride for each day. In short if you show up later in the day there will be nothing available for Soarin'.
you mean "Free*"
“Free” = $199/day
Well because it's free they make more money with food/souvenir sales.
The best one is definitely Priority Pass from planet coaster.
Coaster Fusion by the way I liked your comment
Skinner Family thx
Yes
Absolutely
Yes
Disney is definitely my favorite. It’s already budget breaking enough to get into most parks with food and everything, can’t ever justify paying double or triple for a shorter line. I’ve always planned well and done everything I wanted to in a day even on busy days, so Disney’s being free is incredible, because the only reason it works at other parks is because it’s too costly for most people. Who knows, maybe I’ll be rich someday and it’ll be no big deal!
MaxPass is definitely work 15 bucks, just went 2 weeks ago on a saturday and rode everything! Only had to wait for Smuggler's Run since I couldnt get any passes for it
Disney is also my favorite. The system is more about redistributing people throughout the park than making an extra buck. I don't mind going to do other things for an hour or so than coming back to a ride. When I was a kid my family would often send me to go grab fast passes then meet up with them elsewhere, and I enjoyed the time maximizing strategy we had
This comment aged terribly
At Walt Disney World, guests staying on property can book fast passes like a month or two in advance. Also, all reservations are done on your phone, no extra charge for that.
You say that like its a good thing, which it certainly is not. Its not even comparable to simply booking the FP you want on the day you want it, as opposed to fighting with hundreds of people online 3 months in advance for fastpasses 90% of those people wont even use (because who the hell knows which park they will be at 3 months in advance?)...
It has its pros and cons. With Walt Disney World you kind of have to plan out a detailed itinerary for what park on what day. Even dining reservations are made far in advance. If you don’t book fast passes and reservations in advance for Walt Disney World , have fun trying to get popular ones day of.
If you’re staying on property with dining reservations most people plan their park day based on dining with is booked six months out
@@Hairycabbbage "because who the hell knows which park they will be at 3 months in advance?" At WDW, many guests actually do. For most, WDW is a full vacation, and not just a weekend trip like Disneyland in Anaheim. Many people actually plan in advance which days they'll visit which park, because you also have dining reservations (booked 180 days in advance) and the extra magic hours for resort guests. This way, most people already know in advance when they'll visit a certain park.
@@spacebug30 I know, i go for 3 weeks at a time, so i know first hand that 3 months before i go, i dont know where im going to be on any given day. now if it WAS just a weekend trip, then i probably would know where i was going to be on each of those 2 days because of how short the trip is... How do you think people are more likely to plan out every park day in a 2-3 week trip than a 2-3 day trip?
I hate having to pay for Fast Pass, but at Cedar Point it’s so busy that it’s becoming necessary, if you want to have a fun day.
Well Disney in Orlando does their fast pass differently
Yeah, I found it weird that this video covered Disneyland Fastpass/Maxpass but not Disney World Fastpass+
He lives in California so its probably the one hes most familiar with
@@Jambamjar maybe, but he travels to parks, not only visits his local parks. WDW fast pass is imo better since you can get your ride reservations up to 60 days in advance
@@gabrielduarte3904 yeah but at least in CA you can just kind of go and do stuff without having to plan everything ahead of time. I honestly prefer enjoying things that way, spontaneous and without stress.
@@gabrielduarte3904 He has said before that he is not very interested in Disney so he might have not visited Disney World or doesnt care. With Disneyland he does live close by and so he probably maybe goes from time to time. Also WDW's fastpass is awful. It basically means that you have to stay at the resorts to actually be able to get the best fastpasses. Its much better at Disneyland with max pass, its first come first serve and if youre smart you can get some many different fastpasses on the same day. With Disney World you can only get those for the best rides if youre staying at a resort or get REALLY lucky, and theres also even tiers and such which also ruin what fastpass is even about.
This is why you go on a weekday while school is still in session.
A lot of amusement parks only open on weekends once September rolls around
I’m homeschooled so we always go on weekdays to the parks. I also have a disability, so I get a disability pass
@@jeremiahsolar3880 I'm sorry for your legs.
Most parks get a lot of school groups on weekdays in May, so it can actually be quite busy.
