Best park at handling crowd control?

I want to hear everyones opinion on what park has the best layout to insure that the lines aren't that long. Also how they space out the major rides to keep the crowds broken up. You also have to factor in other attractions other than coasters(shows, and entertainment)that keep the crowds busy. What I have noticed the smaller parks handle this much better than the bigger ones, but alot also has to do with the time of visit as well. Thats why I usually visit at the beginning or the end of the season. Cedar Point does a great job for being a big park. My favorite park for shortness of the lines are Hersheypark, and Dorney Park. They also break up the crowds pretty well so far. Other attractions I like Disney World and Busch Gardens because they have so many different shows and rides. Lets hear it everyone. *** This post was edited by Coaster Fantom on 3/15/2001. ***

I like Cedar Point. Usually when I go the lines aren't too bad. I don't go on Saturdays though. They do have a number of shows to break up the crowds during the day. They usually break up the crowds well on all their rides excluding MF. The most I have waited for a ride at CP would have to be one hour, but when the park is crowded there is always a bunch of stuff to do to pass the time. I go over to the Breaker's and hang out or my friend and I take his boat out(He has it in the CP Marina.) I do like Disney World too because they have so much else to do then just go to the parks and if you hit them at the right time the lines aren't that bad. Anyone else agree?

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Get ready to fly over Six Flags Oh..er I mean Six Flags Worlds of Adventure this summer with X-Flight!

I would have to say CP. Kennywood is pretty good though.

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MF Drops-15
SOB Rides-2

I don't know about best park for line control, but I will definately say that once SoB gets working consistantly, Action Zone at PKI will definately be a form of crowd control for the rest of the park.

EPCOT Center.

Everything is so spaced out and there are many ways to get to the same thing.

You have to remember, though, that smaller parks don't draw the same size crowds as larger parks. Honestly, Disney does a good job for a major park at controlling crowds. Everything is well spaced, including shops (though there are too many in my opinion), shows, rides, and other attractions. Cedar Point does a good job, as does Islands of Adventure. It really helps when a park has a definate pathway, like a continous loop, to keep the guest traffic flowing, rather than creating bottlenecks.

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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html
Let's get the VOTES in, and don't forget the ROLLER COASTER TYCOON tips and tricks, CP Style!

From Amusement TodayGolden Ticket Awards 2000
Best Capacity (fastest-moving lines)
#1 Cedar Point
#2 Walt Disney World
#3 Disneyland
#4 Islands of Adventure

Keep in mind these numbers are from Amusement Today. Personally I like Kennywood's ability to handle crowds the best.
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CP ride host -
*2000 - Cedar Downs crew, WildCat/LaserShow crew
*2001 - Cedar Downs assistant team leader
*** This post was edited by CP-Dustin on 3/14/2001. ***

i think SFMW has good crowd control because they have the animal shows so when those are goin the wait for the lines isnt that long and when one show gets out another starts right when the first one finishes. so they time it exactly so the people that want to see the show can see the show and the people that want to ride the rides can do that without any hastle.

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are you ready to go vertical?...V2 SFMW 2001 ...

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Mongoose said:
"EPCOT Center."

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I'm nit-picking, but it's referred to as Epcot Center now, no all caps. They did away with the acronym (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, I believe it was) and now it's just simply a word. Now that I've said that...

...my favorite parks for moving lines and having good layouts are CP, IOA, and SFGAm. All three have some sort of loop to them, so it's hard to really get lost or hit a dead end. All three have great capacity attractions and the lines keep moving.

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"Yes if by crestfallen you mean KILL US!" -- Homer J. Simpson

Most disneyland rides keep the lines moving fairly quickly. The one exception was the rocket rods.

Any Disney property and SFGAmer are really good at handling huge crowds. CP is good as well.

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2001- the year of flight!

PKI`s action Zone may make the rest of the park less corwded but the action Zone only has one main entrance, next to King Cobra and that pathway is not the largest path and it can be difficult getting out of the action zone or into it if your heading from towards or from The Racer.

There is an entrance next to the Paramount Theater that connects between Face oFF and Congo Falls exit which is almost never used.

I don't know about the best, but PKI gets my vote for the worst. When we were there everything had a long line. SOB was about 1.5, Beast - 2.5 when it was actually open, FaceOff - 1.5, etc.

That must have been a really bad day Lothar. Had to of been a Saturday. Go between Monday and Thursday and you shouldn't have more than a 30 minute wait on any coaster but Beast and SOB, which are usually 1 hr. and 1 hr. 30 min at the most. FoF, Adv. Ex., Top Gun, and The Racer are usually walk-ons-10 min. Since I have a season pass, I never go on the weekends, so I don't really know about that.

