Capacity - It's great, but what could be improved?

RCMAC - you confuse impatience with anger. There's no smoke coming from my ears. I didn't throw a fit in any of those situations. I don't say anything except in my head. In fact, the one time in all of those that I probably would have said something, I even mentioned that I purposely held my tongue because I did NOT want it escalating.

And in only one of those did I mention that it was the park or employee that I was impatient with. The topic is what can be done to improve capacity. With a couple exceptions, the answer is that guests can think ahead, read the signs and restrictions, and not do dumb things.

I too felt sorry for the Troika op because I'm sure that mom wasn't a one in a million. The mother behind me in line had three children who were not going to reach the height requirement either.

And you want to know what else I remember...when I'm treated well. When the MF train broke down and they transferred it off the evening of ERT night. The maintenance guy busted his butt and got the train back on the track by 9:30. I watched him do it from the line. I sent an e-mail to guest services the next day to thank him.

When the ops stop my 48.5 inch son for the 20th time that day to measure him, I don't get impatient or annoyed. Actually, I thank them - out loud. They are doing their job and protecting my son because there are dumb parents out there who would try to get their 47.5 inch kid on the ride when it is unsafe to do so.

Well given that this was all text on the internet and a GIANT list of complaints, the perception was definitely otherwise. Unfortunately perception trumps intent, always does.

But it's all good. You're not Ann Coulter hating on everything ;)

True. I apologize for any misconceptions.
But really, your response sounded angry and made me think you're nothing but a big complainer.

I can be positive. Here are things I appreciate regarding capacity.

From Sunday...

1. The MF op that asked if there were any single riders who wanted a front row seat.
2. The Blue Streak op that went down the line asking how many were in each group (presumably to pair odd numbered groups). On Blue Streak!
3. The Rougarou op that hustled once the train was parked to unbuckle and lift the restraint on the empty seats.
4. The Gemini op that hustled around opening gates for whatever it was that needed his attention.

I had more, but my wife is telling me I have chores to do. How's that for priorities?

I hope she appreciates you're efficiency and hustling with the chores.

Didn't take as long as I thought...more from Sunday alone...

5. The group of three who actively searched for a row with an empty seat for the odd-one-out.
6. The gentleman who was in that row that didn't mind sharing.
7. The group who don't mind being split up or even riding separate trains.
8. The mom who realized in line that she wasn't going to fit in the seat and just walked through the train and let her kids ride without her.

In general...

9. Roller coaster trains with 30+ seats.
10. Reliable, not overly engineered, safety sensors.
11. When the park employs enough ops so that they only have to check 8-10 seats each instead of 15 or more.
12. The single riders in a row on the platform that will hold up 1 finger to let others know there will be an empty seat available.

I think if CP went back in time about 15 years and did everything as they did then, capacity would be much improved. Of course they probably have just as much or more hourly capacity park wide than they did back then due to all of the new rides, but individual rides that have historically had great capacity are not hitting anywhere near the numbers they used to.

Some of the Intamin additions during the 2000's just aren't that great from a capacity standpoint due to their design.

But with other rides, many little things have added up causing intervals to be hit a lot less consistently and seats to be filled a lot less consistently.

CP has gone a little crazy with standing behind lines or on dots, checking seats only in order (you can't skip a slow person and come back), not allowing two people to meet in the middle, not allowing load side hosts to move about and group single riders into pairs, not allowing people to clear while walking back to position, etc. I think they've also changed the order they clear on some rides so it's more of a wait until everyone is done and then clear around the entire train when it used to be clear as soon as you're ready from front to back or back to front and then one person gives a high clear so controls knows its okay to send the train. It's not as awful as the "SCAN..................clear....clear....clear....all clear" nonsense I see at Kings Island, but it still adds a bit of time on each cycle. A ride with an 80 second interval loses 10% of its capacity for each 8 seconds of miss. Not filling 3 seats per train is close to another 10% on most rides. On most CP coasters, 20% is 200,000-400,000 fewer rides given throughout a season.

Some rides have also had their capacity neutered by removing a train and/or updating the control system. It does suck how newer systems almost always seem to park a train slower than the old ones. I'm not quite sure why a Magnum train can survive 72 mph at the bottom of the drop, but needs brakes constantly tapped as it comes off the ready brakes at 2 mph. I noticed "The Bat" at Kings Island has a similar problem to a worse degree. The previous train was slowing to a crawl at the top of the lift because the block behind the station wasn't clear yet. Little programming things that make no sense and are repeated tens of thousands of times throughout a season sort of drive me crazy.

