Station queuing

Yell at you? Things may be different now. Do they ever prevent you from moving and/or force you to remain in the line for the front row?

Like I said, in '01 we looked at it as an easy way of not having to argue with the guest over where they sit. It was a blessing to be able to say "just wait for the front seat and then change your mind when the time is right".

The guest was happy, we were happy and people still only waited for the front seat or the back seat.

Yeah, I can see a ride OP yelling at a customer for "changing their mind" turning into a PR nightmare. I could imagine getting some free tickets out of that!

You should never need yelled at...unless in extreme cases of possibly injuring yourself or others, or causing a disruption. However, even most of those cases could be better handled with good customer service skills.

I've had a couple different reactions ranging from the annoyed eye roll up to and including one person at WT a couple years ago telling me I had to stay in the back seat line (I wanted to ride in the second to back which is the "money" seat on WT). I didn't let it ruin my day, but it was kind of surprising having worked at the place and just not seeing why they'd even care.

I totally agree with what you are saying Richie and quite frankly a lot of things your crew and others did back then made a lot more sense than what goes on now! :) I'm honestly not sure if this "rule" is really policy or if it is just the more overzealous employees wanting to lay the smack down! :) I don't even bother trying it anymore. I'm not looking for trouble.

The only time I mind being put in a particular row is on WT, as sitting close to the back makes the ride 10x better than the middle in my opinion. Having said that, it does tend to move things along much faster so I'm still for it. I can see Muggsy's point however in that after waiting so long it can be aggrivating not to sit where you want.

I went on the 20th and was very impressed that they were limiting the number of people in Magnum's station. They were still filling it, but it wasn't nearly as packed as when no grouper is present.

The reason for the different loading procedures on the rides is safety. You can only load 1 train at a time on millennium due to a fire code or something of that sorts. (that's what we were told in '05) We tried in '05, flooding the station...well we did it often enough. Apparently there aren't many fire escapes for Millenniums load platform, that is according to supervision and management. I don't agree that you can't wait for a particular seat on MF. I wish they would allow you to wait for more seats the the first and last rows.

Hopefully things will change and get better in the future. As for now just deal, wait a moment for the front row..then change your mind!

While I applaud the OPs' attempts to make things move along more quickly, any assigning of rows is merely a suggestion. You've payed your admission into the park, and you can sit where you want, in my opinion, and no ride OP is gonna tell me how to enjoy my hard-earned money.

After all, does the guy behind the mic tell you what to order at the McDonald's drive thru? And even if he did, would you listen?

I am beginning to understand the "policies". My problem is the inconsistency. It seems to me that if there is a policy, then stick with it. That is the frustrating part. If one time I can choose my seat on MF, then 30 minutes later I can't, then someone is not following rules.

dj - That's what I like about the "soft assigning". For the people who don't care and are wishy-washy about what row they want, having it "assigned" to them helps a lot. But, if you want a different row, the ride op usually doesn't have an issue. To me, that's thes best way to load up a station.

Yep. However, I wouldn't care if the OP did have a problem. Heck, I wouldn't care if he scolded me for ignoring his seat assignment. The bottom line is, I'm going to sit where I want. Period.

So, I suppose I consider all assigning to be "soft".

::Drumroll please::

I agree 100% with you DJ, no way in hell will I accept assigned seating on a coaster when I paid $40 for admission...same would go since I have season passes.

It is terrible customer service to tell somebody where to sit on a ride, especially since where you sit drastically changes a ride. No other park really does this- it will severely dampen the riders experience and go against the goal of making the park's customers happy.

True. But, the assignments will only work for those people who don't have strong convictions about where they want to sit, so I see no problem with seats being assigned, so long as there are no repercussions for ignoring the assignment.

yeah- you can be assigned a seat but feel free to switch kind of thing... if MF would let 1.5-2 train's worth in the platform, people will still get to choose their seats and those that dont care or dont know where to sit will go for the first available anyway.

