Old Queue Lines

I was thinking about this when I was at Kings Island for Pride Night...

There are several rides (coasters, major water rides, and other stuff) that have huge queue lines that were errected way back when the rides were new and today hardly ever draw much of a line.

Like the Beast...how often do they use their full queue?

Viper at Darien Lake? That loooong queue is so not needed.

Why do parks keep these huge queue lines in place- why not remove, reroute, or re-configure the queues to give themselves more room for expansion. A large drop ride or huge "flat" ride could fit in where the Viper queue is...

was wondering if anyone else had anything to add to this...

Well in regard to your question about the Beast, I think it is used a lot during the summer. I was there on a busy Saturday in May, and most of the que was full.

I've always wondered about this myself, but the long walk through the que always seems to build a little bit of anticipation. I'm sure that's not the reason it isn't re-routed. I guess for some parks it might not be logical to remove and re-route a que line when there is another open space for expansion.

I agree... if there is plenty of room elsewhere, why spend the money to reroute / decrease a queue?

Good example is at Hersheypark.

Sooperdooperlooper hardly every has a wait, let alone a line... but the queue is very long. It's under the station, not in the way of anything else, so why bother removing it? Just chain off some of the "switch backs".

On the other hand...

The Comet, which still gets a good line at times, does have a smaller queue than from a few years back. One (or two?) of the switch backs were removed at the start of the queue (you can still see their marks in the pavement.) Why was this removed and not the unneeded looper queue? It's in a congested and highly travelled area. (those marks in the pavement... are they anchors for temporary queue railing or some sort?)

Or I could be all wrong with this...

But cost VS necessity is probably the big reason.

The biggest waste of a queue at PKI is Flight Commander.

All the other queues get filled. Seriously.

they did remove some of the queue on SFDL's predator to make room for more seating at the pizza place next door...

viper @ SFDL exit / entrance is pretty otrocious (sp?), but whadda ya gonna do... they arn't gonna spend money to re-route it.

-- alan j

Another good example @ HP would be that huge queue "complex" near the entrance of Lightning Racer. I have never seen the line backed up anywhere near it, (the ride does push through a lot of people) and there are a good 6 or 8 rows in it. The only thing is it's within a really nice looking structure. I think it would be a bad idea to remove the structure since it throw off the look of the whole station/gift shop area. But they could keep the roof intact and find some other use below it. They could probably fit a flat or a kiddie ride in that area easily.

I think the parks keep it there "just in case." Take SFA for instance. Superman has a large overflow queue area that is rarely used, however, this weekend during Fright Fest, they completly filled the overflow queue, mostly because everyone realizes how amazing a night ride Superman provides. Without the overflow queue, the line would have extended well back into Gotham City congesting the midway. Roar has a large overflow queue that is NEVER used (at least not used for Roar). SFA uses Roar's queue house as the queue for one of their haunted houses during Fright Fest and the entire queue is always filled then. I think it all goes back to the old "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." Most of the time, if the park has a large queue in an area where a flat could be, they also have plenty of other land where that same flat could also go and if a park is pressed for space, they'll build their queue in a place where you would otherwise not be able to place a ride (such as under the ride).

I have to say that a ride that has a queue that is too large now is easily the magnum, thats a people eater, though. The Beast when i went mid this month it was like a 45 minute wait, but they didnt have station queues open if that is what you mean. We started back by the pop machines so it was a hefty line nonetheless. SooperDooperlooper was also sporting a nice line when i went, but the line was moving fast, hershey does a nice job of moving lines, because most costers were sporting lines, besides wildcat and lightning racer when i was there. SFLake if i remember about comet they put up like temporary rope that you can buy at most stores, but it still worked well and the queue was out starting on the midway for that one. They just did a helluva job moving us through the line, so it wasnt wasted, and they do well with what room they do have for it. So in total agreement with you on many of hershey parks rides.

My opinion is that the biggest waste of que space belongs to magnum, but it really doesnt matter, it was popular when it opened and they never really decided to change anything now when they have other coasters and rides that can take up peoples time. That is the problem with excess space, because new rides and attractions are put in and it and then other ones lose the people to these other ones. The Beast is 26 years old but still draws em, where magnum is 16 still draws em, but other rides eat up people just in more less managable numbers. Where Kings Island always seems to be a capacity nightmare besides the beast.

Kennywood took half the queue installed for Phantom's Revenge and reinstalled it for King Kahuna.

