Ride Capacity Questions

Hey all,
This is just for my own nerdy knowledge, but I was wondering what kind of ride-capacity standards does Cedar Point maintain on their coasters (knowing that every coaster is different).
Do ride-ops have to try to maintain a certain hourly or daily capacity? If so, what are some of those benchmarks for the different coasters?

Safety is the #1 concern. I would rather a ride be slow and take forever as long as ride ops are checking and doing everything necessary to make a safe ride.

That being said to make as many people happy as possible most rides are designed with operations in mind to make it quick, easy, and have a high throughput (see practically every B&M).

You can go to RCDB I believe, if not I know Wiki usually lists them but usually with stats they'll list the theoretical capacity of a ride. That capacity is if everything is sent and dispatched right at the exact interval and moment a train can be sent. This can be done but not always. You will have guest illnesses, VIP boarding, loose articles, etc. that hinder operations, so it won't always hit that interval perfectly. So the crews will try to do their best at getting at or close to interval but it's not an easy task. Most rides if they have full trains for an hour can get somewhat close to capacity if they bust their ass and have compliant guests and no setbacks. So look at capacity and subtract a bit of that to account for any of those issues. Now the park won't release attendance figures & whatnot but thats the best way to guess.

Hitting interval is easy on certain rides with the right crew. Some rides are more difficult or even impossible. I know for MaXair, the interval is 1 minute and 30 (maybe 45) seconds, which means the ride is ready to dispatch after it has reached home position and the floor has raised. But it's not possible to unload, load, and check seats at MaXair within that time period. Now for WT, the interval time is 60 seconds. It is easy to hit when the people on your crew move fast. Like thedevariouseffect said, safety is the number one priority though. Unfortunately, trying to find staffing for ride locations have become difficult over the years, resulting in positions being cut, or becoming nonexistent. I know at least Raptor and Wicked Twister had more people checking seats on the platform back in 2008 than they do now. Wicked Twister used to have 6 ride hosts altogether checking seats, opposed to 4 it has now.

Thanks for the info, guys! It is really interesting to me to see how many riders these coasters can push through in an hour! I would've never guessed that a ride like the Gemini could accommodate 3,300 riders per hour!

Here is how to increase ride capacity, is throw away all the stupid bins to store all you junk in Lake Erie or add to the burn pile.

A ride however cannot exceed it's theoretical capacity basically though. Some rides will not let you dispatch any earlier than a set dispatch point.

Don't litter in Lake Erie, the lake is not your trash can.

Besides, Lake Erie is already dirty enough..

3,000 was easy for Gemini when they ran 6 trains. Now, with 4 trains, not so much.

But the bins could join the green train that is already in the lake.

So instead of the lake just stack them up in the middle of the parking lot and strike the match.

Perhaps the bins on Magnum will be in the lake sooner than later. :)

The only ride I would support removing the bins is on Maverick. The capacity on Maverick is already low and removing the bins would reduce wait times. I wear shorts with cargo pockets to put my souvenir cup in while riding. Most other rides, I don't think the bins are much of an issue.

I still don't get the hatred toward the bins. It helps keep loose articles off the rides where they could end up as projectiles. If it winds up making your wait 10 minutes longer over the course of a 2 hour line, so be it.

People go to amusement parks to have fun, not to methodically march from ride to ride, cramming as many cycles as they can. The anti-bin movement is purely an enthusiast complaint.

No, for me it's a "people carry too much **** they don't need" movement. To CP's credit, they do ok with bins, but only on rides that already load quickly.

I agree that a lot of people look like they are going on a 2 week hiking trip in the mountains rather than spending a day at an amusement park when you look at all that they carry.

I think if someone wins a prize in a game, they should get a handstamp and take it back to their vehicle rather than carry it around all day. And most phones today come with decent cameras built in, so I see no need to take a camera with you. All I carry with me is my souvenir cup and put it in my cargo pocket if there are no bins on the ride I'm going on. My wallet and phone are sealed by the lap bar on my pants pockets.

e x i t english said:
People go to amusement parks to have fun, not to methodically march from ride to ride, cramming as many cycles as they can. The anti-bin movement is purely an enthusiast complaint.

So much this.

It's a somewhat enthusiast-specific skill to be able to carry in one's pockets everything needed for an entire day in the park.

I don't love the impact on capacity bins have, but to me, they're good customer service. And while there are probably more elegant solutions to handling souvenirs, in my experience it tends to be other, more practical items that end up in bins.

I don't buy that at all. I have a kid, and even before he was potty trained we traveled with little more than a small bag with a diaper and wipes (and water bottle, when necessary). Seriously, these people who take an entire change of clothes I don't get at all.

Pile up all the bins on the beach for a bon fire.

Jeff, your kid must have been very neat. At 2 my nephew would spill food on his shirt almost every time he ate