Too bad I can’t skip school. :(
I noticed recently that the five rides excluded from FL Plus at Cedar Point all have 52-inch height requirements. So I think the main purpose of the lower tier is to provide a price break for families with kids who have only hit the 48-inch mark. I'm not sure about the other Cedar Fair parks, though.
AT threw some shade at Tidal Twister, calling it a "so-called coaster" LMAO
Disney is the best for the exact reasons you gave
I have a friend who is from Chicago, and I am in SF, so you know, six flag kingdom...
We bought the "skip-the-line" pass, and we rode every ride for like 5 times... I was getting sick after all of these crazy rides, but my friend is totally enjoying the thrill. So in total, we used the pass 43-ish times, and it is summertime. People at the regular line hated us, and yell at us. OK, I admit it is rude to ride that many times, but hey, if you let us in... we will take the ride!
So far, this experience is the best value I ever get out of the "express" pass.
Disney's Fastpass has the best one, hands down.
My dad and I went to Carowinds a few months back. We're picky and I had some jangle in my pocket for once so we bought two fastpasses bc why not. We usually get fastpasses for CF parks now regardless of the wait times because of this incident. Basically the lines were 2-3 hours for everything and assigned seating. We were able to ride Fury 15 times with picking our seat.
Even though I was profiting, I literally feel like the CF system is too good. they've improved it (worsened) at CP, but the other CF parks are ridiculous
Yeah, FastPass is just great. Me and my buddy went to kings island a few years back, and it was a 2/3 hour wait for everything. Delirium was a 1 hour wait. After we rode it, I bought us two normal fast passes. Everything but Banshee, which has a super fast line anyway, we rode multiple times. 15 rides on diamondback. It's such a good system imo
I was at CP this past Saturday. The park reached capacity after only 4 hours of being open. As someone who didn’t have a fast lane pass, wow was it terrible. Because the park was so full, the ride ops were dedicating half of each train or even every other whole train to just fast laners. This made the regular queue CRAWL. You basically had to take the standard queue wait time and add the fast lane wait time to it. Millie, SV, Valravn, and Maverick all had 4 hour waits because of this. I get that fast laners pay more, but HALF of every train? The regular queue doesn’t stand a chance.
This is why these systems are stupid
I can relate, had the exact same experience when I was there on a Sunday
You seriously have the most unique and creative video ideas of any coaster RUclipsr
"Unless you buy the pass includes this so-called coaster" lmbo, Nice roast
GP when they don’t line cut:
Something’s wrong, I can feel it
Coaster Fusion agree
Skinner Family yes lol
Hey I’ve seen ur comments on midway mayhem or coaster studios or something
Awesome meme 👍🏽
@@JBThrills thx
If you have a physical disability or are with someone who has one, guest services gives you a free pass to skip the lines and walk through the exit line to the station. I rode steel vengeance 4 times in one day and got to personally pick out front and back row rides with this method, among every other ride in the park, it was amazing !
Great vid! It's not that other parks "saw dollar signs" (well they did, but hear me out). It's actually that the idea of ride reservation is a copywriten Patten bla bla bla. When I worked in guest services at a particular Orlando resort, one of the first questions I asked was why the "skip the line pass" was no longer free (it was about 5-10 years prior of my employment). And someone from legal explained to us that we started charging not just to make money, but because Disney could sue anyone using the system since it is their idea. So to differentiate, said park(s) came up with different ways to claim it was not the same as Disney's. Charging for it, offering one time on every ride, unlimited options, electronic pagers etc etc. In my time in that department and to this day most guest would tell us they preferred our system to Disney's because of the limitations. Three per day, long return times, etc etc. Just a fun fact thought I would share. Love your channel.
Busch gardens also has a system where if you have a disability, injury, or recent surgery, you will receive a free fast past for certain rides based on your injury. This is especially useful for howl o scream
Quick queue is awful. On most rides you are assigned to the second to front row which just destroys the point of getting the pass. Also, you have to carry around a piece of paper.
