other improvements for 07

What I would like to see is those conveyor belts like you see in airports.

Man, that would make for a much nicer day.

;)

e x i t english said:
I was just thinking about that when I was up there yesterday. Disney does it, in a way...

With the exception of MGM's wait time chalkboard. :)

True Loopy, what you say makes sense, from what I am reading other parks use a system like this, correct?

Why does it work at other parks? and with what your saying why arnt people leaving those parks?

I have no clue about this, just picking your brain.

Greg

I suppose in those other parks there are more "vacationers" than at CP. While i'm sure there's many people that come to CP for their vacation there's probably more that just come for a day or so. Where at most "theme" parks that use a system like this, you're there for a week or so.

I drive 2 hours to get to CP and when i'm done there, i'm done. We get in the car and drive home. At WDW you would be more inclined to hang out more because you don't have much more to do. I suppose you could go back to the hotel room and look at eachother for a while though, maybe watch some TV.

Just my thoughts on the situation.

Look at it from CP's point of view, what is the cost/benefit of buying and implementing a system.
You may say this would increase visitor happiness, but really how much?

I don't think needing hour to hour updates on ride status is really needed, so basically the major use of the system would be queue length.

I haven't been to a park that implements these, but do they improve queue length that much anyways? Couldn't it cause a rush to a ride only to get there and find the queue length has changed as many people have done the same?

Anyways, seasoned visitors know the best times of the day to ride certain rides and we want to keep that advantage. ;-)

This comes up almost every year on here. I would be nice for those busy days, but the system would be pointless for much of the season. MF and TTD are the only rides I usually have to wait longer than 30 minutes for, even in the summer months.

That is a good point Gomez. There really are just a handfull of days/weeks that would really benefit from that. I didn't even think about that. I say the heck with the whole idea! LoL. That would make sense that Disney and Universal have a system like this b/c they are crowded 364 days a year.

Good point, if it was updated every half hour, when people seen it was only a 30 minute wait for MF there would be a mad dash for MF then it would be a long wait.. then it wouldnt be updated for a while.

ohh well, worth chattin about for a while.

have they did any work on the new 500 foot coaster this weekend?

Greg

Another good idea is changing all the park's tv for viewing your on-ride photo to all LCD screens. I know Dragster has it but just put a LCD where a tv screen is and then go on from there doing the screens at the front of the line.

Or I was think waht about have them on the midways like a big screen like a door size of a house and then lst all the rides and wait times and if they are closed or anything. They could put them on the main parts of the midway not all over but where people walk a lot. I think that would be good and not have to worry about all the screens at each diffrent ride.

Ohiocoasterman18 said:

Or I was think waht about have them on the midways like a big screen like a door size of a house and then lst all the rides and wait times and if they are closed or anything. They could put them on the main parts of the midway not all over but where people walk a lot. I think that would be good and not have to worry about all the screens at each diffrent ride.

I'm guessing you didn't read this thread? B/c if you did you would see why your comments have already been stated and that you really wasted your time posting all that and came a minute closer to carpal tunnel by typing all that.

Just a thought for next time, ACTUALLY read the thread first other than the first 2 post. Thanks.
*** Edited 8/21/2006 4:35:17 AM UTC by CrazyCoasterGuy***
*** Edited 8/21/2006 4:36:35 AM UTC by CrazyCoasterGuy***

Ok I know this is more technical and more cost but lets say that they had a system of lasers/infared beams (like say for your garage door opener, at the bottom, that stops it if your standing there.) They could be placed so many inches/feet apart and be estimated how long the wait is from that point. If one is broken for more then say a minuet then the wait time should go up to that point on the computer. I did also think of the problems with it.

Now for the downsides and why it probably wouldnt work.

It could completely miss the feet of someone and give a wrong reading if it picks up a gap instead. The other problem is if someone stops accidently at one that says an hour or two while they wait for someone, it would read as two hours when it may only be a half hour or 15 minuets.

Thoes are just my ideas (which are the result of thinking too much :) )but im sure some other plan could be divised that used some sensors to update in real time, but as Even I said before and many others have said cost is everything. *** Edited 8/21/2006 5:40:46 AM UTC by cedarpoint24/7***

The wireless wouldn't be that hard or expensive if they use BlueTooth. A lot of cell phones are BlueTooth compatible. They could transmit park/ride info to anyone with a BlueTooth device.

^^ The system Disney uses is much simpler and pretty darn effective. When a guest enters a line (any guest, they are chosen at random) they are given a key-card looking thing that has been scanned at the entrance. This is then carried by the guest to the boarding platform where it is handed off to an op and scanned. The computer calculates the time and updates any boards around the park. Handing them out every 10-15 minutes gives an accurate enough representation of the wait time. It doesn't need to be true real-time.

That is a great system. I wonder how many cards get "lost in the shuffle".

Dosent Cedar Point already have network cable throughout the park? when they were talking about the Halloweekends last year and the the smoke machines, they said they were networked, and with all the machines all over, i would assume there would have to be a central network.

so assuming there was a central network, the cost of these "card readers" that you were talking about cant be much, i would assume you would use ones like they use in hotels for doors and such, cheap and easly replaceable.

sounds like a cool idea.. even if it is a mute point!

Greg

:Hollers in native voice: :poke:

Anyway, it wouldn't cost as much as you all think. Hell even if it was just LED Signs. You hook a small computer up to each sigh which probably wouldn't cost the park $500 a piece. And then the monitor or led sign wont cost more than 2k - And most likely less. The networking wouldn't be as hard as you think ethier. The only complicated thing I can think of would be the imput system. How would one computer system poll a line and get wait time? I suppose you could use a Disney type system, with the proximity cards that run through the line. But then again here comes more natives... I'm not saying the system wouldn't be a neat and intresting edition to the park, but if you do anything to interfear with 80 Magnum rides in a day, you'd probably have to be shot.

The system would cost the park nothing. All it needs is a sponsor. Ride times brought to you by .........

Does anyone know how IOA does their wait times? I know they have a sign with all the major rides listed and a little LED screen next to the ride names with the wait time (in minutes) up at the front of the park.

Are all of them LED? I remember some of them just being under lock and key, and every once in a while an employee would go around and change them.

I have a weird concept on how to get closer to real time estimates all done electronically. Have a turnstile or something similar to count the people entering the queue. Have this calculating in coordination with the launch of the train and the capacity of each train. All simple math, just a formula to calculate, it could even just be a truly low-tech linux machine, so long as it can produce the graphics to display on the screen.

For the screens, they could have an LCD, say 40", above each entryway or somewhere near which would display both the name of the ride and the approximated wait time as calculated by the computer. This info could then be sent through networking cables throughout the park to the various monitors throughout which update visitors as they go through the park.

The technology isn't that bad these days, and with what it could do for the park, it may not be that bad of an investment and may be easily made up for...

Hey, the Southfield, MI, Meijer location has a system of, what, plasmas? throughout the store which display the "ABC In-Store Network," essentially an advertisement of the network and their shows. They could do something similar of sorts if they needed additional revenue to cover the system, except that they probably wouldn't be hanging from the ceiling... Unless of course Cedar Fair decided to cover the entire Point with a ceiling... :O

Yes, I have no life. This is what I come up with all day :P