Does Less Lines Mean Less Fun Sometimes?

Okay, now I know everybody is going to chew me out for this, but I was at Geauga Lake on Memorial Day and everything was walk-ons. Now for some reason I just didn't have as much fun as usual hitting every coaster in the park in 4 hours. Is lines a part of an amusement park that makes it an amsuement park? I just didn't feel accomplished saying I rode a ride 5 times. That took me 20 minutes. Maybe it's just me but is riding until you puke just not as fun as waiting in line and anticipating the ride?

Meh. The only times that I have been to amusement parks (Cedar Point and WDW, especially) it has been crowed and, of course, during the summer. One one exception: GL last year. The park was pretty much empty, only a 5 minute wait for X Flight and Dominator. And, I can honestly tell you, I never had more fun. Of course, I was with a church group, and we basically filled up an entire train, but still. It was a blast.

If you have a season pass, I would guess that it would be less fun because you'd be able to ride everything so much in one visit that you'd have less incentive to go back and have it be new and exciting again (in the context of a season pass holder).

But if you only make one day trip to the park every summer, it's in your best interest to be there on a day where you can ride as much as possible in the limited amount of time that you have there.

Hmmm... interesting question! Any Psych majors care to tackle the social aspects of communing with your fellow riders for 30 minutes before you ride? Heck people (specially kids) willing to wait in line for an hour gives me some hope for the future - considering many (notice I said many, not all) people have the attention span of a gnat these days. As a child, how DID I ever survive those Long drives to Florida and Montana from Ohio without a DVD player or VCR in the car? Or a video game... or a cell phone... or a laptop... etc etc. I like chatting with whomever I am at the park with that particular day. Gives you a chance to SLOW down and have an actual conversation with your significant other... heh heh.

CPLurker

"Bring back the Penguins!"
*** Edited 6/2/2005 1:29:06 AM UTC by CPLurker***

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Are 1.5 hour lines for Gemini what I'm talking about? No. What I'm saying is 20 minutes for X-Flight and Dominator, or 45 minutes for Millenium Force. You just don't get the same sense of satisfaction that you do walking on as if you actually had to wait. Plus, sometimes, waiting can be fun if you're with the right people.

Definately. It was really depressing when I went to SF: MW and the longest line I could find was 10 minutes. No one showed up until maybe 1, and until then the coasters that might be able to make some sort of line were closed.

I completely agree. I was at the park last week and waited 45 minutes for Millennium Force, walked on Mean Streak, Gemini, Corkscrew, and Magnum. It just wasn't the same walking right on and not standing around for a while and talking. I mean, we were only there for the day so we got a lot of riding done, but not the same feeling as you get when waiting a while before riding.

I have to disagree on this one. I've only ever been to CP on crowded Saturdays in June with school groups, and even though I'm with my friends all day, it's not nearly as enjoyable as it would be if all of the rides were walk-ons. I would love to be able to ride my favorites multiple times during the day, but when you only make it down once a year, you can't even cover all of the coasters when the park's packed. The bottom line is, I'm there to ride the rides. I can socialize with my friends for free at home.

On a side note, I was at PKI for the first time in 10 years on a cloudy late August weekday last summer and the park was completely deserted. My family and I had a blast all day and I got more coaster rides in than I had at my previous 3 trips to CP.

Yeah, my idea of a sense of satisfaction is waiting in lines for hours on end before I ride.

Um, no.

Back when Magnum was new, it used to be like a party atmosphere especially when the sun went down. People would bring beach balls and hit them around the que, then boo when security would confiscate them. That is the only time when I did not mind waiting in line. Now, the shorter the line the better!

Mostly, I would rather have short to no lines.

Although, I can remember when the Beast was a four hour wait and come night time, everyone seemed to get real exited and started chanting," Bring on the Beast". That part was fun, waiting was not.

villiageidiot said:
Back when Magnum was new, it used to be like a party atmosphere especially when the sun went down. People would bring beach balls and hit them around the que, then boo when security would confiscate them.

Yeah, I was one of them who used to bring beach balls while waiting for Magnum. Sometimes the ball would get stuck in a tree but when someone got it out, everyone would start to clap & yell.

I absolutly hate waiting in line for rides. Why would you want to stand around when you could be riding insted. At Cp there are only two rides I will wait over an hour for and they are Top Thrill Dragster and Raptor because the line is always moving. I WILL NOT wait for Mantis or Millennium Force because of how slow the line moves. But that is just me i am not a real patient person.

--------------------------------------

Cory Marshall

NEVER

It's all relative. It does sometimes make a dull experiance. We visited Adventureland in Iowa a couple of years ago, with maybe 30 people in the park. Everything was fully staffed with the retirees (that camp next to the park), but with only my wife and me on most of the rides made it a pretty dull experience. We only stayed about an hour and a half.

On the other hand, Milennium Mania was spectacular with muliple rides on MF with the same group of about 30 people. But I did get a bit bored with the rerides without leaving the train on Magnum and Raptor.

I was happy with the short lines my trip this May.

We had time to go back to TGIFridays and have dinner, head back to the park and ride more rides. and hitting TTD 3 times in a row with no wait was the highlight of that vacation.

I think that when there are short lines in the park, and there are more people around, it does make for a better experience. When the park is deserted, you feel like you are in a strange atmosphere. However, I would agree that lines that stretch forever on every ride are not fun. Then, you almost get disgusted because 1/2 to 3/4 of your day is spent standing in line. I like a fair amount of people... with short, manageable lines. (You also have to walk through the long qeues when no one is in line... that makes for getting tired faster for me at least!)

I agree that walking around a nearly empty park can be strange. Last September, I made a trip to Disney between Hurricanes. I went to MGM early in the morning for park opening and there were maybe 300 people there. The entire morning rush for Tower of Terror fit in 1 labrary. It felt odd. It was a blast though being able to ride everything with almost no wait. I think theme parks might be the best when the park does not feel deserted. You can hear people laughing and having fun. But the wait times are all real short 10-15 min at most for the most popular rides.

I like it when there are less people. We took our son to Michigan's Adventure for his birthday last friday and there were maybe 300 people in the park and it was perfect. My son got one on one attention from all the ride ops. and my husband and I could ride without having to do the ride-share thing. And since it was our first time taking him to a park, I was more able to relax and enjoy the day.

I mean I hate waiting in lines, but someone hit in on the head by saying that it's just a different atmosphere with an empty park. It's just, not as fun.