Six flags regular flash pass you can reserve the joker per se and be waiting at Superman then you're done with superman and jump right over to joker. Or you can reserve Medusa while having lunch . The good thing is that you can reserve it anywhere around the park. With Disney you have to go to the front of the ride which creates a lot of land hopping.
Sometimes I honestly think the lines would just go faster if they didn't have any "skip the lines systems" in the first place. Still, they are convent at the Disney parks. I just desperately hope Disney never starts charging for it. I am perfectly okay with all these catches that it comes with as long as I don't have to pay for it.
I think that parks are better off without it. My local park, lagoon, doesn't have this. Lines move pretty quickly and there's no alternating between fast pass and regular guests like at cedar point. It means faster boarding times and a faster moving line. Although lagoon staff dispatch cars incredibly fast
Then there's Europa Park who just know how to run a park.
do they even have a system
@@NickyD Yea it's called getting people on the ride!
30 second dispatches sure are the best system
and there is a single rider lane
Voletarium has a system based on the Disney model, but it's only because the ride is net to the entrance. In the rest of the park, they work like the operators at Fury325 in Carowinds with 30 seconds dispatches.
I always get the pass because I don't have a home park and want to maximize my limited time when traveling. But still my favorite systems are now dead days, or options with early entry. Experiencing early entry to CP and Europa park, for example, really changed a lot and gave me more rides on favorite busy coasters more effectively than most fass passes could achieve in regular park hours.
As a ride operator in a cedar fair park the fast lane plus and fast lane are the best way to go. Yes I agree there are some problems but most of the the lines they merge into the main line where they don't get priority seating on the ride. it cut off half the wait time only.
I can’t help but always dance to your intro. It’s great! And also, I love the Cedar Point Fast Lane Plus
As Kennywood being my home park, I'd never recommend anyone pay for their pass. You can ride every single ride there in one day, no problem. Park is so tiny lol.
So I don't use them very often but I had a good experience with the Quick Pass from Phantasialand which gives you 4 rides in total for all the main attractions except Taron, River Quest and Raik (which I can understand because the lines would get way too long but they do have a single rider line that makes up for that). There is no restriction with rerides and you can even share a pass with other persons but that will cost you 2,3 or 4 rides from the Pass. And for 15€ thats totally fine. I always use the entire pass for Black Mamba or spend one ride on Chiapas. But most of the other attractions never get longer lines than 45 minutes. Even on the most crowded days
Great video from airtime thrills. I Have to admit I totally underestimated your channel keep it up.
This is a very informative video, but there is one aspect of these systems that I wish you had covered: their impact of on the standard wait times. I think that's a very important factor to consider when trying to determine which system is best.
Buddy and I went to CP on a Saturday this summer and got FLP. Saved our lives as we only did a day trip from Pittsburgh. Got on SV, Mav, Valravn, Raptor, GK, Rougarou, and MF with rerides on MF and Maverick before we had to leave. Won't go without it anymore.
I STRONGLY recommend the fast pass at Port Aventura. It’s absurd how much of a difference their pass makes. Turns basically everything into a walk on when the main queue can be hours.
I have the Season Fast Lane for CA Great America. It is great to have when I eat lunch and get a ride in.
I am happy that you made a fast pass or line cut pass video.
For me I have used the following
Disney Fast pass with max pass
Universal one time express pass
Six Flags Platinum Pass
Six Flags Mexico Platinum Pass
Cedar Fair Fast Lane/Plus
Personally the Cedar Fair Fast Lane is my favorite since there are no restrictions involved usually and it is a very simple system where you don’t have to worry about a reservation or not being allowed to not get unlimited rides.
Six Flags Mexico’s system was also cool because if you travel with multiple people, you can switch around hole punch passes if someone in the group didn’t want to ride a certain ride.
Universal’s was fine but expensive for one time only.
Disney’s ran out of fast passes too quickly, but at least it’s a free system.
And the Six Flags Platinum Pass would be great if certain rides weren’t restricted to one ride only. Also the pod is annoying to hold.
One of the densest ( as in jam-packed with information) videos on YT.
100% agree CF's basic FL is about worthless. The package I buy for my annual trek up to CP has always included FL+, so I consider myself lucky.
Siam Park's Fast Pass allows you to ride every water slide once (Tower of Power doesn't include it) and then you can use it again for your favorite ride.
