Does Less Lines Mean Less Fun Sometimes?

When I went last week the Mean Streak, Magnum, Corkscrew, and Blue Streak stations were all empty. Waiting in line builds up the anticipation and excitement, not having to wait means there isn't any anticipation, it just happens.

Believe it or not, there is a certain psychology to queueing, and parks have been known to use the "wait factor" for certain strategies in their operations. One, it's a way to keep people in the park longer. If a family is able to bust out all the major rides and attractions by mid-morning, the less likely it is that they will stay in the park to have lunch, buy a drink, play a game, or go shopping. At today's POP venues, rides don't bring money to a park's cash registers, but food and merchandise sure do, and they need that revenue to stay in business. This is why we groan (and raise questions) when we discover our favorite park is causing lines to build up on a slow day by closing certain seats, or operating with one train. They need us there.

Those of you who find an empty park a dismal place are correct. Parks also realize that a busy park is a happier place, and do what they can to allow people to congregate (the queue line is the perfect spot) even on a slow day. Patrons are subconsciously happier when they share in the experience with others. Parks recieve a better overall rating when they leave the customer with the feeling that the wait was worth it, rather than the feeling that no one showed up. Also, a participatory mood encourages spending.

Those of us here certainly love and live for the days at the parks when walk-ons are plentiful, and I'd venture to say that nobody likes an hour wait for every ride. But lets remember, too, that busy is good. If our parks didn't have those slammin' days they would surely cease to exist.

I have learned over the years when to go, and when to stay home and let everybody else go!

I find a visit to an amuement park to be extremely enjoyable when there is a decent crowd at the park, but the lines are rather short. It feels, well, like you are at an amusement park, but you do not have to wait long for the coasters.

Having the park deserted is no problem for me. I don't find waiting at least half an hour for every single ride in the park an enjoyable experience.

I remember going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for the first time, and feeling cheated for only having to wait 5 minutes to get on alpengiest, and Apollo's Chariot.

The amount of people in the park make up the atmosphere, even when working there, I think the busier days were some of the better ones. I think having lots of people around creates feelings of exitement, and intrest.

While the crowd adds a certain enjoyment, I prefer light crowds and cool temps. That's why I visit in May or June and September and/or October.

I've been spoiled by the lines found at that time of year. But, October is a toss up...it can be very busy!

MrScott

Walking on is a treat. But only in small doses. Sure I dont wanna wait for hour for MF but 30 min is enough for some excitement.

TopThrill420120 said:
I find a visit to an amuement park to be extremely enjoyable when there is a decent crowd at the park, but the lines are rather short. It feels, well, like you are at an amusement park, but you do not have to wait long for the coasters.

In all the years I've been going to CP, I've never encountered that kind of a happy medium. Disney parks, yes. IOA, yes. PKI, yes. Knotts, yes. But NEVER at CP. I either go and the park is empty with no wait whatsoever for anything or it's crowded on a hot day with the shortest wait being 15 minutes. I don't think those happy medium days exist at CP, and if they do they must occur in a very short window.
*** Edited 6/2/2005 11:52:28 PM UTC by CPMatt***

Yes...I have witnessed those few, great days at PKI many times, Disney, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Knott's Berry Farm. Magic Mountain, however, seems to be the oppisite. There seemed to be few people roaming the midways, but the lines for almost every ride were over an hour. Yes, I know it is Six Flags Magic Mountain and they supposably have all of these capacity issues, but on my visit they were dispatching trains quite frequently on all of the large coasters. X, on the other hand, had about 500 people in line and a 4 hour wait. I have seen days similar to this at Cedar Point, but never exactly like that.

If it's a new ride, I enjoy waiting in line for it. It helps build up the adrenaline and anticipation for me personally. I didn't mind at all waiting in line for 4.5 hours for Dragster in 2003. Now, I wouldn't wait more than an hour for it...

I'm also spoiled by the short waits in May and October, but when I go in the summer, the warm weather and breeze allows you to enjoy yourself. When the DJ's are going in line for MF and Raptor, all the lines aren't bad.

I love lines when DJ's are there. Anything is better than the looped tapes they have though. ;)

I guess it just depends on if you're a social person or not.

Me, being somewhat of a loner, see the days the park is empty as Heaven on Earth. I loved going there alone in May and walking to the back of the park before almost anyone else and walking up to have a Magnum train waiting for me, and maybe I'm weird, but I gain far more satisfaction from walking onto an almost-empty Magnum train 3 consecutive times than waiting 15 minutes to ride it once.

I can interact with people anywhere. I go to Cedar Point to ride rides. The more the better. 36 in 10 hours this year! I was sore for days afterwards because of how much I hustled constantly, stopping only once to eat, but it was worth it.

It's so funny that this topic has been brought up. I went to Geauga Lake on Saturday afternoon/evening for the first time. I thought we would hit the park that evening and get a few rides in and then spend the day on Sunday at the park doing everything we couldn't do Saturday night. Well the park was a ghost town, which was a very odd feeling. There was not one ride that had any type of wait. This was great except for the fact that after about 4 rides, I was feeling sick. I couldn't understand as I love roller coasters and have never had this problem at CP. Then I thought maybe it was just that the coasters were rougher than at CP, but I have a feeling it's because my body didn't get any rest in between rides. I was so sick by the time I rode Thunderhawk and The Villian, that I almost did not ride Dominator. I waited about a 1/2 hour and then I was ok. I never even ended up going to the park on Sunday, as I had done everything in about 4 hours, it was a bit disappointing actually. I don't like waiting in lines forever, but walks ons for everything I guess is just not for me. Maybe a 15-20 minute wait would be good. As for CP, I was there on Memorial Day and it was awesome. The only rides I waited more than 15 minutes for were MF and TTD, which was fine by me, as I was a bit scared to go on both of them. The park had people in it, but not so many that you couldn't enjoy yourself. I wish everytime I went there it was like that!

When the park is really packed (on a one day trip), it turns into a marathon to try and fit all of the coasters in. You're in such a rush to try and get on everything that you can't even take time to sit down and relax to have lunch, ride some of the flat rides, or just enjoy the atmosphere.

What I'm beginning to gather is that there is two kinds of enthusiasts. Roller Coaster enthusiasts and Park enthusiasts. Roller coaster enthusiasts go to the park for the coasters. That's what they do at the park and that's what they go to the park for. Park enthusiasts go to the park because they love the park. Carosel's, bumper cars, and the pirate ship are on their list to do with the roller coasters. They go to the park for the atmosphere, not just to chain-ride coasters. Guess I'm a park enthusiast.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

You got it, Fastball! I'm glad you figured just what you are.

Now that's an odd statement.

MrScott

Well then that makes me a ride enthusiast as I hate lines. I go to the park at the beginning and end of the season only because I hate crowds, lines and hot weather.

Is it possible to be both? Im caught in the middle...depends on what mood I am in. But I am a die hard roller coaster enthusiast at heart.

What's my grand prize Mr. Scott? ;)