• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

All weather queue lines and water fountains

T

Themeparksandy1981

TS Member
I didn’t know where to put this topic but been at Alton towers last weekend on Sunday it was so hot in the Wickerman queue how much would it cost theme parks to put queues under cover so it’s ok for all weathers hot,cold,wet etc.
Also could they have water fountains added at the entrance of every ride.
I think it’s a must in kids areas like Thomasland and CBeebies with the Octonauts queue getting a average 45 to 60 min wait time.
 
Not that I want to sound like I defend them or anything, but I think the main problem with installing water fountains is the lack of a pottable water main in most areas of the park. Installing the pipes could turn out to be a very major job. And we all know how Merlin feel about investment that won't make them money...
 
I can see covering queue lines could be a fire risk, plus would heat up very quickly undercover like an oven and become very stuffy, I wouldn't want to be inside one standing next to some sweaty smelling person :eek:

The onus should be on the guest to come properly prepared. Jess and I visited a number of places including Theme parks during this summer heatwave. This heat wave hasn't caused us a problem at all. We just take a look at the weather forecast the night before to get some idea on what to bring with us. We bring our own sunscreen, shade in the form of hat or parasol, our own drinking water, cooling gel mats, magicool spray, battery operated fans (or you can make an old fashion one from your park map ;)).

Instead of Alton spending money on creating queue-line shade, water fountains and sunscreen, they should spend the money on better ride operations to keep the queue-lines waiting times to a bare minimum, then queuing would be more bearable in the heat.
 
Many of the queue lines in Florida were shaded and I don't remember it feeling stuffy. Shade for hot weather would be nice, also the things that spray water vapor to cool you down as well

EDIT: As for water supply there's stalls with running water fairly close to all the rides, would not be difficult to install a couple fountains in each area of the park.
 
The CRR's queue bridge near the station could do with a shelter as it got so hot when I waited on it last time. They could even theme it to match the bridge.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I didn’t know where to put this topic but been at Alton towers last weekend on Sunday it was so hot in the Wickerman queue how much would it cost theme parks to put queues under cover so it’s ok for all weathers hot,cold,wet etc.
Also could they have water fountains added at the entrance of every ride.
I think it’s a must in kids areas like Thomasland and CBeebies with the Octonauts queue getting a average 45 to 60 min wait time.
Click to expand...

I have said this for years, but never with guest comfort in mind, more in terms of creating a themed experience (Alton claims to be a theme park after all? ) but to have outdoor, poorly themed (if any attempt is made at all) queues doesn't sit well for me.

Nemesis just about gets away with it due to the views you get of the ride, but Oblivion I dislike, the Smiler is a concrete pit with no effort made to even provide drainage let alone theme it, Rita and Thirteen seem to think it's acceptable to pass trees off as theme, that's actually landscaping.

Many outdoor rides have queues that are indoor, or at least have themed section's that are indoor. Big Thunder Mountain, the Hulk, Dragon Challenge to name a few. This is the standard Alton should be working towards, not cattle pens and straight lines with 8ft fence's.
 
I hope you're not using BTM as a good example of a queueline, the Paris one is a cattlepen Rita's is jealous of... It being under cover is actually the major issue with it (all the heat has nowhere to go)...

It's a tricky situation as you cannot easily balance a ridiculous over-designed queue (like Black Mamba) with space required... Mean Dragons was a 10/15 walk when empty!
 
Benzin said:
I hope you're not using BTM as a good example of a queueline, the Paris one is a cattlepen Rita's is jealous of... It being under cover is actually the major issue with it (all the heat has nowhere to go)...

It's a tricky situation as you cannot easily balance a ridiculous over-designed queue (like Black Mamba) with space required... Mean Dragons was a 10/15 walk when empty!
Click to expand...

I was talking about the Florida version. I haven't set foot in the Paris park.

The Dragons queue split very near the end, which means for the majority of the line all 4 trains were working at the one line. I don't wonder it didn't have a massive queue.

That aside, we are looking at the quality of the queue not debating why it didn't have a massive wait time.
 