I don't give it the worst capacity, but CP sure had overall the worst lines I've ever seen at a park for all 4 times I've been. On my 2000 trip, the shortest times since I've been, MF had a 2.5 hour wait, Mantis had a 3 hour wait, Magnum had a 1.5 hour wait, Raptor had a 1.5 hour wait, Mean Streak 45 min wait, PT 1 hr wait, and more way over 30 min. By the time we were done we've these few rides, there were only about 2 hours of the day left. We got to Blue Streak, Wildcat, and Demon Drop. That's it. And that was on a Wed. Only 9 rides in 12-13 hours. I can get 9 rides at PKI done by 1 pm-All of Action Zone, AdvEx, Racer, VF, and FoF. Then get everything but the kiddie rides and Waterworks done by 5. I can do the same at IOA, BGT, BGW, PKD, HW, SFKK, and KW. CP may have good crowd control, but there are some rides people just don't want to go on and some people want to ride over and over. If it was truely great crowd control, every line besides exceptions should be about the same length. I don't know. Maybe the difference is a free water park?

Anyway, the Orlando parks have great capacity too. I think I would give Disney #1 by far for handling over 50 million people a year and still keep you feeling like you're in paradise. I love to see family crowds smiling and going on everything and having fun no matter what it's like instead of a big roller coaster park with mainly teens running around. You can have fun no matter what age at Disney.

Koaster King, I am really glad you don't run Cedar Point. If all lines had to be the same length then that means once MF got up to a certain length, I wouldn't be able to get on it. Actually, after Magnum, Mantis, Mean Streak, and Raptor are full I would be able to ride them

You have to understand, an hour and a half is very good considering how many people Cedar Point can get through a ride. I know when I went to PGA, I knew that if Cedar Points ride ops were there I would be on the ride within 20 minutes.

Also you are very lucky to get that 2.5, at least you weren't in line for 4 hours like some people were. I am sorry but I cannot sympathize with you

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Best Coaster: Millennium Force
Worst Coaster: Project Stealth

I said with exceptions Jephry such as new coasters, popular rides, etc. No mark should have this many lines with over 45 min.-1 hr. wait. And I was describing my second and latest time I went in 2000 on the last Wed. in August. Believe me, I went third weekend of operations to a 4 hour MF line and a 3 hour Mantis line. That day was a killer. I can't believe I wait for Mantis anymore. I guess I still hope it will one day be a good ride for me. And CP is the worst layout a park can be: a circle without any cut throughs. It does have the straight way up to ID, but that's not all that great. Same goes for IOA but all the rides there are good enough to wait for and you won't leave disappointed.
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A Monster is Rising!! Be afraid...be very afraid!
Reptar's revenge-April 7, 2001
PKI-Kings Mills, Ohio *** This post was edited by Koaster King on 3/15/2001. ***

When I think of crowd-control I usually think of Capacity.

Most already praised deserve so. My vote for worst has to be PKI like others have said. When I was there in mid-June 99 I had the following experience. 10:45 - We went left - Face-off closed - Drop Zone closed, went to ride OL:FOF (passed Adventure Express and King Cobra, both of which were not open), found Outer Limits closed. An hour after the rides were supposed to start the only things running were the Racer and Vortex. Beast opened shortly after. Anyway, later in the afternoon most of the coasters were finally open. But, I was fried when I had to wait 2 hours for Face-off because they were dispatching 1 train every 6 minutes. Sorry to vent, but it makes me mad when I pay $40 to visit a park and have a hard time finding a ride I want to ride that isn't closed! There is only one park I have been to that I can count them having every coaster running every visit. (Hint - it's also in Ohio)
-Peabody

Peabody, obviously you were still on Western time as PKI has all of their coasters except King Kobra and sometimes Top Gun opening at 10 AM. KC opens between 10:30 and 11. TG opens by 10:30. No exceptions unless they're supposed to be closed all day. I should know as I type and file records for PKI. They keep exact times on when a ride is not operating. The description of your visit is extremely inaccurate.
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A Monster is Rising!! Be afraid...be very afraid!
Reptar's revenge-April 7, 2001
PKI-Kings Mills, Ohio

Sorry man, that's what happened. I'm neither exaggerating nor lying. We got to the park at 9am (eastern time, where I live) to do the Beast walkback but it didn't happen as they were having problems with it. (Hence it's late opening.) We kept getting told that the park didn't have enough staff, and that they were having problems with having enough electricity to run all the rides. Eventually all the coasters opened, but some like Face Off didn't start until the afternoon. (Drop Zone never did open) We must have been there on an bad day maintenance wise and/or staffing wise. It was a let down to my group of 40 who came from Maryland to do CP and PKI.

In the past I had ridden almost every coaster at PKI before Lunch. I almost did that this year, except SOB never opened when I was there, and Beast didn't open till 1 or so. (Another non-walkback day. D'oh!)

-Peabody

That's very interesting Peabody. But does one bad day mean worst capacity and crowd control overall. You admitted yourself that you had finished all coasters before noon before. I would never base my judgements on a single experience. SOB ripped up my stomach the first time I rode and told people how bad it was. Then I rode it a second...third..etc. and I liked it so much more. I was raving about it after that. I wasn't too crazy about my trip to DCA. But I'm going to go again to see if it was a bad day or if I really don't like it. Sorry for saying whatever before but what you wrote sounded completely unrealistic to a PKI employee and 10 year season pass holder.

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A Monster is Rising!! Be afraid...be very afraid!
Reptar's revenge-April 7, 2001
PKI-Kings Mills, Ohio