General Queue Times Discussion

[Ethan]

On the face of it it's an easy thing to do. However, people are more used to the two metre guidance than the chevrons. That's when you get issues when queuelines double back like The Smiler for example, where chevron spacing takes this into account.

The markings can also wear off over time or can be more difficult to see when it's wet. There's also issues with queues that go behind walls. As an example, on the monorail as you go from the cattlepen up the ramp, you can't see the next chevron. People then move forward, realise someone is there round the corner and stop. It's then impossible to go back as others have started to move up.

I don't think it's too much of a major issue in the grand scheme of things really though. Perhaps the only thing I'd suggest is a staff member on entrance to remind each group directly when joining to take note of the chevrons rather than the 2 metre rule. I was guilty of not realising the chevrons were irregular in The Smiler's queue line when I first returned last year!

When they make announcements some people still don't listen. Clearly they just don't care. They're reminded to remain on a chevron and only move onto the next one once its free, but still continue to stand right behind people anyway. These same people also seem to struggle to keep their mask on rides. A mask is supposed to cover your mouth and nose, not below the nose. Yes there is movement on rides but some people wear a mask and take it off as soon as they leave the station! They clearly know what they're doing and if they can't follow simple rules, not set by the park but enforced by the government, then they should be removed imo

 

[Craig]

Oh of course you'll get people that just don't care. But from my visits on Monday and Friday, I'd say the majority of people do want to keep their distance. I'm just saying how easy it is for it to innocently slip people's minds too, especially when I've occasionally done it myself.

 

[Alsty]

I think the spacing of the chevrons being irregular is partly an issue. I don't think it's obvious to most people why that's the case. However there are times where people aren't even keeping 2m distance, and that's clearly nothing to do with the spacing of the markings.

The Smiler entrance host yesterday was reminding people when they joined to stand on the yellow markers which I thought was good, but compliance still wasn't brilliant. Even after the PA announcements, it improved a little bit but only for a short time.

My experience is that most people are incapable of remembering or following an instruction that lasts beyond a couple of minutes.

 

[AstroDan]

Aside from Th13teen, Rapids, Skyride, Heave Ho (!) and WM, most other queues in the park are not that different to normal. The queues themselves look full but have less folk in them, and capacity on most rides is only affected slightly. Sadly, the aforementioned rides have suffered a significant drop in how many guests can be accommodated on board each ride vehicle - Th13teen being the worst. But with WM dispatching as below, you can't really ask for much more.

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[Ethan]

I think wicker man's queue moves really quickly given social distancing on the trains. The whole queue, including the permanent extended part, being full only takes 70-80 mins. The temporary extensions I imagine take the longest given that distancing is usually the worst in this part of the queue

 

[AstroDan]

I think wicker man's queue moves really quickly given social distancing on the trains. The whole queue, including the permanent extended part, being full only takes 70-80 mins. The temporary extensions I imagine take the longest given that distancing is usually the worst in this part of the queue

The biggest impact on WM is RAP. Thankfully if you join the queue towards the end of the day, this impact diminishes.

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[Ethan]

The biggest impact on WM is RAP. Thankfully if you join the queue towards the end of the day, this impact diminishes.

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I think the queues are fine for the rides atm. They seem to have the right capacity. Usually just over an hour for wicker man and th13teen, an hour or less for Smiler, Rita and Nemesis and no more than 45 normally for Oblivion and Galactica. Can't complain at that. Certainly better than 2+ hours at scarefest pre covid

 

[AstroDan]

I think the queues are fine for the rides atm. They seem to have the right capacity. Usually just over an hour for wicker man and th13teen, an hour or less for Smiler, Rita and Nemesis and no more than 45 normally for Oblivion and Galactica. Can't complain at that. Certainly better than 2+ hours at scarefest pre covid

To a point, yes.

The variables affecting queue times are just massive currently however.

Th13teen hit 100 yesterday. Three-figure waiting times is never a good look.

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[Matt N]

The biggest impact on WM is RAP. Thankfully if you join the queue towards the end of the day, this impact diminishes.

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When I went on Friday, full trains were being taken up by RAP/Fastrack at times on Wicker Man, so I think there’s huge demand for it in terms of RAP users and Fastrack users. I suppose that isn’t too surprising, seeing as it seems to be joint with Smiler as one of the park’s most popular rides, but I’ll admit that I was surprised by how high the demand was for Wicker Man from these groups. I reckon it also helps that Wicker Man is a 1.2m ride, so it has a wider potential pool of riders than Smiler, the park’s other really popular ride. Correct me if I’m wrong, but would I be right in saying that a fair percentage of RAP users are children under 1.4m tall, so in that regard, Wicker Man is more impacted than something like Smiler due to its lower height restriction?

