Shanghai Disneyland scalpers sell free ‘fast passes’ for US$270 each
Unscrupulous touts found to be offering complimentary queue-jump vouchers at inflated prices online
Ticket scalpers at Shanghai Disney Resort are lining their pockets by selling complimentary “fast pass” vouchers for up to 1,800 yuan (US$270) online, mainland media reported.
Since it opened a year ago, the theme park has offered its visitors the option to bypass the inevitable long queues at rides in one of two ways.
The first is to purchase a “Premier Access” ticket, which costs between 600 and 750 yuan, depending on the day. The second is to visit one of the many guest centres at the park in the hope of picking up a fast pass, a limited number of which are handed out free of charge each day.
Both options allow the bearer to jump to the front of the queue, but while the Premier Access vouchers are universal, the fast passes are ride specific, according to the resort’s website.
Recently, however, the complimentary passes have been offered for sale online, via sites such as Taobao, China’s biggest online shopping platform owned by Alibaba Group, which also owns the South China Morning Post, Thepaper.cn reported on Saturday.
A man surnamed Huang was quoted as saying that after paying for what he thought was a Premier Access ticket online, he was told that he would be sent fast passes for each of the top rides. The report did not say how much he paid for the ticket or whether or not he received his vouchers.
The tourist attraction has been battling the problem of ticket scalping since opening in June last year. In May, Shanghai police detained 177 scalpers who were caught operating at the resort.
