In regards to line jumpers....
Mustang said:
Whenever I am Operating Mind Eraser at SFEG, I can see a large portion of the queue line where people usually cut through the rocks. If I see them, I make a mental note, and when they get up to the gates, I give them two options.
1. They quietly pass through the train when I open the gates, go down the entrance, wait in line correctly, and enjoy the rest of their day at the park.
2. I call security, hold up the line for 10 minutes waiting, and then have them kicked out of the park.
Needless to say, they usually pick the first option. Not only does this let me enforce the rules, but it also lets the guests see that we do our best to stop line cutters and am therefore showing that we care about the customers. Sure we don't catch all of them, but we do try.
You're my hero. There should be clones of you at every park :)
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A CoasterForum Member
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Opening day of S: UF at SFoGA that happened a lot, cause people were standing in line at 11 am (the time they told us it would be open) up untill 3 pm (when it finally did open), it also helped that all the people coming back to their places were polite, said excuse me, and explained they were coming back from the bathroom or bringing drinks to thier family on a 90 degree Geroiga day.
I see the reasons listed as the only reason to let someone line jump, anyone else, screw um.
Well line-jumping is one of my biggest pet-peaves and is certainly my biggest amusemtent park pet-peave. As someone else mentioned, these people think they are more important than the rest of the world and don't have to wait. Well I don't stand for it. I am a very small guy in stature (about 5' 6" 130 lbs), but I don't let that stop me from blocking others. Unfortunately some of the people that are a little larger than I are still able to force their way through. And my local park, SFA, is notorious for line-jumpers and the lack of security is a major reason.
Anyway, a few stories of line-jumpers...
First, in line for S:RoS (SFA). I didn't see one girl sneek up and she managed to get by, but I did notice just in time to stop her friend. I did the standard handrail lock. She started raising a fuss about how she just wanted to get by...I told her no, there is no line jumping. Well she literally started peeling my fingers off the handrails. She got my thumb off and started bending it backwards (like we were 5th graders playing "mercy" or something). Then she has the nerve to yell at me and say "Don't put your hands on me" Needless to say, this infuriated me and I yelled back that I was here minding my own business and she put her hands on me. I never let her through. Well after she was unsuccessfull getting by, her friend came back and they made their way to the back of the line...and all the way back, I could hear her complaining to her friend about me...I just laughed in disgust. (Note: There was no security or ride ops anywhere close by to do anything about the situation)
Story 2: Batwing. The line was about 2 hours long, we were getting close to the front in the queue area for station 1. Suddenly we notice five guys/girls hop under rails and literally walk right to the front of the line. They were on the next train. There was no security that I could see anywhere. Then later that day, in the same line, I notice that they finally decided to post a security guard. Hallelujah!!! SFA decided to put their security guards to work! Well, sort of. The entire time in line, I watched that security guard to see how she "secured" things. Well let me tell you this guard ticked me off more than anything else. She spent about 90% of her time staring at the trains as they loaded/unloaded. Now that would be fine is she could see the line at the same time, but the line was behind her. By the time I got to the front of the line, an apparently "senior" (at least he looked more official) guard joined her (mind you, he actually was looking at the line). Well, since this gentleman appeared to be the superior of the other guard, I decided to approach him and ask why it was necessary for her to stare at the station (NOTE: There were at least 6 ride ops that were in the station that could make sure everything went smoothly there) and not watch the line. This guy couldn't understand my beef and kept saying that they can't see everything. DUH! Do I look that stupid?!?! Of course you can't see everything, but you won't see anything if she doesn't look at the line. I kept asking why she needed to focus her attention on the station, but he never answered. Needless to say, I was pretty P.O.'ed. I guess the thing that upset me the most was that he refused to try to appease me...he just kept arguing (What kind of customer service is that) I would have argued longer, but it was time for me to get off the train. I guess I must have made a little headway with the guy though because by the time I got back to the station to get off the ride, I noticed that they had both moved to a more appropriate location and were both staring at the line.
Mustang, I am glad that you take the steps that you do...I just wish more ride ops were as diligent as you.
JamesK, I have thought about that same question and I have struggled with it. I TRY to wait patiently to get to the split area of the queue lines, but if I see that the people in front of me are obviously heading to station 1, I will pass by them to got to station 2 (but I only pass by if it is a couple people).
Happy Coastering!
Sean
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
I personally don't see anything wrong with it sfmm if everyone else had their fair chance to claim the single seats.
I really don't encounter line jumpers to often. I usually don't notice it until it's to late when it does happen anyway. A couple of times when people decided they could just walk right past me it caught me by surprise and I didn't get the chance to do anything about it.
Once at PKI me and my friends were waiting for the SOB but it wasn't operating. Well people started forming a line anyway and we decided to get in line. There were like 12 people infront of us. Since nobody had any idea what time it was going to open all the people in line were letting their friends go off and someone would save their spot. We did that also. 4 hours later we decided to get out of line. It wasn't 2 min later when we heard a test train going up the lift. We ran back and took our spot. Maybe we shouldn't have b/c we did forfit our spot but I thought the people behind us would be understanding. They were and we got to ride 10min later.
