May 26, 201510 yr Author comment_209586 Yes! Great to see massive rises! I look forward to seeing people pay it.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209587 Already said yes to ours on the phone call, still great value but just need to make even more visits now.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209592 By making the renewal price £100 more than last year, instead of, say, fixing it, they're making at most £100,000 more than they would. Given that not all 1000 people will renew and how much Merlin make, the amount of extra money they're making is minuscule. It's a crazy price to begin with. It's a complete OTT luxury and I'd be worried if it didn't have a matching price. Anyway, why wouldn't Merlin seek to maximise profits?
May 27, 201510 yr comment_209605 I wont be renewing mine. The renewal price is a bit of a kick in the teeth, considering all the problems with the pass last year and the inconsistencies that still occur. I have used this pass 14 times since I purchased it and that's included 2 days at Gardaland and 2 at Heide Park, so I have hardly "hammered" it. I will just go back to using Tesco vouchers to have two days at Thorpe and two at Alton. Not bothered about Legoland or Chessington or any of the midway attractions. Its been nice having it as I have had the knowledge that I can go whenever I want and not worry about the queues, but I will just go on off peak days next year when the need for fastrack is low.
May 27, 201510 yr comment_209610 I agree with you about the kick in the teeth! I can't believe they are using the same excuses to fob people off by claiming they'll look at the issues later.
May 27, 201510 yr Author comment_209650 I'm glad to hear it's putting some people off. Hopefully they'll barely sell any.
May 27, 201510 yr comment_209651 Apparently they won't say how many passes will be available for sale either and any trace of 1000 has disappeared from the website so it could be more. But I doubt they'll hit 1000 anyway. Staff are calling current VIP holders for feedback and asking us to rate them, don't think they were prepared for the amount of negative comments they've had back.
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209870 ^ I would be more concerned about Merlins overselling of fastrack rather than a handul of vip pass holders on site each day. This was the inferno fastrack / disabled line yesterday. Not all of those were vip holders... And yes, the line went all the back to the photo booth !!. But for any vip holder who is thinking of renewing, take this picture into account. It will only get worse.
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209874 ^ I would be more concerned about Merlins overselling of fastrack rather than a handul of vip pass holders on site each day. This was the inferno fastrack / disabled line yesterday. Not all of those were vip holders... And yes, the line went all the back to the photo booth !!. But for any vip holder who is thinking of renewing, take this picture into account. It will only get worse. How did that even happen? It just stinks of a lack of organisation, and yet again the culprit seems to be Fastrack overselling one way or another. Thorpe, when will you learn?
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209876 More importantly for me, why aren't they using the dedicated Fastrack queue? Lack of staff/ Staff cuts?
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209877 I bet if they were using the dedicated Fastrack queue, it wouldn't look that bad as there would be better control and such. Awful that they're not using it really. Wasn't there also an issue of too many queueing in Inferno's exit queue being classed as a safety hazard? If so, that really isn't good..
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209878 Well maybe the £50 unlimited fastrack for just the coasters is a tad popular. I saw a LOT of people with that yesterday. That coupled with staff outside the entrances with a sign around their neck saying "buy fastrack from me", saw big problems yesterday. On Saw, the fastrack queue was out of the entrance.
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209881 That coupled with staff outside the entrances with a sign around their neck saying "buy fastrack from me", saw big problems yesterday. On Saw, the fastrack queue was out of the entrance. I saw this on Wednesday with Colossus as well. Queue was advertised as 60mins with a guy selling fastrack out front, telling people to use the exit, when in fact the normal queue was actually about 5mins (just outside the station). With 2 whole cars closed off for fastrack and exit riders, it also resulted in the exit queue being larger than the regular queue itself. The pushing involved to leave the station was horrendous. And yet people were still buying fastrack from him....
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209885 I saw this on Wednesday with Colossus as well. Queue was advertised as 60mins with a guy selling fastrack out front, telling people to use the exit, when in fact the normal queue was actually about 5mins (just outside the station). With 2 whole cars closed off for fastrack and exit riders, it also resulted in the exit queue being larger than the regular queue itself. And yet people were still buying fastrack from him.... Now that's just downright underhand, and they claim that they don't inflate the queue time boards to sell Fastrack? Completely dishonest way of making stealing money from people.
