The fast pass system
Hey CoasterChuckey, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. THE VAST MAJORITY of INPARK Guests who have experienced TTR -- LOVE the system.
We, the CP addicts are the VOCAL minority. CP not listening to us? I doubt it, I am sure they are watching this board along with other comments coming in regarding the system.
Let's watch the next week or so and see if CP can perfect the system. If they cannot, I am all for trashing it right then.
Dave A is right, let's see what happens over the holiday weekend, if it doesn't work hopefully CP will trash the system.
We, the CP addicts are the VOCAL minority. CP not listening to us? I doubt it, I am sure they are watching this board along with other comments coming in regarding the system.
Let's watch the next week or so and see if CP can perfect the system. If they cannot, I am all for trashing it right then.
Dave A is right, let's see what happens over the holiday weekend, if it doesn't work hopefully CP will trash the system.
Here's the way I see it. This system COULD be good. There are two lines heading up to the station, right? If not they could add one. Then give out a FEW ticket to ride passes. Maybe 200 per hour or so. Then the people who have the pass can go right up to the station with the pass, and everyone else can just wait in line. Then alternate which line feeds first so that people who wait in line can still have first pick. This way, the people who don't want to wait can still have their ticket to ride, and people who arn't lucky enough to get one CAN still ride. For the die-hards, the line won't be affected that much (maybe even shorter), and people can still ride whenever they want. Let's see, who has done this already. Oh yes, it's Disney! Maybee that's why it's working there and not here.
Just to be said, I am opposed to the way they are doing it right now. This is the best solution that I see to improve it. They should try something like this, or just remove it.
Also, I called yesterday and they are just testing it at this point (no pun intended). The person I talked to said they hadn't decided for sure if it would stick for the rest of the season.
-------------
"the Force of the new Millennium is being felt by those who choose to seek it.
Just to be said, I am opposed to the way they are doing it right now. This is the best solution that I see to improve it. They should try something like this, or just remove it.
Also, I called yesterday and they are just testing it at this point (no pun intended). The person I talked to said they hadn't decided for sure if it would stick for the rest of the season.
-------------
"the Force of the new Millennium is being felt by those who choose to seek it.
I'm with JT Coaster..He basically said what I thought would satisfy all..Change is always happening at CP and the TTR is just another example of that..With some fine tuning this TTR system COULD satisfy all...For the people who want to ride it all day OR aren't lucky enough to grab a ticket LET them wait in line with the understanding that TTR people will be feed into as well for those who don't want to wait..I'd be willing to have the two lines...I mean there are diehards who ride "specifics" such as our beloved MF all day and that way these people won't have to be turned away!! Let the TTR people have their 400 or so an hr..you know a respectable amount and let the rest of the GP who couldn't get a ticket or chooses to wait because perhaps they didn't get a good TTR time or are part of a churchgroup leaving at 6pm... ride when they want and CHOOSE..I think combining the TTR and the GP riding WHENever is the key IF they decide to keep the system....Its just my suggestion as to what may alleviate the headaches experienced on the busy weekend days..
I'll get off my soapbox now and deposit my $.02
-------------
http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
http://www.msu.edu/~levydust/mf.html
new MF photos *** This post was edited by Jeffrey Spartan on 6/27/2000. ***
I'll get off my soapbox now and deposit my $.02
-------------
http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
http://www.msu.edu/~levydust/mf.html
new MF photos *** This post was edited by Jeffrey Spartan on 6/27/2000. ***
I'd be willing to concede to that idea Jeffrey. I think having it all tickets is crap. If there could be a happy medium between the two I think I could accept that. I still feel strongly that the Point is not acting in its' guests best interests concerning this matter and that's why I am principly against the whole system.
I still feel this takes away from people making spontaneous decisions. A theme park is supposed to release you from pressures of meeting deadlines. Pretty soon people will be issued dayplanner organizers so they can plan each 15 minutes.
I still feel this takes away from people making spontaneous decisions. A theme park is supposed to release you from pressures of meeting deadlines. Pretty soon people will be issued dayplanner organizers so they can plan each 15 minutes.
