Freeway

Ticket To Ride V2.0?
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Wicked Twister Rocks

Get To The Po!nt My Website

Evan H.
Webmaster
GetToThePo!nt

People don't know about it because it's not advertised at all. It's really easy to look right past the stamp booth. I almost mistook it for a souvenir stand or drink stand or something.

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Break the scream barrier NOW!
Wicked twists: 3
Danger: Hgih Voltage!

I suspect that's entirely intentional, Majin Heero.

I think the only reason Cedar Point is doing it at all is as an answer to FastLane. Why else do you think they call it "Freeway"?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I thought it was a change booth for the lockers. LOL It never hurts to ask. ;)

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First CP Coaster: Corkscrew
MF Laps: 27
Wicked Twists: 2

It sounds like the cheap man's version of FastPass at WDW. There, instead of stamps it is all computerized. You put your admission ticket into a "vending machine" and out pops a receipt with your return time on it.

Presumably, the computer calculates how many people can receive the block of time (10% in CP's case) and cuts off distribution of that block of time when it is full.

I have had very good experiences with this at WDW and I heard no complaints. At IOA, the system is complete lunacy. The program is not explained well and there are no attendants checking to see if you have the ticket to allow you into the express lane. People in the "normal" line see the "speed" line looking short and moving fast and climb right over.

I am not sure about the hand stamps but it sounds like CPs is the poor step child of Disney's program but as long as it works, it is better than what the neighbors are doing.

I still think, especially seeing the unproportionate long lines yesterday, that some kind of electronic signs throughout the park indicating wait times would be a very good idea. Come on guys... you bought all kinds of them for the hotels and the front gate!

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

That would be a great idea. This would shift people to other areas of the park that arent as busy, keeping the park a bit more uniform, and also save a walk to a ride on the other side of the park just to turn around because you felt the line was too long.

I noticed these signs at IOA and Disney this past weekend. Some were electronic and some were chalk boards but it really did make a difference to us.

While Hulk at IOA was a 60 minute line, Dragons was 10 minutes so we high-tailed it back there. I don't think it would be that complicated to do.

It would have saved me some walking on Sunday (my legs are STILL sore). We wouldn't have walked down toward MF, and instead would have gone directory to Magnum. I think a few monitors set up, or an electronic sign that shows the line waits for the larger rides would be a great addition.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

The park is not going to run out and spend hundrededs of thousands of dollars on a new queue system and rip up the midways to install them. There is no need to. Why?

First they are very concerned about capacity and downtime. I think that the winter tour Monty said that they had a 98% uptime last year. That in itself is a very impressive number.

Second with letting the resort guests and JCC people in a half hour early those are a lot of people that will get to ride the two most popular rides before anyone else is in the park, and that will make less people in line throughout the day becuase they have already ridden them once.

Third CP has atleast 6 or 7 world class thrill rides that would be a headlineing ride at almost any other park. There is such a variety of rides to ride that even if three or four of those rides have long waits you are still going to find a great world class thrill rides that will have a short waits.

I think the Freeway system is a great attempt to make everyone happy, its much much better than Ticket To Ride. Everyone gets a chance to ride, and if people want to wait thats fine, and if they are able to get a stamp thats even better.

Jeff brought up a good point while we were waiting for MF and that is they should have half hour incraments instead of hour incraments that way they can space out the crowds better and then they won't have a rush of people at the begining and end of the hour.

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Danny J
WT: 11

With the WDW Fastpass, we made a conscious decision NOT to return at the beginning time stamped on the receipt. We tried to hit the attraction at about the halfway point of the block of time. This seemed to work well as the influx of riders came at, say 1:20 when the time on their receipt told them it was ok to come back.

Another great thing both IOA and Disney are doing is single rider lines. A great thing for the enthusiasts who don't really care if they ride with friends and family. Rarely does a train go out with empty seats which is a big pet peeve of mine.

Jeff: You've mentioned the "Universal Wait Indicator Boards" before, and I agree that it sounds like a good idea. But my question is, would it actually work in practice? That is to say, would people actually criss-cross to the other side of the park, passing up other attractions, just to get to the "short line"?

Now perhaps it's because most of my "crowd watching" experience is from SFGAm and the great Duell loop, but it has seemed to me, even in other parks, that people like to "do" the park in some semblence of a logical progression. Ever noticed when your in a park that you often see some of the same people in the lines you are in? It's almost like you all are a tour group or something. I've seen that happen at SFGAm, CP, PKI, DisneyLand and even IOA.

And while we're on the subject of IOA, no matter *what* that little board says near the Port of Entry, I saw a bunch of people still get enraptured by Hulk "seductive" cobra roll and join the hour long line because "it's right here".

Still, I love to see that theoy tested.

jeremy

It's the system I've been advocating as an alternative to these virtual queue systems when the park has adequate capacity. A refinement would be to show the projected wait times for the ride at other times during the day, although if that information were presented, it would change the dynamic significantly and the projection would be wrong.

The Universal system is a good idea, but as I recall the sign is only in the Port of Entry, meaning that it does you very little good if you are anywhere else. Cedar Point's layout, because it interconnects, lends itself better to cross-park traffic (not as well as Kings Island's layout does).

I'd like to see some park somewhere try implementing it. Kings Island would be the obvious choice because they could present the waiting time info on their CATV network...very little infrastructure would be needed. But Cedar Point is where it would probably work the best because of the capacity situation.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I can't speak of IOA's system, because there were only 8,000 people in the park on my visit (IAAPA buy-out), but yes, I think it would make a difference. For example, I tend to not go up to Raptor even though I'd like to ride. I park in the Soak City lot, so I see the reverse being true for most people in that Mean Streak (which the public still likes, regardless of what we think) often has tiny wait times. They'd ride it more if they knew, I'm convinced of that.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

The Universal system is a good idea, but as I recall the sign is only in the Port of Entry,

This isn't quite the full setup. At the exit to some of the major rides (Dueling Dragons for example), there is a smaller board that lists wait times for the other major attractions. If you ask me, this is the real key to making the system work efficiently.

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James Draeger
http://draegs.livejournal.com
"Whose bright idea was it to get him talking about Cedar Point?!"

I was at IOA and it is nice for Hard Core Coaster fans that know how to

Just a question. Is this system a weekend thing only or peaktime system? They were not giving out passes yesterday. The carts were present, but no personnel or passes. Thanks.

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cyberdman

So far I think the only day they've done it was Opening Day...and it wasn't real popular then. After all, why get a stamp to come back in three hours when you could just as easily get in line and ride in twenty minutes? The real test comes in another few weeks.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

They were using it today. When Twister got back up people used their freeway stamps to get in line, when there was none!

I would love to see a single rider line. A lot of seats are wasted on rides. They could pair up these single riders and save several trains an hour I'd imagine.

I was there Tuesday and saw a girl ride MF in the front seat by herself. I was not impressed with that.

If it hasn't changed, WDW's fastpass gives times out in a time window of one hour, but not just from hour to hour, the times change to steer the people into not coming at the beginning of the hour. You can get a pass for 3:10-4:10 thus alleviating any rush at 3:00, spreading people out.