What Causes Theme Park Lines to Slow Down?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
- Lines slow down for a variety of reasons at every theme park. While every ride is designed to handle the crowds differently, there are a few reasons that consistently delay operations and cause queue lines to take longer than they should.
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As someone who operates rides in WDW, I have plenty of stories of why rides get delayed. One time, a lady sat there and argued with another cast member about wanting to take her service dog on the ride. On a thrill ride. It made an entire launch go empty because we couldn't get to the line.
Guests are stupid
-6fot ride operator
Height checks at flight of passage with parents getting combative can starve the queue and potentially miss entire dispatch windows especially if there’s one merge doing both standby and lightning lane
@@PatThePerson YES! So many empty seats on FoP! Often people don't know you can still do the pre-show experience and simply exit when loading in to the ride seats begins. All you need to do is speak with the cast member and advise them that you are not riding but only doing the pre-show so they can still fill seats.
Countless angry parents stalling lines and arguing over their kid not being tall enough. Why so angry at someone for refusing to put their kid's safety at risk? It's mind boggling.
@@1981mrdavid I'm not trying to kill your kid lady go away.
I had almost made it to the front of the line when someone was sick on a coaster. They wiped down the train and then ran it empty twice, and then they let the people who were on the train with the sick passenger ride again. I was pleasantly surprised that no one (that I noticed) gave the ride crew a hard time, and everyone applauded when we were given the go ahead to ride.
Even if I wasn't a ride operator myself, nobody wants to sit in a vehicle with someone else's stomach contents.
This video perfectly encapsulates everything that people need to know. I operate The Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood, which has loose article bins and no air gates (old school!). The lack of gates help with dispatches, unless people decide to not pay attention and stand on the red line, which does delay. With that said, when things are going smooth, we have had times where it only stacks once or twice an hour. We also tried to spiel instructions about one person placing loose articles in the bins. This happened on one of the most crowded Halloween event days of the season last October, and the wait was only 15 minutes!
I noticed how much the operations in Phantom have been so improved over the years. Even at the ramp, it’s usually ten minutes long!
I was about to comment along the same lines, that the tendency to overdo safety in the US is a major contributing factor. Here in Germany, a lot of older coasters don't have air gates, and a lot of coasters, including newer ones, don't have seat belts wile in the US it seems that parks like to install seat belts even on your small Zamperla single helix kiddy coaster. Sure, really wild rides like Expedition GeForce have additional seat belts, but they are the exception, not the rule. This massively increases throughput, and you don't hear about people being flung out of coasters all the time here. (Though it sadly happened once this year, but that is a different story)
I like theme park
same
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Me like theme park
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roller coaster good
Guests being mindful of their impact on operations can help keep things moving. My wife and our friend both have cerebral palsy and when we go to a park, we're always using exit/Ada passes. I always try my best to limit the impact of how much time we take to load and unload even to where I try to not make ride ops stop the turntable for water rapids rides.
Great video! I will say that number 4 was 100% true in every way. It's so common that guests ignore those instructions, and its even worse when the ride operator has to stop the train on the lifthill because guests don't listen to; "For your safety, the use of any cellular device is extremely prohibited, so if you have it out, please put it away at this time".
It makes things a lot easier by following the instructions for the safety of yourself and others.
'Guests not listening to instructions'
Yes. This one hits close to home.
Same on the operator end but also going in as a guest
The loose article one really brought back a core memory. I remember riding the mummy rollercoaster at universal studios and the attendant asking me to take my glasses off and putting them in one of the nets in the cart. I did as she said cause I didn’t want to argue and maybe I could lose my glasses if I didn’t.
Well afterwards I held up the line cause my glasses got stuck in the net. I had a panic attack while my dad tried to get them free and an attendant got some scissors. I don’t remember the ride outside of the bit with the big screen but I vividly remember struggling to get my glasses out of that net.
I went to Universal in January and needed extra assistance on almost every ride due to my size which slowed down operations. It was a huge wake up call and I lost 60lbs this year and I’m grateful cause if not I wouldn’t be able to ride Iron Gwazi and lots of other rides I’ve been on this year.
Good stuff. Keep it off. I can't gain weight to save my life.