Ohhhhhhhhh, maaaaaan, I was at the PO!NT yesterday and they were STILL using the @$$ Pass system, and I only got to ride MF once, with the waiting more this time for ONE ride than my other THREE wait times combined! The last time I was at the PO!NT, I rode MF three times, with a 45 minute wait, and two 30 minute waits.(This was on a slightly rainy day, but only in the morning.) Yesterday, one hour and 50 minutes, not including the time I had to wait to get my @$$ pass. Not only that, I had 20 minutes of dead time, since my TTR time was at 3 pm, and OF COURSE, that was my friend and mine's time to meet my mom! We rode the Power Tower until 2:40, and then both waits would have been more than that (we timed both sides). So we wait to meet my mom, see her at 2:57, run to get another @$$ pass for later, and they are gone. Great. So we dealt, and rode Magnum & Raptor the rest of the day. But I would have loved another MF night ride.
The big problem with this system and the enthusiasts is web polls. If CP continues to have rude operators, an answer to a problem that does not exist(@$$ pass), poor security in the MF, queues, and assigned seating, they will feel the repercution on the web polls. You do things that will upset the enthusiasts (who vote on who gets what awards) and your going to have negative feedback. I would not be surprised if MF doesn't even come close to being at the top of the list in any web poll if this crap continues. P.O. the enthusiasts, and they will protest in how they vote.
-------------
"Magnum + Prozac= Millennium Force
Sadly, if the "cancer" survives 4th of July, it will prob. be here to stay. The more I read and the longer this goes gone, I think it will go on throughout the rest of the summer. I can only make it up there, in the first week of August and I don't want this system then. If I drive 4 hours to ride MF one or two times in two days, I will be FUMING! I have waited since July 22, 1999 to ride MF and I will NOT let this CPFP "cancer" system take ME doen for the COUNT!!
-------------
Brian Z.
Hometown parks: Kennywood, Cedar Point!
Feel the Force NOW!!
Nathan has a lot of valid points, and in a perfect world the thing could work, though it would have to be more like Disney's system.
What you can or can't ride aside, there are harder questions to ask:
1. Is your overall time in line any different? If you add up all the time you wait in line at different rides, is it any different?
2. Before this system was implemented, was ridership really down on other rides? I saw shorter lines, but I never saw empty seats, so capacity is unchanged.
What it really comes down to is line distribution, and nothing more. What this system will do is keep me from riding, because I won't be able to get a ticket midafternoon.
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 34
What you can or can't ride aside, there are harder questions to ask:
1. Is your overall time in line any different? If you add up all the time you wait in line at different rides, is it any different?
2. Before this system was implemented, was ridership really down on other rides? I saw shorter lines, but I never saw empty seats, so capacity is unchanged.
What it really comes down to is line distribution, and nothing more. What this system will do is keep me from riding, because I won't be able to get a ticket midafternoon.
-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 34
I'll be heading down soon on a thursday or friday. How early should I get there to ensure a ticket. (Look CP, I have to worry about getting there early enough to ensure a ride on the best ride on earth rather than looking forward to it!!!)
Giving out a limited number of tickets is the happy medium, or as close as anyone will get to it. This will let the people who want to take just one ride have their ride and go on other coasters, solving the line problem. This will also let some additional riders ride who don't want to wait. It will let the die-hards ride as many times as they can get on it, and people don't have to worry about being at MF at a specific time. Also, people who are late arriving at the park can still get a ride, even if the charter bus leaves at an early time. This is the best solution to keep as many people happy as possible. We can all be happy if CP could just copromise. From the response I see above, most people, including myself, could live with a limited ticketing system:)
Also, just a note, if CP does this, they need to make seat grabs fair, not just ticket system first always.
-------------
"the Force of the new Millennium is being felt by those who choose to seek it. *** This post was edited by JT Coaster on 6/27/2000. ***
Giving out a limited number of tickets is the happy medium, or as close as anyone will get to it. This will let the people who want to take just one ride have their ride and go on other coasters, solving the line problem. This will also let some additional riders ride who don't want to wait. It will let the die-hards ride as many times as they can get on it, and people don't have to worry about being at MF at a specific time. Also, people who are late arriving at the park can still get a ride, even if the charter bus leaves at an early time. This is the best solution to keep as many people happy as possible. We can all be happy if CP could just copromise. From the response I see above, most people, including myself, could live with a limited ticketing system:)
Also, just a note, if CP does this, they need to make seat grabs fair, not just ticket system first always.