This was a really informative video and cleared up some questions I had. Thanks for always putting out high quality content 👍🏻
Living in Brazil makes visiting theme parks in SoCal my number 1 priority when visiting my sis, so it’s basically one shot to visit the parks I can... so this one time, overpaying for a fast pass on Six Flags Magic Mountain was kinda worth it for a one-day park visiting since I cannot have a season pass for any parks whatsoever... But haven’t purchased any fast pass (whatever the name is in each park) ever since (my bucket list each time I go to the US is Knott’s, Universal Studios, SFMM, DCA and if possible but not priority - Sea World SD and Legoland.
MaxPass is $15 per person. They increased the price back in January.
actually, at bgt, it is pick your ride. they say "one ride per major attraction", but really they don't track that, which is kind of interesting. when i was there, i got the "one ride per major attraction", but didn't do 4 of the rides included. instead, i got 5 consecutive rides on cheetah hunt before it maxed out.
Man, when I went to Kennywood I got the pass for $25 on a busy day and managed to get the front on some rides
Kennywood’s passes are limited in their uses, but the prices are also quite reasonable.
Actually, Cedar Fair will only sell a certain amount of fast lane wristbands per day. So if you come too the park too late, shit out of luck.
Your voice is surprisingly soothing and almost with an ASMR feel. 💀
Fun fact, at one point in time (probably around 2005 or 2006 when I used to go every weekend), Universal Florida's express passes were something you could get in front of a ride at a kiosk for free, and it'd tell you to return at/in between a certain time to ride. Then they started charging for a little booklet of one time use fast passes for each ride.
I normally don't use any system, because I'm cheap, but I had a free Fast Lane Plus at Carowinds a couple of weeks ago, and I really liked it, especially once I realized there was no restriction on what row I chose. Since the Fast Lane queue just dumps you out onto the platform, you don't have the awkwardness of coming up the exit and clearly taking somebody's seat. If I'm on a business trip, and have a limited amount of time at a park for a specific day, I'd probably do Fast Lane again.
What about the disney world version of fast past that's free with a ticket and you can book any three attractions at a time and as soon as one is used the next one can be booked and can be booked at any time with the free my disney experience app or from stations arround the parks
Cat King YASSS fast pass plus?
When I was at Heide Park couple of years ago, they had a different system VERY similar to the one at Disney. You got that little pod-thing as well, which would allow you to stand in line "virtually". You booked yourself into a slot, and just had to be there a few minutes before your booking. As far as i remember, it allowed unlimited rides on everything, you could book several seats and wasn't bound to just one person. Being able to walk around the park, explore, sit and chill and have a drink somewhere or enjoy a meal was sooooo nice, instead of being caught in a queue.
LOL, love the name of this video.
When I went to Disneyland a few months ago Max Pass was $15 per person. It made me angry. Families are already paying so much to get in, and of course being able to reserve the ride without walking to it at such a huge park is an asset to families. Some people only go once a year, once every few years, once a decade! And they should be able to appreciate as many rides as they can, not pay even more, after paying $25 for parking, $10+ if they need a locker, if they need a stroller, then they can pay for an app that Disney is making MASSIVE profits off of? It seriously made me so mad.
I say this as someone who grew up with a mom who worked for Disney Studios for 35 years, and when she left she kept her Silver Pass. I’ve never paid to get in, besides Grad Night, never paid parking, never paid for a stroller, and we get discounts on everything in the park. I’m not saying that to brag (trust me, there were a ton of pitfalls growing up with an overworked mom that was constantly stressed out and gone and hardly got to enjoy the perks herself), but I have watched Disney change so much over the years. They raised admission prices recently, that app should have been built in. It really frustrates me when I see how hard it is for families to go anymore. I can’t imagine it’s what Walt wanted.
But this is a really interesting video. I’ve wondered about other parks before, but just didn’t take the time to look into it. So thanks!
