Busch Gardens Tampa announces Cobra's Curse roller coaster

So going to a new-to-me park on a crowded day, I don't care *that* much about a specific ride's capacity because everything is going to be an hour either way (assuming the park has a pretty decent total throughput compared to attendance). But if I'm visiting on a medium day with emphasis on riding the new big-bad, I care a whole lot about that ride's capacity because it's the primary line I'm going to be standing in while other lines are shorter.

I claim way more guest visits fall into that latter category than the former.

ApolloAndy said:

I claim way more guest visits fall into that latter category than the former.

I claim enthusiasts think and worry about this stuff on a level that the average guest never even considers. They just know the new big-bad ride has a long wait...and why wouldn't it? It's the new popular big-bad attraction.

If the emphasis is on the new big bad ride, then capacity doesn't matter. That line's length/wait will be the longest in the park on every medium day...and in both cases it will never be longer than guests are willing to wait for a ride.

I'm with Mr. Lord Gonchar on this one. Many will wait in the long, long line without question; they've seen the TV ads for big-bad, naturally it's going to have a long line. And they won't even spend their time in line keeping track of how many trains the crew is stacking! :-)

Over at the theatre I work at, we'll usually have school groups line up around the corner, alongside the building: it makes it easier to get several hundred people into the theatre quickly. And inevitably, we'll have people, not part of the group, see the line and stand in the line.

My claim is that the only reason the line for the new big-bad is so short is because you're disappointing a lot of people. How is that okay?

Guests know if they went to ride the new big-bad and didn't get to because the line was longer than they were willing to wait. They don't need to know anything else (and I think we agree that they don't).

I think in general, what Gonch is saying is true, however, there might be a little more psychology to examine here. Let's imagine we have to coasters next to each other. One is a B&M invert with a crew that is just cranking out riders with three train operations. The second coaster is a low capacity ride, say like Tempesto. Say both rides have a two hour wait. Now, based on the capacity of each ride the B&M invert line is going to be a lot longer, holding a lot more people. That line, theoretically, will move faster than the other line because more people are getting on the ride.

Here is where the psychology fits in. Those waiting in the line for the invert are going to feel like their wait is shorter because they are constantly moving. Those poor suckers in line for the low capacity ride, however, are going to be standing there and standing there and barely be moving and the wait is going to drag on and on and on. Who is going to be the happier customer after that ride, even if the ride experience on the low-cap ride is superior?

As another poster pointed out, with the low capacity ride, riders will get left out. If it is the newest, shiniest ride in the park and they came SPECIFICALLY to ride it and then they see the wait is four hours and bail then they are going to leave very dissatisfied. It's going to happen in either scenario, the high or the low capacity scenario. People won't wait in that four hour line. Problem is, in the high capacity scenario less people will be dissatisfied as there was more room in that line for riders.

Kick The Sky said:

Those waiting in the line for the invert are going to feel like their wait is shorter because they are constantly moving.

That's where good crews REALLY make a difference in the lower-capacity rides...

Lord Gonchar said:
enthusiasts think and worry about this stuff on a level that the average guest never even considers.

This can be applied to just about every thread ever on CoasterBuzz...or any other enthusiast group in existence, really.

Lord Gonchar said:
If the emphasis is on the new big bad ride, then capacity doesn't matter. That line's length/wait will be the longest in the park on every medium day.

I think that Banshee at Kings Island - and to a slightly lesser degree Gatekeeper at Cedar Point - proved that isn't always the case. Both of those rides absolutely destroy lines because of their amazing capacity. What frequently happens is that both rides have significantly fewer people in line as the day draws on because more people had a chance to experience the ride early and therefore can spend time enjoying other attractions.

I agree with ApolloAndy on this point - the more people who get to experience a new ride each day is better for all involved, either because you get more rides on every other ride, you get re-rides on the new coaster, or you can use the extra time for something else. There's a reason that Cedar Fair is investing in all of these big B&Ms, and much of that rationale pertains to the capacity.

Lord Gonchar said:

...and in both cases it will never be longer than guests are willing to wait for a ride

This portion I agree with. Having said that, if I'm a park operator I don't really want my guests in a position to have to think long and hard about whether any ride line is too long. You could argue that everything that large investment that Cedar Point has made in the last few years is capacity-driven; a 64-person capacity Windseeker, Gatekeeper, the Mantis/Rougarou conversion, and the new rumored B&M dive coaster. I can't envision that being an accident.

Satisfaction and all of that is a whole 'nother discussion. And not one I'm particularly interested in having.

My point was capacity doesn't dictate the line, the general willingness to wait in a line that is X long does. The same demand that keeps an hour long line on a 1500 pph ride doesn't translate to a three hour line on a 500 pph ride. It's likely going to be very similar waits for both rides.

Beyond that, you guys can hypothesize all you'd like.

I don't know how I feel about the line being longer for the newer ride. At my home park, Fury and Intimidator have about equal wait times, and they have the same capacity on paper. I don't know about other parks though.

I have no idea why this cool-ass ride has received such tepid reception here at Coasterbuzz (this topic has literally not been responded to for ten months). BGT released a video this past week showing the theming and queue. They're going to make the queue a frickin zoo-style reptile house full of different snake exhibits! It really makes what I expect to be a long-ass wait for this ride more interesting. I've got no problem staring at a bunch of different snakes for an hour before I can actually get on the ride, which looks awesome to me. I love how BGT's coasters seem to have a lot of trenches and tunnels.

I honestly forgot about the ride. That's a long time coming!

I just went back and watched the first "webisode" after watching the second one. They state that the ride should be able to run 8 trains at once and that the height requirement will be only 42".

The main thing that strikes me is still just how strange of a project this is. It's a family coaster with 2 car trains...with spinning cars...and an elevator lift...and it's a Mack...and the queue will have snakes in it. Weird.