I actually logged Wicker Man’s throughput as being one of the highest on park based on dispatch times (on the basis of a full train, the ride was attaining 1059pph, which was beaten only by Oblivion at 1156pph; I don’t know if I got something wrong there, but it seemed about right to me based on other reports), but my parents were surprised by this, as they said that it seemed as though Wicker Man had one of the slowest moving queues on park. I have my suspicions that that might be down to RAP/Fastrack, at least partially.

Of course, the park can’t help the volume of these users; Wicker Man is a very popular ride, so will naturally attract high demand in terms of RAP/Fastrack. The factor of Wicker Man having a lower height restriction also probably helps, although I’d imagine that the ride’s high throughput does cancel that out to a degree. The only thing they can really influence to make the queue shorter is dispatch times, and in that regard, I think they were doing amazingly well!

 

[AstroDan]

WM can achieve what you put. However, currently it'll be around 1/4 to 1/3 less due to empty seats.

It will attract more RAP too. Headline/most recent coaster and lower height limit.

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[Matt N]

Would it be theoretically possible within the COVID guidance for Thirteen and Wicker Man to load every row, as opposed to leaving a row in between? Only asking because I know that some other parks abroad are now just loading every row on similar rides; I know Europa Park is (or at least was, prior to the shutdown) loading every row on Wodan, for instance. Even within the UK, I’m also aware that Blackpool has begun loading every row on the Big One, and that ride is no different to Thirteen/Wicker Man in terms of having no form of headrest or anything to block transmission.

WM can achieve what you put. However, currently it'll be around 1/4 to 1/3 less due to empty seats.

It will attract more RAP too. Headline/most recent coaster and lower height limit.

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If I had to guess, I’d say that Wicker Man seems far less profoundly impacted by social distancing than Thirteen. From my observations, Wicker Man generally only tends to have a couple of empty rows per train (3-4 at most, meaning that every train still has at least 16 riders on it, usually more).

Thirteen, on the other hand, was only loading 6 people per train at times on Friday, taking it to only 30% of its usual capacity.

Would you agree, from your observations?

 

[AstroDan]

Would it be theoretically possible within the COVID guidance for Thirteen and Wicker Man to load every row, as opposed to leaving a row in between? Only asking because I know that some other parks abroad are now just loading every row on similar rides; I know Europa Park is (or at least was, prior to the shutdown) loading every row on Wodan, for instance. Even within the UK, I’m also aware that Blackpool has begun loading every row on the Big One, and that ride is no different to Thirteen/Wicker Man in terms of having no form of headrest or anything to block transmission.

If I had to guess, I’d say that Wicker Man seems far less profoundly impacted by social distancing than Thirteen. From my observations, Wicker Man generally only tends to have a couple of empty rows per train (3-4 at most, meaning that every train still has at least 16 riders on it, usually more).

Thirteen, on the other hand, was only loading 6 people per train at times on Friday, taking it to only 30% of its usual capacity.

Would you agree, from your observations?

Yes.

Th13teen is horrendous currently.

RE: Social distancing on WM v Wodan, I guess different rules in different countries. Merlin probably want to be seen to be as safe as they can. The local council are pretty heavy handed too.

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[Matt N]

In fairness, aren’t Thirteen’s problems caused by some minimum weight limit on the trains or something, so it’s kind of out of the park’s control in that regard?

 

[AstroDan]

In fairness, aren’t Thirteen’s problems caused by some minimum weight limit on the trains or something?

The problems are exacerbated by poor Intamin engineering, yes.

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[Matt N]

Hopefully the park will be able to loosen the requirements slightly later on in the year and go back to loading things on full capacity! I wonder whether step 4, whether it comes on 21st June or a bit later, will be able to permit this kind of thing?

 

[rob666]

Indeed.
Pretty much throw all the rules out of the window at midsummer, but still try to keep social distance where possible, so all seats open by then.

 

[Matt N]

Indeed.
Pretty much throw all the rules out of the window at midsummer, but still try to keep social distance where possible, so all seats open by then.

So you reckon that the park may be able to start loading full trains again by step 4?

 

[Skyscraper]

Busy now!

 

[Craig]

So you reckon that the park may be able to start loading full trains again by step 4?

There's a social distancing review that's ongoing which will form the basis of any changes to the guidelines. "Step 4" is in relation to removing all legal limits, but it might not necessarily make any change to guidance, which is what social distancing is at present.

On the subject of comparisons to EP, remember Germany has a 1.5m guidance for social distancing, rather than 2m. Europa-Park also did a lot of work to prove filling each row would not have too much of a significant impact by running tests and experiments prior to opening last year. The authorities over there must have been happy enough with that data, whereas I get the feeling that over here you're very much told what you can and can't do with very little wriggle room to suggest otherwise.

 

[Skyscraper]

Anyone fancy waiting two hours for Thirteen?