It is a point of reflection to note that the mentality of people is that dozens of strangers wont mind waiting for me, but it is important that I do not delay the people I actually know. It's a weird phenomenon that is rampant here in the USA as buddies "save places" in lines for movie tickets, fast food, tee times (for you "classists" I'm sure you saw the expose on Bethpage Black during the US Open), bus seats. It is actually almost insane to belive that prevailing attitude will just dissolve because your in an amusement park. Someone needs to do a psychological study to find out why that is.
Here's a funny SFA line jumping story. A girl (~14) comes excusing herself through the S:ROS queue. She gets to where I am, and this couple right behind me is like NO, you cant go. I back them up and we get the girl all freaked out. But she insists that she had something "very important" that she had to tell her two friends (who in reality were only about two trainloads ahead of us, but S:ROS was only running one train, it was hot, and heat makes people crazy). We were all like, why dont they just come back here so you can tell them? What? Your friends dont like you enough to wait on you? Then why should we? Well finally we let her go ahead. We caught back up with them in the switchbacks in the station. The woman of the couple was like, "Well, did you tell them the 'important news'?...Good, then now you can get to the end of the line!" and the 3 kids just left. The woman was all flushed with accomplishment and she and her man started talking about how they just couldnt understand why some people thought that the rules applied to everyone but them...................................................................................................................................................Then they lit up cigarettes and stated smoking in the station!
(I didnt have the heart to tell them it was wrong :))
lata,
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Here is a story from Kennywood last week (I told it in another post... but I will repeat it here).
My wife and I were in line for Thunderbolt. There was practically no line... not even to the bottom of the ramp that leads to the station. There was a group of kids (8-14 years) came pushing through... past the family behind us and right past us and then under the chain at the top of the ramp that kept us actually out of the station, and into one of the gates. Then another group of kids this same age came up... "Excuse us... excuse us... excuse us..." The woman behind us was like "What's all this then?" My wife said to the kids "You just can't put in line ahead of people". One kid said "my sister and her friend are up there... we need to ride with them" and ducked under my wife's arm and the chain.
Moments later crewmember stepped to the chain and unhooked it so we could go into the station. My wife told her "All those kids just butted ahead of every one". The employee went over to the kids and explained the rules and told them to go to the back of the line... which they did with argument and an argument from their older sister and friends who were already in line. The older girl (still in line) started mouthing off wondering aloud "Who snitched?!?" (funny... she by saying it the way she did she obviously knew they were jumping... else there would be no "snitching". "Snitching" was wrong, but line jumping was not). The employee then went over to her and calmly explained the rules and also explained that if she did not calm down and made a scene she would call security. The girl settled down and the last we saw her was when her train left the station... she had a very big pout on her face.
Fact of the matter was that their line jumping did not really affect us (they jumped into the middle of the train, we decided to wait for the front seat) and the line was really short... no more than a 4 or 5 train wait for the front seat so they really would not have held anyone up very long (and by going to the end of the line they would not have been held up very long themselves). However, like the woman behind us (and the employee) agreed... its the principle of the thing.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
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I just want to ride as many coasters as posible
2Hostyl said:
#1) Someone needs to do a psychological study to find out why that is. (snippet) #2) Then they lit up cigarettes and stated smoking in the station!
#1.....they have....it's called the "I'm more important than you" phenomenon.
#2....Can't blame them for a "post-coital" cigarette, can you, lol?
bill, thinking the younger that kids learn to respect others' rights, the better...
Here is a good story. Happened 2 years ago on Chiller. We were on line and the ride broke down. So naturally, they say you can either wait, or leave the queue. So a bunch of people in front of us left the queue. We stayed and moved forward. Of course, the people who left had friends ahead of us. About 5 minutes later, the ride starts running again, and that group that left tried to get back up to their friends. NO WAY!!! Not going to happen. You leave the line, you lose your place. I love how people think they are superior and can just come back into line when they feel like it.
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Mike "Viper" Semtak
Usually I'll block the way. I'm above average height and weight (6', 260lbs.) so most people don't challenge me. If they say something like "My friends/family are up ahead" then I'll say, "Fine, they can come back here to be with you". Ususally they'll say something like "You a--hole" and I'll say "That's right and you're still not line jumping".
The best thing I saw was a few weeks ago at SFStL while in line for Mr. Freeze. There's a side door to the queue line that's for employees only. While waiting a couple of people came through the door to meet with some friends. About 30 seconds later a ride-op came through. She walked past the people who came in and went to her spot in the station. When the people who jumped got right to the ride, she kicked them out and made them go to the end of the line! It was great.
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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
Favorite Wood: Viper(SFGAm), Legend (HW)
Favorite Steel: MF (CP), Mamba (WoF)
OK, here's my two stories from the *other* side:
1) Americana, waiting in line for the now-defunct Indy 500 ride. I was with a church group. A friend saw me waiting in line, walked up to me and slid in front of me, saying, "Can I get in line with you?" Before I had the chance to say no, a ride-op kicked us both of the ride for the REST OF THE DAY. I was sooo pissed.