I agree maxpass could definitely be free for paid park guests. I don't blame Disney for having high prices...can you imagine how crowded it would be if the tickets were cheap? But theres no reason for them to charge for it other than to make some extra money
I get that from a consumer perspective it’s frustrating that they are raising the prices, but you have to realize that it doesn’t matter if you can only go once a year, once a decade, once every few years... it’s still more than what most people can afford to do, and you definitely don’t HAVE to go to Disney. Disney is in no way a need for anybody regardless of their situation, it is a pure “want”, and raising their prices with how popular the parks are makes complete sense from a business standpoint. Why let people do something for free when they’d still be doing it if it cost money? It just makes sense to profit off of something that is profitable instead of giving it away for free. after all, it’s just another business at the end of the day
You also get all digital photo downloads (from rides and photographers) from that day included in the $15 as well as an hour and a half turn over time between getting fastpasses rather than 2. You get more fastpass opportunities without walking. For Disney $15 is cheap with all that it includes, so in my opinion it is completely worth it.
Awesome Vid. I was always against it but tried Fastlane Plus once with my son at Dorney Park and loved it. It helped get on so many rides and made it an extremely more enjoyable experience especially in the Water Park. Now we have it included on our passes and couldn't be happier.
If I could take a quote from Chief Wiggum: Spoken like a Kid who never lived in a Non Flash Pass World!!!
I can’t express how much I love the Maxpass product. I love having the ability to select what ride you wanna get a fast pass for while you roam the parks. Not to mention you get to download the photos that are taken during rides, photo ops, and meet and greets. Ever since I was first introduced to it earlier this year, there hasn’t been a single time that I haven’t gotten it.
So, idk if I'm supposed to put this out there or if its changed. The second time on disney tickets isnt strictly enforced. They want you there then, but you can redeem it anytime after the initial time. They might enforce it on busy days, but I have never once seen it.
The gold flash pass came in handy for me at sfft to marathon my favorite coaster iron rattler WWGLC is good but the shoulder restraints kind of take away from it it also helped me since it was a busy day at sfft
Merlin, at least in the case of Alton, Thorpe and CWOA use time slots too. I think they’re 30 minute ones too. you can get none timed ones though by getting the bundles which work out the same price and can be used any time. Legoland uses acceso afaik though.
Kennywood allows you to pick the front. Thats why most people hate it cuz you have to wait way longer for the good seats on Phantom
They advertise that you cant. I guess they dont enforce it?
only the back seat is the best seat on Phantom
Went to Alton Towers recently and on top of the 3 tier system they also offer single fast-passes. On the day, you can pay on your phone for a one time, one ride pass. You select a ride, select a time, and pay £6 per person (or £10 for the Smiler and the Wicker Man) and walk straight on. Pretty neat and worth it for your favourite rides if they aren't included in the tier you want. :)
For Disney, the Fastpass and maxpass system, are only at Disneyland(CA). In Disney World(FL), they use the Fastpass+ system, which is free and you can book 3 fastpasses up to 30( or 60 if you’re staying in a Disney hotel) in advance, and then book more day of after you used those
Let’s not forget, Disney’s admission price is ridiculous, so they’re more or less forcing you to Pay for their short line system whether you want it or not; yes it’s nice, but it’s hardly free
This so true. Heck, most of the stuff that claimed to be "free" basically comes with a price. Whether it's 100% actually money is sometimes questionable, but usually, it's cheaper or free because they already got you in some other way.
Well when you combine the price of admission and the skip the line passes at parks at Six Flags and Cedar Fair, its basically just as much as going to a Disney Park anyway, if not more. Also, Disney just offers a much more complete experience that their prices are worth it, sure very expensive still but its a much funner and fuller time than going to any old Six Flags and Cedar Fair. Steel Vengence is fantastic and I would ride it anytime, but give me the Haunted Mansion over that any day.
@@redique *when you say parks with pretty much no good thrill rides have a more complete experience then one that do 😂😂
@@TS_Mind_Swept Well it's not always about thrills. They are very nice and I do love some great thrill rides but theming, experience and story is so much better and leaves you a lot more satisfied. Also, It's so funny when people say that Disney has like no thrill rides when by far one of the most thrilling rides in the entire world is their Tower Of Terrors and Guardians of the Galaxy Mission breakout.