-------------
"the Force of the new Millennium is being felt by those who choose to seek it. *** This post was edited by JT Coaster on 6/27/2000. ***
the overalll giest I am getting is that CP is trying to keep the crowds hushed, via deleting the negitive responses and being rude to the people who try to talk up against the system.
THESE people who are trying to defend the system are not seeing the overall picture of the desadvanages. People with limited times there in the case of one of the forums members, didn't get to go on becasue of the waiting system.
What I suggest is a combination of the systems.
Personally, i cant vouch for the people against it b/c i havent been there.
BUT A combination of the systems might work
FOR a small fee, patrons could purchase a fast pass, which if they were there all day could ride it at a time
OR
They could stand in line and wait for the time in line and wait.
The only problem would still be homemade tickets,and scalping
but those could be worked out??
How do you like my plan guys?, and Jeff, I like your opinions and I would appriciate a response
-------------
KORY LONDON
ANIME FAN/CP EXTRORDINARE
LAPS:0 :-( (Friend forgot me)
THESE people who are trying to defend the system are not seeing the overall picture of the desadvanages. People with limited times there in the case of one of the forums members, didn't get to go on becasue of the waiting system.
What I suggest is a combination of the systems.
Personally, i cant vouch for the people against it b/c i havent been there.
BUT A combination of the systems might work
FOR a small fee, patrons could purchase a fast pass, which if they were there all day could ride it at a time
OR
They could stand in line and wait for the time in line and wait.
The only problem would still be homemade tickets,and scalping
but those could be worked out??
How do you like my plan guys?, and Jeff, I like your opinions and I would appriciate a response
-------------
KORY LONDON
ANIME FAN/CP EXTRORDINARE
LAPS:0 :-( (Friend forgot me)
First of all, I am opposed to a half-and-half Disney-style system, and I suspect that CP management is as well for similar reasons. The lines must be kept moving, or they're no better than *** or *** or *** or a number of other slow moving crowded parks. Any split system is inherently unfair to somebody, and I suspect that Cedar Point knows this.
Their system is, of course, no better, as it has some enormous disadvantages, as some of us learned last weekend. Fortunately I was visiting with my parents and hadn't planned to get a bunch of rides in...but we've already seen cases where people could not ride (who, without the system, could have ridden) because of the limitations imposed by the ticketing system. Disorganized groups (such as park nuts meeting on the midway) can forget about riding together. Getting stuck in a long queue for another ride can blow your opportunity to ride one ride or the other. It does not reduce the amount of time you spend waiting in line, and worst of all it turned the Frontier Trail into a human parking lot for much of the day on Saturday.
One thing that might help a lot would be if they could keep the entire system off of the midway. Instead of routing ticket holders through the 4th set (overflow) queue, they should use that portion of the queue for ticket distribution, and send the ticket holders directly into the 3rd set, behind the pop machines. That would be a start, as it would eliminate the chaos on the midway (maybe). On Saturday, they were sending ticket holders through the 4th queue section, then into the 3rd section, which also had the effect of masking the true length of the queue...making a nearly 2 hour wait look like about 40 minutes. If the system were really resulting in shorter waits, there would be no problem with splitting the existing queue accordingly.
Of course, since it did NOT result in shorter waits on Saturday, they needed the entire normal queue AND the 4th-set overflow queue to handle the ticket holders. So much for that idea... :(
Why do we keep calling it a 'fast pass' when it meant a much longer wait *in line* for me than I'd ever had before?
--Dave Althoff, Jr. *** This post was edited by RideMan on 6/27/2000. ***
Their system is, of course, no better, as it has some enormous disadvantages, as some of us learned last weekend. Fortunately I was visiting with my parents and hadn't planned to get a bunch of rides in...but we've already seen cases where people could not ride (who, without the system, could have ridden) because of the limitations imposed by the ticketing system. Disorganized groups (such as park nuts meeting on the midway) can forget about riding together. Getting stuck in a long queue for another ride can blow your opportunity to ride one ride or the other. It does not reduce the amount of time you spend waiting in line, and worst of all it turned the Frontier Trail into a human parking lot for much of the day on Saturday.
