iPhone App

Keep in mind with wait times, anytime their is a guest illness or mechanical downtime it would throw off any system that would be put into place.

Also just because you see a sign at Maverick saying that TTD has a 30 min wait, does not mean that by the time you get there it would be 30 min (assuming signs would be placed at the major attractions only).

That's true, but more times than not, it's gonna be close to the posted wait time. It helps you plan your day/ route in the park better.

Very true. There honestly isn't a sure way to tell accurate times. I've noticed at the sixflags here in Atlanta that for some of the more popular rides they have signs throughout the queue saying 15//30/60/90 minute wait at this point. These are sometimes not true though because of the slack-ass employees that work there, but they are of some help.

RideMan said:
Of course, at Cedar Point, because ride operations is so consistent, you can usually achieve the same result by looking at the queue. If Millennium Force is backed up to the bottom of the ramp it is a 10 minute wait, to the pop machines is 30, to the DJ booth is 40, to the entrance is 75. Without any technology at all, Cedar Point is able to give pretty good up-to-the-minute estimates down to the nearest quarter-hour. What is missing is any method of distributing that information throughout the park.

You also have to consider the "crowd tide" (I'm really surprised that term isn't used more around here). For example, the line on Raptor at 10am is usally near an hour, but come back around 4-ish and it's only 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Magnum is usually walk on for the first hour or so, but late afternoon it's considerably longer. Again, due to the consistant operations trends like these are/were clockwork. Adding new attractions to the far end of the park and early ride times throw a lot of these trends out of whack but they're still there to some extent. There's nothing stopping a bunch of enterprising geeks to gather their own data and forecast waits based on all these factors. Hmmm, as a new Android owner and software developer, perhaps I should become more enterprising :)

As someone whose HTC Hero is currently on the UPS truck, I concur. :)

Yeah you can kinda guess what the ride times will be at Raptor and Maverick will be based on the time of day. Obviously because of their locations to the main gate, it's only reasonable to guess that the lines will be longer at the closer rides earlier.

ugh it says dragster has an 30 wait

RideMan said:
Of course, at Cedar Point, because ride operations is so consistent, you can usually achieve the same result by looking at the queue.

I've been doing this for years as well. This is the main reason I have come to hate the coasters with 'hidden' queues. Namely, Dragster, Mean Streak, and Bobsled in the Dark. Mantis can be tricky, but can be seen from the right locations. Riding Iron Dragon helps to scope out Dragster as well.

Corkscrew will get you a decent look at Dragster's queue while still being in the area of Dragster's entrance.

If it's bright out and you have good eyes, you can see through the structure of Mean Streak enough to get an idea how long the line is.

Disaster you have to go in, but once in, you immediately know how long it is.

I always ride Power Tower to see all the lines.

Power Tower is king of line checking. Especially since its so centrally located. You just have to get good seats.

I'm using Ride Hopper for Android which I update honestly. I think the type of people that would download such an application and use it are most likely not the type to update it erroneously.

Just wanted to bring back up the point that AT&T now has 3G at the Point. AT&T's coverage is much better now, sorry Tony. :-P

WaterDummy said:
Just wanted to bring back up the point that AT&T now has 3G at the Point. AT&T's coverage is much better now, sorry Tony. :-P

About damn time..thank god

Yeah! I was excited to see 3G pop up on my phone at the Point when I went a few weeks ago...but the iPhone isn't allowed in with me in the park. It stays safe and sound in the car :)

I'm at the park now and updating Ride Hopper for android as best I can. They still have demon drop on here.. heh.

PrawoJazdy said:
I'm at the park now and updating Ride Hopper for android as best I can. They still have demon drop on here.. heh.

What's it listing for wait time?

If it's not infinity not sure we can trust that apps accuracy. ;-)

No wait as of 10:09 Monday morning. Thats whats cool about this app. It updates itself throughout the day if other users are not. Its close, but not as accurate when users are updating.

PrawoJazdy said:
No wait as of 10:09 Monday morning. Thats whats cool about this app. It updates itself throughout the day if other users are not. Its close, but not as accurate when users are updating.

No wait for Demon Drop?
So we'll be able to jump right on when we're at the Point? ;)

Check out the new point poll. It's asking for what type of phone you use... I guess this will probably result in an offical app for the winning smart phone.

Hopefully, it will prioritize how they roll out any official park apps. And given current mobile trends, Android being first should be a no-brainer. :)