JoshC. Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Yes £10 for 1 single go on 1 ride or I think £20 for unlimited goes on all rides... At prices like that, you can hardly blame people for getting Fastrack unlimited. Good price on a single go, awful price on the unlimited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It apparently works fine when there's no queues. Which is obvious, cos noone buys it. Second it gets busy it sparks demand. Staff are overstretched as it is, and the rides aren't designed to cope. I went beginning of August last year just as they introduced it apparently. Was very unsatisfactory for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchada04 Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 The thing with these smaller parks is they almost rely solely on good word of mouth. They don't have the marketing budgets that Merlin or the likes of Drayton/Blackpool have. Often they're in the middle of no where (see Oakwood) and for most people it is a serious trek for a lot of the time very little. Angering guests with a completely unnecessary system that the company liked when they went to Towers which has throughputs to deal with Fastrack sales isn't going to help the parks reputation. You'd be stupid to buy a £10 Fastrack for one go when you can get unlimited for £20. Stupid idea. They must just want some quick cash as they're obviously struggling especially as their 2014 large summer investment has been put on hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 WHY make it £20 for unlimited?!!! It should be £40 at least! £20 is an absoloutely stupid price. Last year I spent the final hour on Megafobia, as there was no queue. If everyone buys this stupid fastpass, there will be a huge build up of queue throughout the day which won't disperse. Not looking forward to my visit now, and if it completely ruins the day then boy will they be hearing about it! And, at the end of all this it doesn't surprise me that the park that gave them the idea is Towers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Don't blame towers, blame the morons who own Oakwood in thinking they could replicate it in a park which is not suitable for it Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Don't blame towers, blame the morons who own Oakwood in thinking they could replicate it in a park which is not suitable for it And, worse still, a park that doesn't flipping need it! It's all money money money these days in the UK theme park industry, and at the expense of guest enjoyment! I'm sorry but £20 for unlimited is just a way of forcing everyone to buy them, as once enough people have bought them the poor old sods stuck in the main queues will be forced to buy them in order to have a good day. What with that, and an unjustified ticket price increase (which I wouldn't mind if they hadn't introduced fastpass), it unfortunately seems that Oakwood are going the way of Merlin. I really hope that they don't run the system on Drenched, as that thing only runs on a throughput of about 100pph anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 And, worse still, a park that doesn't flipping need it! It's all money money money these days in the UK theme park industry, and at the expense of guest enjoyment! I'm sorry but £20 for unlimited is just a way of forcing everyone to buy them, as once enough people have bought them the poor old sods stuck in the main queues will be forced to buy them in order to have a good day. What with that, and an unjustified ticket price increase (which I wouldn't mind if they hadn't introduced fastpass), it unfortunately seems that Oakwood are going the way of Merlin. I really hope that they don't run the system on Drenched, as that thing only runs on a throughput of about 100pph anyway! It does... It runs on Speed, Megafobia, Bounce, Drenched, Treetops and Skull Rock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It does... It runs on Speed, Megafobia, Bounce, Drenched, Treetops and Skull Rock... Brilliant. On well, guess I'll have to go on Waterfall this year then if I want to get on anything! I've always thought the park was badly run but this just takes the p!ss! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It doesn't help that the fast track queue lines are the ride exits so that doesn't help. Don't get me wrong I like my home park but I just find it a bit stupid how they have implemented this system to a park that only has low throughput rides with the highest being Megafobia and even that can't cope with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It doesn't help that the fast track queue lines are the ride exits so that doesn't help. Don't get me wrong I like my home park but I just find it a bit stupid how they have implemented this system to a park that only has low throughput rides with the highest being Megafobia and even that can't cope with it! It is, it's ridiculous. I also object to having to push past fastpass people just to leave a ride! If they must run a fastpass system, then charge a high price (£60 all day), and limit it to a very small number of people. (It's what BPB does and it works fine). Selling them for as cheap as £20 in a park with low throughput rides that are run on even lower throughputs than they can achieve is just stupid! To be honest, a ride with 3000 people per hour wouldn't be able to cope with a 3:1 ratio! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 What with that, and an unjustified ticket price increase (which I wouldn't mind if they hadn't introduced fastpass), it unfortunately seems that Oakwood are going the way of Merlin. Have they increased their ticket pricing? I swear I paid £21 online last year, which saved £2... so the same price as displayed on website? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Have they increased their ticket pricing? I swear I paid £21 online last year, which saved £2... so the same price as displayed on website? It was definitely £21 on the gate last year, and it's £23 now (was increased at the end of May). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 To be fair to oakwood if you bought your ticket online its only an extra 50p and seeing as more and more theme park tickets are bought online these days that isn't too bad a price increase to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 £23 is very reasonable, until you think you can go to Towers for £2 extra (with a bogof). Always think theme parks are worth the £20 or so entry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I have no issue with paying £23, but not if there is going to be a three hour wait for the best ride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Ah, I know I will have to wait to see what happens when I visit, but I get annoyed if there's only one person in front of me, it really winds me up a treat when we are then overtaken by others, for whatever reason. Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Ah, I know I will have to wait to see what happens when I visit, but I get annoyed if there's only one person in front of me, it really winds me up a treat when we are then overtaken by others, for whatever reason. So do I. I am still of the opinion that fastrack is paid queue jumping, and to have it slow down the main queue really hacks me off. I'll just reiterate the way that BPB do it. They sell 200 a day at a premium price, you reserve the ride, wait for the amount of time that the queueline is and then ride. People in the main queue are not constantly slowed down, instead they might have to wait one train if the "speedy pass" people choose their row. Annoying? Yes. But downright ridiculous? No. The whole queue is not being impeded, it just affects you once or twice max throughout a day. By the sounds of it, Oakwood are running the system in the worst possible way, selling it to as many people people as possible on park and then completely stuffing up the main queue so that more people buy it. Why not charge a high price and sell a few? Same amount of money, and much less aggravation (and I will be complaining if it is really as bad as people are saying). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 Oakwood are getting some really crap reviews on tripadvisor, it really doesn't surprise me tbh, quite alot of the time quite a few rides are closed, the food is overpriced and a bit meh and it does feel quite run down sometimes as well as people complaining of rude staff, it really does seems like oakwood is going downhill with families who think that it is bad value for money with not enough rides. I feel they need to step their game up because at this rate they will lose customers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 By the looks of things on trip advisor it already looks like they have lost guests... Also this was very noticeable: "Drenched doesn't open until 2pm. There is a sign saying that the reason for this is so that you can enjoy the rest of the park first while you are dry. Surely that's the choice of the customer?" Is this the actual reason? Because if it is I think it's outrageous considering people were saying 7 rides were closed on the day of their visit on top of drenched opening late. EC! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I don't know but it just seems like aspro are running Oakwood to the ground, along with the new fastrack system they have brought in to make more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I don't know but it just seems like aspro are running Oakwood to the ground, along with the new fastrack system they have brought in to make more money. I'm very disappointed to be hearing this. Went in the summer last year and had a fantastic time last year where the park seemed to be greatly improved with The Neverland area (which I was impressed with) and also infastructure updates. Don't like the sound of their fastrack system at all. I know Merlin's is badly flawed but this sounds worse plus I can't say I'm keen on the recent additions we've received there. Bog standard tea cups and an arcade. I know it's not Disney but just doesn't sound that great, plus I wonder what happened to the proposed plans of the Sleepy hollow area/ Wild West retheme, surely has t gone to plan by the sounds. Sounds like despite a excellent 2013, the parks gone backwards this year (more so than Merlin) and if they don't react soon with positive changes, I fear Oakwood is in great trouble again for the present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 I am visiting Oakwood today so I will be making a full judgement of the park's current state. EC! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 I am visiting Oakwood today so I will be making a full judgement of the park's current state. "Hold the front page", I'm booked for Saturday week, and I don't want to be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 What a farce.I phoned up the park asking if there were any ride closures, and was told that the pirate ship was closed but that everything else is open.On arrival, we saw that Bounce was also closed, which was a disappointment.Naturally we went to Megafobia first after entering the park, which was running a one train service with an hour's worth of queue (which took 1hr 15mins), with the fast pass queue going down the exit. Once in the station we realised that several rows were blocked off. On some trains, 10 seats on a 24 seated train were fast pass which is frankly absurd. Also, fast pass holders get to choose their seats, so if you are there at the wrong time then wave bye bye to choosing a row.After this we did spooky 3D. Most of the effects were broken (no car horn, no jumping down figure etc). Also, the ride was running on two cars. Two. Therefore the queue on this took forever as well.After going on it, we headed over to Drenched which was stuck on the lifthill. This means that 3 major rides were now closed. We headed over to speed, which had a full queueline, full fast pass queueline and was running ONE CAR. At this point, we noticed that the Clown Coaster was closed, an Vertigo had also gone down.We went to reception to make a complaint, and there were about 30 families heading the same direction. We spoke to some of them, who described the day as "a complete waste of money", "outrageous" and "I don't know how they get away with it".The train to get out was also closed which was hilarious, as we heard someone say "the train is even closed, that just sums up this place!!"We spent about half an hour in reception, with other people making a very serious complaint. I mean why on earth are so many rides closing in the summer on a packed day, and why are the remaining rides on one train?!!!After highlighting the many issues, we were told that the park doesn't issue refunds. After much frustration we asked if we could have a return ticket, and, after explaining that we were on holiday in the local area, we were reluctantly given one.They also added a second car onto speed, but that was it. It should be on three cars as standard in school holidays anyway!At this point it was 6pm and most people had left the park in disgust. The only ride that reopened was Vertigo (what a surprise, they can fix the pay extra one!) an nobody was working on the other ones all day. However, we did manage six rides on Mega and five on Speed as most people had left. Although, even Megafobia got stuck on the lifthill (but was open again within half an hour).I'm sorry, but if they don't start listening to guest feedback soon then they are going to lose business rapidly. What a disgrace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 I feel your pain, when things happen like this, completely unacceptable from them. This is my home park but there is a reason why I have been to thorpe park 16 times in the last 2 years and Oakwood twice, Its a shame because I just feel my home theme park is on a self destruct mode at the moment! Most trip advisor reviews at the moment are 2 star or 1 star infact there are more 1 star reviews then 5 star reviews which is saying something, They need to start listening to families because its just getting stupid now tbh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.