Diamondbacks SRL-stay or go?

^

ApolloAndy said:
Perhaps I misunderstood Diamondback's. On Borg (what is it now? Flighthawk?) they would wait for everyone to sit and then once people had taken their seats, fill in the car with single riders (who would have to cross, drop their stuff, come back and strap in). Is this not what's happening on DB?

Nope. "The attendant is counting out people and sending SRs into the lines one train AHEAD of loading".

If it had been working as you described on "Flying Coaster 1" at Carowinds, I'd be at the head of the complaints line. That's icky! KI is working the SR line with Disney-esque efficiency (hi matt.)! ;)

ApolloAndy said:
Perhaps I misunderstood Diamondback's. On Borg (what is it now? Flighthawk?) they would wait for everyone to sit and then once people had taken their seats, fill in the car with single riders (who would have to cross, drop their stuff, come back and strap in). Is this not what's happening on DB?

The platform ride op asks the next riding group how many they have. Lets say there are 3, ride op will tell 2 of them which row to go to, the 1 alone which row to go to and then will tell the next single rider to go to same row as the lone rider.

As for dropping off stuff they are instructed before boarding to cross thru the train car and put the stuff in the box.

Jo

I guess as long as it doesn't slow the loading of the train, I'm all for it.
But as Jo mentioned earlier, enforcing the rules could create a situation where it slows the train (having to argue with people about why they can't sit together). It doesn't take much delay to negate any gains.

Holding up a 32 passenger train for one cycle would negate ~ 8 cycles worth of smooth sailling (assuming 4 singles per train).

Disney does rock the SRL, Test Track, Everest, etc. So does Universal on Mummy, Spiderman, etc.

As for D-back. The two times Ive gone its been great (opening day and the follwoing Saturday) even if there is a group of people waiting for tickets at the front, I still never waited more then 15 minutes to ride. You just cant beat that.

My opinion on the Single Rider Line - the entrance...

I'll admit it. I've used the SRL more than I've waited in the queue. But, sometimes I do feel guilty. The SRL skips too much of the regular queue.

If I were designing the queue, I'd make single riders wait the first (upper) section of the queue before entering the SRL. Unfortunately, as designed, that would require staffing an additional person to manage it.

As others have pointed out, educating the full-queue-waiting public on the SRL function is also lacking.

I like the Maverick SRL concept better, although the lack of a staff member at the bottom of the stairs and minimal signage still does cause some confusion.

Why would you make single riders wait any longer than they have to? The whole reason many people use the "SRL" is because the wait is much shorter.

Signage would help people know what's going on. I had to ask someone waiting in the SRL about it. I thought that maybe it was some kind of "perk" for someone who paid more than me or something, because of the pass that they were carrying. it did seem to work pretty well when I was there the second week of operations.

I have nothing at all against SRL's when they are done right. It looks to me that KI is doing it right, with the exception that they aren't letting everyone know it's there.

I believe that the SRL may be discontinued when the ride loses it's popularity in a few years. It's probably just a temporary solution to a temporary problem.

^You seriously believe after just a few years that this ride won't be popular?

Chitown said:
^You seriously believe after just a few years that this ride won't be popular?

OMG I will be riding it in a few years! LOVE that ride!!! :)
Unless of course I'm living in Florida :)

Jo

I didn't mean it to sound like I thought that no one would ride it after a few years...

I love Diamondback as much as the next guy, but there will be a day when DB wont be the shiniest, newest coaster in the park. It'll still be amazing, and still be popular, but something else will come along and take the focus from it.

I'll still be riding it in a few years also. But new coasters lose a little popularity when it's not the newest anymore.

Not only will Diamondback's ridership drop compared with the latest and greatest in a few years, not only will additional rides added to the park improve overall capacity to the point where all the lines will be a lot shorter, but I keep hoping that Cedar Fair will carefully examine operations on The Beast, The Racer, Vortex, Adventure Express and Flight of Fear and figure out ways to get significantly better hourly numbers out of those rides. Vortex and Adventure Express in particular are capable of significantly better capacity than they get today; Adventure Express could potentially challenge Diamondback for the highest capacity in the park.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

LostKause said:
I didn't mean it to sound like I thought that no one would ride it after a few years...

I'll still be riding it in a few years also. But new coasters lose a little popularity when it's not the newest anymore.

It was just the way you worded that had me respond. I kind of wish all B&M coasters had the single rider lines. It seems that since they are 4 across (until recently with DB and Behemoth), that the probability of empty seats are more common than a 2 across setup.

Even with a ride op assigning seats they can still hold up trains because the public does not listen to you. When I worked Maverick for a day they wanted all the seats filled and there were a couple of times when I could not even find a group of two or any single riders to fill a row. It is a pretty chaotic position at times.

^You wouldn't have had a problem finding singles to ride Mavy if the SRL started at the entrance instead...IMO. Maverick is a good example of the single-riders line NOT functioning optimally. YMMV.

I like the fact that for Diamondback the single rider line option is given right at the beginning of the queue. And the tickets are a good idea to prevent line jumping and to keep the SRL from becoming too overloaded.

One day I saw a ride op use a particular technique to keep obvious groups from abusing it. As one approached she would quickly say "hi, how many are in your group?" and sure enough, more often than not, someone in the group would say "uh...5" then she could say "ok, the group entrance is right over here..." and off they would go. She was friendly but firm and it worked.

I have used the SRL when available but only when alone. Sometimes it's saved a ton of time and other times not so much. So far this season, Friday nights (which I've noticed have sort of become "fan nights") have been when it's easiest to use.

Maverick's SLR doesnt split off until you reach the bottom of the steps, so you don't bypass many in line. One time I was indeed a single, took that path and waited forever. When I noticed the people I had been standing with all that time were passing through I finally said something to the op and he was all "ooops" and let me in. While I at least had a say in where I sat, it saved me no time. Another time I used it there and the next single seat was in the front row, so it saved me all kinds of time and i got a lucky bonus.

I'm all for the park policy "everyone waits" and it doesnt hurt me a bit to know that it's at least fair to all. However, if a park wants to increase capacity by offering singles a chance to fill rows, rather than send out 3 or 4 empty seats per train, then I'm all for that too. KI tries to make it very clear that singles will not be choosing a seat on the train.

Cedar Fair has always been capacity sensitive, short ride cycles alone are a testament to that, and these single rider lines are an interesting experiment for them. I agree with several posters above who say that eventually, as with most extremely popular rides, the station will eventually become a free for all and an usher at the top of the stairs will no longer be necessary.

RCMAC said:

Cedar Fair has always been capacity sensitive, short ride cycles alone are a testament to that, and these single rider lines are an interesting experiment for them. I agree with several posters above who say that eventually, as with most extremely popular rides, the station will eventually become a free for all and an usher at the top of the stairs will no longer be necessary.

If that happens I would still like to see someone at the top of the stairs controling the size of the croud on the platform.

Then the SRL could be used as a "fast pass" lane. You pay maybe $5 and the money goes to charity.

Cedar Fair and Fastpass do not mix, that God.

LostKause said:
Cedar Fair and Fastpass do not mix, that God.

How long do you really think that's going to last?

Probably about as long af CF owning GL.

However long it lasts, I'm happy. They just might jump on the "lowering-the-quality-of-the-experience" bandwagon sooner of later.

I still don't understand why you would make SR's wait in the main queue when there are empty seats going out. Who benefits from that?