@@jonny-b4954 keep an eye on that mentality, man. My cousin just hit 27 or so and it caught up with him hard, lol.
Babe wake up, coaster college uploaded
Fastpass or derivatives thereof such as fast lane, lightning lane or universal express can slow down a standby queue significantly
Another reason for a slowdown that happens a lot on Ride of Steel @ SFDL is when guests pull out a phone when there on the lifthill and there are cameras on the lifthill and the ride op's have to stop the ride, sometimes even climbing up the lift to tell the rider/s to put there device away or confiscate it.
One more thing, which could maybe be put in the "training" category is how parks announce the instructions during boarding. While I have heard a lot of really good announcements from ride operators, recorded ones may often be easier to understand. I remember a visit to a US park that is part of a large chain (not going to be more specific here), and at one coaster, the ride operator was so "cool", having the mic shoved halfway down his throat. It was impossible to understand what he was saying. Not just for me, whose native language is not English, but also for the friend I was there with - and her native language is English, and at that time she even worked as a ride operator for another park operated by the same chain.🤣
i don't even want to think how disgusting it is with all the operators using the same mic if one uses it that way...
You can name the chain. It's the Internet, you're allowed to speak freely.
@@LEWIS1992 Six Flags. That wasn't hard to guess. 🙄
With Giant Wheel (GW), sometimes load-and-go is deviated because groups decide to not ride while in the cabin, or a kid is not calming down, causing them to exit the cabin and not ride. Due to balancing, the cabin has to be reloaded and then recheck everything. An unbalanced Ferris Wheel will create more problems.
Also, enforcing the no single rider policy for GW got annoying since most guests don’t read the Rider Safety Guide at entrance.
Agreed
As a Six Flags Ride Operator and Attendant, I can says confidently that you got most every situation. 4 out of 5 times, our line is only going slow because of guests taking their time loading and not following directions. On busy days, where our larger attraction is running with maximum trains, we've occasionally had a position or two just dedicated to taking guests loose articles to be stored to minimize the amount of guests putting items away.
The only thing I can think that you've missed is generic downtimes due to guest misconduct or maintenance issues. Also certain conditions may require a downtime simply to either add or remove an amount of trains or ride vehicles from a ride. Multiple rides that I've worked on have had trains removed due to certain weather conditions, but still could operate with the removal. When adding back said train, however, due to either with park density increasing or weather conditions clearing, the ride must be checked or rechecked so that it may once again be operable.
Finally, I'm not saying that the crew working on operating the ride is never at fault. I've definitely slowed down ride operations by accidentally opening a gate or seat just before dispatch, and some team members are just slow due to age, health, mood, etc. Its just more common, for a single guest to slow the whole boarding process down for many different possible reasons, reasonable ones and ones that could've been easily avoided.
A while ago, I was queuing for a large swing ride at Flamingo Land and I was close to the front when the ride just stopped operating and the attendant/operator called a technician over to check the ride. They went round checking all restraints multiple times and decided to evacuate the ride ( there was people on it waiting to ride ) and everyone was given a ride queue pass. I don't know what error the ride had but I guess the safety systems worked as intended 🤷
This should be required watching for anyone planning a theme park trip where they want to experience the rides. Or have kids that do - I’ve worked attractions at SW, 6F, WDW and literally these tips cannot be understated if you want an enjoyable and efficient experience, and wish the same for your fellow park goers.
Securing your belongings matter of fact gave me a bit of ptsd 😅 please, please, secure your stuff especially if it can’t be replaced!
Ride operator at Busch gardens I can't say how many times we have had to stop montu because of people having phones out.
While I know at Universal a lot of guests complained about the metal detectors when we implemented them, but we increased our dispatches about 10%. Over winter peak before metal detectors at Hulk we were hitting about 50 dispatches an hour, but after we were getting closer to 55 dispatches an hour.
Another reason could be if the ride has preshows, though more common with dark rides, preshows that last a significant amount of time or if there are multiple preshows, the added time can add more wait time to an attraction, especially if it has a low throughput/capacity.
Great video. Always informative and really eye opening to what goes into delays in rides and how a great crew can help with any delays.