@@redique i said "good" thrill rides, not frills for behbehs. Also story is overrated
Dude you gotta do a Top 25/Top 50 video. The coaster community eats those videos up
Disney uses the magic bands with their system but with the app it is super easy to set who has what ride.
Great video. I just went to KI last weekend and bought the fast lane plus for 90 bucks and was a little irritated about those lines being so long. I feel they should limit the amount of fast lane passes sold. Otherwise everyone in the park may be in the fast lane line lol
Another great vid man! Really great stuff.
One you didn't get into is the Fast Pass Plus system at Disney World. That's an entirely different deal and there should be a class you can take to understand it all for first timers. lol
It's incredibly entailed and can begin as far out as 60 days out from the day you visit if you are staying at a Disney Property. 30 days if you are not. If you don't know this before you go you will more than likely find out that there are no fast passes left for the good rides on the day of your visit. I've actually lost fast passes for the time window (which you can choose on line) I wanted because I waited an hour later 60 days out. It was there and then poof it was gone. The people who know about it are on the site at home the minute it becomes live for them. It's intense!
The same thing applies for dining reservations which you can plan 6 months out if I remember correctly. Just try getting a reservation at Cinderella's royal table in the castle closer than 6 months before you go. Almost a 0% chance.
If anyone is going to Disney World read up on that Fast Pass Plus system before you buy your tickets so you can jump on it the minute your window opens up. Happy Fast Passing!
I know I don't have much experience but last year when I went to Cedar Point, the fast lane plus pass let me skip the lines for Maverick. That didn't work for Steel Vengeance, but only reason for that was because it was May where there was one train ops due to the slow station collision on opening weekend. I only needed to use it on the Friday I was there on May 25th after over riding three days earlier that week.
I was in universal studios last year and if you stay at a hotel on site you get free unlimited universal express
I’m pretty sure that only works if you stay at one of their 3 original hotels. If you stay at a newer hotel like Cabana Bay or Aventura you don’t get this perk
@@bigfatrockstar4991 That's exactly right. It's worth the extra money to stay at one of the 3 original (now the premium) hotels. The Hard Rock, Royal Pacific or Portofino Bay. If you have a party of 4 for 2 days that would be $800 just for the unlimited Express Passes alone for both days. It would probably cost like $2-400 more to stay at one of those hotels. Well worth it.
I remember the days when they were the only hotels and everyone staying there got the unlimited fast passes. Thoooooosssseee were the Daaaaaaaaayyyys =)
That's how I got to go on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman for only a 2 minute wait for free
Cedar fair's fast pass beats six flags flash pass by far for me, someone who wants to ride as many rides as possible and visits for a single day.
I will only get the top tier of flash and it is so friggen expensive compared to a cedar fair fast pass.
The single rider lines are great for people who do not want to spend the money.
I would also like to point out that cedar fair takes their new popular rides off the fast pass.
When top thrill dragster and steel vengeance came out they were both taken off the fast pass and steel vengeance was off it for quite a while when it was doing single train ops.
Me and my cousin used Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point on a Friday last year! We waited for Steel Vengeance for 45 minutes for the first ride, and 30 minutes later in the day for the second!
Carowinds’s version is definitely the best cause you don’t have to have a ticket or a window or anything. You buy a wristband and you just walk into the fast pass lane (which is usually empty) and bypass any line no matter how big.
I have season long fast lane for cedar fair, love it. I spent $1750 and me and my son go to cedar point weekly and kings island a few times a year. We also did dorney last week as well. We’ve done the time saver at Dollywood which worked great for us (we got unlimited of course). We were going to get the flash pass at great adventure last week but didn’t need it, the park was dead. And we did the one at Hershey which was very useful. No matter what the system is you jump on and save the most valuable
Thanks for this video, I am designing an alternative system to all of these which should address many of the weaknesses in these approaches while helping all riders get on rides faster.
The pod of the flash pass looks like a tamaguchi
The Express Pass that Universal has is absolutely amazing. Sure, you miss some of the queue line, but you get to see some cool stuff that's kind of behind the scenes. 100/100 would recommend if you're staying on property.
