Leaderboard

This is a very tricky subject and it's purely because of the idea of putting any restriction on Rap users is discrimination. I remember when Chessington attempted to restrict the amount of use on their rides (you got one go on the major stuff for example) and there was complaints that autistic children only liked riding Vampire so stoping them from riding that all day was against the law. And it isn't, it just isn't. I think what's been frustrating with me this for a long time is that whenever something is suggested, its immediately shut down as being anti disabled, so that change doesn't take place and the problem of long RAP queues just continues. I've also seen a few videos suggesting that it's Merlins fault for limiting ride line ups and taking away entertainment. Which would be fine if the park that seems to be most affected by RAP is Thorpe which has lost very little over the last ten years and had very little entertainment to begin with. As for the European/other UK park thing. Well we've seen across the industry, big changes to Annual Pass systems. The Merlin pass remains incredibly affordable and cheap and is a great deal. And I personally think it drives the RAP use. A lot of coaster enthusiasts are on the spectrum or have a physical disability. Why wouldn't they have an AP to get in all the time and a RAP to bypass long waits. You have a Rap system that is always full on popular rides (Wicker Man, Hyperia for example) and you add in a fastrack system that will always be a priority.... If I were Merlin I would make the Annual Pass much more expensive or remove it entirely. We've seen several parks do this like Phantasialand and Tokyo Disneyland and it has proved to be a good move for them. I know there's the argument that the pass pushes for repeat visits. But these repeat visitors are driving up queue times whilst spending very little on food and merchandise. It has a detrimental effect on the average day guest who just sees people going past them in every direction all day long. And that isn't discriminatory language, that's just the reality of three different queues diverging at one point and everyone moving just that little bit slower. I do think Merlin are their own worst enemy on this whole situation as well. For years they don't implement their policies properly or have tried around the edges to make changes but they backtrack or ignore things so often that ititss led to this.