What about Height Checking? That is also a huge factor, especially when GP Karen goes off because their kid is too short! Also, line cutting too!
Anyway this is exactly what I've been trying to tell people that long waits/bad ops/stacking are not the employees fault most of the time. Not just at amusement parks but at restaurants and stores too. Karens too especially slow down the lines everywhere and those same Karens will complain about the wait. If people were just smarter, followed rules and instructions, used more common sense, were more decisive, and did not make the employees jobs harder then I can guarantee the lines at every place would be moving twice as fast.
Height checking is included in ride admission policy
@@CoasterCollege and I have been enforcing hight reqs from min to more strict user hight requirements
People stand in a queue line for 45 minutes and when they finally get to the loading platform, they aren't ready to do. They dig in their bag to find their eyeglasses holder, then they stop to get a tictac, then we gotta take a group selfie, then we get all our loose stuff into our bag so we can throw our bag in a cubbie. THEN we stumble around playing musical chairs trying to figure out who in our group is gonna sit with who in our group. You had 45 minutes to get all that delt with, already. Let's go.
I recently visited Universal Studios Japan and the loose articles policy on their Hollywood Dream coaster was so strict that it really made ride operations slow down to a crawl. Everyone had to be scanned individually for any metal objects in their pocket before boarding, then had to put any loose articles in the bins at the same time as guests getting off the ride were trying to retrieve their items from those same bins. It probably took close to 2 minutes every time for them to dispatch a single train.
I completely understand the need for safety but there's got to be a way of operating the ride more efficiently.
This is why I make sure to only take the bare minimum to the park and have at least one article of clothing with zippered pockets.
I think my favorite delay that's a core memory was I was 12 and waiting an hour wait for a wooden roller coaster that went upside--which everyone was like "wow, so novel and cool". But since my mom didnt want to ride it, i went alone, and the teens in front of me were zapping each other with a tazer, that they probably shouldn't have had. Like it was before the parks had metal detectors (which my nearby park now has and fully enforces)
Someone wanted off the ride after they already locked over-the-head lapbars and it was a newer coaster and they apparently had an issue where the lapbars couldn't come up without the ride completing a full circuit without an engineer's key. I'm no expert, but that's what I remember one of the attendants explaining because I was like 2 people from the gate to get on when it happened.
30 more minutes and it was before I had a cellphone so I had to be entertained by watching the teens in front of me. Dont even remember the ride.
That being said about slowing the line for the ride for illness--I wish some attendanta or operators werent pressured to keep the line moving and missed that. I got off the Boomerang once, a year after I had a concussion (I was cleared by a doctor amd didn't think I'd have any issue--itd been a year) and blacked out the moment it stopped. I felt god awful rest of the nighr. My mom hauled me up and told me to stop being a baby, and the ride operator just let it be. Like man, I was completely dark and slumped for like a solid 30 seconds, but i guess being like 16 and my mom dragging me out like I chose to faint was why man just did nothing.
Anyway. Im always impressed by the speed an attendant can check everything and send an all clear for it to be on its way.
Fascinating! I'd love to see more about crowd control at theme parks. Fab video as always!
i hate when people start messing with the gates and it breaks down for like 30 minutes
Trouble light
Especially the seatbelts
@@ThrillsofColdplay don't get me started on seatbelts
At Kentucky Kingdom in 2023, they started doing a fast pass system that would be used by exit-boarding. It made the operations incredibly slow, thus making a station wait 20 minutes. I'm glad that they won't be resuming this in 2024 for quicker lines.
I’m just hours away from going to Discovery Kingdom as you upload this! I’ll keep this video in mind
I always use a pouch that goes around your waist when im riding a roller coaster. Staff dont mind pouches because it secures your phone and you just have to flip it on your back and it won't cause a problem with the seat belt that's the best way to make sure you don't lose valuable items
Finally got my Coaster College cameo! Was about what I should have expected 😳😂
Great guidelines! 👍
in a theme park in Sochi we would put down loose items at bins while in the queue
before the current ride is finished, people who will ride next would secure their loose items
this does mean that the amount of loose items stored at once is doubled but there was always enough space anyway
I like these videos they make me feel better abt theme park rides. I'm still a huge scaredy cat but at least I know the facts.
