Ride closing

If the park closes at 10, when do they close off the ride lines?

They close the lines at 10 but will run until everyone in line gets on.

So even if the Dragster had an hour line at 9:30 the ride would stay open til possibly 11?

yes

They will close the lines at 10:08 on a 10 o'clock closing day. They always close all lines 8 minutes after the park closes.

I seem to remember back in the day how they used to close the lines early according to the wait for them. I was so surprised a couple years ago in returning to CP after a 10 year hiatus to see that people could enter the line right up until close.

^^ I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the queues were open a few minutes after close. When did they start doing that?

From what I've heard, there's no official policy that guarantees queues will be open past the park's scheduled closing time. It does happen often, even during ERT, but is not guaranteed and is offered without warranty.

I'm guessing the couple minutes after closing thing is probably just a courtesy to try to avoid disappointing people who run across the park to get into that one last ride and make it there 2 minutes late. Could also be just to account for watches not being synchronized to make sure rides are closing after closing so they get into less arguments wiht people who insist it's not ten yet.

Cedar Point has always closed the lines at closing time, well, for as long as I can remember. I know it was like that when I worked there in the 70's and it's never changed.

At Kings Island, on the other hand, it was common for ride queues to close early so the last ride of the day was at or near closing time. I remember on some evenings it was necessary to get to The Beast by 8:30 or there was no night ride. Now, that policy was in effect before the park went to Cedar Fair, and I'm pretty sure in the meantime it's changed to the way CP has always done it.

Indeed it has changed at Kings Island. Additionally, The Beast shuts down (and potentially its queue as well) for nightly fireworks; it reopens after the brief show to allow guests to enjoy their final night rides.

How do they handle ERT on rides when the lines from the crowds run an hour after closing? Do they wait until the crowd has ridden, and then start the ERT?

Iron Dragon is like that at Cedar Point as well. It closes at around 8:30 or so for Luminosity. All other rides remain open until 10 or slightly after on regular closes and 12 when the park is open to midnight. They will cycle through until their line is empty.

The only exception is if a ride should go down due to mechanical or weather related issues prior to closing or while trying to empty their queues. In this case it is possible that it will not re-open for the night. I have also seen on occasion TTD or Millie stay open later if they were plagued with downtime during the day and manage to open just before close. This is obviously not guaranteed though.

^^ Post-close ERT events generally start once the regular line has run out. For instance, Platinum Passholder ride nights last one longer from the time the line is re-opened. On more popular rides (Maverick, Dragster, etc.) and during busier parts of the season, it may take 30-45+ minutes for the line to run out and ERT to officially begin.

Some post-close ERT events involve an early close of the regular line. For instance, all of Frontier Town shut down early during last year's Coaster Campout. It was a midnight close and they didn't want ERT to last until around 2am.

RCMAC, maybe that's what I remember. Growing up in central Ohio, we went to both KI and CP every year. I certainly remember booking it to the Beast to get in line before they cut it off, and then hoping it would be dark enough by the time we rode. I thought it used to be that way at CP, too.

I was disappointed because we wanted one more dragster ride at night but when we got there at 9:40 it was closed.

Top Thrill Dragster: opening late and closing early since 2003.

(Sorry, I can't resist an opportunity to poke fun.)

I've seen TTD run more than Maverick this year during my visits. For some reason, Maverick is always down at least once when I go this season so far.

I remember my last season working at the Point, they would close Frontiertown first. Mine Ride would have finished their last ride around 10:00 PM, as was Shoot the Rapids. The flat rides were closed by then and the Frontier Lift would have started pulling in the cabins by then. We'd bring the clean up train in about that time, and we'd wait for about fifteen minutes. Most of who got on were the ride crews and sometimes a few guest stragglers. Usually whistled off at 10:20 and made a "speed" run for Main. Liked to have cut off the train , backed into the yard and start cleaning the fire by around 10:30. If you were not an employee and still in Frontiertown or on the Trail by that time you more than likely got an escort to the front gate.

If the park closes at 10 the ride lines are open until 10:08 as to allow guest to get into line for the one last ride. This counts for the coasters. The children's areas however close at 10, However they do not kick you out of line if there is a hour long line they keep running the ride until everyone has gotten a chance to ride unless there is some kind of mechanical down time or weather issues this is something that the park can not help from happening they however still do not kick you out of line and let you wait to see if the ride will open. However you should remember that these are people who have sometimes worked 12 hours that day and are going to have to do it for the rest of the week so as a courtesy if the ride goes down for something I normally just leave the line and understand that the crew is already looking at a long night ahead of them. :)