Queues

While waiting in line for the Raptor at Cedar Point last weekend (yeah, the really busy weekend where the line for any food in the park was an hour), I looked down from the station to see how many queues were filled. And then I thought to myself, who designs the queues? Is it the park, or is it the company that designed the coaster (B&M)? Any Idea’s?

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-Matthew
If idiots could fly, this place would be a friggin' airport.

I would guess that's a whole other division, although I think they overplan sometimes. EX. Krypton Comet (Chaos) at SFA having seven rows of queue, when the most I've ever needed was two.
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Did anyone ever bother trying out the seats on the KMG Tango? And if so, were they male?

Well, it's better to have extra rows of queue than to have the line spilling out into the midway and causing congestion.

Take Dueling Dragons for example. Not only do they have the ENTIRE castle, but they have the few billion feet of queue outside of the castle. Does anyone know, have they ever had to use this outside part of the queue. And I have a pretty good feeling IOA designed the queue and not B&M.

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"Everything that has a beginning, has an end"
~Matrix Revolutions

When I was there (IOA) all switchbacks were open and the queue was spilling out of the castle (but still a long way from the main path).

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

I am forced to wonder from time to time if the people who design queues ever spend time in *actual* amusement parks....

Worst queues I can think of offhand....Maggie, RoS/JJ at SFA, DD (when the re-entry door is closed)...
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Tact is for people not intelligent enough to comprehend sarcasm...;)

I don't think DD is that much of a problem as I don't think too too many people end up riding things over and over. Admittedly, the difference in cost to make it very re-ridable is probably minimal if at all, but I don't think that really enters into the design considerations.

I do agree that S:RoS SFA is the worst station in the history of the known universe. B:DK is also pretty bad, but it leads to a very short front row line, so I don't mind too much. Nitro's can also get pretty ridiculous when the front row line is down the stairs and people aren't going past. Xcelerators is also pretty bad in that respect -> the front row line looks a heck of a lot shorter than it actually is when you reach the split. V2 at SFMW and at GAm. leave a lot to be desired in station design when there isn't an op working the turnstile. It basically turns into a free for all/madhouse (see Magnum).

I don't understand why all stations aren't designed like S:RoS SFNE's. I think it's pretty much the perfect station (although I don't think 1:2 should be in the devoted "front row" line). The entrance is in the middle of the train. There're roomy devoted queues for first car and last car which can be judged from the split. I guess if the exit were closer to the middle of the train rather than the front, and didn't have that silly gate in the way, clearing out the unload platform would be a lot easier, but now I'm just getting greedy. This actually does lead to the fact that (when I was there last, this spring) the op has to hold the airgates for quite a while after the passengers are out of their seats, presumably to prevent poaching.
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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

"Poaching?" I've never heard that term before. I'm assuming it means jumping into an empty seat while exiting the train? (I tend to do this quite often on Raven)

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- John
Homepark: CP Home-away-from-homepark: PKI
My Campusfish Blog

I think when it comes down the Q its a staffing issues. Look at how CP or DW handles the Q. They have someone stopping people before they can enter the station house. Assigning them rows. Works smoothly and fast. Superman Ride of steel at SFA is stupid because you have people waiting for the last car and it holds the line up. As for who designs the Q. I think it’s the park. They take into account the total number of riders per hour and on there usual attendance. That’s my guess though.

Poaching, scamming, sniping, improving capcity....it has many names, but it's still the same beast. I use poaching because it is actually somewhat descriptive. But yes, I was referring to hopping back into an empty seat having just ridden.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

I agree that S:ROS @ SFA has got to have one of the most poorly designed(and maintained)queue line of any coaster in the park,why is it they can't create a seperate back seat line for this thing? it would help the lines to flow much more smoothly not to mention quickly if they had this option available.

PBR on the other hand has one of the worst flat ride queues I've ever seen,some of the paths in the queue simply intersect with the main line at the far end leading into the station & that's probably one of the resons for it hardly moving when the queue is at full capacity.

When it comes to adding extra queue railing(sometimes way more than is needed) there's a good reason for it,keep in mind that when a ride first debuts it is usually very popular so that line fills up but over time as new rides are added & the novelty wears off the queue for that ride becomes less & less full over time.

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BATWING FAN SFA said:

PBR on the other hand has one of the worst flat ride queues I've ever

PBR is also one of the worst beers.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

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Must I spell the full ride name out from now on to avoid conflict with the acronym of a certain alcoholic beverage?

Perhaps I'll just say that Diablo falls has got one of the worst flat ride queues I've ever seen,since Penguin's blizzard river & Diablo falls are one in the same I'd assume their queue's are the same as well.

the worst queue i ever stood in was back in 2000 when MF first opened. the queue was lined back to near the Raptor entrance. About 5.5 hours.

I love Magnum's station set up. While everybody thinks every person in the front of the station is waiting for the front seat, you're almost guarenteed a 2 train wait for either 1-2 or 1-3, some of the best seats in the house.

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CP 2K3: 26 "What are you, a dentist? Or a hippie? Or some kind of hippie dentist?" -strong bad

Timberhawk - Ride of Pray for Airtime. You enter the station facing the center of the train. A rail, stretching almost the entire length of the station from front of train to back, forces you to walk towards one end of the train. Because the front and last rows overflow it prevents riders from reaching the center of the train, unless they duck under the rail.

Worst....station....design....ever!

mOOSH

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The only 2004 Coaster Calendar still available, plus holiday & all-occasion cards. All at S&D Greetings.

*** This post was edited by Mamoosh 10/20/2003 9:56:00 PM ***

Actually, now that I think about it, Stealth's while it was at PGA was also pretty darn bad. They had you split up a good 20 minutes from the station to "front half" and "back half" of the train for no apparent reason. Then the front half line when right past the back half queue (ala S:RoS at SFA, but divided) and each half got three rows. I can't see any conceivable advantage to designing a station this way.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

Those really long queues remind me of the 58 checkout lanes in the supermarket. they may have been needed when the ride/store first opened but only a few queues/checkouts are used.

I also wonder if it is some sort of mind game. Lots of checkouts gives the impression that the store does a lot of business and therefore must be a good store. A long queue makes the ride look more popular. it can also give the impression of a shorter line when there are lots of empty waiting areas.
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park
Flying Scooter coming soon!

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ApolloAndy said:

"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph

Who's Arnold Schwartzenkoph?

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*** This post was edited by Jeffrey Seifert 10/21/2003 9:55:19 AM ***

I thought the station design for Riddler's Revenge was pretty poor. Just when I thought I was getting close I felt like I was in a heard of cattle. And the line once inside the station moved slower than a friggin snail.

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