Stealing Fast Pass Plus

JUnderhill said:

By giving the wristband from person to person they were still only able to have 2 people on any given ride at any time while the other 2 were not able to utilize any fast lane during that time. 2 fast lanes were purchased, and only 2 were being used at any given time, therefore no one lost out on anything and that includes both Cedar Point, and anyone else who purchased a Fast Lane that day.

Some of you people just don't get it - sad. If 4 people use Fast Lane and only 2 Fast Lane passes were purchased, CP lost the revenue from the 2 pass that were not purchased because 4 people shared 2 passes. Stealing!

I suppose you also think it is OK to purchase one license for, let's say, Microsoft Office and load it on two computers because only one would be in use at any one time?

This isn't a hard concept to figure out people. If you use something that is sold, you must pay for it. If you use something that is sold and you didn't pay for it, that is stealing, regardless of how you try to justify use of the stolen service. How many people are in line at any given time, blah, blah, blah, doesn't matter. Bottom line, CP lost out on the sale of two Fast Lane passes because two passes were used by people who didn't pay for them.

This situation is not an act of criminal stolen services but rather a violation of policy. Sneaking into CP is theft of a service, taking a fast lane wristband off a counter when the employee isn't looking is theft of a service. Taking material goods such as a sweatshirt without paying for it is stealing and is the same as stealing a fast lane wristband.

What these induviduals did is wrong, they know it's wrong, don't care how old they are either, my 8 year old knows this is wrong and you don't do it. Getting kicked out of the park, confiscation of the passes, being banned from CP, whatever the consequences were as determined by CP is suitable. If CP were to attempt criminal charges and I was on the jury, no way would they be convicted of a criminal offense. If the charges were being stupid and doing donething you knew was wrong... Guilty as hell.

If a family is walking out of the park and want to be nice and give away their fast lane passes since they're done with them, is that stealing?

You all make some good points as to whether this is stealing or just borrowing. Since they didn't physically take the wristbands when the cashier wasn't looking, it isn't stealing in that sense. The other 2 guys were mostly just borrowing the wristbands. This is a gray area since it could fall into both borrowing and stealing. If I lend my platinum pass to a friend who wants to go to Cedar Point, my pass will likely get suspended and my friend would be denied entry since my photo doesn't come up on the screen. I doubt me or my friend would get arrested. We would both probably just be banned from the park. I think that's what happened to those guys who were sharing the wristbands.

Exactly haw far into the realm of theft this goes I suppose we could argue all day and never agree but at the very least it would count as line jumping so at the very least removal from the park is appropriate. If they normally ban for a period of time with line jumping then they should ban for this too.

The problem with the idea of borrowing is that the system is specifically intended to be a service for just one individual. If it was meant to be shared between two people they would be issuing a pass of some sort instead of a wristband that is supposed to be put on one one person and left there.

CoasterKyle1121 said:

If a family is walking out of the park and want to be nice and give away their fast lane passes since they're done with them, is that stealing?

If what you are giving away says it is not transferrable, then yes, it would be stealing. A usage license, which is what a policy is, spells out the details on what permissible use is. Violation of those details is stealing from the company.

This is an interesting topic. To add to the "what if" scenarios if I bought a Fast Lane Plus band, used it for half the day (or even just an hour), and then became ill would my wife be guilty of theft if I handed it to her so that she could use it for the rest of the day? Maybe in the eyes of some people it would seem that way but I think we'd be looking at a violation of policy rather than criminal misconduct.

I think while it may not come into play legally on the moral end the motivation counts. If you become sick and hand your fastlane to your wife it's violation of policy and legally it may be consindered stealing but I personally wouldn't have an issue with it on a moral level. This situation with these people however appears to be a plain and simple case of intentionally trying to get out of paying for a service while using it anyway and I have no sympathy for that. Their intentions were clear. They weren't trying to salvage the value of something they paid for and couldn't use, they had no intentions of paying for what they used right from the beginning.

Thabto said:
If I lend my platinum pass to a friend who wants to go to Cedar Point, my pass will likely get suspended and my friend would be denied entry since my photo doesn't come up on the screen. I doubt me or my friend would get arrested. We would both probably just be banned from the park.

