Rant: The End of Line Jumping

Someone should make a t-shirt.

I find that eating McDonald's or Taco Bell (or better yet both) before my day at the park gives me all the ammunition I need to send annoying park guests scattering, often without identifying myself as the perp. Now, this might not be cool to the ride ops, but hey, they're getting paid...;)

So wrong, and yet, so right.

OK mine Line Jumping story!;

ok we were in line for Mide Eraser and I was with a friend. The line was 1 1/2hrs long or so said the sign. A man maybe 35 and his girlfriend(25) comes up to me and asks "Hay can we get in front of you, My brother is in front and I need to get to him." My friend said "ya, sure" About half way passing us by I put my hand infront of him and said "NO" he responds"HAY! Waz Up man!" , I pull out a park map, point to guest requirements, show him the line jumping thing, I say,"Ya, thats whats up. If you wanta stand inline with your brother he can come back here with you because you sure as hell an't getting in front of us." He probly passed about 50ppl waiting in line. A little later on that day I saw him, I saw his 10 times, not once was he with another man, just his Girlfriend.

Now Disaster Canyon(River Raft) usual line is 2hrs long. I saw two kids say to each other "lets just stop here, the ops will see us" I was so pissed.

Oh BTW I'm only 13.

Standing in line for Raging Bull at SFGAm I had two kids pass me, saying they were catching up to their parents. I hate when people do it, but I've got hundreds of people ahead of me and I'm not going to make a fuss about two more. About 20 minutes later, the same two kids were trying to pass by to catch up to their parents. Needless to say, even though I allowed it earlier and didn't think much of it, I wasn't about to let them ride twice before I rode once.

In line for MF I wanted a soda, so I said to my dad,"I would like a soda", so while me and him were digging arond for money the line moved only down 1 row. So I politly said to the people I was goin by, "I would like to go get a soda, may I go back in front of you when I return?" Everyone said yes. I dont really consider that line jumping.

justcazisaidso, thats not line jumping. If a vending machine/vendor is selling something within the line queue and while you are buying from them the line moves you have a right to re join your party.

That's another thing that I don't understand. Why do people feel the need to move past you when you stop for whatever reason (be it to buy a drink or something)? It's not like you're going to get to ride sooner whether you move up or wait patiently for the people.

I actually had an interesting thought related to this once. If you had a big group of people in a queue that wasn't too open (like an FoF queue, for instance) you could get your group to stop right before a corner. No one behind you would be able to see that there wasn't anyone in front of you and the line in front of you would empty out. Then, when the queue was empty, you could run up and get on, get off and when you came back around, the line would be really short. :) It's stupid, but it could work.

*** Edited 7/17/2004 4:13:14 PM UTC by ApolloAndy*** *** Edited 7/17/2004 4:15:42 PM UTC by ApolloAndy***

LOL, thats cheating!

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I'm the same way, I just don't comprehend why their friends just don't let someone go ahead of them, so they can ride on the same train, instead of insisting on bumping me back for their benefit.

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I can honestly say this has never happened to me. It's always "do you want to go in front of me, so we can ride together" - I'd literally laugh in someone's face if they asked to hop ahead of me to ride with their party.

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Or better yet, how about NOT GETTING IN LINE until your entire party is together?

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I think this is a deliberate tactic. Two in a group of 4 want to ride a smaller, less popular coaster with a 15 minute line. All 4 want to ride a nearby larger, more popular coaster with a 45 minute wait. They decide the first two will ride the smaller coaster while the other two will get in line for the larger one and the first two can just 'catch up' shaving 15 or 20 minutes off the total wait time for the larger coaster.

It's a guest initiated virtual queue system ;) (and coming from a pro-virtual queue guy, that's actually an argument against it, huh?)

I'm not even sure most people who do this realize it is considered line cutting. It still doesn't make it any less annoying though.

People really seem to check their brain at the gate in general at parks. If you want to study the oddest, most nonsense human behavior around, you people watch at an amusement park.

*** Edited 7/17/2004 6:16:49 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

It has been my experience that when people are trying to ride together, they always ask you to move forward rather than back. In fact, I can only think of one instance when I was asked to move backwards, and that was because the people were in a group of 10+ - all trying to ride together. The people behind me were the only ones who hadn't managed to line up properly, so of course I was more than willing to let them skip ahead. It was quite the production for them to try and get on together, it must have been hell doing that all day.

I actually feel guilty when I use Universal Express... it just gets me for some reason, even though I still use it.

Anyways, on to my line jumping stories:

None. I really have none. That doesn't mean that people haven't cut in front of me before, or they want to ride in the same train as their friends or family, but I just don't let it get to me. It'll probably add one minute or less onto my wait time. I think it's fine when people want to ride with each other, because that is most denfitely explainable, and usually, from what I've encountered, they usually let you go in front. At Universal, they've got it down, because they fill everything to capacity, depending on the size of your party.

I've been asked to wait an extra train on many occasions. I've also watched three or more singles ride a two seater consecutively on numerous occasions. One time on Goliath at SFMM, a group of three girls took a car and each went for her own row (and the line was loooong). Luckily, the operator spotted them and stuck them together.

I don't get too worked up about line cutting either, but I really think "we" (whoever we is) should. Granted, it's only a few minutes, but not filling trains is only a few minutes also. Getting cut by virtual queuers is only a few minutes, slow ride ops are only a few minutes, leaving off a train is only a few minutes etc. etc. etc.

On top of that, it's just plain rude. I don't know when people stopped seeing other people as human beings and started seeing them as obstacles in the way of what they want, but something really has to change.

Although most people seem to still let people in front of them to line up with their friends, it's definitely increased where people ask to go in front of you. I can't believe people even have the nerve to ask that! If they want to ride with their friends, they're the ones that are going to wait--not me!

Hey Grant,your experience at SFMW sounds quite similar to mine at PKD in the HS:XLC queue.

Just read my TR to find out what happened.....it wasn't a pleasant experience.

The worst I've seen was at Seoul Land in Seoul, S. Korea. We were in line and not only were some teens jumping, their parents were following them up! My wife got pissed and chewed one of the women out in Korean. It was pretty funny. They stayed put after that.

Stateside, I'll usually block the way when the kids go running through line. If someone cuts through up ahead of me in line I generally don't bother saying anything.