I did something I never thought I’d do. I bought the 3 of us All Parks Season Fast Passes for Cedar Fair in 2020. 💰With Cedar Point being packed with Gold Pass people, and Kings Island getting Orion, the lines will be long next year. So I bit the bullet. $849 each 🤦🏻♂️
I do love Steel Vengeance and TTD but not their 2 hour lines.
I live 35 minutes from CP so normally can fit going on less busy days fairly easy. I would love to get PLUS on thr busy days so I am extremely jealous of you. But here comes the question. Is Cedar Fair giving yiu 2021 free like is season pass holders free? I cant imagine they wouldnt. I just havent heard anything in the news media about Plus....
Good look into the fast pass systems of amusement parks. I used a fast pass last year at Kings Island and it really got me to go on more re rides of The Beast and Diamondback. But I haven’t used a Six Flags flash pass yet cause I’ve usually visited those parks when the crowds are low or go there more than one day.
When you have a diamond or diamond elite memebership and bu the flash pass at MM, you get an upgrade and a discount on the flash and end up paying little for making almost no line/wait time; ypu practically go from one ride to the other if you know how to manage the watch thing they give you.
For the quick queue at Sea World, you get 50% off if you hold a platinum annual pass. With quick queue, they block off rows 2 and 7 on Kraken for quick queue only, and I have been able to request whatever row id prefer on Mako and Manta.
Max pass is $15 per person now! But using your charisma is free if you have it
I remember going a number of years ago and Six Flags were still doing the re-rides. It was great.
I think that the Merlin fast rack is the best because for the unlimited one you can go on the rides unlimitedly with no restrictions and at any time and the fast rack quese never get longer then 5 min on a VERY busy day just from when I used it
My personal fave is that some of the Cedar Fair parks have a game app where you can earn fast passes. When my church group went to Kings Dominion, we played the game waiting in line or walking, and we got 4 or 5 passes in 2 days. It's great!
But I do agree, Dollywood's system is nice too!
Just a note on Disney: They aren't super strict about having you arrive within your window! We were 10-15 minutes late on one of our rides and had no issues. Could have been a nice staff member though.
I've only used the Flash Pass once- at Magic Mountain on a busy Saturday in August. We got the cheapest one because that weekend the cheapest pass had all rides included as a promotion. It was godsend to be able to relax, get a snack, or wait in a different line with the flash pass. We got to ride everything we wanted and then some! We didn't opt for the fast lane at Cedar Point despite it being a busy day just because the price was too expensive- we did plan very well and hit all of the fast lane plus rides that were open on Friday then so we could focus on the rides with shorter lines on Saturday. Good planning can go a long way. We never waited more than ~30 minutes for any ride except Top Thrill Dragster... we may have tried to squeeze a 2nd Steel Vengeance Ride before TTD opened... except TTD opened early. Oops! Millennium Force was on the long side but not terribly so.
I personally don't mind the fast pass systems. We've only ever used the one at Magic Mountain and that was less to get more rides and more because it was going to be hot and both of us had spent the entire day prior on our feet so just being able to sit and get a drink while waiting was worth it. Sure some see it as line cutting or a class system but I see it as a way for people out of town to get the most of their one day or for people to take a more relaxed visit. I also like to think the profits off these fast passes go into improving the parks so there's that. I'm okay paying a few extra dollars here and there to help keep the parks running!
I don't go to Wonderland/Cedar Point without paying for Fast Lane Plus I consider it a requirement now
I like Silver Dollar City’s system overall the most. Cheaper, 8 rides on anything, and no wait. I would of gotten Dollywood’s if they allowed more then 1 Ride on L-Rod.
Have you used Fast Pass at Disney World vs Disneyland? It's a whole other system where you book them 30 days in advance and is all on the app. It works really well for regular park goers. But I like Universal's system better if going just me and my husband.
Disney World allows fastpass registration through Mobile Phone, website, or at various locations throughout the park. The time-slot return time model is also used at the Virtual Line attractions at Universal (Fallon, Fast and Furious, Pteradon Fliers).