One thing that might help a lot would be if they could keep the entire system off of the midway. Instead of routing ticket holders through the 4th set (overflow) queue, they should use that portion of the queue for ticket distribution, and send the ticket holders directly into the 3rd set, behind the pop machines. That would be a start, as it would eliminate the chaos on the midway (maybe). On Saturday, they were sending ticket holders through the 4th queue section, then into the 3rd section, which also had the effect of masking the true length of the queue...making a nearly 2 hour wait look like about 40 minutes. If the system were really resulting in shorter waits, there would be no problem with splitting the existing queue accordingly.
Of course, since it did NOT result in shorter waits on Saturday, they needed the entire normal queue AND the 4th-set overflow queue to handle the ticket holders. So much for that idea... :(
Why do we keep calling it a 'fast pass' when it meant a much longer wait *in line* for me than I'd ever had before?
--Dave Althoff, Jr. *** This post was edited by RideMan on 6/27/2000. ***
I LOVE how Cedar Point wants to increase the ride times on the other rides. My dad and I always said that once CP gets enough big rides, the lines will be evenly distributed throughout the park. Now MF has had bad waits, but not terrible waits. I got on all of the other irdes in like 30 min. Isn't this what we all want??!!! The Mantis and Raptor, Magnum, they aren't the biggest and baddest anymore, they are just really great rides, I wouldn't expect people to wait longer for these rides then for the world's biggest coaster. I don't know why CP wants the lines to all be one hour. That makes everybody unhappy. After a group of people wait about 1-2 hrs for the Force, they will love it. But they shouldn't expect to wait that long for every other irde. They will only be willing to wait that long for CP's biggest. Also, could somebody explain the TTR to me in simple plain english?
Craig the Coaster Freak asked...
"...Also, could somebody explain the TTR to me in simple plain english?"
Apparently not, since CP themselves seem to be having trouble with that one...but here goes...
At about 11:00am, the queue for Millennium Force is closed. Instead of queueing for the ride, you get in a different line and receive a generic ride ticket which is color coded and marked with a boarding hour. In my case, it was "any time between 2:00pm and 3:00pm." You then proceed to enjoy the rest of the park until sometime within your allotted hour. During your assigned hour, you return to the ride entrance, and wait in the normal queue. In a nutshell, CP is now telling you when you may wait for the ride as well as where you may sit. Next thing you know they'll be scheduling our bathroom breaks for us.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
"...Also, could somebody explain the TTR to me in simple plain english?"
Apparently not, since CP themselves seem to be having trouble with that one...but here goes...
At about 11:00am, the queue for Millennium Force is closed. Instead of queueing for the ride, you get in a different line and receive a generic ride ticket which is color coded and marked with a boarding hour. In my case, it was "any time between 2:00pm and 3:00pm." You then proceed to enjoy the rest of the park until sometime within your allotted hour. During your assigned hour, you return to the ride entrance, and wait in the normal queue. In a nutshell, CP is now telling you when you may wait for the ride as well as where you may sit. Next thing you know they'll be scheduling our bathroom breaks for us.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The biggest flaw in the TTR is (from what alot of people are saying) that when you return for "your hour" the queue is STILL an hour or more wait. Is this the case for those of you who have received TTR's?
If so there is simply no reason to come back later if the wait will be 90 minutes (which is about what it had become anyway). If the wait ends up being only 15-20 minutes, then I guess that would be better. I am still opposed to the TTR, mostly because it is unfair to those who arrive after 2:00, when all of the tickets are gone.
If so there is simply no reason to come back later if the wait will be 90 minutes (which is about what it had become anyway). If the wait ends up being only 15-20 minutes, then I guess that would be better. I am still opposed to the TTR, mostly because it is unfair to those who arrive after 2:00, when all of the tickets are gone.
Ilove the new ticket to ride went this monday rode the force 4 times. Seems to work good only problem was they kept switching trains which slowed line a little. But the good thing with this system is that if you want to ride more than once take a little time in the morning and keep getting in line for moire tickets me and my friends ended up with five ride tickets each they only give you one at a time but they dont stop you from getting in line to get more tickets. Just a little FYI.
Rides so far 11
*** This post was edited by MillleniumForce on 6/27/2000. ***
Rides so far 11
*** This post was edited by MillleniumForce on 6/27/2000. ***
Closed topic.