Loose Article Bins

e x i t english said:
If it makes the line 5 minutes longer, so be it. If it allows me to better enjoy my day by being able to bring my camera or wear at hat and not worry about losing them on the ride, then I'm all for it.

But, according to my extremely ultra-super precise calculations, if the bins didn't exist that would be 2.375 seconds on average I would save per ride. If I add up all those seconds on all the rides, I might be able to get an extra restroom break between power walking to the next ride!

Honestly though, I don't live near the park so I can't go as much as I would like and witness the bins throughout the year to see what they help and don't, but in the times I've been there, the bins haven't caused any troubles at all for me. I'd rather people have the bins to put things in than get into an arguement with the ride ops about their camera that they wish to take on the ride, but don't have cargo pockets and refuse to give it to another rider like a ride op suggested. Oi, that held Millennium Force up a good 3 or 4 minutes, as opposed to the...20 second addition due to the bins? If that long?

I normally don't carry anything I can't fit in my cargo pockets, but at least now I don't have to throw my water or Pepsi away and can hide it in a corner of the bin somewhere. It beats having your water bottle come out of your pocket on Magnum while going over one of the hills, just sort of floated there... I managed to catch it though and hang on to it the rest of the ride. What baffled me was, the ride op told me I had to take it with me and to put it in my pocket? (this was back in 2004, I guess they didn't have bins then...can't really remember, but I'm still confused as to why they told me to just take the water bottle with me?)

Bins also would make me more likely to purchase a refillable souvenir bottle. (if I was still purchasing drinks - that's another story, though.) I remember back when they used to give you free refills all day/season if you just paid $8.95 for the bottle. They were seriously the best thing Cedar Point has ever done, food-wise, other than the recent 25 cent cotton candy.
I bought one, and wound up throwing it away because there was no place to put it. Now that the bins are available, the free refills aren't. :(

Jessai said:
[ What baffled me was, the ride op told me I had to take it with me and to put it in my pocket? (this was back in 2004, I guess they didn't have bins then...can't really remember, but I'm still confused as to why they told me to just take the water bottle with me?)

Yep, 2004 was a strange year as far as articles went. At the beginning of the season, and for the previous 15 seasons, almost anything except for video cameras, basketballs, and huge stuffed animals were alowed to be brought on the ride. And I do mean brought on the ride. Nothing was allowed to be left on the platform except for a cane or an umbrella.

Then in the middle of the season (actually, it might have even been in the middle of a day), they said no more loose articles past the entrance. I'm sure you can imagine the joys of trying to enforce this one when people had been used to bring their stuff on that ride for 15 years and had even done it earlier in the season. I was always semi-annoyed that Millennium Force at the time got two people and sometimes a security guard to enforce their entrance polices, but Magnum (a ride with about 30% more people passing through its entrance) had just one op. We allowed fanny packs, but then there was the issue of what constituted a fanny pack? Tying something around you wasn't good enough, but those little plastic three prong clasps (you know - the ones that break all the time) were. If someone made it to the train with an article, we'd have to get them out and have them go put it in a locker and come back up the exit. If they had a group with them, you often had to accomodate them too resulting in a bunch of empty seats and then having to hold a row or two to get them back on 5 minutes later. It was a royal pain for all parties.

Then in 2005, they started letting people throw their crap off to the side.

Now the bins. I don't think they are bad as long as the ops are allowed to use good judgement. If they see someone already strapped into the train holding a Pepsi bottle or a disposable camera, they should just take it from them and place it in the bin. This business of releasing restraints so they can go do it themselves is ridiculous and I'm glad some people have the sense to see that.

I hate the bins with a passion. You're going to an amusement park to ride things. How about planning ahead and not bringing a bunch of junk with you? Or, if you get something big while at the park, rent a locker. It's really not that hard.

You guys might think it only adds 5 minutes to your wait time, but if you really look at it, it adds at least a minute or more to EACH train. So, if you thirty trains get dispatched while you're in line, that's 30 more minutes.

The worst example of this is at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. Their dispatch times are AWFUL because almost everyone on the train has to practically change outfits to get on the train. HUGE waste of time and very inefficient. When you're trying to get up to 16 coasters and some flats in one day during the summer, those extra 30-60 minutes extra in EACH line waiting for people to dump their belongings is well worth it in my mind.

Can you imagine how long the line for MF and TTD would be if they allowed loose articles in the line? Just think about that for a second. I say eliminate all the loose articles from the line, period.

If we released the harness on every individual who has a loose artice on maXair and made them place it in the bins themselves, each gondola would be dispatched almost twice as longer than it already is. I guess it's just the design and set up of the ride but I'm pretty sure we're the only ride in the park who will place loose articles in the bin for the guests. Most people really appreciate when they realize that they are already secure and they left something with them and we are more than willing to place it in the bins for them.

Most of the time I don't mind placing it in the bins for the guests. With the operators doing it for the guest we can get the gondola clear within a reasonable amount of time and most of the guests are pleased with us taking loose articles to the bin for them. However, there are a few people who refuse to take off such items as glasses. Most of them being confused since they rode the Magnum with their glasses but now they're being asked to take them off on maXair.

As far as the rest of the rides are concerned I don't mind the bins for the same reasons as above that they don't really hurt interval that much and it's also less of an inconvenience for the guest. Like Matt said, if the ops use common sense to keep things moving as smoothly as possible, storage bins shouldn't be a problem.

