Three people reportedly shot in Six Flags Great America parking lot

What makes the UO situation so terrible is that it's set up in a half circle, compressing people before fanning out. That space was never designed for that.

I loathe the security checkpoint at Universal. Almost makes me not want to visit when I think about how awful it is at certain times.

That and the whole walk from the garage to the parks is one of the reasons I don't visit often. It's like going to Magic Kingdom, except instead of packing into a monorail, you pack into a moving crowd and walk at best a half-mile, assuming you had a good parking spot.

The security is terrible and needs to be improved without question but is the walk really any worse than schlepping across a huge theme park parking lot or waiting for a tram? At least it’s shaded and has moving walkways.

It's certainly better than having to walk from mid-timbers...

eightdotthree:

but is the walk really any worse...

Yes, the average walk at Epcot is half the distance and never in a crowd of people, and as described, there's no crowding at the security checkpoint. Driving out at closing is also 10x easier.

I forgot all roads lead to Epcot.

What does that even mean? Is my response invalid? Shall I make the same argument with Cedar Point or SeaWorld?

Jeff:

That and the whole walk from the garage to the parks is one of the reasons I don't visit often. It's like going to Magic Kingdom, except instead of packing into a monorail, you pack into a moving crowd and walk at best a half-mile, assuming you had a good parking spot.

I stayed at Sapphire Falls last summer so thankfully I never had to deal with the parking garage stuff. Just walked down to the boat dock from my room. sometimes that would get backed up in the mornings. Some guests would then take the walking path from Sapphire down to the City Walk entrance but that would get backed up even worse than the boat docks.

I'm curious to see how they pull off Epic Universe. Busing people between parks isn't a new concept but at DW they don't need to drive through traffic jams and McDonalds paradise to get to their destination. Screamscape surfaced a patent filed by Universal for a cable car that can transport buses but I can't see that actually working in the real world... look at how many problems Disney has had with a normal cable car system.

Universal Blvd. usually doesn't get super cramped, except sometimes at Sand Lake (which is a disaster at I-Drive and I-4). But I don't think that's where they're going to go. UO is sharing cost with the city to improve Carrier Dr., including a roundabout, which implies that their traffic will enter from the north on Greenbriar.

Jeff:

Shall I make the same argument with Cedar Point or SeaWorld?

Can you make an argument that they are actually better? Cedar Point and Sea World's parking lots are both featureless masses of asphalt. Maybe we are talking about different things. If you count the walk through City Walk then yes, the total distance is greater but I'd argue the moving walkways make up for it. I've already said that the security sucks. There's no disagreement from me there.

The_Orient_of_Express:
the City Walk entrance but that would get backed up even worse than the boat docks.

In my experience this really only happens in the morning before early entry. Security at Universal needs improvement for sure but in my experience it's not an issue for resort guests.

I just stated my opinion based on my experience and you make a drive by "I forgot all roads lead to Epcot," which is awfully sassy. If we're taking about different things, that's on you.

"Horrible. Not sure what more could be done as far as security unless they start Checking every car for weapons at the parking lot entrance?"

And that creates another problem. I wouldn't take a weapon into a park but I may carry one in my vehicle depending on where I'm traveling. I don't expect to need it at a park but there is a lot of space between my house and some parks and some of that space can be sketchy.

99er:

I loathe the security checkpoint at Universal. Almost makes me not want to visit when I think about how awful it is at certain times.

My biggest pet peeve about the current security checkpoint is how very much like the airport it got (yes, even more like the airport) during HHN last year, and hopefully it doesn't get worse this year for the event with the stuff that's been going on. They were (inconsistently) having guests take off belts as well during HHN. Some of them will still have you take off your belt if the detector goes off and you confirm your pockets are empty, but it's not many that I've observed. If you have a smart watch on, make sure your wrist is at shoulder level or higher, or else it will go off 99% of the time. I appreciate the bag scanners more than the EVOLV system when I'm visiting the parks with my camera, but yeah, Universal can get bad both with crowds and procedure.

And yes, the EVOLV scanners can't handle umbrellas of any size, so make sure you hold those out in front when you go through one to avoid getting flagged.

Paisley:

"Horrible. Not sure what more could be done as far as security unless they start Checking every car for weapons at the parking lot entrance?"

And that creates another problem. I wouldn't take a weapon into a park but I may carry one in my vehicle

Yeah, I completely missed the latter part of The_Orient_of_Express's post. Weapons aside, the minute amusement parks start searching my car is the minute I stop visiting amusement parks.

Paisley:

there is a lot of space between my house and some parks and some of that space can be sketchy

This is one of those comments that makes me value the community of Coasterbuzz for breaking me out of my various bubbles. I mean this entirely sincerely.

The park I go to most frequently is Coney Island in Brooklyn, on the N train. It would never occur to me that (1) I need to be armed for that trip, or that (2) in the event I were, a weapon would improve the situation.

(I would not go to an amusement park where they insisted on searching my car either.)

If the technology exists to do some sort of scan as you walk through (Evolv), how far away are we from being able to do the same thing with a car? Heck, it might already exist.

I was totally wrong about the traffic routing for UO's Epic Universe. I missed that they were extending Kirkman Rd., which wasn't obvious because of the high security stuff at Lockheed-Martin.

hambone:

It would never occur to me that (1) I need to be armed for that trip, or that (2) in the event I were, a weapon would improve the situation.

In fairness, I would argue (1) most gun owners don't feel they need to be armed for any trip, but prefer to have their firearm on them as an insurance measure. When I carried, I carried nearly everywhere at all times (where legal) outside of my house. I never expected to--and especially never wanted to--have to use it. TL;DR: who expects to ever need a gun?

(2) My view on whether or not having a weapon would improve the situation is likely based solely on my decision making ability and skill in using a firearm. I can certainly think of as many situations where being armed might improve them as would not; being able to discern these and then act appropriately would make all the difference, and fortunately, never being in either situation, I can't really speak from experience. I bet someone like Elisjsha Dicken might have a better idea than I.