Assigned seats on coasters?

[dare-to-fly]

Firehawk, Diamondback, and Backlot Stnunt Coaster all assign seats.

Since when does Firehawk assign seats?

[MarketingExpress]

Other than filling in the empty seats with single riders, the seat assigner does absolutely nothing to speed up the line. People can choose their seats just fine. Dollywood finds a way to fill in empty seats by announcing that there are seats open by saying "any single riders want to ride." If the singles are more in tune with waiting, they will, and if they want to ride without choosing their seats, they can. The whole process of assigning seats sounds great, but in the long run, it doesn't really speed up the line much, if at all.

Actually filling empty seats does speed up the line. Let's say if DB were to not assign seats, your wait is exactly 1 hour, and in that 1 hour there are 50 empty seats. With a seperator (or seat assigner) in place, those 50 seats get filled causing there to be 50 fewer people in front of you...thus less wait for you in line.

[HTCO]

^ Not only does it move the line a lot faster, it also increases the capacity.

[CedarPointer]

Since when does Firehawk assign seats?

It did on the 16th.

Flight of Fear seems to be one of the rides in most need of a grouper. I've seen three trains worth of people waiting for one of the middle cars, but one trains worth of people waiting for the front or back!

[dare-to-fly]

Actually filling empty seats does speed up the line. Let's say if DB were to not assign seats, your wait is exactly 1 hour, and in that 1 hour there are 50 empty seats. With a seperator (or seat assigner) in place, those 50 seats get filled causing there to be 50 fewer people in front of you...thus less wait for you in line.

I highly doubt that in a line one hour long that there would be 50 empty seats even in an hour. The line may be sped up a little if seats are assigned correctly; however, the very slightly shortened wait isn't really worth it to me. I'd rather wait the extra minute and a half to sit where I want.

It did on the 16th.

That would have been the first time I've ever seen that, so either they are starting to do so - boo - or it was a fluke - mild annoyance. Then again, I don't ride it much.

[Mikewhy]

Simply pulse the line to keep the station from getting too crowded, and let people sit where they want. Assign someone else to look for empty seats and try to get people to sit there. I assure you, when you tell the crowd or the next person in line there is a seat with no waiting, it will not be hard to find someone to take it.

I bet this would fill the train completely 98% of the time, and also allow those who really care where they sit to choose. Then the people working the line only have to work to fill empty seats and keep the station from getting too crowded. I think this is a good tradeoff between capacity and allowing people to sit where they want, and I will bet a ton of money it is almost just as good, if not equal to the assigning seats method.

[CedarPointer]

That would have been the first time I've ever seen that, so either they are starting to do so - boo - or it was a fluke - mild annoyance. Then again, I don't ride it much.

Well, he would let people fill in whatever rows they wanted, then, whatever was empty, he would assign. Mildly annoying, but I got assigned the front, so .

[joecartoon]

Actually filling empty seats does speed up the line. Let's say if DB were to not assign seats, your wait is exactly 1 hour, and in that 1 hour there are 50 empty seats. With a seperator (or seat assigner) in place, those 50 seats get filled causing there to be 50 fewer people in front of you...thus less wait for you in line.

I highly doubt that in a line one hour long that there would be 50 empty seats even in an hour. The line may be sped up a little if seats are assigned correctly; however, the very slightly shortened wait isn't really worth it to me. I'd rather wait the extra minute and a half to sit where I want.

It did on the 16th.

That would have been the first time I've ever seen that, so either they are starting to do so - boo - or it was a fluke - mild annoyance. Then again, I don't ride it much.

Firehawk does do it or they let a certain number of people in at a time.

[gad198]

Other than filling in the empty seats with single riders, the seat assigner does absolutely nothing to speed up the line. People can choose their seats just fine. Dollywood finds a way to fill in empty seats by announcing that there are seats open by saying "any single riders want to ride." If the singles are more in tune with waiting, they will, and if they want to ride without choosing their seats, they can. The whole process of assigning seats sounds great, but in the long run, it doesn't really speed up the line much, if at all.

Actually filling empty seats does speed up the line. Let's say if DB were to not assign seats, your wait is exactly 1 hour, and in that 1 hour there are 50 empty seats. With a seperator (or seat assigner) in place, those 50 seats get filled causing there to be 50 fewer people in front of you...thus less wait for you in line.