2) PKI's Waterworks. I'm now a high school punk, hanging out with another high school punk. We're cutting in line left and right, mostly so we don't have to wait for tubes. We get in the lazy river line very close to the front (there's a huge line behind us).... though we tried to "sneak" in without anyone noticing, since there are no switchbacks. To emphasize our sneakiness, and thinking no one noticed, I say aloud, "Man, this line is taking forever!" The woman behind me says, "It's even longer when you wait in it!" and the whole queue cracks up laughing. That's the last time I line-jumped.
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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.
We normally don't let them pass if we see them in time. But a lot of time they catch you off guard. There was only one time when we actually told on three jumpers. Earlier we had talked to this ride op on the beast that seemed like a really cool guy. Well, when these line jumpers came upon us, they were yelling out random names and NO ONE was responding do them. So we just stared them down. Well, we let them get all the way up front and went and told that ride op. He said since he didn't see it he couldn't do anything, but if they admitted to it, they would go. So he walks over and ask them with us standing right behind him. They said that they were trying to catch up with their church group......well, to bad, cause you have to get out of line. He made them exit at the end of the station. It was so awesome that they admitted to it. But really, we don't see all that many line jumpers.
Eric
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You don't have to shout. Do you know how many internet etiquette laws your breaking by typing in all caps like that? Well........your breaking one. Don't type in all caps.
rollergator said:
According to Webster's unofficial coaster dictionary, line jumping is when you bypass people waiting in a single queue....once it splits, it's capitalism all over again. If you find a shorter line in 4-2 than in 3-3, that's not line jumping, is it? just my opinion.....but then again, I am a firm believer in single-rider lines.....
While waiting in line for Viper at SFGAm, our party got seperated. My riding partner and I headed towards 1-3, and the other two were stuck at the end of a ridiculously long line towards the back of the train. We called them over seeing as 1-2 had no line whatsoever, and we'd get on the same train together, but were stopped by a man who said it was line jumping. He wasn't waiting in line for 1-2 either. Feeling slightly embarressed, we turned the rest of our party back and they now had to wait even longer because a line had formed while they came over. For the rest of the wait no one showed up for 1-2. I hate bitter people...
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Down with the trims!
but were stopped by a man who said it was line jumping
I completely disagree and I would have stayed there.
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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
Favorite Wood: Viper(SFGAm), Legend (HW)
Favorite Steel: MF (CP), Mamba (WoF)
RagingBullGuy said:
but were stopped by a man who said it was line jumping. He wasn't waiting in line for 1-2 either.
I wouldn't call that line jumping either. We saw the same thing at SFDL. On S:RoS, the first two seats line up through the same line. (in other words, there is a special ine for the front two rows that splits right before the actual train). There was about a six train wait for the front seat, but no one was lined up for the second seat (everyone wanted the front I guess). Two kids came up, asking everyone if they were in line for the 2nd seat... everyone they passed said no so they kept moving closer to the front. There was a woman about two trains behind us who went balistic when she saw these kids and loudly announced how they were "line jumping" because they did go past everyone lined up for seat 1 just to reach the open gate for seat 2. The Ironic thing was this... Just after a few more trains, this woman who so loudly announced that thest two kids were line jumping announces "The H*** with this," and stepped out of the front seat line (she was not 4 trains back) and stepped into the empty 2nd seat line... doing the same thing she complained about the kids doing.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
Prodjbp said:
Fast Lane a form of line jumping.
But, if you pay Six Flags ten bucks its ok.
You aren't the only one with that opinion. It really irritates me that if you pay them off, you are allowed to line-jump. If you don't pay them off, then screw you. Needless to say, I hate Fast Lane (and all other similar systems). The way I see it, I already paid good money to ride this ride, but because someone pays more, they get to ride quicker. Sounds like a "classist" system to me. These parks will come up with anything to make a cheap buck (and this is the epitomy of a cheap buck IMO).
Happy Coastering!
Sean
--who refuses to pay for bogus privileges--
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
SFMM or Kennywood are the WORST line jumping parks ive ever seen. My story: First time to SFMM, i was the 5th person n the pre-queue for X, these little freak 12-13 year olds who i had to stand behind for 1 1/2 hours in the season pass entrance decided to RUN in front of me while i was standing in the pre-que, i grabbed the rails and clotheslined the freak, I asked him where he thinks he's going, he replied "up with my dad" i quickly replied, "i dont think so", he tried to pull a juke, but being the corner-back/left wing/attack i am, just kept blocking him for about 2 minutes, then he just walked in front of me, to the queue attendant and went under the rails to his "Explosive Dad" (the hat the guy was wearing) and took 6 of his "friends" with him. Then some huge mexican guys cut in front of me, but i didnt say anything...for fear of getting cut
I'll block line jumping if the person isnt much bigger than me...or in the case above yelling curse words in spanish, wearing a wife beater, and scphants that looked like pants from the year before.
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