Virtual Queue

When the time comes for Cedar Point and other amusement parks across the country to reopen, do you think there is the possibility that they will use a virtual queue system to help distance people? I have a hard time seeing Ohio's governor allowing Cedar Point to reopen without measures in place to keep people from close contact. One of the ways they could prevent close contact is by using a virtual queue. The virtual queue would eliminate the crowded queue lines on busier days. It's just a thought, but certainly a possibility.

But where will those people be while waiting their turn? Just bear with me here, this is hypothetical using round numbers, and not accounting for Fast Lane...

Its a busy day at Cedar Point. EVERY coaster has a wait time posted of over an hour. If those coasters have an average capacity of 1,000 riders per hour, that’s 17,000 guests waiting in queues. So now they go to virtual queueing, that dumps 17,000 people to the already crowded midways.

I agree the queues will present a challenge, but the overall crowd in the park will be just as much of a challenge.

Costs to implement such a system for all guests in a seasonal park aside, wouldn't it just shift those people out onto already crowded midways?

Social distancing is tough in crowds. Queues have order to them thus it might be possible to implement social distancing there but midways are chaos. How do we bring order to them?

You think the coaster weirdos gonna wait?

Social distancing at Cedar Point is unworkable, in my opinion. Even if you tried it, it is useless if you are about to sit in a group on a coaster train, side by side. Do you fill only every other row and every other seat (think dive coaster)? Wait times become obscene then. How are you going to sanitize the coaster - after each run? Again, hello obscene wait times. Certainly after close the rides can be sanitized. I suppose you could make it all work IF people, for the most part, stay away from the park and attendance dives. I'm sure CP is not planning or hoping for that outcome. Mandatory face masks?

CP, and all parks will have to get creative or operate as normal and let people make their own choices.

Not to mention while flying around coaster track at 60mph+ there is bound to be some saliva escaping your mouth and flying back on everyone behind you even if you go every other row. If you thought speaking moistly was a problem, riding moistly is a whole other issue. Sure a mask would help prevent that but then you have the issue of the mask flying off.

It just means we all have to sit in the front row. 😉

I don't want to get anyone mad. STOP the FAST LANE so the Queue Lines won't make people wait as long. When the Virus is GONE; the FAST LANE will Re-Open.

Mr. Cedar Point said:

When the Virus is GONE; the PARK will Re-Open.

Fixed.

^^ Damn Fast Lane!!!

Never let a crisis go to waste- right from the Rahm Emmanuel playbook

Rapids 77-78 said:

...or operate as normal and let people make their own choices.

This gets my vote. Any of the aforementioned sanitizing/row blocking/seat blocking would be a futile attempt at making a visit to Cedar Point any “safer” in the wake of COVID. It would do little more than make people feel safer, which in turn may put people at an even higher risk by giving them a false sense of security.

i.e. “I don’t need to wash my hands after my riding Magnum - they sanitize the lapbar after every cycle.” Wrong.

Agreed. Loading every other row/every other seat and then sanitizing after every lap will be the same capacity nightmare that Virtual Reality was for coasters.

Once we're out of this and at the bottom of the curve, open up as usual. Some hand sanitizer stations scattered throughout the park would be awesome. If you want to wear a mask, feel free! But if they can't operate the coasters at full capacity, then to me you are creating a worse guest experience than a closed park.

Not a labor law attorney but the parks also have a responsibility to their employees. Employers don’t get to say, “But these guys waived their rights to a safe working environment, it’s their choice to work or not”.

We do not live in the United States of Libertarian Utopia.

WOW! I guess all the walmart cashiers are gonna be bankrolled for life after the labor law attorneys realize they were put at risk in an unsafe environment... having people wait in their cashier lines like station queues, exchanging money with thousands of people a day, touching literally every item to scan it that the customers touched while choosing it, putting it in their cart and putting it on the checkout.

Even without a pandemic, Walmart is a nasty place.

Well you are seeing plexiglass and other barriers installed at checkouts. I would also argue a coaster ride-op has to get a lot closer to a guest than a Walmart cashier.

I would be good without seatbelt checks. 👍

Doesn't the safety systems basically prevent the ride from dispatching unless all restraints are closed? I thought it checked seatbelts as well.

Most systems don't check for seatbelts but there are some that recognize whether or not the buckle is in if you are in a seat (think Disney rides like ToT). Depends on manufacture but some require the lapbar/harness to be in the locked position before a dispatch can happen however some like Intamin don't require it on coasters like MF and TTD. That being said, there still isn't a need to have an operator check any lapbar or seatbelt. This is something that is purely done at the want of the park.

There is no way to check seatbelts when they are cloth it is non conductive.

I thought it was done the same way a car checks for seat belts and keeps beeping if you're not buckled.