Ticket To Ride Returns?

Yeah it does seem like that, but I don't know, it seems to me (employees can shoot me down if they want) like they make it a little less or a little more for a reason - if it's a little more, people will be happy to get on the ride earlier than they thought, if it's a little less, they will be more eager to get in line.

Now that I think about it, this system would have some major effects on the crowd patterns at CP. Think about it, not many people (GP) know when is the best time to ride each coaster - with this system, they would see the short wait and all rush over to it. Who knows, maybe even Mean Streak would get a decent amount of people early in the morning and late in the evening... Basically, that guide to hitting all the coasters in the Strategy section would lose its effectiveness. Just interesting to picture...

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*** This post was edited by Majin Heero on 3/16/2002. ***

The one problem that all of the extant queue reporting systems have is that the information isn't available where it is needed. Go to Cedar Point any day in the past dozen years or more, and any queue longer than fifteen minutes has a sign at the end telling you how long the wait is, with a fifteen-minute resolution. That part of the problem is already solved.
Calling the data in to a central location on a regular basis makes sense in that it makes it possible to distribute the information, but what is missing is a way to make that information actually useful to people in the park.

When I visited IOA, I noticed that they had a sign board in the Port of Entry that shows the current wait time for all the major rides, and all the rides have signs at their entrances that show the current wait for those rides. All rather meaningless the night I was there, but if the park were crowded it would also be rather useless. When I am standing at the Millennium Force entrance, I might think differently about waiting 45 minutes "now" if I knew that Raptor only had a 10-minute wait. And that's what is missing. Even at IOA, they have a central board to tell you the ride time, but how often do you go there? I passed that board twice that night: once as I entered the park, and once when I left. So its information was of little or no use to me.

That's why I suggested Kings Island as a good test site. It doesn't matter how the wait time data is collected, but that park is already equipped with a park-wide communications system...it would be trivial to add waiting time information to the QTV displays in much the same way that they now do some text messaging.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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Dan said:
I heard details about a possible new version of TTR and I think its going to be great if they do it. It will sound weird at first but I think it will be cool.

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I'd still like to hear some more about this. The whole Virtual Queuing thing is really sweeping the world for some reason. From what I hear it works well at Alton Towers, I know personally that it works well at Disney. I have no real info about Six Flags' system(s) or Universal's. Now if Cedar Point can catch on to this "revolution."

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How about this money making venture....

Do the idea Rideman had and rent pagers that will keep you informed of the ride times....

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*** This post was edited by putergeek on 3/19/2002. ***

Universal's system was cool in that they provided you with several windows to work with for when you wanted to come back, like an early afternoon window, late afternoon window, and an evening window, with those windows disapearing as they "sold out". This really helped me plan out my day better with meal times, etc. As I was a multi-day passholder, they allowed me to have up to three of them on hand at a time (which i heard a rumour saying that it has been reduced to two or one). So, I walked into the park and picked out a time to come back to Spiderman later on in the day (I believe that WDW's system randomly handed you a time based on what was next available), did my activities, and headed to Spiderman at the prescribed time.

I would not mind seeing a system similar to this for MF...but without the multi-ticket perq for multi-day pass holders. Waiting in line for rides is cool and all ....I mean, I am a guy and I like checking out the girls in line....but 2 hours waiting for MF (which I did two times during my visit last August) is a bit much......I could have taken in another ride on Raptor or Magnum, or, dare I say it...SHOPPED in the Snoopy shop, which I always feel rushed doing at the end of the night.....

Just my 2 cents worth.....

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