These skip the line options are the worst thing to ever come to amusement parks. It has done nothing but make people feel entitled. I understand completely that it is to make money, but Steel Vengeance having a a fast lane line of an hour is proof that they are bad ideas. These also add wait time to the normal line. Take a look at the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train This ride is 5 years old now, and still always has a standby line of over an hour, all day. this is because they overuse the fastpass system, take that out and that line would only be 30-45 minutes. The only ride that the system somewhat works with is Disney Worlds Space Mountain, only because it has 2 tracks, they use one for the normal line and the other for fastpass. The systems are a joke and should be removed.
That being said, I would never pay for it, but do take advantage of Disney's only because most people don't know how to use it properly. However would still enjoy it more if it was removed completely
I had a huge stroke of luck with cedar point. I knew I was going on 2nd September last year (travelling from Hong Kong) so I went online in March to book 2 fast lane plus passes. Something screwed up with the online payment so I had to reserve and pay once I got into the park. The online deal is around 140 bucks per person for entry and fast lane plus so I was expecting to pay 280 bucks. When I arrived on the day the dude serving me must have messed up/ misunderstood my reservation email and I got charged just 140 bucks for 2 entry and fast lane plus. I managed to get on every ride in one day and I only paid for the 2 entrances. Best screw up ever! 🎉
At Dollywood when you stay at the Dream More Resort on property you get a regular time saver pass Included
I’m not sure if the policy has changed since I visited in August, but for Busch Gardens the regular quick queue let me ride as many times as I wanted but they’re were 3 or 4 of the biggest rides that were excluded altogether and were only able to skip using the Quick Queue unlimited.
I don't know if you've looked into it, but for next season, cedar point is going to be mad crazy packed all season because they were selling a season gold pass for 100 bucks and seems like they way over sold them. My family "without me since I'm in California" went in September when normally it's slower, but since the gold passes could be used for the rest of this season, it was crazy. My step dad and step brother had fast pass plus and said even those lines were never shorter than an hour.
Disney world works just a little bit different. As their are 4 parks u can only hook 3 passes a day per a park. But once used up you can book again. But also Disney world has a app where you book the passes in advance. The only restriction is at Hollywood studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom as the rides are split into tear 1 and 2. Magic kingdom has no tears. But for the other parks ur first three passes are 1 tear one and 2 tear two..... anyway just wanted to say this hahaha I know it can be confusing have a great day and always love your videos
Fast lane plus is an absolute must when visiting Cedar Point. Don't go if you can't afford it, even on less busier days your top tier coasters are 90 min wait times.
Actually the max pass does give access to more rides than the typical paper fastpass where you have to walk over to the ride. Once you've scanned your max pass for the ride you've booked, while you're in that fastpass line still (because it's not instant usually) you can book your next max pass time without having finished that ride. Example, if I book max pass for haunted mansion, I scan my phone at the ride, and as I'm winding through into the mansion, I'm already booking a time for Thunder Mountain or another fastpass attraction. Whereas someone who's using regular fastpass would have to completely finish haunted mansion, walk over to the next ride, pull a fastpass, then go do something else while they wait. I love max pass. I use it EVERY time. Plus you get all your photo pass photos for the day included in the price. Makes it totally worth the price.
I really like the idea of relatively cheap one-time skip the lines that you can use on any combinations of attractions. To me that's most ideal cuz you don't have to break the bank and you're not forced to use a skip the line on an attraction with no wait.
I think the cedar fair fast lane is the best only because I’ve only gotten it at cedar point and it definitely helped out a lot. We didn’t use the flash pass at six flags great America because we pretty much got what we wanted too ride during our trip, but I plan on visiting magic mountain for my birthday so I’ll definitely try it out!
Great Adventure doesn’t have the ride restrictions with the regular Flash Pass, but one note on FP Platinum, Kingda Ka waits are still REALLY long, especially if the ride goes down
I can’t lie I like the merlin fast pass system best as you have a time to go ride the ride and each ride has a different price so your not spending the same amount for flat rides as you are for coasters. I also like how you can then buy bundles if you want to do all the main coasters or all the water rises
If the fast lane lines for Steve can exceed an hour.. Just how long is the regular line? 2 and a half hours? Jesus, man.
Or 3
Sometimes at Dollywood you can find people leaving the park, and they’ll just give away their time saver passes
Same for universal honestly