It's incredible because the business model also implies they will always sell an inferior product alongside the upgraded premium one. It's like running a restaurant where I sell grilled "cheese" for $5 and you pay me an extra $5 to use actual cheese instead of dogshit.
Re: Disneyland allowing you to pay to avoid lines, I remember visiting Universal Studios (Orlando) after Hurricane Charley in 2004. The lines were non-existent, but the fun part wasn't skipping the lines so much as the feeling of having the whole park to yourself. If they could find a way to offer that experience, I'd pay for it. I suspect VR might be one of the only ways to do it (and perhaps a rollercoaster in VR is just as good as the real experience, I don't know myself as I haven't messed around with VR). I'd feel like an asshole paying to skip lines that actual, real human beings were waiting in, but I don't doubt that plenty of people would have zero qualms about this.
> The lines were non-existent, but the fun part wasn't skipping the lines so much as the feeling of having the whole park to yourself. If they could find a way to offer that experience, I'd pay for it.
Yep! I grew up in San Jose, and back in the 1980s, each year the company my mom worked for rented out Great America for a day in September. It was pretty awesome being able to just go on any ride you wanted without waiting.
Re: Disneyland allowing you to pay to avoid lines, I remember visiting Universal Studios (Orlando) after Hurricane Charley in 2004. The lines were non-existent, but the fun part wasn't skipping the lines so much as the feeling of having the whole park to yourself. If they could find a way to offer that experience, I'd pay for it. I suspect VR might be one of the only ways to do it (and perhaps a rollercoaster in VR is just as good as the real experience, I don't know myself as I haven't messed around with VR). I'd feel like an asshole paying to skip lines that actual, real human beings were waiting in, but I don't doubt that plenty of people would have zero qualms about this.