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209887 Now that's just downright underhand, and they claim that they don't inflate the queue time boards to sell Fastrack? Completely dishonest way of making stealing money from people. Happens all the time at swarm. Often I go over to it to see it saying 45 minutes when its walk on. Will stay like that for an hour then the person selling fastrack leaves and after that its shortly followed by the queue time saying 10 minutes.
May 31, 201510 yr comment_209894 Does a 45 minute queue really warrant the need of fastrack? Like, really warrant it? Sure, it might be a bit of an inconvenience, but I really cannot fathom anyone who would see such a queue advertised and think 'no way am I queueing for that long, I'm going to by fastrack'. Of course, some people really do hate waiting and this may have been a busy day, there could've been plenty of factor as to why someone would want to buy fastrack, but for someone to be pushing for it at the entrance of a '45 minute' queue seems silly in my eyes. I probably just showed a generically British love of queuing right there
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209917 Now that's just downright underhand, and they claim that they don't inflate the queue time boards to sell Fastrack? Completely dishonest way of making stealing money from people. They dont. You see the people walking around the park with a tablet updating the queue times and they are generally pretty accurate. Does a 45 minute queue really warrant the need of fastrack? Like, really warrant it? Sure, it might be a bit of an inconvenience, but I really cannot fathom anyone who would see such a queue advertised and think 'no way am I queueing for that long, I'm going to by fastrack'. Of course, some people really do hate waiting and this may have been a busy day, there could've been plenty of factor as to why someone would want to buy fastrack, but for someone to be pushing for it at the entrance of a '45 minute' queue seems silly in my eyes. Depends how you look at it - I was in PA a couple of weeks ago and the longest queue was no more then 40 minutes but the unlimited fastrack was well worth the £60 or what ever it cost.
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209919 To be fair, Fastrack is much more a necessity in PA, considering that advertised 40 minute queue does not take the queue-jumping Spaniards into consideration... Parks forever have this issue of incorrect queue boards... Ideally, the ride staff should be updating them as it used to be (I assume the clip-boarding staff are part of GS and are the only ones with the ability to change the queue times), but then you have that issue of suddenly people joining the queue because it's 5 mins and then it isn't anymore... Doesn't help that Fastrack selling is a different department and there is a distinct lack of communication (and love) between these departments... And not just at Thorpe...
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209920 You see the people walking around the park with a tablet updating the queue times and they are generally pretty accurate. From my experience at Thorpe, I find the queue time boards to be generally inaccurate. I never really judge the queue by the time, but through the length now. Just from the last time I was at Thorpe, Inferno stated 15 mins for the last hour when we were staying in our seats, walk on. Rush was on 25 mins all afternoon, it was no more than 10. Saw stated 30 mins, look round the corner to find it's walk on. It's something I think they need to work on, updating queue times. I personally have never seen anyone update them on tablets, I just assumed it was down to the ride team to update them.
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209921 Yesterday afternoon Swarm was saying 15 minutes but it was more like 45 thanks to it being single train operation. Having Mr Magoo at the merge point with a severe adversion to speaking in favour of just waving his hands at people led to more confusion as people either walked past him thinking he was being polite or trying to hi five him only made it worse, shoeing them backwards like a heard of sheep wasn't helping either.
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209923 The person who walks round with a tablet main job is to make sure fastrack queues don't become too long. Or at least that is what he told our group when we asked.
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209925 The person who walks round with a tablet main job is to make sure fastrack queues don't become too long. Or at least that is what he told our group when we asked. Which can only be achieved by knowing what the length of the main queue is, surely?
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209929 Having Mr Magoo at the merge point with a severe adversion to speaking in favour of just waving his hands at people led to more confusion as people either walked past him thinking he was being polite or trying to hi five him only made it worse, shoeing them backwards like a heard of sheep wasn't helping either. Just reading that I knew exactly who you meant! Last year he'd just mumble at us, he'd pretend he didn't know what our wristbands were and then ask for our passes and scuttle away to the baggage area and then return and just point to the stairs!
June 1, 201510 yr comment_209945 what a load of crap, never heard so much rubbish. Instead of ranting on a forum that no one reads about rubbish, work a few extra shifts at work save up the 599 quid and buy one and stop being so god dam jealous. So you have pure contempt for those buying fast tracks too ? because they have more disposable income also? thats the only perk on the card fast track and the odd extra, which ALL annual pass holders got on the preview days and the 30 mins ride time on swarm. if your that concern or annoyed save your time and energy and go and do something productive, jealousy is not a nice thing to have.
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