electronic que line times

I heard that CP is gonna ditch those big wooden signs that tell line times to some sort of electronic system. Can anyone confirm?

------------------
Can't someone else do it?

Last time I was there I didn't notice this.

------------------
BTS Cedar Point
http://www.btscedarpoint.tk

I don't know what you heard, but we've been suggesting it for years. Works like a charm for Universal's Islands of Adventure.

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED!

Speaking of universal islands of adventure, I'll be going there in about 2 weeks. Cant wait.

------------------
- Dennis
NYC Subways, The next best thing to riding roller coasters.

Yeah with the electric turnstyle things... It does work wonders.

And at stragetic points, there could be a sign saying: You Are 15 Minutes From Riding.. It wouldn't put freeway out of bisness; there would still be long lines.

------------------
2003 only... agh who cares!
Evan H.
"Have you ever had that battle with the keyless entry and someone trying to open the door? Is it open? How about now?"-- Comedy Central
*** This post was edited by crashoverride 1/13/2003 8:58:29 PM ***

Done right, such a system could put Freeway out of business...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It was really helpful at Alton Towers. They had those electronic boards in various places in the park letting you know what the wait times were for the major attractions. That way you wouldn't waste time walking to opposite side of park to find out there is a 2 hour wait.

------------------
http://www.magnummania.com
jerry@magnummania.com

It would be very nice if they had those!! You get sick of people asking you how long will it take them to get on the ride. I know I hated it.

------------------
Gemini '02 & '03

Big D: I am going to be there soon also, but not until the end of February. It will be my first time actually. :) We're geeked about going.

------------------
cyberdman
*** This post was edited by cyberdman 1/10/2003 8:13:42 AM ***

I'm sure some people would still ask and I don't see a huge advantage in just having an electronic sign at each ride over the current "spin the dial" method. But if they had several large billboards throughout the park (front of park, Magnum area, where the midway splits at Corkscrew, and Frontier Town) that listed say the top 10 attractions and their current waits in real time, that would be awesome from a guest's perspective. It would definitely help to disperse the crowds more evenly on the major attractions and I know I'd be thrilled to not have to walk halfway across the park to find that MF has a 2 hour wait.

A system like this would most likely require two turnstyles at each ride. One as people enter the queue and another one as they get on the ride (or into the station would probably be good enough). Then to get the wait time you simply take the difference between the two to get the number of people in line and divide that by the capacity of the ride. You could even use the second turnstyle to get an average capacity. That way if the crew was tearing it up, the number that is used for the division would be higher and thus the wait would be displayed as less on the board.

Last time I checked Consign's website, I think they were starting to get into implementing something like this. It's kind of amazing that the idea isn't more widely used yet as it seems kind of simple.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

What you describe is what we've been suggesting. IOA's version works, why can't it at CP?

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED!

I can confirm, Sparty, that this system is being considered. Someone I know who works at the park went out to California to stop by Knotts for a couple days, but also squezed in a visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, where a similar digital system is used. At USH, at various locations, they have a large "train station" stlye boards with an electronic display of all the show times and wait times for all the major rides, so guests can plan their day from there. Aparently he was so impressed with the system, he wanted to bring it over to Cedar Point.

But you didn't hear this from me :).

------------------
Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure 2002 Ride-Ops Crew! Have fun trying to find me!
*** This post was edited by Zero-G 1/10/2003 5:22:44 PM ***

I would love to see this system be implemented at Cedar Point.

------------------
Great Ohio Coaster Club member #335

The elec. system would be very well implemented because I can't count how many times i've seen guests "spin the dial" to screw up ride wait times.

------------------
Never Underestimate The Power Of Stupid People In Large Numbers.
*** This post was edited by TJohnson 1/10/2003 11:36:37 PM ***

TJohnson said:
I can't count how many times i've seen guests "spin the dial" to screw up ride wait times.

This is true. I get so mad when people do it because if you don't catch them doing it, then you might not notice it right away and people think that its a 15 minute wait when it's really 2 hours.

------------------
Screamsters 2001
Millennium Force/Screamsters 2002
"Dragster".....Who would have thought?

Good idea... perhaps it will also stop them from messing with the yearly rider totals.

Haha - are you from another park or something where the yearly rider totals don't quite stack up to CP's? ;) I'd say that ridership numbers are more accurate at CP than anything. Sure a guest spins a turnstyle once in a while or someone tacks a few extra onto the DOR, but the numbers are damn accurate. I'm sure that they're within 100 people on every ride each day. And in the grand scheme of things (over 2 million riders on a lot of rides), being off by even 13,000 for the season for the whole year isn't that great of a concern. That's a percentage error of 0.65%. That's well within tolerance for most experiments I've done! :)

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

If they do that, it would be great. They do that at Disney World. It would make things easier. They should also go to a Fast Pass system like at Disney. This would eliminate long lines & getting your hand stamped. Besides, the ink runs all over the place & never seems to dry on those hot humid days.

CP manipulates the yearly ride totals on rides they want to get rid of... this is something they have done for years. That way when the public gets upset and wonders why did they take out that ride? The Public Relations Dept. says... well the attendance is down.

Examples of this are the Pirate Ride, Jungle Larry and more. They wanted to get rid of Jungle Larry's for years but they couldn't because he had a contract with the park based on his attendance. Well... they had the sweep girls take his hourly turnstyle readings and would tell them to take in-correct readings.

Save the conspiracy theories. Jungle Larry was a concessionaire that quit, CP had nothing to do with it. They don't need to fake numbers for anything. If they want to get rid of something, they'll get rid of it.

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED!