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General Queue Times Discussion 2023

Yes that is correct, not sure if they still have that. You could see the Bluetooth sensors when entering queue lines. It did have its fair share of issues.

No system of determining queue lengths is completely fool proof unfortunately. It is much easier at a park like Europa-Park, where there is no fastrack and minimal RAP equivalent, therefore the you know pretty much how long a queue is going to be based on where it ends.
 
I would personally prefer to be pleasantly surprised with waiting times 10 mins less than stated. I have no idea how they actually measure queues at Towers, but if I had to input a figure, I would dump another 5 mins or so on just in case. If a customer asks me when a delivery is due for the next day, I'll often add an hour to the time I'm expecting it in the hope that I don't waste someone's journey. Under promise and over deliver seems to be a better way of offering good customer service.

Towers is also one of the more accurate parks I've personally found in terms of queue times, probably only bettered by EP, especially after experiencing what PA where doing with theirs last week! Each to their own as this would be a boring world if we all sourced enjoyment from the same things, but this does come back to why I find the content of this thread so puzzling at times. I've never ever taken queue times on an app as 100% accurate and nor would I want them wasting money or effort trying to get them nailed to the nearest minute when they should just be focussed on despatching as quickly as possible. Stated queue times have always been an approximate guide to crowd levels on a certain day and where the crowds are inside a park. I've never set my watch to them. If I join a 15 min queue, I'll tell my partner I'll see her in around half an hour or so. If I get back sooner, then I see that as a bonus.
 
I too would always prefer an overstated queue time to an understated one.

Out of interest, what happened to the signs that used to be in some ride queues saying “The queue time is approximately [x] minutes from this point”? When I first started riding the big coasters, I remember rides like Air (as it was then known) having them, but they aren’t there anymore.
 
Matt N said:
I too would always prefer an overstated queue time to an understated one.

Out of interest, what happened to the signs that used to be in some ride queues saying “The queue time is approximately [x] minutes from this point”? When I first started riding the big coasters, I remember rides like Air (as it was then known) having them, but they aren’t there anymore.
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The number of trains running (which historically didn’t fluctuate as much as it does now) fastrack and RAP variables made those signs redundant.
 
Matt N said:
I too would always prefer an overstated queue time to an understated one.

Out of interest, what happened to the signs that used to be in some ride queues saying “The queue time is approximately [x] minutes from this point”? When I first started riding the big coasters, I remember rides like Air (as it was then known) having them, but they aren’t there anymore.
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In those days there was one queue so you could make a good estimate of queue time based on length. There are now 3 queues for every ride (Main, Fastrack and RAP) so the physical length of the main queue has no bearing on time it will take to progress through it.
 
Dave said:
In those days there was one queue so you could make a good estimate of queue time based on length. There are now 3 queues for every ride (Main, Fastrack and RAP) so the physical length of the main queue has no bearing on time it will take to progress through it.
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For for rides that also have a single-rider line!
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, what happened to the signs that used to be in some ride queues saying “The queue time is approximately [x] minutes from this point”? When I first started riding the big coasters, I remember rides like Air (as it was then known) having them, but they aren’t there anymore.
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I don't remember seeing them on Air, but I remember seeing them on The Flume, Runaway Mine Train and (I think) the Congo River Rapids. As well as the reasons others have mentioned, the other problem was they could only be used where the queue was a fixed distance from the sign to the station. If it was possible for an extension to be opened in-between the sign and the station then the queue distance (and therefore time) would vary wildly.

There was something satisfying about seeing them. It gave an impression of progress, much like a progress bar when you're using a computer is psychologically better than waiting without any feedback at all.

It would be nice if they could bring back these signs but with a dynamic time that changes. If you can estimate a queue from the entrance then you should be able to estimate it from other points within the queue too.
 
Dave said:
Single rider doesn’t impact the main queue as without the single rider queue the seat would have gone empty anyway.
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That would entirely depend on how it is implemented.

If the Single rider merge point is pre-batching, you would expect it would have a minimal impact, but if it's done post-load (i.e. spot the empty seats and let people fill them), that would have an impact.
 
Fast pass is such I divisive subject. I’m not going to lie as I have used it on a few occasions! Mostly on visits to new parks to make sure I experienced all attractions. But for me the park with one of the best examples is Energylandia, as each guests gets one fast pass onto any major attraction per day with their entry and no purchases are available! It removes the feeling of class on park and also stops the fast pass queues becoming flooded and then being over prioritised.
 