It wouldn't even go that far because last year I was going through the marina entrance and the couple in front of me tried doing that. The guy tried to get his girlfriend in with his sister's pass. The lady at the gate simply said you cannot do that and told them that they had to buy a ticket. So they did that and walked right in with no harm done. The people at CP aren't that ridiculous to ban someone from the park for something like that. They're pretty reasonable.

Oh shoot...I've been doing this with my dining plan wristbands...😳

Just beat me to that. I imagine some of those supporting that these individuals should be banned from the park for stealing are ones that have handed off a drink or food from a drink wristband or dining plan.

Out of curiosity, where are the rules of Fast Lane and the dining plans posted? I wanted to read through the terms and conditions for both products, but I couldn't find them.

It's clearly printed on the receipt they hand you at time of purchase.

Nobody can say they weren't aware of the rules that way.

I mean on their website? I just went so far as the final payment screen for a Fast Lane Plus on their website, and I still couldn't find any rules. I'm not trying to make a case there. I literally just want to read the rules/terms of their products.

Ffej said:

I mean on their website? I just went so far as the final payment screen for a Fast Lane Plus on their website, and I still couldn't find any rules. I'm not trying to make a case there. I literally just want to read the rules/terms of their products.

You mean you can't see where it clearly says that you're purchasing Fast Lane (Plus) for one person? That's like ordering a (refillable) soda from a restaurant, which is a soda for one person, then proceeding to share it. You paid for one person to have unlimited access to the soda fountain. You used two persons worth of this product/service.

Next are you going to ask where it says that an admission ticket is only valid for one individual, that you can't go to the park in the morning and hand your pass off to a friend/relative/stranger in the afternoon for them to use?

If the dining plan gives only a certain amount of food within a certain amount of time whether you choose to eat it personally, hand it to a friend or get it and dump it straight to the trash just because really doesn't make a difference. If you're allowed X amount of food you get that much and no more. What you did with it doesn't really matter. I'm pretty sure the park assumes a certain amount of that won't be consumed by the person with the plan but when it's a finite amount of food what difference does it make? Trading fastlane wristbands, which give one person an infinite amount of quick rides is different. That would be like me ordering the all you can eat buffet, getting plate after plate and dumping it on other peoples' plates who had not paid. I'm not sure how the drink wristbands work but I'm pretty sure the park has priced them assuming that drinks will be shared since there is no practical way of preventing it.

topthrilldragster4lyf said:

You mean you can't see where it clearly says that you're purchasing Fast Lane (Plus) for one person?

I don't think that was his comment. He simply stated that he would like to see what the terms and conditions of the Fast Pass are. I also would be interested to see, specifically what they say in regards to abuse of the pass.

^^ And what's the difference between the All-Day Dining Plan and an all-day all-you-can-eat buffet, other than being able to come and go as you please and having a wait-time? The ADDP is intended to allow one individual to eat as much food as he or she pleases so long as he or she waits at least 90 minutes in between meals. It is not an invitation to redeem meals and give them away. It's an all-day buffet with wait times before you can go grab your next "plate".

The park pricing these options on the high side in anticipation of abuse does not make said abuse okay. It does not mean that the park is willing to accept some abuse. Unfortunately, you have guests like many in this thread who feel the need to abuse anything the park offers.

Ffej said:

I imagine some of those supporting that these individuals should be banned from the park for stealing are ones that have handed off a drink or food from a drink wristband or dining plan.

Not this guy. I paid for the wristband or plan. Why should they get for free what I paid for?

You really can't compare this evenly to food. It isn't just a park capital vs guest thing. If I had played by the rules and bought FL for each person in my group, and then had to have people in the FL line in front of me that DID NOT pay for it but still taking advantage of it - that is completely unfair. That they have knowingly received something (a shorter wait time) that they did not compensate for = theft - period. It's not "fraud" (like fraud is supposed to be less "illegal" than theft anyways) and it doesn't compare to the dining plan abuse because other park guests are not being directly inconvenienced and cheated.