I can also explain to ppl in the roller coaster line how the block system works and how in 2011, Alton towers Amusement park- and get slapped by my friend
Very informative!
For half a second, I dead ass, felt guilty for going in through the exit. Because I cause a delay. But I’m in a fucking wheelchair. no shit I can’t go up the stairs.
1 cause ….. THE GUEST!
Nice video!
I work at what can be considered a big theme park in SoCal and usually 90% of the time it is guests not listening. I wish I could like #4 one million times.
With that said, 10% of the time I or someone screw up on accident when loading (it happens, we are human) so we have to unlock restraints and switch people around. This is why almost every big ride in the park has at least 3 employees operating.
As someone who became an OJT (on job trainer) this past year, one of my biggest frustrations is having stuff in SOP's (guest related usually) that is either:
a.) Stuff outdated from 5-10 years ago is still in there.
b.) Stuff that is subjective and open to interpretation by individuals.
If either of that happens (or we have any doubts), we have to leave a guest off the ride until one of our managers, or head of operations manager makes a final determination. On a busy day like Saturday, that can be a huge pain. Even when I was a regular employee, there was stuff that was subjective and we had to get 2nd thoughts on.
Thankfully, park management is working on addendums to adjust subjective rules, and also finally removing any outdated rules.
Top Thrill Dragster: My lines are so long because I'm constantly having technical difficulties
I use a Disability pass when I go to parks. It slows down operations for the guet that is in the seat you take as you are taking a seat from someone. I always feel bad but I have medical conditions that won't let me Wait in line
This is honestly such a good video lol
2:30 When I was at Universal, they did the best for the Exit Entrance. We were with Give Kids the World, they would take us to the ride exit entrance thing/parentswap and we got right on without interfering with the exit line. So we didnt get bumped into or anything!
Universal is an industry leader when it comes to exit boarding.
Been working in major theme parks for decades. Number One: PUT YOU CELL PHONES AWAY! 😮 Easily the biggest cause of downtimes and delays, hands down.
I was lucky enough to be on a ride with someone doing a video in front of us. The girl lost her grip, and then it's like the cell phone floated in air for a second exactly where it was. She reached out to grab it, missed, and then the cell phone just shot away. It was the strangest physics I had ever seen.
This video makes me want to work at a theme park
Its pretty fun!
We forgot there were no storage bins and my wife was somehow allowed to ride Magnum this past summer with her purse. I know that is against policy, but neither the associate at the ride entrance nor the one that checked her restraints said anything to her. I ended up holding onto it for her otherwise it never would have made it back.
Small bags, like most purses are allowed on that ride.
@Coaster College oh! Interesting and surprising with some of the forces on the final airtime hills.
That last section speaks to me cause half the Unit SUPs Deviated from sop when it comes to opening the gates
The gates are supposed to be opened immediately when the train parks but some tm let it sit up to 30 seconds waiting for it to empty
I never understood why some locations choose to do that.
@@CoasterCollege the only time I want gates held is for a exit pass because people don’t listen and take the seats I reserved and sometimes people come from other chutes thinking the rows are empty
4:30 then don't use bins, but big shelfs that open/close per train?
That's how the Europapark does it with its multitrain coasters (except the water hybrid), and I think it is a good solution
(1:29) This happened to the train in front of us while we were sitting ready to be dispatched on Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood. It wasn't fun. I was making a vlog that day and I even caught the event of us sitting ready!
Guess this counts as exit boarding but ANY free/paid skip the line queue should be noted. Some rides like Xcelerator have them queued at the exit, while some have their own seperate lines. Regardless, what makes rides like B&Ms that have quick waits suddenly come to a screeching halt because of people using the skip the line queue, which doesn't destroy capacity but bottlenecks the standby queue.
the forage of the blue jumper guys is that you?
This video should be a requirement for guests to watch before entering a park.
I think the most common reason why lines slow down is number 4; not listening or paying attention while loading or unloading. People lollygag too much while loading.
Look at Hagrid's, it has a moving loading area where riders are forced to pay attention, get their act together and sit down/buckle up. A highly motivated & trained staff drastically increases rider counts.
Reason #2 typically results in ride evacuations at HFEC parks.