Edit* Umm, as far as I can tell, the bins certainly do NOT add a mintue to EACH train. *** Edited 7/22/2006 2:39:27 PM UTC by Greg B***

Well I haven't been to CP yet this season, so I can't be sure how long its taking there. But, at Great Adventure, it adds AT LEAST a minute to each train dispatch. The ride ops are literally standing around waiting for people to come back to the train to get in their seats. Total waste of time. I know on Raptor, I see the ops in the front waiting around a LOT. Last season it was just annoying. But, they still dispatch trains relatively quick. I can only imagine how quick the line would go if loose articles were not permitted on it.

I was there yesterday and the bins did very little to hurt capacity from what I saw. I thought they were a great addition because I hate ruining hats at CP from sitting on them on all the rides.

It looks like you are in the minority here, and among the guests at CP, halltd. I don't even care if it adds a minute to EACH TRAIN, which it doesn't, but I still wouldn't care, because it's accomodationg everyone.

I absolutely despise the "no one should be allowed to have loose articles because us enthusiasts want to ride" attitude. I hate it.

You like roller coasters, you like Cedar Point. Part of BOTH of those hobbies/experiences involves waiting in some kind of line.

If someone is on vacation, they are there to relax and have a good time, not to worry about having to run everything they buy or win out to a car or locker, or making one family member sit out and hold the cameras. You might not think its fair to have bins because it makes you wait in line an extra couple of minutes, but for some people, it makes all the difference.

But why do the bins have to be in the loading station? Why can't they be like MF and TTD and have them outside? I think lockers outside each ride is a better idea. Make them free, or like $0.25 or something.

The other reason I dislike the bins is safety. By allowing people to bring items into the line and into the station, you open up the possibility of having those items make it onto the train, fly out, damage the ride or injure a person. If you have the line attendant filter out those articles at the entrance of the line, you just make the ride that much safer. I've been hit by cell phones and other devices on coasters and its NOT fun.

But cell phones and other devices are almost always in pockets, cargo or otherwise, so they wouldn't be stopped by the entrance attendant anyway.

By the "filter" logic, you would have to pat each and every rider down at the entrance to make sure they don't have any articles that could possibly fly out and hit somone. Any you think bins slow the line down? :) (just think airport security).

So far, I have not seen one safety concern with people putting things in bins. They still don't allow basketballs and overly-huge stuffed animals in lines, so it's really not that different from years gone by, except now instead of being forced to take your bag on the ride with you and have it possibly go flying, you can safely leave it in the station.
Also, I have seen ride ops placing things in the bins for guests on every ride that has them this year, which really helps.

There is nothing worse than an enthusiast who thinks it's his right to ruin every one else's day because he wants to get out of line 10 minutes faster.

Idiots. Have they ever heard of just enjoying the park?

MrScott

Fastball, I couldn't agree more.

MrScott, I don't get it either... :-\

e x i t and Mr. Scott, I agree with you in principle, except I'm not sure I'd go along with a whole extra minute per train to the wait. If you've got an hour wait for a ride, and assuming they get a train through the station every two minutes, that would be an extra 30 minutes tacked on. Seems a bit excessive. No offense. :)

To me, it's a matter of having rules and sticking to them. If signs clearly state at the beginning of the queue that you can't take x, y, or z on this ride, it's the rider's responsibility to take care of those items before getting in line. Having lockers at or near the ride entrance is a courtesy extended by the park (as well as a chance to earn a little extra scratch). But if the signage doesn't specify, then some means ought to be provided to guests in the station, like bins, because in that instance it isn't the rider's fault he didn't know what wasn't told him.

I have a loose article bin at home. It's where I keep my surplus the's, an's, and these's. Keeps them from escaping and mucking up my posts. Grammar humor.

Ensign Smith said:
e x i t and Mr. Scott, I agree with you in principle, except I'm not sure I'd go along with a whole extra minute per train to the wait. If you've got an hour wait for a ride, and assuming they get a train through the station every two minutes, that would be an extra 30 minutes tacked on. Seems a bit excessive. No offense. :)

We're not the ones saying that's how long it would take. halltd is.

However, I don't see it being NEARLY that long. Raptor has always had bins, and the line has always moved along really steadily. I don't think it would be any different if you took those bins away, because they seem to hit interval most of the time no matter what.

and the crews totally seems to deal with this in a very efficient way. I have yet to notice any serious lag time.

Yeah, I've never really seen it slow things down too terribly. Compared to all the other steps that have to take place on a loading platform -- or at least, a CP loading platform -- it's small potatoes.

By the way, I'm heading out tomorrow on my big summer park adventure. In seven days I'm trying to squeeze in:

Paramount (CF) Canada Wonderland
Martin's Island
Six Flags Darien Lake
Sea Breeze
Dorney Park
Dutch Wonderland
Knoebels
Del Grossos
Lakemont
Idlewild

Wish me luck! I'll give everybody a shout out when I get back. Don't let them finish Maverick while I'm gone!

I for one still dislike the bins, and people carrying their damn closet along with them at a freaking amusement park. There is absolutely no reason anyone needs to tote around a backpack all day long full of crap at an amusement park.

In the rare case there is a good reason, lockers are there to utilize. I wish they had more of them, honestly.

It's not just about me getting in and out of line faster. Running all the way to the safeties at Dragon or Magnum to reset a setup ride isn't exactly fun for a ride op im sure.

My rule of thumb is that if it doesn't go into zippered pockets, it's staying in the car. I really don't need much in the park anyway, what, a small amout of legal currency, and keys? OK, if you're gonna get something, it's probably best to put it in a locker, and besides, isn't that kind've common courtesy to other guests by not taking away from ride time? Why can't people decide for themselves what can and can't be taken on, in accordance with CP's rules? Am I just thinking that people these days have way more intelligence than they have, or what?