Raw Efficiency

^ Darien Lake cannibalized the second trains for MotoCoaster and Mind Eraser and the third Viper train years ago for parts. Predator hasn't run two trains since they bought the Voyage train from Holiday World. Not sure why they quit running two trains on RoS but there was always a second train on the transfer. They bought one new train for 2016 and the old ones went away. Between the slow as molasses operations and one train, we calculated the hourly capacity on MotoCoaster as 144pph on a Saturday afternoon in August.

The only reasons we still buy passes is because my son really enjoys Hooks Lagoon, and the campground is reasonably priced with passes (we bought a camper in 2015).

What is SPAC, and where is the Lake View Amphitheater? Do they get big name concerts? I've actually never had a problem with DLPAC... I don't drink so $20 beers (or whatever they cost) don't bother me.

djDaemon said:

Shades said:

My point was that opening the gates faster will not shave 2 seconds off of a dispatch time (and that is assuming the gate is currently at 4 seconds, which it is not).

Raptor hourly capacity = 1600 ==> Raptor dispatches per hour = 1600/32 = 50 ==> 1 Raptor dispatch every 72 seconds

Therefore, saving 2 seconds in any way increases theoretical capacity by 2/72 ==> 2.78%.

If opening the gate in 0 seconds (i.e. no gate) results in the on-boarders still waiting on the off-boarders then you are throwing money at something that does not help reduce the dispatch time.

Yes, but this assumes the gate is never a hindrance to capacity, which isn't always the case. And it gets away from the initial point which was that double gates are more efficient in terms of capacity compared to single gates.

I’ll try this again. The speed of the gates is not impacting the dispatch time. Let’s be silly and say the gates open 30 seconds prior to the train pulling into the station. By your logic that would shave 30 seconds off of the dispatch time which would result in a train being dispatched in 41 seconds as compared to your 72 seconds. By simple math that is correct. Unfortunately reality sets in and screws things up. Unless opening the gates sooner, or faster as is being discussed somehow equates to the people currently on the train getting out faster than they currently do then speeding up the gates provides absolutely no benefit.

I do admit that I am assuming that the gate is never a hindrance to dispatch times. An invalid assumption? Maybe. But realize that I only need 1 row of slowpokes exiting the train in order to make my assumption valid. The odds of at least one row being slow – pretty high I suspect. In order for the gates to not impact the dispatch all 8 rows of the train must be out of their seat before the people coming get to the seat. Can that happen? Sure. But my experience says that is a very rare occurrence.

Yeah the camping along with the water park are big positives for the place. Maybe the management feels that's the biggest draw and I would imagine they are right. Good lord though only a couple hundred an hour? Had to have been a long wait.

SPAC = Saratoga Performing Arts Center, easily the best venue on the east coast. If any band you love goes there you must see them. Acoustically under the roof was designed for orchestras, most bands prefer playing at SPAC over most venues. Lake View is right next to the fairgrounds in Syracuse and opened last year. Many bands including Dave decided to ditch DL for Lake View. It's a really nice venue, I was impressed. All of them attract big ticket bands.

Oh and let me give a shout out to Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls Ohio. Fantastic venue! Nothing like seeing a show and then heading to CP the next day :)

djDaemon said:
I don't know, it seems like keeping around 3 trains worth of people in the station is ideal. That provides enough bodies to keep trains mostly full, while avoiding a chaotic station where it's difficult to see a row that may go unfilled.

In the case of Raptor, you literally can not fit 12 people in each row of that station. The best Raptor crews that I've seen have the guy at crowd just waving people in with his arm, telling them to keep moving. If the rest of the crew is hitting interval and filling the seats, you should barely have to ever stop them because the ride carries almost as many people per minute as can walk through the turnstile. If it gets packed all the way to the door, just stop them for a train or two.

Since we are talking efficiency, I should bring this up.
Guess what type of coaster has the best capacity?

Nope, not a launch coaster

Nope, not a Wing Coaster

Nope, not a hyper/Giga

NO, not an invert

The answer: B&M Flying coasters.

If they have a good crew (like a Cedar Point level crew or better) and the park is willing to not cheap out and actually get a dual station, and the park is not lazy and decides to run all the trains (all 5), flying coasters have the best capacity by quite a bit over any type of coaster.

Sure, it takes longer to load and dispatch a flying train, but with 2 stations, you can run a crazy number of trains. One in each station, one on the lift, one running the layout (you have the MCBR so the train just leaving the lift doesn't run into the other train if something goes wrong) and one train on the final breaks ready to enter a station.

With a dual station, running 3 trains and with a mediocre crew, you can still hit 1600 rides per hour. With 5 trains, a dual station and a good crew, you can hit over 2000 riders per hour!

Now that is efficiency!

With a dual station, high cap trains, and short interval block sections, you could theoretically run capacity faster than people can load trains. Regardless of the type of coaster ride.

Oh. Great. He returns...

CP FLYIN said:
Guess what type of coaster has the best capacity?
...
The answer: B&M Flying coasters.

Wrong.

A coaster of any type with a dual station will have better capacity than the same type with a single station.

And do you know what else a dual station has? Double the operating costs.