Wait times (Truth or Fiction)

I was trying out the test seat on Dragster at about 10:35 p.m. Monday night (always wanna make sure I'm gonna fit) and the workers at the entrance to the line were telling people that it was a two-hour wait. They even stressed that it was a two-hour wait, for real.

I ran into a guy at Wicked Twister about 20 minutes before I checked out the TTD test seat. He said they were issuing similar warnings at the Dragster line entrance earlier in the evening.

After achieving success on the test seat (Yeeeee-Haaaaaw), I went over to ride Magnum since I figured the line would be pretty short, which it was. I then called home to let my wife know that I was about to get in line for Dragster and that I might be home fairly late (I live about 1 hour and 15 minutes away).

I entered the Dragster line at 10:55 p.m. -- and finished riding by 11:35 p.m. I caught a break as a single rider, but I can't imagine the entire end-of-the-night line taking much past midnight to run through.

Why would the ride workers offer such a gross exaggeration of the wait? Do you figure they are doing so at the instruction of park ops? I suppose they may have been offering the longer wait estimate as a worse-case scenario since TTD has a shaky history. Who knows?

When I got in line and gauged its length, I didn't think it would take anywhere near 2 hours, even with some occasional problems. I based such an assumption on many previous experiences riding TTD around closing time.

What's going on here? Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks

At the end of the night, the reason is simple. The ops want to go home. Less people in line means that they will be able leave sooner.

MrScott

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MrScott said:
At the end of the night, the reason is simple. The ops want to go home. Less people in line means that they will be able leave sooner.

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You continue to say this and you continue to be wrong... *** Edited 8/10/2004 4:19:53 PM UTC by S2Kster***

They can't close the line before closing though. If they did they would get in deep shxt because there would be more complaints about "Why did TTD close at 9:45 instead of 10?" Instead, tell people its a two hour wait and they just don't want to wait in line but its open if they choose to wait in line.

Top Thrill always seems exaggerated to me. I was at CP in late June, and we (my father and I) were in the line to get Freeway. I was doubting that we would get a time. So I got the idea of check the wait time. 1 1/2 hours! So we waited for the front, and waited 1:10.

I have noticed that it is always an exaggeration too, but I guess it is better to project a longer time and then end up waiting less, then projecting a shorter time and waiting longer.

Last year the Coke machines were the approximate 1 hour wait point, is that true again this year? If not, approx (obviously assuming no significant downtime) how long is the wait at the point of the Coke machines?

Mr STKster,

I beg to differ. I have walked past 2 or 3 Dragster crew members at five minutes before closing who warned in an excited voice, "Are you sure you really want to ride tonight?!? The wait is 3 hours long!!!" They were stationed at the entrance to the que.

I waited 20 minutes one time and 35 minutes the other. Are you saying that they misread the amount of people in the que--TWICE--that badly? If so, you are saying that those ride ops are so stupid that they can't judge the wait time within 2 HOURS?

I am not saying I approve or disapprove of this practice--I'd do it myself if I worked there--at the end of the night. I am only saying that it has happened to me. As for other times of the day, "exaggerating" wait times would make little sense.

MrScott

PS: The above is my opinion. Mr STKster, opinions are neither right or wrong. They just are...

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MrScott said:
I have walked past 2 or 3 Dragster crew members at five minutes before closing who warned in an excited voice, "Are you sure you really want to ride tonight?!? The wait is 3 hours long!!!" They were stationed at the entrance to the que.

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I had the same experience on TTD. 2 crew members blocked the entrance and said the wait was 3 hours (trying to be funny). I said really? Then move out of the way. They proceeded to say they were joking and it was actually only 1/2 hour... Little 18 year olds working their first big ride can be very annoying.

"little 18 year olds working their first big ride can be very annoying."

Whoa! Stop the truck! Back up the truck!

Those kids work their asses off. At the end of the night, I have no problem with them from discouraging getting in line for a ride. They just want to sleep.

Or party... ;)

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MrScott said:
At the end of the night, I have no problem with them from discouraging getting in line for a ride.

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Uhh.. why? Do you think that's the way they should be overseeing the que? Don't forget, they get paid to do a job. And frustrating park guests is not part of it.

People it's "queue" not que. Que is spanish for "what"

I believe the time is posted that way taking possible downtime into consideration.

This has been common practice for years, and It is clearly on purpose. For instance, in years past the wait time for Millennium Force at the pop machines was 45 minutes (have no idea what it is now with the seatbelt crap).

Countless times I have seen the following. If the line is at the machines at 2pm, the wait board would most likely say "3/4 hour." If the line was in the same spot at 10-10:30pm, it would say 1 or 1/1/4 hour.

I'm not singling out that ride either. This past Sunday I rode TTD (against my own will, I don't really care for it too much ;)) and the wait board said 2 hours. The line was just extended past the first queue set, at the wait was about 35 -40 minutes. I've seen when the line was longer than that, by the pop machines and the wait board would say 1 hour.

I'm pretty sure management/sups know about this and possibly suggest they do this as well to get people out early and save on payroll. Getting out 15 minutes earlier may not seem like much, But 12 people working that 130 days a year it adds up.

I don't mind that they do this, especially since many of us know what the wait times are just by looking at the line. As for the wait boards, I generally trust those them as far as I can throw them ;).

Is it ethical though? I really don't think so but it’s nothing to loose sleep over.

Joe. I know that in 2000 and 2001, besides exagerating the wait time, we would even go so far as to hold the line at thoese queues that weren't visible from the midway. The line would then back up out to the entrance, making it look like there really was a 1 1/2 hour wait.

I know it's a crappy trick to pull, but going home at 1:30am every night after working a shift that began at 7am can cause you to not care. Besides, all those empty queues were so much easier to clean when there was nobody standing in them.

Is it unethical? Absolutely it is. So I now apologize to anyone who was deceived by our rotten trickery and I hope I didn't give those folks at TDD any ideas. ;) The queue over there is pretty well hidden. *** Edited 8/11/2004 6:06:19 PM UTC by Rihard 2000***

I've noticed the times to be exaggerated a before. I think its so any guest can't complain about being missinformed of how long itll take to ride a ride. It doesn't matter to me if the employees exagerrate the wait time for their benefit. But, I was wondering if the employees still get paid for going past the 10 or 11 o'clock closing time, cause that may be reason also for their attempts to empty the queues. I don't know just my 2 cents.

Not getting paid? Ha! Would anybody really even be there if they weren't getting paid after 10 or 11 o'clock? I mean I love Cedar Point, but not that much.

I really never pay attention to the sign. I look at the line and figure from there. I've been on it enough to estimate myself.

When I see the line for the MF at the pop machines I estimate 1 and 1/2 hrs. Last year seemed shorter.

Hate to inform you Rihard but there is employees at the Point that do not get paid for all the time that they work. I have a niece that works for a restaurant and they are only paid until a certain time,,,work done or not,,they have to stay and finish up,unpaid.I say this is B.S.,,but they are all afraid to bitch,,,they do not want to lose their bonus at the end of the year.

That's news to me. I can only speak for operations, and Union ride mechanics. But in the 12 years that I worked at the park, I have never heard of such a thing. I had plenty of friends that worked in food services, and never heard them complaining that they don't get paid.

I'm not saying that what you describe isn't true, but it just seems unlikely to me. The closest I ever came to not being paid would have been time edits. On Sunday nights, supervisors would estimate the time we would be done based on the length of the line. That was only one night of the week, and we would certainly get paid what was due to us if we ended up staying longer than what was predicted.

I know that the park uses volunteers that don't get paid. Usually they are only there for a few days to raise money for thier group organization.