ALL of the Disney parks I've been to assign seating for their coasters. They don't just "soft assign" either. They TELL you what number to stand on. And, most people don't care. Even on the rides at CP that assign you a number like Power Tower and Skyhawk, if you ask for a different side, they'll let you have it. I wanted to ride a different arm on Skyhawk and they let me. All I had to do was ask nicely.

Umm, incorrect, guys.

CP always reserves the right to tell you where to sit, and you must listen or face the possibility of being removed from the line.

Case in point: End of the night on Top Thrill Dragster. The crew always moves people around (usually out of the lines for the front and back seat) to fill the platform when the line is almost run out. If people have a problem with it, they are reminded that their choices include either sitting in the seat the ride op tells them is available or not riding. Likewise, if the lines for the front or back are getting too crowded through the day, the Ops can stop people from entering those lines and make them choose other rows. This is for safety (overcrowding and blocking entrances and exits) as well as for the efficient boarding of the ride.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/ride_policy.cfm

It is not in their policy, however the only loop hole is in the law: that you must follow all ride ops directions for safety. I worked for the PA state government enforcing health law for 4 years previously- the argument can be successfully made by the rider that choosing another seat will not endanger themselves or any other body.

Like I said before, nasty ride ops give parks bad reps and will decrease attendance. If a ride op is nasty to 10 people throughout a day, with roughly 120 days of operation, in one year at $40 per person, CP would lose $48000 in JUST ticket sales. I am sure that there are more than only 10 per day thoughout the park that get upset enough to not come back (this was used only for representation), but at $40 per person, losing repeat business can be dangerous for the park. $48k is a full time year round position to the company. *** Edited 8/23/2006 4:48:49 PM UTC by tonymtdew*** *** Edited 8/23/2006 4:50:01 PM UTC by tonymtdew***

djDaemon said:You've payed your admission into the park, and you can sit where you want, in my opinion, and no ride OP is gonna tell me how to enjoy my hard-earned money.

In Summer 2000 I witnessed many park guests being escorted out of the park by the Cedar Point police department for having that same opinion about the seating policy. Instead of taking it out on the ride employee the guest should have just gone to the park operations office were the real solution lies.

There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this.

Guest-
Right way- calmly explain situation that you changed your mind about waiting for the front seat and would like to choose another seat. If you are still unsatisfied, (take the ride, you've been there for an hour and a half waiting, then proceed to the park ops office and voice your concern responsibly.

Wrong way- Become irate and disobey orders.

Ride Op-
Right way- empathize with patron and ask if they would mind taking another seat. If they want to sit where the are, quickly analyze the situation... Are they in harms way? Are they causing a disruption? Will the world collapse? Allow them to continue with current seat but let them know of the standard practice.

Wrong way- Talk over customer, yell, scold, threaten, etc. It's well known that mean people suck. Tarnishing the parks reputation by yelling at one customer doesn't just affect that one customer. It affects everyone in line that would witness your outburst.

Obvious common sense needs to be considered. If I change my mind for my seat, will the ride not operate as efficiently? Absolutely not. The person at the gate is the person who can ultimately control efficiently by letting the correct number of people through- and this even changes with the numer of riders who want to ride the front row.

Quite obviously, I'm not going to cause a scene or harass the OP. I'm just stating how I feel about the situation.

I've got more common sense than you give me credit for.

you are talking to rihard right? Cause I am in agreement with you-

tonymtdew said:
There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this

Ride Op-
Right way- empathize with patron and ask if they would mind taking another seat. If they want to sit where the are, quickly analyze the situation... Are they in harms way? Are they causing a disruption? Will the world collapse? Allow them to continue with current seat but let them know of the standard practice.

You're assuming that ride ops are allowed to just use their own judgement and let you ride wherever you'd choose as long as the world doesn't collapse. In the case of Cedar Point, a ride operator could face discipline, demotion or even being fired if they allow even one guest to "continue with the current seat".

djDaemon, in other words... a ride op is going to tell you how to enjoy your hard earned money but you are not going to like it. I can't blame you there.

*** Edited 8/23/2006 9:33:53 PM UTC by Rihard 2000***