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So what's up with this "power hour" crap on Banshee last night?


Keysersoze
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Hey all,

  First let me say I been a platinum pass holder for almost 10 years now.  I really love Banshee and the fact that on almost any given night you can almost walk on the ride. I don't get it, do seven inversions scare the public that bad? I think it's one of the best rides if not the best ride in the park. I also really do love how Kings Island lets the line for the front row extend much farther then the station was design for(bad design if you ask me, they should of know most would go for the front on a inverted coaster). I have never seen any other park do that and I hope that continues for that is real guest hospitality.

 With that said, last night I saw the ride operators do something different that I didn't care for. One hour before the park close, they started doing this thing they referred to "power hour" where if there was only 4 people standing in the front row line the operator controlling the crowd wouldn't let anyone else go to the front. The operator even told one guest it was because they were trying to get 50 cycles in the last hour. Really? I sure wish the operators on "Shake Rattle and Roll" felt that way!  I can see that if it was closer to closing time but this was a hour before close and it only took about 10 minutes to go threw the whole line anyway. I thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous and I wasn't pleased. In all the years of doing coasters I never complained to the park, if I ever went to customer service it was always to complement someone. Last night I went to complain! 

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I hate how the Banshee crew treats guests during power hours.  They are rude, they breath down your neck (at times, literally), and lack any semblance of empathy.  

 

Banshee crew- quit trying to hit capacity numbers all the time!  :angry:

 

Maybe KI can take a few of Banshee's crew and put them on Diamondback... :rolleyes:

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And then there's my experience from last weekend (don't know if it was a "power hour", though).  Sat down, started to pull down the OTSR, realized I forgot to affix my strap to my sunglasses.  Got the strap out and started to secure the sunglasses.  Op came around, shoved down the OTSR the rest of the way and fastened the seat belt.  Cleared the train, while my glasses were in my hand.  Had to put them on just outside the station.  Really?

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And then there's my experience from last weekend (don't know if it was a "power hour", though).  Sat down, started to pull down the OTSR, realized I forgot to affix my strap to my sunglasses.  Got the strap out and started to secure the sunglasses.  Op came around, shoved down the OTSR the rest of the way and fastened the seat belt.  Cleared the train, while my glasses were in my hand.  Had to put them on just outside the station.  Really?

 

I hope you stopped by Guest Services to complain after that. Safety is (or at least should be) the most important thing in terms of running an amusement park, so something like that should definitely be brought to the attention of the higher-ups.

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I'm not sure I like the idea of rushing people through.  It seems like that is a good set-up for a serious accident.  Just run the ride normally.  Not everyone will get the front seat, but that is the risk one takes if one gets in a long "front seat" line during the last 15 minutes.

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The big problem here is that somewhere in management, someone is seeing the manufacturer's stated capacity, and is wondering why on earth the actual numbers are so different. They're not happy with the results and there's a push from them that continues down the chain to the ride ops to do whatever they can to increase capacity. The "50 trains in an hour" example mentioned above is clear proof of this. RCDB lists Banshee's capacity at 1650 riders per hour. If you somehow manage to get 50 full Banshee trains out in an hour (meaning no more than 72 seconds between launches), that would put you at 1600 riders in an hour - still not as high as the stated capacity, but a lot better than say 1500 riders an hour.

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Not everyone will get the front seat, but that is the risk one takes if one gets in a long "front seat" line during the last 15 minutes.

 

The end of the night is a different case from the rest of the operating day.  If there's room in the front row line, and people want to wait there (so long as it's not the majority of riders), let them.

 

At the end of the day, at least at Cedar Point, they'll announce that they're only running X more trains and advice guests to fill in empty rows.  That gets people moved quickly and nobody complains.  Like you said, that's the risk you take waiting for front row at the end of the night.

 

Some crews can hustle without giving the appearance of rushing too much.  At least a couple times waiting for the back row, Millennium Force ride ops have been standing to the side, holding the seat belt, ready to start checking.  Doesn't seem too impatient to me, just like they want to get us out quickly.  Everyone can appreciate that.

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This talk is the reason I have a beef with the Diamondback crew.  There is no consistency throughout the park in terms of ride crews.  Why is Diamondback (a B&M with near the capacity of Banshee and has the luxury of a MCBR to help trains dispatch quicker) lucky to hit half of its capacity per hour while Banshee is, at the very least and with no MCBR, on par? Will we see Diamondback-esque line movement with Banshee when KI gets their next coaster?  Vortex has also started to be that way in the last few years, they triple stack a lot as well, never an issue under Paramount.  Its like running coasters with 3 trains is a lost art at Kings Island. 