Queue's are that big incase the park ever has a VERY busy day. Its better to have more then have people clogging up the walkways. But a good example of a park thinking smarty to remove the queue is at Canada's Wonderland: Dragon fire's queue was so hudge and pointless with an amazingly large over flow that i think was never full except the first few years. Instead they took out the over flow and replaced it with CLiffhanger (Mondial SplashOver). Thats using Logic. But PCW always has full queues, they need them. SFDL is rediculous though for Viper's queue. Top Gun at PCw belive it or not had a way bigger queue then it is not but part of it is now TombRaider:The Ride (also two flats got scrapped). But anyways Top Gun always has a major line which i ONCE saw go right to international street (3.5+Hour Wait) and they need the queues. Anyways on the same topic Don't you just hate when the line is full and it extends WAAAAAY out of the queue but people respin the over flow bars so they dont have to walk through them, or when they aren't being used and should be.

The most irritating queue is for GL's Steel Venom. It's one of the biggest wastes of space for a ride.

Second would be Villain's queue though if things continue to improve then sometime in the future it may actually be needed.

Third is GL's Head Spin. The ride doesn't really have a wait that would need those queues under the boomerang anymore.

X Factor *** Edited 10/31/2005 11:33:21 PM UTC by X Factor***

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MagnunBarrel said:
My opinion is that the biggest waste of que space belongs to magnum...

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If you were at the park on Saturday, October 15th, you would have seen the entire Magnum queue filled. It was almost spilling out on to the midway. Gemini was doing just that for a portion of the afternoon. Mean Streak, which some may say has a ridiculously large queue, was also pretty filled the same day. Although it may not seem like there is a need for so many switchbacks on some days, the park does have days where they come in handy.

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MagnunBarrel said:
I have to say that a ride that has a queue that is too large now is easily the magnum, thats a people eater, though. .

My opinion is that the biggest waste of que space belongs to magnum, but it really doesnt matter, it was popular when it opened and they never really decided to change anything now when they have other coasters and rides that can take up peoples time.

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Actually, when I went on Saturday, The line was the longest I'd seen it in years, and I was told that two weeks ago, the entire queue was filled. Magnum being, in my humble opinion, the greatest steel roller coaster in the world, has enough queue space, even though it is rarely filled. Besides, Cedar Point did remove (EDIT, or simply block off) part of the queue not too long ago (the overflow behind the bathrooms).

Also, you can't really put a ride in the location of Magnum's queue. My guess is you just don't like walking around each time you want to ride!

-Sam (who loves Magnum)

*** Edited 10/31/2005 11:53:14 PM UTC by Avalanche Sam***

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X Factor said:
The most irritating queue is for GL's Steel Venom. It's one of the biggest wastes of space for a ride.

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Having worked that ride in 2004, I would definitely agree. Way too much line jumping occurs due to the poor layout and design of that ride's queue. One of the things I can't stand about Premier/Six Flags is their poor planning.

And if there is anything that pisses me off at an amusement park, it is line jumping!

-Sam

actually sam, i do walk around everytime and it doenst bother me. The thing is that every time i went there this year i waited less than four turns in close to the stairs. They always load the station up with people. I just think that when the queue has been low, it seems to be a waste of space. The last time i can honestly say the line was long for me was 97 for halloweekends. It was out to the back and that turnaround hasnt been opened for about that long if i remember correctly. I guess when the dragster is running and God knows it hit or miss, the ride experiences less guests because of that.
Oh yeah i also agree that the magnum is good, and would still probably wait in humongus lines for it.

Actually The Beast once had a much larger cue...They have indeed removed a large section of it!

At Dollywood, part of Tennessee Tornado's que switchbacks were removed under the station for a new arcade in 2004. I personally hadn't seen that section of the que used since the ride opened.

It was a nice little thing to do with some unused space.

MagnumBarrel, I want to apologize for being mean to you. That was uncalled for. Anyway, there isn't much you could put where the queue is. Cedar Point has gotten fairly good at putting their queues in locations that can't really be used for much else.

While I rarely see the queue full now that the park has TTD and MilF, it is needed for those busy days. Now if only the other rides could eat through people the way Magnum does...

-Sam

Well, a flat could fit in the MF queue space but there is no way they could remove any of that queue.

I definetly agree about Sooperdooperlooper. The longest I have ever seen that line is to the stairs right out of the station and you have to walk through almost the whole queue since it was designed without a lot of switchbacks in one place. Removing some of the queue for the Comet probably was a bad decision as last time I was there in the summer on a weekday, they had to set up more switchbacks using ropes because the main queue was full.

Another bad one is Thunderhawk at Dorney. I don't it ever has a line past the stairs and those huge switchbacks will probably never be filled. They could probably fit another flat in there.