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Single Rider Queues

TB174 said:
It’s not really that effective anymore though since the manufacturer changed the regs so that only 2 passengers can be loaded in wet conditions. Most groups are either 2 or 4 anyway so SRQ is only really useful for Spinball when it is operating normally.
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When did that change? I know that it went to 2 at some point but it was swiftly back to 3 in wet weather operation. It was certainly 3 last time I did it last season anyway.

:)
 
Error said:
You gotta admit its a good feeling when they shout "1 more!" down the queue line. Your hand goes up, the red carpet is rolled out, there you are pushing through with a massive ego and woman looking at you with lust and desire because of this status that has befallen on you.
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No women have looked at me with lust and desire in many a year I can tell you, SRQ or not.
 
AstroDan said:
It is nothing to do with Fastrack sales.

It is to do with the fact they can save on staffing costs if they don't have merge points.
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It is to do with fast track sales!
I have done the Towers with my wife every year for over thirty years.
Over time she has gone on fewer rides, I used the single rider queues, she waited in the bar for ten minutes, then met me in the exit shop.
Then the bars and shops started to go...nemesis and oblivion, so I started to get the odd fastrack, but then the queue to get fastrack got silly, so I used the one by rita...then they shut that as well!
Now I am going to have to get some sort of fastrack passage at the start of the day to do everything I want to do without rushing, extra revenue for merlin as well as a minor reduction in costs.
For them.
 
Fastrack allocations for Smiler will HAVE to go down, the ride will only be getting through around 700 people per hour rather than nearly 1000 due to the loss of the baggage room. If they don't cut allocation the ride would effectively become fastrack and disabled/RAP only at peak times
 
Rob said:
When did that change? I know that it went to 2 at some point but it was swiftly back to 3 in wet weather operation. It was certainly 3 last time I did it last season anyway.

:)
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Has it changed back? I thought Maurer Sohne ordered the change? I last went in late September and it was operating as 2 so if it has changed then discard my posts :)
 
While I normally disapprove such behaviour, if they do what I think they are going to (overcrowd thirteens station with baggage holds...or worse...)
Then I will think no less of you for contacting H&S...
;)
Not that I'm saying too!
;););););););););););)
 
Not yet as it was broken down when I was in Dark Forest. I'll let you know if I get on. Also off topic but worryingly Nemesis has been closed all day and Galactica is running three rows with VR.
 
ben199 said:
This morning in the rain they were running 3 on Spinball with SRQ open. And on Smiler you queue on the stairs.
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That's an accident waiting to happen.
Just seen a photo on Facebook of the new baggage cages in the Smiler station, hmmmm, thankful we have an official bag holder in our family lol
 
I can deal with any other ride being closed but if Nemmy is shut next week i'm going to be mad!

I think the weirdest part of the change is the removal of the baggage drop but they have it on Wicker Man? I'm not complaining as I don't mind if they have a bag drop or not, I don't tend to keep any valuables in there. Perhaps it was just because Thirteen and The Smiler will be getting much shorter queues.

I also can't help but think cutting at most 6-8 staff isn't really going to save much money at all.
 
They're naturally going to be putting all their effort into the new ride, plus isn't there something about the new ride is funded by MMM for three years? Or did that stop after DBGT?
 
As much as I appreciate the effort being put into Wicker Man, which at this point that seems like a lot, SRQ removal seems like a easy and cheap tactic which is more effort for Merlin than it will be worth.

If they made changes to both rides stations, they could possibly have one person batching people up the stairs and putting bags in a hold downstairs. Then guests could enter and pick up their own bag on the way out. Saves on having 3 staff members down to one if you get what I mean.
 
skyscraper said:
The problem with that is there would be the potential issue of guest's bags going missing.
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That's true, but no different with the current system right? If I drop my bag off on The Smiler station then the next train which gets off any one on that train could take my bag. Staff couldn't keep track of whose bag belongs to who.
 
Yalnix said:
That's true, but no different with the current system right? If I drop my bag off on The Smiler station then the next train which gets off any one on that train could take my bag.
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Usually the lockers correspond with each train, and are locked until the train it matches with returns, but this might be trickier on The Smiler when it's running four trains, rather than two. Although maybe not that difficult.
 
Plastic Person said:
Usually the lockers correspond with each train, and are locked until the train it matches with returns, but this might be trickier on The Smiler when it's running four trains, rather than two. Although maybe not that difficult.
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Ah, I did not know that. I assumed they would be like Nemesis.
 
Yalnix said:
I also can't help but think cutting at most 6-8 staff isn't really going to save much money at all.
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It may not sound a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it does add up. Think - those 6-8 staff need breaks, which need another staff to cover them. Less staff breaks mean less staff to cover them, saving a bit more money. It means that they have to spend less time (and therefore money) training staff too. It all adds up.

It's not significant, I won't ever say it is. But there will be a noticeable saving.

IanSR said:
They're naturally going to be putting all their effort into the new ride, plus isn't there something about the new ride is funded by MMM for three years? Or did that stop after DBGT?
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Ha, this is a fun rumour / misunderstanding. MMM never 'fund' a new ride's operational costs (ie staffing, the cost of the electricity to run the ride and whatever else). Each park will get an operational budget which will change to fairly reflect the introduction of a new attraction when necessary. MMM will, however, give a guarantee of sort of rides that they're involved in (usually 2 seasons). So it means if anything goes majorly wrong, especially with something like theming and effects, MMM will foot the bill. After that, it's the park's responsibility, and they should be given a reasonable budget to uphold and repair things.

DBGT is a weird one, because some of the issues stem from the manufacturer. MMM did still foot the bill for major issues, but presumably Merlin as a company would have wanted the manufacturer to foot it. But who knows what they're doing about that..
 
Bumping this thread to confirm that the Spinball SRQ has now gone, the fasttrack queue has moved to that side from the exit path.

An unexpected issue presented itself on Thirteen today. Obviously there's no SRQ now so each train has a number of empty seats. The problem this poses is that there's a longstanding rule that there must be 18 people per train. The train before we boarded had to be entirely rearranged to pair up 2 groups of 3, then they had to call a group of 2 forward from the bays due to there only being 17 people on the train.
 
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