Belgian Fastrack revolt!

[Sam]

Screamscape brings us this wonderful news, from the frontline of the revolution against the petite bourgeoisie enemy that is Fastrack.

Seize the means of throughput production!

Park News - (6/13/13) Interesting news is coming in from Europe this week, as Walibi Belgium was hit by an unexpected wave of negative press about the launch of a upcharge fast pass style system called ‘Speedy Pass’ this year. While this kind of thing has unfortunately become all too commonplace in America as well as many other parks in Europe, this is the first queue-cutting system to open in Belgium.
Several news articles have come out calling it an unfair system, with guest’s comments about how it is sending the wrong message to their children. Instead of teaching children that whoever was in line first gets served first, the parents are angry that Speed Pass is instead sending the message that you can buy anything with money, in addition to creating a tiered park experience where ‘normal’ guests will have to wait longer than before as the wealthy skip to the front.
Apparently the criticism has hit home, as I’m told other Belgian attractions have also commented that they have no plans to put such a system into place ever and would rather add more attractions to address capacity issues rather than Speedy Pass tickets. One news article goes so far to call the system discriminatory as well as antisocial.
I’ve got to admit, I’m actually happy to see that somewhere in the world basic citizens can see these systems for what they really are. And while the Disney “FastPass” system is free for all guests at their parks, I’ve gone on record for saying that I think it was the single worst invention to hit the theme park industry back in 1999 that has since been corrupted into the current pay to play systems that have spread world-wide. I’m just reading the rough online translations, but it also sounds like the government has been asked to get involved, which could create an interesting result in Belgium.

It thrills me to see that the public, even if it is in Belgium, feel so strongly about this. We seem to accept it in the UK, even celebrate it, despite it being grossly unfair. The worst thing about it in the UK is that parks don't even attempt to hide the fact that it's simply paid queuejumping. They don't even bother attempting to pretend that it increases capacity or overall guest experience.

Of course, it'd be great to see public pressure force Walibi into a U-turn, but even better if the government (presumably the Belgian equivalent of Trading Standards) stepped in. To see the practice outlawed would be a dream come true.

Obviously, I'm not against businesses offering different standards of service for different prices. What I am against is offering one standard of service at one price, and that actually (and in a very measurable way), reducing the quality of service for those who have paid less.

People staying in a penthouse suite at a hotel doesn't worsen the quality of the other rooms. If someone orders an expensive meal at a restaurant, it doesn't make other people's meals taste worse. If you send something first class in the post, it doesn't slow down all the second class post. We would be outraged if any of the above examples were true. So why do we accept it in our theme parks?

Edit: Didn't see Al's post in 'Farce-track' until a few seconds ago but I think this wonderful news deserves its own topic anyhow!

 

[joelpagett]

The Fastrack System is a exactly what they say... Antisocial and teaches that money can buy anything. I think it is wrong and I hate the fact that it is so expensive. :/

 

[Sam]

Of course it should be noted early on in any wider Fastrack discussion that Disney's Fastpass system is almost completely different to Fastrack/Speedy Pass-style systems, is free to all guests, and genuinely is an attempt to improve guest experience overall by spreading out capacity.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Those clever little Belgians standing up to this Fastrack malarky. If only the UK Merlin parks could take note of this...probably not. :/

 

[Plastic Person]

is free to all guests, and genuinely is an attempt to improve guest experience overall by spreading out capacity.

/encourage browsing in shops in the meantime.

Anyway, fair play to Belgium!

 

[Laura]

Well I am just back from Port Aventura and if we hadn't paid extra for the express pass tickets, I seriously doubt we'd have managed to get on all the rides. The queue-jumping was out of control, whole coach loads of kids and extended families just pushing in front. We confronted one group and I'm very surprised we weren't physically attacked.

The staff were also a lot more pleasant to us when we had express passes.

There should be money spent on increasing throughputs, installing higher capacity attractions, maintaining queues so they are not such miserable places to be, and POLICING the queues. But all of those cost money. Fast track systems just generate revenue.

It's a disgusting system and I'm sorry to have had to use it in order to enjoy my visit. But as I doubt we'll be getting Universal Studios quality queue line experiences any time soon, I have to say that if I had the money to use fast track systems every time, I would.

 

[djtruefitt]

How much does fastrack cost at places abroad compared to UK prices?

 

[AstroDan]

It's generally cheaper or not available at all.

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[Laura]

We had discounted hotel prices (20% off) for the express pass. Cheapest was €15 for one ride on each eligible attraction (did not include Hurakan Condor which has an alarmingly bad throughput and was only running two cars!) €20 for 'gold' which was the above with front seat on Dragon Khan, Shambhala and Baco which is what we used.

Unlimited rides was €54.

Peanuts compared to what Merlin charge, and the express queues were almost empty despite the park being PACKED (who needs to pay when you can just cut in front?)

Of course, the above sentiment might not apply to other parks, e.g. I faced long queues at Europa Park but didn't see much queue jumping, so I wasn't as bothered about it.