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General Queue Times Discussion 2023
- Thread starter Matt N
- Start date
Three minutes past ten in the morning...rides not open!!!!!!!
Come on now, cut them a little slack.
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
It was busy today but I still managed to get on smiler x2, wickerman x2 and nemesis x3. Nemesis was practically walk on for the last hour or so despite saying 25min queues on the app. I thought we did alright considering how busy it was and making the conscious choice to queue 90 mins for smiler twice. The point where smiler’s queue merges with rap and fast track is absolute chaos, it’s the reason the main queue has such long waiting times imo. Thought wickerman operations were as smooth as butter today. Queued 20 mins for the first ride despite 40min advertised time around lunchtime and with 3 trains and operators who seem know what they’re doing the queue really does get eaten fast.
We managed to get 8 rides in today. Big 7 plus a reride on nemmy. This is the order we got on them and how long we waited:
Wicker man 80
Smiler 90
Oblivion 35
Th13teen 70
Nemesis 40
Rita 30
Galactica 40
Nemesis 0
We'd already bought food with us and had it in the queue so somehow got round all the 7 coasters. Felt rushed to say the least
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Well the person I was with hadn't been for years so I didn't mind waiting. I also enjoy being able to observe operations for the rides I'm waiting for. For smiler I counted 47 trains go round in an hour and for wicker man 44. That's a throughput of 752pph for smiler and 1056 WM. Yes that's assuming all seats are filled which won't be the case but it gives a good indication as to the throughput gap for the rides. WM gets through 304 more per hour judging by those dispatch figures. And it is now that I truly appreciate what members on here say about the difference throughput can make. The queue for WM was genuinely massive, but thanks to slick operations on 3 trains it wasnt too bad. Smiler queue didn't seem as busy but took longer due to capacity difference. It felt like it was moving much slower than WM. So based on those throughput figures there were approximately 1408 people in the 80 min queue for WM and 1128 for 90 min queue for smiler
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That's a good point I wasn't thinking about other queue lines. Still WM main queue would've had more people waiting in it than smiler despite taking 10 mins less
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Out of interest @Ethan, how far back in the WM queue were you waiting for it to be an 80 minute wait? From my experience, even being only just within the queue line (extensions excluded) is a fair amount under an hour when it's on 3 trains and 1,000pph+ (perhaps 45 minutes or so, at a guess?), so I can imagine that an 80 minute queue would have taken up a fair amount of the extensions, possibly even bursted out onto the plaza!
About 3/5 of the extension was full. From the start of the main queue section it took about 50 mins. The extended bit felt like it was moving slower than the main part
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
To be fair I’d only done Smiler once before today and my other half did it for the first time today, loved it and wanted to do it again so I didn’t mind so much as a one off, the second wait tested my patience a little as there was a period of time where it felt like the queue didn’t move for ages, but we made our choice and knew what we were getting into after the first time. I don’t think I’ll be rushing to wait that long twice in a day for Smiler again though, maybe once during a visit but the queue line makes me feel a bit claustrophobic, unusual for me. I think it’s because it’s basically a cage.
Loui Richards
TS Member
The issue with the smiler currently is that its only running on 3 trains so the fact they've brought back the baggage hold hasn't made much difference as having 3 trains with baggage hold is barely any better than what 4 trains is without baggage hold. Really hoping they get the 4th train back in use soon
Mattie boy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shamballa
Is the 4th assumingly under maintenance?
djtruefitt
TS Team
Yep usually bank holiday Mondays are also fairly quiet.
Loui Richards
TS Member
the 4th hasn't returned from winter maintenance yet
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a stark divide between highest and lowest queue times… everything in Thrills is on 0, apart from Smiler and Wicker Man on 60.
And apart from a select few family rides with big queues, everything in Family is on 0 too… bizarre.
And apart from a select few family rides with big queues, everything in Family is on 0 too… bizarre.
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
Seems really quiet this weekend for a bank holiday!
Dave
TS Founding Member
Bank holiday weekends are usually fairly quiet, partly because people tend to do other things during Easter and partly because people assume the park will be busy so don’t go.