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Hey all,

  First let me say I been a platinum pass holder for almost 10 years now.  I really love Banshee and the fact that on almost any given night you can almost walk on the ride. I don't get it, do seven inversions scare the public that bad? I think it's one of the best rides if not the best ride in the park. I also really do love how Kings Island lets the line for the front row extend much farther then the station was design for(bad design if you ask me, they should of know most would go for the front on a inverted coaster). I have never seen any other park do that and I hope that continues for that is real guest hospitality.

 With that said, last night I saw the ride operators do something different that I didn't care for. One hour before the park close, they started doing this thing they referred to "power hour" where if there was only 4 people standing in the front row line the operator controlling the crowd wouldn't let anyone else go to the front. The operator even told one guest it was because they were trying to get 50 cycles in the last hour. Really? I sure wish the operators on "Shake Rattle and Roll" felt that way!  I can see that if it was closer to closing time but this was a hour before close and it only took about 10 minutes to go threw the whole line anyway. I thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous and I wasn't pleased. In all the years of doing coasters I never complained to the park, if I ever went to customer service it was always to complement someone. Last night I went to complain! 

The staff can't be rude to guests at all for any reason. It doesn't matter what is going on. They will quit doing the power hour thing if enough people say something about it, or someone gets hurt.

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The pour hour is trying to get everyone through and have the crews finished and clocked out as soon as possible. It seems as KI or possibly Cedar Fair are becoming real penny pincher's with employees. What I noticed last week proves a point having people who were not hired as ride ops doing ride ops ( KI police and Life guard ). Yes both work for KI but their job titles and most likely training are not the same, which too me seems unsafe.

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Power Hour makes me so angry. It's just dangerous and people usually slip by. When I was on a crew at CP we had power hours quite often, until one day a small guest slipped by... Least to say, people involved were disciplined correctly and power hours were no more. They're SO dangerous

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I want to know what the deal is with stapling this year. Last year, I don't think it happened to me more than once or twice in dozens of park visits. Friday, I got stapled three times, on three different rides (DT, AE, and Delirium) within the same half hour. The worst was Delirium because as I was sitting there losing circulation in my legs all I could think of was the moment before the ride begins when the restraints tighten more. Fortunately (?) when there is already resistance apparently they don't tighten further.

There is no reason to use one's entire weight and/or strength to set restraints, especially when the restraints are clicked enough to lock already. Pushing until some resistance is met is plenty.

The young man on AE who stapled me apparently is chronic about it because when I rode again, I switched sides, but the woman sitting on his side behind me got stapled by him instead.

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You'd be surprised with what ride hosts get away with. Most management you have to realize aren't in their end careers (and if they are they don't take it seriously) so some of them could really care less.

Don't get me wrong though, I have seen people fired for things of the sort. I also saw a girl get fired for leaving restraints "too lose", I think it just depends.

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I also like when ride ops dispatch trains with loose articles in riders' hands because they're oblivious, more concerned with getting trains out as quick as possible.  Safety is job one?  Maybe at Ford Motor Company but not at Cedar Fair parks during "power hours".

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We saw this in practice both on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon (it was the same crew, or many of them same crew). On Friday evening they were cycling trains in under 20 seconds.

 

While that is impressive, and does greatly reduce wait time, it also (potentially) reduces rider safety as something may get missed in the rush, and they were not allowing us to pick seats. I could understand if there was a long wait and they just needed to fill trains to get people through the line, but it was 15-20 minutes. To me, this is an abuse of the 'preferred seating not guaranteed' sign they have posted just so the crew can cycle trains faster for no real apparent reason to the guests. This actually makes me want to ride it less. 

 

I'm assuming (literally, pure conjecture) there is some recognition, maybe just bragging rights, among ride operators for how many they can cycle per hour etc. That's all fine and good, but as park employees their primary concerns should be guest/rider safety and guest/rider enjoyment. If you cycle 10 less trains per hour, but have happier riders - you win, even if you're not outperforming other rides.

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I also like when ride ops dispatch trains with loose articles in riders' hands because they're oblivious, more concerned with getting trains out as quick as possible.  Safety is job one?  Maybe at Ford Motor Company but not at Cedar Fair parks during "power hours".

Ford Motor Company? You mean General Motors.
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