Social distancing in Blackpool generally is basically an exercise in futile box ticking, but that didn't affect my day much.
It does seem there is little to no effort to socially distance in the queues based on my last visit a couple of weeks back. People were not far off shoulder to shoulder in most queues. It was so bunched up that I didn't even really notice if the yellow distancing lines / circles were still on the floor. On early season visits, most people apart from a few idiots were giving the group in front a good amount of space and for the most part not moving forwards to the next marker until the group in front moved forward. Mask wearers (people actually wearing them properly) in queues to those not wearing them properly, or at all, until they were about to board the ride, in queues was about 50/50 I'd say.
I thought it was worth warning folks to be aware that the Dodgems queue on a busy day is a bleeding nightmare. That is, even if it looks short! We joined the queue when it was only just round the first bend, looked like a 2 ride wait at worst. It took us at least half an hour to get on. It was an almost comically poor wait. The group at the very front of the queue were clearly unwilling to split up and seemed to be there at the turnstile for ages. Half a rides worth of Speedy Passers got on, but it didn't leave enough cars for the main queue group to get on. The Ride Op called through a man and his son who were behind that group. Halfway through the ride, their car seemed to conk out. They get the Op's attention, and he stops the ride to get them off safely and the busted car taken out to the corner. Meanwhile, the rest of the drivers are not sure what is going on and some of them get out their cars and start walking to the exit. Op repeatedly tells them to get back in their cars, but they don't all seem to understand this simple command. Confusion ensues. Eventually everyone is back in, and that ride resumes & finishes.
The Op had the man & his son whose car broke down stood to one side so they could get on the next ride. Fair enough as they missed most of theirs. As the next set of cars loads up, they take one of them, a couple more Speedy Passers take some, and yet again the main queue front group can't get on as there are not enough cars. Op calls for group of 2, nobody responds, so 2 empty cars are pushed out to corners. Dad & son from previous ride get back on. Their car (not same one as before) appears to break down. During the same ride, a girl who is videoing the entire ride with a massive phone in one hand whilst driving a dodgem car with the other, gets stuck on the side and doesn't appear to understand the Ops' clear instruction to try turning the wheel in the other direction if the one she's been trying doesn't move the car. By now he is next to the car and getting rather exasperated. I expect him to tell her to put her phone away but he doesn't. This surprises me as the phone really is huge and it is clear she is filming the ride and clearly can't drive the thing properly with one (or both it seems!) hand.
Op returns to cabin & makes phone call, presumably to report dud car. At end of ride, Op fills in form & removes 2nd dud car and we all wait as he attempts to revive the previously broken one, which he manages to get going. I think Dad & son had a 3rd attempt, which was successful. Front of queue group who stubbornly refused to split up finally get on. 2 cars are left and the 3 of us are finally at the turnstile. I tell my lads to go on otherwise who knows how long we'll have to wait to get 3 cars (despite being at the front of the queue!) and I give up and walk off. It ended up being a stupidly long wait for what looked like such a tiny queue, and we only went on because all the other queues looked too big. So please be aware of how long it can take to get on Dodgems if there are people in the Speedy Pass queue! Only on quiet days for me from now on, along with almost everything else!
The Op seemed to have the most stressful job on the park, with no backup. He mostly managed the situation well though I was surprised he didn't stop the ride and make that girl put her gigantic phone away. I spent the rest of the ride waiting for it to be dropped & ran over, but sadly it didn't happen.