Re: guest illnesses I barfed on Jersey Devil Coaster this year.
And also confusing train design with the vekoma giant boomerang
I was once a ride operator at Six Flags and I can confirm that everything mentioned in this video is true. Some other things I would like to mention is that “temporary delays” would also include a ride shutting itself down due to excessive heat (the #1 reason why the ride I operated would shut down).
I lowkey would wanna work at a theme park but idek how to apply yk?
@@lumineer_3 you just go to the theme park’s website and they should have a jobs/careers page.
@Pablo Cruz what ride did you work at?
@@ToledoRailfan goliath
What about deaf people visiting parks and cant' listen to the safety instructions? What do ride ops do then.
You forgot line cutting and enforcement of park policies of offending guest removal. I've personally experienced this at multiple cedar fair parks. When guests understand that they will be removed from the park, and witness this being enforced, they will stop.
I usually have my mom hold my stuff
Hey. Have you heard about Brandon from the channel "Theme Park Predictions & More"? If so, what do you think of his content? Also, in his video on the future of roller coasters, he says that more and more parks find ways to require fewer staff members per attraction, as staffing has been a massive issue over the last few years.
Most roller coasters offer a minimum of three to four people to operate, but when you add more positions and help, then that number grows fast. He thinks we will see parks rely more on technology over attraction associates. After all, we trust the computers in our cars, airplanes and at home, so he thinks it's time for parks to start allowing visual scans and have one operator on the platform. It works if the roller coaster features the technology that would allow this to work, but he thinks it's doable.
He also thinks we will start to see adjustments in how roller coaster stations are laid out. This would help with throughput and help the ride ops do a better overall job. He thinks the key to the future of roller coasters boils down to this: make an affordable, memorable and yet thrilling product for the park guest.
What do you think? Relating to how lines are slower, would these enhancements help the ride and park experience and reduce wait times at these coasters? Do you think that technology is available to make them happen? I know this is long, but please let me know so I can understand Brandon's motives to make these claims.
I know this isn't the point of this video, but what slows down the regular line more than anything else is the Fast Lane/Pass/whatever line.
I prefer autospeals to over mic to yell out the speal
europa park be like...... JETZT EINSTEIGEIGEN!!!!!! GOGOGOGO!!! Just screaming to you, you get scared and get in very fast XD just before they get to you
Efficient :D
Every time they do a spiel the Mic literally sounds like The cheapest Xbox 360 Mic ever made
Or it's the Deja-Vu, and broken down 66% of the time.
What I found to be insane was at Efteling, where you have to take your backpack and all loose items with you, even on Python (their looping coaster) and their GCI
Well as long as they don't fall off it's fine, lol.
There was one time where I was waiting to get on Magnum XL 200. When I sat down the ride attendants told us to go back onto the ride platform. One of the attendants was holding a broken seat belt buckle that fell off delaying the ride. Someone then came to fix it and they resumed operations. It was the ride attendants fault for not knowing how to fix the problem but at least they prevented a serious accident from happening.
reason 20: ops are slow
Check reason 6
@@CoasterCollege I saw it after I posted this comment haha. I've seen some ops walk at snail speed around the platform, with the ride having over an hour wait time. Saddens me.
@@FrappeInsider better slow than getting people injured. Rides are heavy equipment with seats. We move with purpose keeping the ride happy.
@@JeffreyPiatt Not always, i've seen some pretty slow ops checking restraints, where their buddy has already finished checking restraints and they're only 3 rows in. Some things aren't about safety, but lack of care. Also, it's really annoying when you finally reach the station after HOURS of waiting just to see the ops using only one station or going as slow as humanly possible. It just really ticks me off
Your mom
I can’t stand when overweight people try and get on a coaster and unsurprisingly can’t fit
How did I get here? I hate theme parks, fairs. Stupid to get on those "machines" and risk your life and limb just to get the sensation of a near miss accident. Amusement rides are for the mentally stagnant.
And this channel covers all those accidents.
These rides are very safe.
Google told me that 4.5 people die on roller coasters per year, and people die in car crashes 46.000 times a year.
3:30 sometimes I try so hard to listen but the operators talk too fast and warbled to understand them 🥲