Single Rider lane?

After going to Disney and riding Test Track, it got me thinking about TTD and the single riders. I'm not sure how often a train is sent out with single seats open (any employee input?), but would it be be benificial to have this option as to wait times, weight etc?

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Beer and golf Thursday thru Monday, Cedar Point & beer, Tuesday and Wednesday.

They do yell for single riders a lot, at least everytime i've been in the station they have yelled for them. However, they get assigned to a seat if they come forward, so if I was single rider I would rather wait for a certain seat if I had a favorite.

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Final 2003 Stats: Trips: 37
Top Thrill Dragster: 17
Magnum XL-200: 85 (last train of the year in 6-1)

I worked on Dragster for several weeks and calling for single riders was one thing we always did. Its hard because some people are in groups of 3, or 5 and they want to ride together. A single rider 'line' would be good, for people in line by themselves, but I don't see that happening. With Dragster hopfully running at near top capacity, I don't forsee a problem with the single riders. I rode several times last season and the longest I waited was 2 and a half hours, and that was with a 45-an hour delay.
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Monster/W.W. Crew '04
Monster/W.W. Crew '03

Yes, they do call out for single riders, but what I think happens is that you have already waited in line for a given amount of time, so jumping out of your spot, climbing over people in front of you, all within the min or so they have for loading is a pain and not worth it a lot of time (especially if your group has an odd number). What would you save - 2 or 3 ride cycles.

My suggestion would be to follow the ski areas, and have a dedicated single rider line. Frequently it moves MUCH faster than the regular line, and occassionally my entire group desides to ride the singles line because frequently you can ride close to eachother. Making the decision at the front of the line is the best way to execute a single rider line, as well ensuring the ride operates at full capacity.

Tom - my $.02

Having worked Dragster myself I beleive a single rider line is a nice idea, it however does not make sense. The single rider line would actually end up making people wait longer in line as every train does not always have single riders. Granted there are a lot of single riders on the platform. It could take a 5-10 minute platform wait and make it a 15 - 20 minute platform wait.

Now if the single rider line was a part of an already existing line as Tom mentioned it might make better sense. You'd have all the single riders in the one seat line mixed in with double riders. I can then foresee this being a problem as then the single riders would have less of a choice than they already have as the load hots already assign seats to single riders. At least with the current method, the single rider has a 50/50 chance of riding in their desired seat.

Edit - Single Rider lines are a bad idea
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- Chris -
Monster/WW ATL 02
Monster WW TL 03
Antiques/Swings TL 04
*** This post was edited by Flisk 3/23/2004 8:44:50 AM ***

Who knows Chris, you mentioned the lack of midway music near monster and now that is being fixed. Thanks a lot...jk
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Monster/W.W. Crew '04
Monster/W.W. Crew '03

Hey, now.... :) Rob said that it was already in the works before i mentioned it ;) hehehe. But Zac will hate me anyways. lol

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- Chris -
Monster/WW ATL 02
Monster WW TL 03
Antiques/Swings TL 04

Single Rider lines on rides that have two-across seating is silly. Theoretically, every single rider will pair up with another single rider filling a row.

The single rider line on Test Track works so well because the ride has three-across seating and usually people group up in even numbers at parks.

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- John
I Snap Flyers

As a frequent single rider (wife hates coasters), I think the idea of a single rider line sucks - the line would have to be for a specific seat, so it would drastically limit my choice. Can't tell you how many times I've got a front seat ride instead of a 2nd row ride by being a single rider - esp on Raptor! :)

One *advantage* of being a single rider under the current system is being paired with groups of 3 or 5 - more often than not I end up not waiting on the platform for very long. If I can count an odd number of people in line for the front seat, I'll join that line, since chances are I wont wait the full line-length.

And I have to give 5 stars to CP for training the ride ops to look out for empty seats that need a single rider, and to try and find us lonesome folk in the line - it is something I have not experienced at any other park.

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Steve

I agree with Panman. My wife also hates coasters. My daughter is getting to the point where she has worked her way up to the Magnum. It may be several years before she rides TTD. Usually when I get close to the platform they always call for single riders and I can usually take five or ten minutes off my wait.

Keep it up CP. They take very good care of us single riders.

I used to think that a single rider lane would be the way to go, but upon carefull consideration, I think the system is best as is. You have far more choices and the wait times are reduced on the platform. I "snaked" my way into a front seat ride on MF once this way all the way from the back of the line. It kind of makes me feel like I'm getting away with something. Like legalized line-jumping. :)

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This ain't no book you you can close, when the big light hits your eyes. Cropduster-Riot Act-Pearl Jam

The employees of Cedar Point, every attraction, are by far some of the most thorough and efficient ride ops that I have ever experienced. I've been to many parks around the country and have yet to see the kind of efficiency and attitude that CP employees give.

Disney is pretty good at it too but they don't have as many restraint-type rides as CP.

To work a repetitious job all day, a lot of hours, dealing with the public and maintain the image of a professional employee says a lot about the caliber of people that CP has working for them.

I've been to other parks where they were stacking, slowly launching trains that were 80% full due to single riders on a major attraction. They also had 2 seats together empty.

There is no need for this, it is called, being lazy.

Imagine what the waits would be at CP if the ride ops were going into their job half efforted?

I wouldn't be waiting in those lines.

The fastest part of the line is from the ramp up to the station if you ask me. It's all becasue of the Ride Ops ask for single riders. Currently it's a very good system for both Single and double riders. My GF and I went from the bottom of the ramp up into the station and onto a train in 5 minutes our first time in line. That was fast compared to the other coasters.

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- Chris -
Monster/WW ATL 02
Monster WW TL 03
Antiques/Swings TL 04

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Tom said:

My suggestion would be to follow the ski areas, and have a dedicated single rider line. Frequently it moves MUCH faster than the regular line

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While singles lines do work well at ski resorts, there are some major differences between queuing for TTD compared to a ski lift. Most lifts that have singles lines are either triples or quads, those seating arrangements are much more practical to make a singles line work than the double seating on TTD. Also, a ski lift only has one loading point. Using a singles line on TTD, with multiple loading points for the different seats, would be chaos in my opinion.

Having the ride operators match up singles before loading is about the only practical way to do it, and CP does a great job with that.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

Hi,

I know this is old, but haven't seen mention recently, of what the single rider situation looks like this year.

I'm going alone, and would love any tips on what rides can get me on fastest, or anything~!

Thanks

The only single rider line is on Maverick and it doesn't benefit the rider much as you don't get to it until most of the way through the line. When it's used, it does benefit the overall throughput. But an individual's wait will only be 5 to 10 minutes shorter by using it. Often times, there isn't even an attendant at the top of the stairs utilizing the single riders. In which case you either make the walk of shame back down the stairs or be the person who then cuts back into line at the top of the stairs.