But surely the quality of the queue tends to be because they either have massive space to play around in (like Dragon Challenge) or have the budget to throw at it (like Disney)...

I mean even Hulk's indoor queue isn't THAT long, the start of it is all outdoor cattlepens if memory serves (or at least it was, it's been a long, LONG time since I went to Florida)...

The quality of queueline that should be aimed for are things like Nemesis and Colossus... Minimal cattlepens, ride interaction and maybe a little bit of natural/themed shades and covers... Full blown scenic buildings is something reserved for parks who throw an entire budget at things... And even then places like Efteling, Europa and Phantasialand end up reverting to multiple cattlepens in some cases...
 
Benzin said:
But surely the quality of the queue tends to be because they either have massive space to play around in (like Dragon Challenge) or have the budget to throw at it (like Disney)...

I mean even Hulk's indoor queue isn't THAT long, the start of it is all outdoor cattlepens if memory serves (or at least it was, it's been a long, LONG time since I went to Florida)...

The quality of queueline that should be aimed for are things like Nemesis and Colossus... Minimal cattlepens, ride interaction and maybe a little bit of natural/themed shades and covers... Full blown scenic buildings is something reserved for parks who throw an entire budget at things... And even then places like Efteling, Europa and Phantasialand end up reverting to multiple cattlepens in some cases...
Click to expand...
That is the kind of attitude that really boils my urine, why should we have to settle for anything? A bit of effort is all it takes. The Thirteen queue area would be a lot less tedious if it went through some darkened building's and things like that.

At one time we said 'nah we will never have quality dark rides' then came Hex, Valhalla, and even the Gold Mine. This country sells itself short far too often.
 
I agree, there's no reason we couldn't have quality.... If the parks were willing to spend the money. But I think we all tend to say "we will never get quality in this country" because we know all UK parks are either broke, run by Merlin, or both. :(
 
Whenever did I say there was any settling going on?

I would imagine the overall percentage of 'immersive themed queueing experiences' in the overall picture is extremely low... And even then some of them are bloody awful (DLP again comes to mind, Pirates is probably the best queueline at the park)...

Queue design doesn't have to be outrageous to be any good, it just needs to hold the interest of guests whilst they are in it... Which is why I used Nemesis and Colossus' as examples of what mid-range parks should do when they can, where they allow guests to go deep into the ride area, allowing various views as the queue moseys along... It's what Blackpool did a little bit with Icon, but of course were severely limited by available space...

Thirteen's queue would be improved by some extra ruined buildings sure, but given the park had limited themselves immensely by the location (and the Intamin in the way), that's their own fault...

We can go on about queue line quality, but we can always play guess the park from these pics:

IMG_7266.jpg


35626720986_9b3f3c2f0a_b.jpg


dsc_5201.jpg


Because it's ONLY the UK parks that add in dull unthemed cattlepens right?
 
Benzin said:
We can go on about queue line quality, but we can always play guess the park from these pics:
IMG_7266.jpg


35626720986_9b3f3c2f0a_b.jpg


dsc_5201.jpg
Click to expand...

/\ I say the first picture is Taron at Phantasialand, the second is Symbolica at Efteling and the third one is easy - its Shambhala at Port Aventura! :p

I agree with RoyJess, I think most of the onus is on the person themselves to dress appropriately for the weather given on the days they visit. Fair enough weather can change but for the most part, a change of clothes can easily be bought in a drawstring bag. I know when I go Alton Towers outside of the summer months I always take a waterproof coat in a drawstring bag just in case. It the same when I know you're not allowed to take loose articles on rides so I prepare and wear clothing with zips. Although, it would be nice if parks did put up larger canvas coverings within 'cattlepen' areas to protect from both the sun and the rain.
 
Queues should have at least some shade throughout, whether that be foilage or canopys. It's unacceptable to leave people standing out in the heat (or rain!) for hours when an alternative is available.

In terms of decoration, we settle for shoddy standards in the UK in terms of maintaining scenery, queueline audio systems and an overall pleasant queueing experience. Take Icon and Wicker Man for example, two brand new rides which both already have broken (or worsened) audio, effects working on an ad hoc basis or not at all and a lack of general upkeep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top