Big Deal or Not?
It amazes me that so many people are mad at this ticket system. Why get your panties in a ball over a special ride time? You have a shorter wait in line, time to ride other things that you normaly would pass up and can still ride more than once. I must be missing somthing becouse all these things sound good to me! So, let me see if I got this: You pick up a ticket to ride an hour later, you ride with only a 1/2 hour wait, pick up another ticket after you leave. Right?
If this is right then why all the negativity towards it?
-------------
14 and counting
See my Po!nt?
-12E-
If this is right then why all the negativity towards it?
-------------
14 and counting
See my Po!nt?
-12E-
Well, Ill admit from first hand experience the fast pass doesnt really offer much. Cmon, CP built this gigantic queue line but they dont want to fill it to capacity. I mean if the line was design for 3,000 let them wait. People were waiting 4hours+ when it first came out, so I guess it didnt mind to them...But, I do have a problem with the people on here who are ready to destroy their season pass, ready to boycott, and not attend CP because of the fast pass. I personally feel thats going to the extreme when this thing has only been in effect for a week and a half almost....To me, it just makes me wonder who is loyal or not...
It wouldn't bother me so much if it actually resulted in a shorter wait. Because of the ticket system, I spent *more* time waiting in line than I had ever spent before for the new ride. On a busy day it did not make the wait any shorter, and it created chaos on the midway outside the ride.
Were they operating with the traditional queueing system, I could examine the ride queue at any time during the day and decide for myself when the line was short enough that I wanted to wait in it. With the ticket system, I wait when the park tells me to wait, or I don't ride at all. No thanks; I'd rather wait on my own schedule.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Were they operating with the traditional queueing system, I could examine the ride queue at any time during the day and decide for myself when the line was short enough that I wanted to wait in it. With the ticket system, I wait when the park tells me to wait, or I don't ride at all. No thanks; I'd rather wait on my own schedule.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
I had a chance to take my 2 daughters, 3 and 5 on a park tour this past week, with stops in Idlewild, Kennywood, SFO, and CP.
While at CP, I did not ride MF, my wife and I went on an earlier trip this spring to do that.
I did sit and view the fast pass system, and while not physically doing the ticket pass, watched.
I noted the interesting dilema CP had when the ride was not cycling at capacity, and when the ride was not running at all.
To load the next group in the back of the queue, and still seeing quite a bit of the previous hour in the front queue, was an interesting site.
As was the pretty long line outside of the queue run, which was hitting the railroad crossing.
One thing to note here. My wife and I enjoy a starlite night before our usual trip of 2 days at the park. When we visited earlier, we got 2 rides on MF easy, and many more coaster rides that starlite.
But with starlite starting at 5 PM, there are going to be more than a few with interesting feedback, when they arrive at the park, and go over to MF.
While at CP, I did not ride MF, my wife and I went on an earlier trip this spring to do that.
I did sit and view the fast pass system, and while not physically doing the ticket pass, watched.
I noted the interesting dilema CP had when the ride was not cycling at capacity, and when the ride was not running at all.
To load the next group in the back of the queue, and still seeing quite a bit of the previous hour in the front queue, was an interesting site.
As was the pretty long line outside of the queue run, which was hitting the railroad crossing.
One thing to note here. My wife and I enjoy a starlite night before our usual trip of 2 days at the park. When we visited earlier, we got 2 rides on MF easy, and many more coaster rides that starlite.
But with starlite starting at 5 PM, there are going to be more than a few with interesting feedback, when they arrive at the park, and go over to MF.
You can get as many ride tickets as you want to stand in line for, or otherwise obtain. I ended up with three of 'em myself because my parents waited in line with me, then gave me their tickets. Not that it accomplished anything for me, since my wait in the 'real' line was more than an hour, and all three tickets were for the same time slot.
I have to admit...on Saturday, they had a deadly combination of a huge crowd, intermittent mechanical trouble, and intermittent bad weather. The ticketing system got hammered with just about everythying that could go wrong, and as a result, it crashed and burned...when I rode, it was a 1:45 wait; when I got off the ride it was about 2.5 hours, meaning that the system did nothing to reduce waits, and in fact probably increased waits by eliminating the usual "self-limiting" actions of people who walk up to the ride and say, "I'm not waiting that long to ride Millennium Force.".
But that the system got hammered by problems outside the scope of the ticket system is not a good excuse. It is inappropriate to say, "Well, it would have worked had it not rained and had the yellow train not broken down." Those kinds of problems are perfectly normal problems for the ride and must always be taken into account, and if those normal problems cause the queueing system to break, then clearly the queueing system isn't designed very well. Fault tolerance is built into the rides; it needs to be built into ride operations as well.
So far, the evidence is that the system seems to work on light crowd days when it isn't needed, and it fails miserably when the park is crowded. The system also tends to make it difficult or impossible for late-arrivals to ride the new coaster because of limited ticket availability, which seems odd, since without the ticket system people arriving later in the day *were* able to get rides. It seems that the system increases wait times and biases the ridership to only those people who are spending the entire day in the park.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
I have to admit...on Saturday, they had a deadly combination of a huge crowd, intermittent mechanical trouble, and intermittent bad weather. The ticketing system got hammered with just about everythying that could go wrong, and as a result, it crashed and burned...when I rode, it was a 1:45 wait; when I got off the ride it was about 2.5 hours, meaning that the system did nothing to reduce waits, and in fact probably increased waits by eliminating the usual "self-limiting" actions of people who walk up to the ride and say, "I'm not waiting that long to ride Millennium Force.".
But that the system got hammered by problems outside the scope of the ticket system is not a good excuse. It is inappropriate to say, "Well, it would have worked had it not rained and had the yellow train not broken down." Those kinds of problems are perfectly normal problems for the ride and must always be taken into account, and if those normal problems cause the queueing system to break, then clearly the queueing system isn't designed very well. Fault tolerance is built into the rides; it needs to be built into ride operations as well.
So far, the evidence is that the system seems to work on light crowd days when it isn't needed, and it fails miserably when the park is crowded. The system also tends to make it difficult or impossible for late-arrivals to ride the new coaster because of limited ticket availability, which seems odd, since without the ticket system people arriving later in the day *were* able to get rides. It seems that the system increases wait times and biases the ridership to only those people who are spending the entire day in the park.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The interesting part of my "viewing" of the process, was this past sunday, things seemed to be working better than monday.
I.E. there was downtime monday, and that defin. put a wrinkle in the queue/ticket set-up.
I believe there are signs about possibly missing your time due to mechanical and weather problems.
I know it says something to that effect on the piece of paper we got to the park.
I will echo Dave's comments on the system seeming to work when it is not needed, and not working when it is needed.
I am sure CP enacted this to appease the guests whom are paying $250+/night at the resort hotels, as well as the once/twice a year family visits, which really bring-in the bucks to the park as well, with the full admission price tickets, 2-3 meals a day at the park, plenty of souvenirs, pops, etc.
If this stays, I can almost see a queue area for getting tickets as well. Seems on a busy summer day/week/month, there are going to be quite a few people at that ticket area, just off of the queue entrance.
I will say, also, the RR crossing really backs-em up now, with a much more "crush" of people when the sticks are raised. This was much more noticeable this past weekend, vs. an earlier visit.
I did not participate in the ticket system, but watched for a while, and noticed the long lines to get tickets, one queue line/time being around 45 minute wait, and at the same time, they were loading the next time in the back queue line, due in part to down time, and cycling effects.
This is defin. going to happen this sumemr as well. Somebody can correct me here, but with 3 train operations on a steady basis, do they not need to do wheel replacement, close maintenance, which requires there to be 2 train operations at certain times of the day?
I.E. there was downtime monday, and that defin. put a wrinkle in the queue/ticket set-up.
I believe there are signs about possibly missing your time due to mechanical and weather problems.
I know it says something to that effect on the piece of paper we got to the park.
I will echo Dave's comments on the system seeming to work when it is not needed, and not working when it is needed.
I am sure CP enacted this to appease the guests whom are paying $250+/night at the resort hotels, as well as the once/twice a year family visits, which really bring-in the bucks to the park as well, with the full admission price tickets, 2-3 meals a day at the park, plenty of souvenirs, pops, etc.
If this stays, I can almost see a queue area for getting tickets as well. Seems on a busy summer day/week/month, there are going to be quite a few people at that ticket area, just off of the queue entrance.
I will say, also, the RR crossing really backs-em up now, with a much more "crush" of people when the sticks are raised. This was much more noticeable this past weekend, vs. an earlier visit.
I did not participate in the ticket system, but watched for a while, and noticed the long lines to get tickets, one queue line/time being around 45 minute wait, and at the same time, they were loading the next time in the back queue line, due in part to down time, and cycling effects.
This is defin. going to happen this sumemr as well. Somebody can correct me here, but with 3 train operations on a steady basis, do they not need to do wheel replacement, close maintenance, which requires there to be 2 train operations at certain times of the day?
You must be logged in to post