And, not only does it cause the line to move faster it has a very unusual (perhaps unintended) side effect. The single rider line now, wait-time wise, is frequently longer than the main queue. Even at that, the simple fact that there are single riders in that line at all frequently means that the main queue line is that many people shorter. The end of the night is a perfect example. Watch DB trains go out during the last 10-15 minutes. Once the SRL is emptied there are ALWAYS empty seats going out in various quantities, again, causing the main queue to be longer (albeit marginally, but longer nonetheless).

I think the argument of random single riders being paired in the station (without an SRL) doesn't always hold true. There are a lot of assumptions that go into that: (1) that the ride op will announce a single seat is available, (2) that a single rider will actually step up and ride in that train. I can't tell you how many times, particularly on 4 across B&Ms where there are only 3 people in a row. Most times I see single riders jumping in that last seat it's generally an enthusiast. Most members of the GP are probably going to wait for the next train unless something compels them (a non-rider waiting for them, etc.). If you're in a group where you need to pair up so that you're riding on the same train, how many times have you gotten into a row where there are two people waiting in a row only to find out they're actually two singles waiting for two different trains?

KI's goal is to maximize capacity on the ride, plain and simple. In reality, most of the people who ride DB, particularly the GP, don't care where they sit. They may request a row (usually 1 or 16), but I don't hear about guests getting upset because they requested row 9 on DB and didn't get it. Most of the time people are looking for four rows: 1, 2, 15, or 16. I think most of the DB ride ops are very accommodating as far as seat requests (less row 1, particularly if there's already a big queue for it) as long as you're polite and ask in a respectful manner, but there will be times when 5 straight groups just asked for the same row you were about to ask for, and that's just the way it works out sometimes. However, as previously mentioned, you're waiting for a shorter period of time with the ride assigner (and SRL), AND, most of the time they're accommodating seat requests. These are both good things last I checked!

The system isn't perfect, I'll agree with everyone there, but I'd love to see a better way to find a balance between sending full trains and allowing everyone to sit where they want to sit than what they're currently doing. They're not saying 'no' to seat requests all the time, so this to me seems like it's a bit of relative issue. Would you rather see 12 seats per train go unfilled, terrible operations (stacking of trains for minutes at a time), or be allowed to sit in a preferred row?

[KIfan1980]

I highly doubt that in a line one hour long that there would be 50 empty seats even in an hour. The line may be sped up a little if seats are assigned correctly; however, the very slightly shortened wait isn't really worth it to me. I'd rather wait the extra minute and a half to sit where I want.

50 empty seats in an hour is likely an underestimate.

- In a somewhat typical hour, ~40 Diamondback trains leave the station

- From my SRL experience, there is normally ~2 odd numbered groups on each train

- This leads to about a 5 minute extra wait (which I'll agree doesn't seem like that big a deal individually, but add it up to everyone in the line every day and it becomes a big deal to the park)

I do agree with your overall desire to choose your own row. When I want to do this, I go through the main queue and make the request. It is granted a very high percentage of the time (as noted elsewhere, there are a couple of ride ops who don't take requests, but most do).

The one thing I don't get is why KI didn't have an extended line for row 16 - they had to know it would be as popular (or more so than row 1) and the lack of extra rails makes the separator less likely to go more than 2-3 groups back there.

[TopThrill]

I thinks its a good that none of the coasters at CP have assigned seats, even when the lines are over an hour for everything. They just let the station fill up to the point so they can fill up a train, like on MF Maverick. I don't like the assigned seats on DB, most of the time I get the same seat.

[CedarPointer]

MF, Maverick, and WT had assigned seats when I went.

[DropZone99]

In 2007 Firehawk assigned seats, I never have seen it assign them in 2008 or 2009 though.

[flightoffear1996]

I have been assinged twice on a seat on Firehawk. I really dont mind specially at KI since I been on all the seats at one point or another. I like not having the station filled with people though.

[skaterboy22101]

Since when does Firehawk assign seats?

It did on the 16th.

Flight of Fear seems to be one of the rides in most need of a grouper. I've seen three trains worth of people waiting for one of the middle cars, but one trains worth of people waiting for the front or back!

Oh, the 16! Haha, that was a funny day. Firehawk was experiencing some "techincal" difficulties.

[dare-to-fly]

Oh, the 16! Haha, that was a funny day. Firehawk was experiencing some "techincal" difficulties.

Just on the 16th???

Flyer, who couldn't resist.