TTD Crew Report Card

Hey everyone! This is Jen, the Team Leader at Dragster for the 2007 season. I would just like to say that I appreciate everything that you guys do for us. You fill our single rider spots and help weight our trains at the end of the night. I look forward to seeing all of you and making your day at CP a good one in my own little way.

I thought I would post something in here so it was centrally located for my benefit. What could myself and my crew do or not do to make things better all around? I know you guys come quite often, so I highly value your opinion. And how often do you get constructive criticism like this on such a large scale?!

I plan on taking what you all have to say to heart (good AND bad). I feel that by finding the bad and addressing it with my crew it will make all our lives easier!

So any complaints you have.... post them here. And also COMPLIMENTS. I know it is a lot easier to remember bad, but work with me here. :) Also, be specific if someone stands out to you as being helpful or kind, I plan on rewarding them!

Thanks so much and hope to hear from you all soon enough!

You gotta get rid of that Jensen kid, he's the worst ride operator ever. :)

Just kidding. The crew was awesome the two times I've been to the park so far. I didn't see anybody trying to fill empty seats with single riders on opening day, but when I was there on Monday they were doing a great job of doing that. Keep up the good work.

aww i love this TL

I'm going to give you an 'I' for Incomplete.

I haven't been there, yet.

Now that they have a good crew, now all we need is a reliable coaster. Everytime that I have to CP since TTd was put in, it has been down and this season hopefully I will be able to ride it.
*** Edited 5/16/2007 12:29:38 PM UTC by CPCoasterFanatic***

Hey Jen -

Given the constant rollbacks you guys had for the first few days, I feel you guys handled everything very well! I appreciated the enthusiasm from your crew getting each train pumped up before they left the station, and when the rollbacks subsided you were dispatching trains very quickly! Great Job!

I only have one VERY minor complaint. I had two rollbacks this weekend, and on the first one, while we sat waiting to come back into unload, a ride host came out and chatted with us, and let us know it would be just a few minutes before we could get off. On Monday morning this did not happen. For someone like me, I was not too concerned, because I know how the ride works, but I could see someone who hadn't rode the ride before becoming concerned that they were stuck, or that another train was going to launch and rear-end them. Like I said, on Saturday, this was handled great, but on Monday I didn't see anyone come out to our train for the 5-6 minutes we were out there.

Again, this is just a very minor thing, and overall you guys are doing fantastic!

I'm going up on June 6... feel free to put in an order for a rollback for me ;) Thanks Jen.

I love the crew, just the coaster has problems. =].

The crew did very well, I was there on opening day (watching rollback after rollback, getting jealous).

When I managed to get on TTD, the only thing that was going through my mind was "Dammit we made it over". Since May of '03 I've been trying to get a rollback, and nothing yet.

Anyways, love the ride and the people!

I'll be back for sure!

The only complaint I have with the crew is that certain employees do not let enough people into the station at a time. I'm not sure who sets this policy, but on Monday and Tuesday the crew was allowing only enough people for one or two trains. TTD's line is probably the hottest in the park, as it gets hardly any breeze and has many uncovered sections. Standing on the ramp in the blazing sun while staring at an almost-empty covered station just leaves a bad impression in guests' minds.

Additionally, and this is not the crew's fault, but the speakers in the queue that are used to announce a breakdown are WAY too loud. If you're standing on the ramp or anywhere in the switchbacks immediately near the speaker, it is almost painful how loud it is.

You all have been doing a great job and really did well yesterday despite TTD's repeated breakdowns. Keep it up!

The line doesn't move any faster if they let the station get absolutely crowded with people to where you don't know which line you're in. There are still the same number of people in front of you. Its actually better when they limit the number of people in the station.

I actually LOVE when they don't let a lot of people in the station. It's much more organized that way. By crowding into the station, you don't get on the ride any quicker.

^^^I totally disagree with that as that's one of the GOOD things a popular ride like Dragster can do. A cluttered station is a confused station and really makes it hard to find lines (especially the front) and so forth. Millennium, for example, keeps its station organized most of the times. Plus, its ramp is almost triple the length of Dragsters and it's completely in the sun.
I would love to see Dragster keep a clean and organized station. So Jen, keep that part up........if you can.

::Edited carrots::

*** Edited 5/16/2007 8:52:55 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

Yes, obviously the line isn't any shorter. However, by allowing more people in the station, you reduce the percentage of the wait that is spent out in the sun. If the line is two hours, it's going to be two hours no matter what they do. But if 15 minutes of that two hours is spent in the station versus 5 minutes, you go from having about 4% of your wait in the shade to having 12% of your wait in the shade. You can do that without crowding the station too much. It's no big deal, but it just makes sense to do it.

^I never found the sun to be that big of a deal. Over half of the queue is shaded already.

It's not a big deal, but there's no reason to not make the change.

Yes there is. As several people pointed out, a crowded station could actually slow down the queue and make you wait in the sun longer. When people can't see the rows to wait in, they spend a ton of time switching rows, trying to line up with their friends, or waiting in lines for front or back rows when they didn't want to. I almost got in a fight with someone on Kingda Ka because a guy thought I cut in front of him. He had no idea there was a separate line for the front row because there were so many people in the station. He just saw me getting on the ride sooner than him and started a huge scene.

I'm glad when the ride ops at CP control the station crowd level. It's actually one of their trademarks as far as I'm concerned. They're one of the only parks I've been to that have ride ops at the beginning of the queue, the entrance to the station and then load/unload. I'm sure that's why their capacity is so great compared to other parks.

Keep up the great work, Jen.

Hey Jen! I'm pretty sure I saw you on Opening Day, I think you were the one I caught a video of rolling back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKvMhZG19KA

The crew did a great job for the first day being open. The only suggestion is if you guys could find out a way to turn up the Dragster sound effects? In 2003 and 2004 I remember they were really loud and it really got the anticipation up for guests hearing the loud roaring engine. Even in the video above^^ the sound effects are turned on but you can hardly hear them. If there any way to turn it up or suggest a new speaker to someone who could replace it?

I don't buy that it slows down the line by allowing three or four trains worth of people in the station at one time. It may create a little bit more confusion, but nothing outrageous. I'm not advocating packing the station, just allowing more than the next train's worth of people in. They still allow the Magnum station to get as crowded as it can, and aside from being uncomfortable, it doesn't screw up capacity or wait times.

I don't want this thread to get overshadowed by this topic. It's something I think they should change but it's no big deal. The TTD crew has been great so far this year and that's the most important thing. MF has a fantastic crew as well.

But you won't see that change as that is a rule set forth by Management and only an act of god will change it.