iPhone App

Does anyone use any of the CP iPhone apps for que lines and such? I downloaded 'Cedar Point Ride Watch' and it seems like it only works by other people updating the times from their phones. It's free so if you have an iPhone, check it out and use it for everyones benefit!

Cheers,
Mike

That's a great idea for peak months/days. It may be a little flawed during weekdays in october.

You think it would be any good on opening day weekend?

Do any of these crowdsourcing apps give you any feedback to tell you how many people are using the app on a given day, or how recent the data is?

--Dave Althoff, Jr., whose cell phone barely makes phone calls...

I don't think so..People just update the ride times as they are in them and it goes to one collective databass that people can look at and update their own..the only problem is the connectivity at CP..when I was there last I couldnt get a 3G signal to save my life..just Edge..

There is no 3G coverage in Sandusky on AT&T's network. EVDO is available with Verizon, though. You can take advantage of Verizon's data network with the iPhone if you have one of these. I can tell you from personal experience that it works great.

Nice thanks for the advice. AT&T's Edge network works fine up there, i'll just stick with that :)

I'm pretty certain Sprint's 3G works there.

As for the app, I think it would only really be feasible if it were cross-platform. Otherwise, there simply isn't going to be enough data to make it accurate.

I certainly wouldn't use the MiFi just to get a speed bump in Sandusky. It has plenty of other uses as well. :)

The app - and similar apps for other parks - are doomed to fail because they simply can't get the amount and consistency of data they need to be useful.

Not to mention anyone sitting at home can just start plugging whatever values they want into the system and completely screw it up.

I have to agree. If any app like this is going to get off the ground and do well, it's going to have to be run by the park.

I don't know if that means that they have the ride ops send in their aprox. wait time every 15 or 30 min or what but that's the only way it will work. However if they were able to pull this off, it would be a great way of doing it instead of putting up the aprox. wait signs up everywhere like we really want.

Disney does it with RFID tags that they hand out to random guests entering the queue. It gets scanned at the start and then when you hand it over ot the employee at the platform. Wouldn't be too hard to wire a system like that in and have it, at the very least, feed signs at the individual ride entrances.

I have to caution those who want to download the "unofficial" iPhone apps - they are all user-generated content and will likely not be accurate most of the time.

We've considered an iPhone app, but we also have to consider non-iPhone users. I have friends with iPhones that have awful coverage once they get here, so it's just not a good idea right now.

If anything, we'll probably look at enhancing our mobile site for mass appeal. We have some exciting projects lined up, so stay tuned.

Might I recommend an Android app rather than an iPhone app? More phones, and the coverage doesn't suck when you're on Point.

JuggaLotus said:
Not to mention anyone sitting at home can just start plugging whatever values they want into the system and completely screw it up.

The app that I downloaded uses the iPhones geolocating so you can't update the wait times unless you are inside the park.

JuggaLotus said:
Might I recommend an Android app rather than an iPhone app? More phones, and the coverage doesn't suck when you're on Point.

Don't worry, it's on the radar.

OnPointTony said:
If anything, we'll probably look at enhancing our mobile site for mass appeal. We have some exciting projects lined up, so stay tuned.

I think enhancing the mobile website is the way to go, rather than distributing apps for the various platforms. That way, even guests with web enabled feature phones, in addition to guests with smart phones, will be able to get at the information.

mrdeedsatl23 said:
The app that I downloaded uses the iPhones geolocating so you can't update the wait times unless you are inside the park.

Sure, but users still have to enter wait times or other data into the system. Not very reliable. Even worse, I can see someone entering a wait, let's make something up, of 3 hrs for Millenium Force in an effort to make people avoid the ride to make the line shorter for him.

Pete said:
...even guests with web enabled feature phones, in addition to guests with smart phones, will be able to get at the information.

Plus, if the park ever were to add WiFi (I know, I know), guests with an iPod Touch would be able to access it as well.

Pete said:

mrdeedsatl23 said:
The app that I downloaded uses the iPhones geolocating so you can't update the wait times unless you are inside the park.

Sure, but users still have to enter wait times or other data into the system. Not very reliable. Even worse, I can see someone entering a wait, let's make something up, of 3 hrs for Millenium Force in an effort to make people avoid the ride to make the line shorter for him.

Very true..guess it kinda goes on the honor system here =/..they can also just look at the estimated wait time listed at the front of rides..not necessarily wait through them.