Also, the term "power hour" must be something new because it never existed when I worked at CP. Every hour was the same from open until close. We always worked to hit every interval and if we had a line down the stairs into the queue, we worked to fill every seat too.

Corkscrew's was removed 2011. Trust me, that fact I know for certain ;)

Same as Iron Dragon. It's third train never made it to Opening Day.

Iron Dragon lost its 3rd train for good in 2013, the year that I worked there. The rumor that it was taken out because people felt "rushed on" came from me, which I had heard from my roommate at the time who was a ride op. I definitely remember it having three trains for part of 2013.

Which might make some sense. Iron Dragon and Corkscrew have the high-sided tubs a passenger must climb up and over to get in. I'd think there would be an increased chance for a slip and fall injury. Which might cause a train to stack, God forbid.

Iron Dragon really hasn't had a great last couple of years. It managed to avoid having seat belts added (something Corkscrew didn't escape), which seemed to allow it to continue to run 3 trains smoothly even with the air gates.

But then the queue was shortened, the 3rd train was removed, the height requirement was increased, and they added a VR option. All of that sort of makes it the anti-capacity coaster at Cedar Point.

One of the biggest issues I have noticed with Corkscrew is how much the bins can cause delays. I have little issue with 1 person in the group crossing over and putting everyone's stuff in the bin but that is the ideal bin situation. Almost every train there is someone who asks to put their hat, sunglasses, or phone in the bin after they are already locked in and possibly checked. This means that we as ride ops now have to unlock the car and have them put their stuff in the bin (which may also need to be unlocked) and then recheck the car. Then you get the people who see an empty seat because that person went to the bin and try to take it which then causes delays as we need to put them back into the queue chutes.

Don't even get me started on the groups of people who try to push 6 people through 1 row and then try to fan out.

Lowkae said:

Iron Dragon lost its 3rd train for good in 2013, the year that I worked there. The rumor that it was taken out because people felt "rushed on" came from me, which I had heard from my roommate at the time who was a ride op. I definitely remember it having three trains for part of 2013.

Look at the Pointbuzz link, it was removed in 2011...There's a TON of eye witnesses to this and documentation.

But that doesn't mean they didn't try again in 2013. Snake River Falls is successfully running 4 boats again this season after however many seasons of only running 3

GDUBS said:

Don't even get me started on the groups of people who try to push 6 people through 1 row and then try to fan out.

This can't be a real thing... :(

If I'm not mistaken, Iron Dragon no longer has bins and everything rides with you now. Would this be a possibility on other rides that are low thrill and don't flip (i.e. Blue Streak, CCMR)?

Iron Dragon has never had bins.

Reduction to two train operation first started back in 2011. But then the following year went back to 3 train operation. In 2013, part of the year was two trains and part of the year was three train operation. Two trains then became permanent in 2014. And then of course we know what's been going on this year. It's been all over the map for several years now.

^^Iron Dragon has much higher sides, plus being suspended, if an item falls, it will not get caught under a wheel. Blue Streak also is much more dynamic and open, meaning if an item becomes airborne, there is a much greater chance of injury. Cedar Creek Mine Ride's main capacity issue is the restraints. Does anyone know if Larry Chickola still works for Six Flags? He would be the perfect person to update Mine Ride, if he no longer works for a competitor.

Mr. Potato said:
Iron Dragon has never had bins.

?
Shows how much I've paid attention. I noticed over the weekend riders looking for a bin and the ride ops telling them that everything rides with.

Jeff said:

I was standing in line once for Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando, and they were running one train, and not in a big hurry to load it. A family of Brits in front of me were remarking about how different it was compared to Islands of Adventure, where they were cranking trains through. I think poor capacity is more noticeable when a park is not busy.

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are so slow at loading. None of the ride ops are ever in a hurry, they're more worried about chit chatting with each other. And poor capacity is definitely more noticeable when it isn't busy, I was beyond irritated with the waits. Not one coaster I went on all day had a full train, yet my wait times were 10-15 minutes when it should have taken 2-3 minutes tops.

Speaking of capacity and dispatch, has it always been the practice on MF to not dispatch the next train until the previous one is parked behind the unload station? Or is this new?
I've never noticed it until this year and was getting pretty irritated watching trains stack while I'm waiting in line.