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2024: General Discussion

GaryH said:
I feel sorry for the ride ops. They have to merge

Normal queue
RAP queue
Fast track queue
Single rider queue

And try and keep all queue lines moving smoothly.
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Could just do a wicker man and have it descend into a massive rabble as soon as you pass the person checking fast track tickets.

Never understood why it goes from orderly queues to a tube-station-at-rush-hour simulator there.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
If only there was a way to combine all these queues in to one and make things better for everyone.
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Baron at Efteling *swoon* was the most magnificently organised queue i've ever seen.

- Host batching at main entrance between single riders and main queue (with individual display estimating wait time for each)
- Split in main queue for front row and middle/back row with terrifyingly accurate wait time estimates and multi language explanations of row variances
- Host gives out ticket to all riders to inform them which pre-show doorway to enter
- Single file hosted bag storage prior to pre-show
- Hosts following pre-show to collect ticket and direct to row doorway
- No Fast Track.
- Separate RAP at the exit predominantly for non-ambulant which bypasses pre-show

Also reminded me of the comically poor queue estimate on Speedway at Legoland which has 30 and 40 minute signs two meters apart.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Or... and hear me out here... just have one queue.
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I don't think there's an issue with having a single ride queue, especially if it ultimately improves throughput of said attraction then it is a net positive for everyone.

You also do need a queue that can accommodate various disabilities otherwise you are denying access to a demographic. Actually that reminds me, The Flying Dutchman at Efteling (i may have mentioned it, lovely park) had seats at regular intervals in the main queue, though generally it moved too fast for them to be made use of. So both a good solution and an even better problem to have.

Unfortunately older parks and attractions simply cannot accommodate a single queue to cover all aspects.

FastTrack shouldn't really exist in a functional park. If your park has multiple rides with 60+ minute queues then it is failing at being a good experience. I'm quite baffled at the business model of Universal Osaka where advertised wait times regularly exceed 2 or even 3 hours. Obviously there are cultural variables and i presume they make a healthy profit regardless but having your customers spend the vast majority of their day standing in queues seems counterproductive.

But... i fear i've already spent too long on a comment that wasn't to be taken literally ;)
 
Bowser said:
I don't think we need to have this conversation here. There's a dedicated RAP thread where the flaws of the system eligibility can be discussed... and have been at length. As long as Merlin are using Nimbus to allocate, it is what it is.
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This please, we already have a RAP thread so don't need to be discussing it here as well.

Thanks!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Landscaping isn't really an option when your park is built on landfill, in an old quarry, with the water table about a foot below the ground.
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But they managed it pretty well with Collosus, so they can do it they want to. They just choose not to. Granted it required building.elevated walkways to make the ground appear lower, but it achieved the result quite well.

They could learn something from Alton Towers in that regard. Instead of building down and landscaping up like Alton, they have to build up and landscape down, but the principles are the same. As show with Collosus.
 
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tayspru said:
Judging from the latest TPWW video it appears that Spinball SRQ will enter on the offload side (disappointing) , and that Octonauts seems to be closed for a roof to be added to the station !
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Intresting, I was also wanting it to be onload, but at disney land paris they have their single rider queue for curse coaster (same ride type) on the offload side as well (although you don't have a bag bay as it all goes by your feet)
 
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SRQ on the offload side of Spinball should be fine. They have plenty of time to figure out a single rider is needed to get them in & checked before the car needs to leave, assuming they're running more than 5 cars that is.

Thirteen's should avoid the need to shuffle people around to hit the 18 rider minimum
 
John said:
SRQ on the offload side of Spinball should be fine. They have plenty of time to figure out a single rider is needed to get them in & checked before the car needs to leave, assuming they're running more than 5 cars that is.

Thirteen's should avoid the need to shuffle people around to hit the 18 rider minimum
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True, it did work well at Disney, they just needed to ensure the person didn't go the the furthest seat (where the single rider would be).

I also saw a comment about accurate single rider queue times and I don't think it is really possible to get that accurate (I found this at disney with srq waits estimated at 50 mims being 30 or estimates at 10 mins being 20.
This problem is worse with lower throughput rides as single rider is more of a statistics problem where e.g 70% of groups are 2 or 4 but you can get 14 groups of 2 or 4 followed by 6 groups of 3, with a large number of riders per hour the numbers can even out, but with lower numbers it can vary largely with about the same number of people in smilers srq i have wated from 10 mins to 40 mins it can be really hard to predict and based on luck

it also depends on the dispatcher for instance rather than waiting to see If there is another odd group to fill the gap if they send a single rider immediately it will speed up the srq, but could slow the main queue as opposed to waiting to fill up all the bays and then add single riders (could join a group of 3 and 5 on the smiler as an example)
 
According to VonRolland on CoasterForce, there is more information on how the reduction of non-essential staff at the park has manifested. In summary:
  • The dropped staff are in theory only dropped on days where attendance is below 12,000, but they may also be gone on days above this in practice due to staff shortages.
  • Ride entrance hosts and greeters (at, say, the entrance to CBeebies Land) have been scrapped entirely.
  • Galactica will now default to only running one station. When the second station operates, it will only open from 12pm-4pm, and the ride will only run one station at all other hours of the day.
That's not quite as drastic as I’d feared, to tell you the truth. Not having entrance hosts could make things difficult for people like families with young kids who need to be measured, but other than Galactica defaulting to one station (which could be mildly concerning for throughputs on there), none of that sounds overly drastic.

I’m somewhat encouraged by the fact that they appear to have kept baggage holds, as well as the sudden resurgence of single rider queues around the park…

Source: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/wtf-merlin.38748/page-76#post-1177892
 
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