Ouimet says virtual queuing has potential for Cedar Fair

Duh?

But seriously, I find it interesting that this is coming up just after Oimet takes the reigns, while Dick pushed it off this long.

I just hope they don't charge insane amounts of money for something that enables guests to spend more money any way since they're not queuing.

I don't, in theory, have an issue with virtual queuing. In practice, however, I do. It absolutely cannot be run at more than a 50/50 split without significant real impact to the majority of guests in the park (those not using the system). My opinion is not formed by simple gut feelings or moral opinions on the matter either. They are from direct operational experience. You might be able to get away with a 60/40 split (in favor of VQ), but you had better be operating at max efficiency. In the real, actual operational world, VQ systems do, in fact, bring down the overall hourly operational capacity. No park will admit to that, though, as these systems are always brought in to try and increase spending outside of the line, but once started cannot be easily discontinued. I also question the validity of increasing spending. I know that in one major instance, it has not, and likely never will, drive an increase in spending.

maXairMike said:
It absolutely cannot be run at more than a 50/50 split without significant real impact to the majority of guests in the park (those not using the system).

The rides still give X number of rides per day. All VQ'ing does is change how that fixed number of rides is distributed. Doesn't matter what the split is.

In theory. In practice in many instances the overall capacity decreases due to separate loading cycles or roped off rows.

Like half empty trains on Titan because the fool at the flash pass entry let the station get nearly empty before sending up the next group.

^Six Flags tends to do that. On Demon here at Great America, the 5th car is roped off for pay to cut folks, and goes out empty if they aren't up there. Even if there is a long line...

Same thing with Dark Knight. Hold em at pre-show and let empty cars go out with an hour plus line. "Management likes it that way, so they can sell more flash passes" I was told. Maybe not sell more, but piss people off at the same time trying to advertise (in line, no less) for flash pass.

IT'S Pay to CUT - not fair!!! ;-) Sorry I'm just stirring the pot LOL

I love virtual queuing. When I look at a Q-Bot, the only thing I can picture is it on the back of a unicorn, riding off on a rainbow into the sunset.

There are definitely asinine ways to implement this, and we've seen plenty of examples. However, any queue that merges the lines two or three loads of people before the platform tends to work just fine. Rockit at Universal combines single rider, Express and general queues about two or three loads away, and they're certainly not sending out empty seats.

Merging is definitely the way to do it, and it works best when there is no preshow (i.e. everything at Kings Island except that thing next to The Beast that never runs).

I think the rule, though, should be that first the operational inefficiencies need to be squeezed out of the system, then the virtual queue can be implemented. Also, it should be noted that the best use of the virtual queue may be to level out demand for an attraction; this is where historical data becomes very useful. If I were designing a virtual queue system for Cedar Point, for instance, VQ entries for Raptor would be practically nonexistent until about 3:00pm, at which point I'd try to distribute enough entries to cover about half the ride's capacity.

What prior experiments with virtual queueing at both Cedar Point and Kings Island have demonstrated is that for the system to work you MUST make use of the walk-up line (so Ticket To Ride should be a non-starter!), and the availability needs to be somewhat limited (although perhaps not quite as limited as Freeway was). The long-running FastPass system at the Disney parks has uncovered quite a few more issues, including the practical limits on how many attractions can make use of such a system, and adjustments that have to be made to queue arrival and departure times.

What the Enquirer fails to mention is that one of the things that happened at Disneyland during the Ouimet administration was the *removal* of FastPass from a fair number of attractions.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

From the General Buzz thread, in response to my "triplicate" post:

That sounds exciting... explain!

Several years ago (more than five, but not more than ten) I bought something random (like a toothbrush) in one of the resort stores, charged to my room. The took out a stack of triplicate-order-forms, transcribed everything from my resort ID onto the paper by hand, handed me one of the copies, and stuffed the other two in the register. Lord knows how many hands touched it after that, but it still wasn't on my account by the time I checked out the next day. I don't remember how it eventually got resolved, but I remember it took some time to get there.

It seems like Cedar Fair is about the only ones that doesn't have a virtual queueing system. I just hope they keep the "stand by" capacity high enough that the lines aren't terribly long.

Brian: It gets funnier...

You may know that Cedar Point installed an all new POS system this year, a system that has all kinds of bells and whistles on it and that can handle charges to resort rooms, right?

Well, on Independence Day, I visited Pink's. Naturally, that place has the new POS system. Here's how it works:

1) You place your order at the cash register
2) The cashier enters all the information into the POS terminal
3) You complete your transaction and are handed a receipt from the POS terminal
4) At the far end of the counter, your drink order prints out on a remote printer
5) The cashier proceeds to take a small piece of paper and *write down* your entire order, which she then tacks to the order carousel.
6) After a considerable wait, you receive your order at the far end of the counter, and the person pulling drinks has to find yours in the growing collection of increasingly watered down drinks that have been pulled since you placed your order 20 minutes ago.

You think maybe somebody isn't quite clear on the concept here?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Pink's was noticeably slow on my visit as well. Counter-service at Cedar Point is almost always a model of inefficiency.

Raven-Phile said:
I love virtual queuing. When I look at a Q-Bot, the only thing I can picture is it on the back of a unicorn, riding off on a rainbow into the sunset.

When I look at Q-bot it's like looking into the eyes of God.

Except better. :)

^^Dave - thinking they're confused....maybe someone should inform them that POS stands for "point-of-sale", not "piece of s***" ;)

ALL I'm asking for his for CP to get rid of those FREAKN'$10 ride wait signs!!!

Is it really that hard to get an LED sign above the ride entrance so you can actually read the information before you are right in front of the line blocking it.

Is it really that hard CP to put a few signs around the park stating the wait times?!

I still am DUMBFOUNDED how old some of CP's technology is...and yes it is broke, so fix it!...well at least they fixed the Season Pass issues.

-RollerCoasterGod

Jeff said:
There are definitely asinine ways to implement this, and we've seen plenty of examples. However, any queue that merges the lines two or three loads of people before the platform tends to work just fine.

I agree with this. I would hope anything implemented at any CF park would make use of this rather than trying to merge people through the exit or some other equally stupid method. When I was at SF Great Adventure last summer, I estimated close to a 50% drop in capacity (based on dispatch times) on the rides that merged via the exit. The ones that merged at/prior to the station were much better.

RideMan said:
Brian: It gets funnier...

You may know that Cedar Point installed an all new POS system this year, a system that has all kinds of bells and whistles on it and that can handle charges to resort rooms, right?

You know what's even funnier? I stayed at Breakers Express over Coaster Mania weekend. Not once was I ever informed about the ability to charge to my room with the room key. No mention of it on check in, nothing about it on the in-room materials, no signs anywhere in the hallways. How do they expect the average guest to even know this new feature exists? The little signs at the registers that show "We accept Visa, Mastercard and resort room keys" doesn't cut it.