Do the FastLane passes REALLY Sell out?

Earlier this month, Cedar Fair reported record revenues for the first 2 quarters of the year and indicated that July continued the trend. From what I have seen, its been a great year at Cedar Point as well (even though weather this summer in Northern Ohio wasn't the best). And they have had 2 or 3 years of record earnings and attendance in a row. Seems to me they are doing something right.

Also seems to me that I will trust the folks who get paid the big bucks and have access to a lot more relevant data more than I do the airchair RCT operators here. And it may well be the case that what maximizes profits for the park isn't what necessarily lines up with your particular preferences and likes.

I agree there needs to be a better system, even if it a cheap scanner that reads codes on a wristband by an employee at the entrance of the large rides. I think limiting the re-rides on the large Millennnium, Maverick and TTD to 5 each per day. This is plenty of ride time or even go as far as limiting the times of FL use to a 6 or 7 hour window say from 12-6pm during the week and 12-7 on the weekends. Everyone that goes to any amusement park should be able to visit a website at this point and they should know what to expect before they arrive. Make FL $75 flat rate no matter how many you buy.

With respect to Fast Lane itself, I think before you make a lot of changes to fix a problem, you should first make sure you actually have a problem (and that your changes are reasonably likely to fix it). How often are the FL lines for Mav (or any other FL ride) extremely long (45 minutes or more)? When the line gets that long is it all day or just parts of the day. I have seen discussions on C-buzz where people say the line was 45 minutes and then someone else says they rode in 15 minutes on the same day. Are there other factors that are independent of FL that impact wait times on any given day?

From what I remember, Maverick had long lines even before Fast Lane. It doesn't have great capacity. It also appeals to more people than MF and TTD because it isn't as tall or as fast. I thought maybe this year Gatekeeper would take some pressure off the Maverick lines but from what I have seen, that has not really been the case.

Cedar Point will take the approach that maximizes its profits with Fast Lane (or any other pricing/entertainment option decisions the park makes). Any given person may not find value in what they are offering or at the applicable price.

It may be the case that during the peak summer months, what maximzies the park's profits in terms of Fast Lane (or some other type of "skip the wait" system) will not result in 15 minute waits for Maverick at all times. People wanting a 15 minute waits likely won't find value in FL. But from what we have seen, enough people have found enough value in the pass to create 45 minute FL waits for Maverick this year.

All that being said, I do expect tweaking of the system. Its only the second season with FL at Cedar Point. Though I would be surprised to see a system implemented which increases the park's costs dramatically. From what I have seen, about 1/2 the profits of the Flash Pass systems Six Flags parks use goes to the provider of the FOBs. Cedar Fair is charging prices that approach (or exceed depending on levels of line skipping) what Six Flags charges and CF gets to keep 100% of the proceeds.

I remember opening year I waited about 1hr and 20mins for Maverick multiple times with a nearly full queue... Not exactly terrible capacity with respect to the size of the line itself.

Now I won't even wait for it if the station queue is filled up... Somewhat spoiled now!