Connor98 said:
stops the fast pass queues becoming flooded and then being over prioritised.
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Well that's just merlins fault for overselling. They say they limit it but I've heard of people waiting an hour when fastrack is sold out. To me a fastrack queue shouldn't be more than 30 mins because if it is then its not exactly fast. Yes if you wait 60 mins instead of 120 you're still saving quite a bit of time but surely the principal of fastrack is to have a minimal wait.
 
Ethan said:
Well that's just merlins fault for overselling. They say they limit it but I've heard of people waiting an hour when fastrack is sold out. To me a fastrack queue shouldn't be more than 30 mins because if it is then its not exactly fast. Yes if you wait 60 mins instead of 120 you're still saving quite a bit of time but surely the principal of fastrack is to have a minimal wait.
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I agree they definitely oversell it. However the best option would be to not sell it at all but it’s massive revenue for them so I do understand why from a business point of view. But if you think Towers are bad, try Portaventura.
 
Ethan said:
Well that's just merlins fault for overselling. They say they limit it but I've heard of people waiting an hour when fastrack is sold out. To me a fastrack queue shouldn't be more than 30 mins because if it is then its not exactly fast. Yes if you wait 60 mins instead of 120 you're still saving quite a bit of time but surely the principal of fastrack is to have a minimal wait.
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I don’t actually think Merlin do oversell Fastrack, for the most part.

I’ve certainly been to parks with more prevalent Fastrack sales than any Merlin park; for instance, Oakwood in July 2016 were selling such a huge amount of FastPasses that these users were queueing for ages down the exit paths, and the rides weren’t letting anyone on from the main queue for about 10 minutes at a time. I’ve never seen anything like that at a Merlin park, even with RAP in the mix as well.

I’ve also heard horror stories from parks like PortAventura and Cedar Point with regard to Fastrack.

With that in mind, I don’t think Merlin does badly on the Fastrack front at all.
 
Matt N said:
I’ve also heard horror stories from parks like PortAventura and Cedar Point with regard to Fastrack.
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Cedar point definitely sell too much that's for sure. Every vlog I've seen there's huge fast track queues. I think tbf though queues are much bigger at Cedar point than towers. Think I've seen Vengeance on 3 hours on multiple occasions so I certainly wouldn't mind waiting an hour for fastrack on that
 
Matt N said:
I don’t actually think Merlin do oversell Fastrack, for the most part.

I’ve certainly been to parks with more prevalent Fastrack sales than any Merlin park; for instance, Oakwood in July 2016 were selling such a huge amount of FastPasses that these users were queueing for ages down the exit paths, and the rides weren’t letting anyone on from the main queue for about 10 minutes at a time. I’ve never seen anything like that at a Merlin park, even with RAP in the mix as well.

I’ve also heard horror stories from parks like PortAventura and Cedar Point with regard to Fastrack.

With that in mind, I don’t think Merlin does badly on the Fastrack front at all.
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In some cases I think merlin are acceptable with fast pass then they be their own worst enemy with already offering fast pass on mandrill mayhem! A coaster that already struggles with capacity and needs a virtual queue to even operate at a barely acceptable level.
 
Squiggs said:
That would entirely depend on how it is implemented.

If the Single rider merge point is pre-batching, you would expect it would have a minimal impact, but if it's done post-load (i.e. spot the empty seats and let people fill them), that would have an impact.
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For sure but I don’t think any of the Towers rides have that set-up anymore.
 
I think Single Rider Queues only really affect the throughput if they’re on the exit side and see single riders being batched as other riders are getting onto the train, and as said, Smiler doesn’t do this. Smiler’s is on the loading side, and single riders are batched into rows before the riders have entered the train, so it doesn’t slow the queue down.

Unlike Fastrack and RAP, single rider queues are not taking throughput away from the main queue; they’re simply maximising the ride’s potential throughput and having the ride use this throughput more efficiently. If anything, they probably make the main queues shorter due to there being no single riders in them, so they’re a win-win situation for all involved, really!
 
rob666 said:
...apart from the operating company, who has an increase in staffing costs.
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If there’s already a batcher, the staffing costs might not necessarily increase. I don’t think Smiler employs any more staff to run its SRQ; the batcher just manages it alongside the main queue.
 
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