I stand corrected on the Universal Express Passes, thanks Gator.

And for SIX..

Enjoy riding our rides with a 90% reduction in wait time! Consecutive riding allows you to WAIT ONCE and RIDE TWICE. Quantities are limited. Some restrictions apply.

So if the wait is 90 minutes, you wait 10 minutes, but then you get to ride twice.

And also, for Busch Gardens..

Quick Queue Unlimited Pass

Spend more time having fun and less time waiting in line. The Quick Queue Unlimited pass provides priority boarding for your favorite major rides all day long.

Note at BGW, there is an unlimited option, but at least on Alpie and AC, there was a limit of 4 QQ riders per train from my experience.

Universal's is not unlimited: http://www.universal...D=13-1152&seq=1

It is unlimited for Universal hotel guests, including the day you check in and and day you check out.

Yesterday at DB the ride op was NOT assigning seats to anyone. He'd just let the station lines que up then stop guests for a couple of rides then let it que up again. It was working perfectly! Guests and Flash passers just picked the row they wanted and all was right with the world. Well done KI.

^Sounds like an efficient way to "separate," although I don't think such a system would work well on BLSC as there are a limited number of seats (12).

In my Opinion it's the way it should be done! Like Cedar Point!

Yesterday at DB the ride op was NOT assigning seats to anyone. He'd just let the station lines que up then stop guests for a couple of rides then let it que up again. It was working perfectly! Guests and Flash passers just picked the row they wanted and all was right with the world. Well done KI.

When I was there Monday I noticed this, too. We were able to walk to any row we wanted and the line still moved just as quickly as when they were assigning seats (in my experience, at least).

When I was there Monday I noticed this, too. We were able to walk to any row we wanted and the line still moved just as quickly as when they were assigning seats (in my experience, at least).

Also the GP (ones who don't know you can ask for a row) don't get disappointed when they're assigned a seat in the middle when they wanted to ride in the front or back.

Question to the knowledge council:

Are there any other parks that do this row assignment thing for coasters? Obviously rides like Delirium and DT needs seats assigned, but my wife and I couldn't think of another park we've been to that does this on coasters.

Yes Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney Hollywood Studious, Universal Studios, Sea World, Islands of Adventure and Cedar Point. Those are the parks I have been to and was assigned to a row by an attendant.

^

You can add Dollywood to that mix.

Yes Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney Hollywood Studious, Universal Studios, Sea World, Islands of Adventure and Cedar Point. Those are the parks I have been to and was assigned to a row by an attendant.

What coaster does Cedar Point assign seats on?

At coaster mania this year I believe it was magnum also when I went 2 years prior.

At coaster mania this year I believe it was magnum also when I went 2 years prior.

I thought they were assigning seats on Maverick as well. I could be wrong though?

That's what I thought too IndyGuy and RailRider.

I also left off Busch Gardens Tampa.

Yeah, during Coaster Mania they were assigning seats on Maverick, and they also did during opening day for Maverick and TTD (if you stayed around till 6 when it finally opened that night.)

So do you all think assigning seats on coasters is a growing trend, or something that's becomming more rare?

I believe its a product of "large volume" parks. Kings Island has had what seems like heightened attendance as compared to the last couple years. Whether this is a product of the economy and "stay-cations" or a trend of Kings Island gaining a larger customer base remains to be seen.

KI for years has wavered on and off about greeters at their entrances and line splitters. Cedar Point, I've noticed, does a very good job by having their line splitters before the station, keeping it from getting too out of control up there. The only issue I've had is Magnum's awkwardly shaped station. The benefit is that it keeps seat 1-3 line non existant.

CP has relaxed since coastermania on assigning, they just do platform flow control. WT is the exception as they only do exact number of people on platform.

Yesterday at DB the ride op was NOT assigning seats to anyone. He'd just let the station lines que up then stop guests for a couple of rides then let it que up again. It was working perfectly! Guests and Flash passers just picked the row they wanted and all was right with the world. Well done KI.

I saw that at DB yesterday, but with that we saw lots of trains with 4-5 empty seats. There was one train where row 15 was completely empty. Seems less efficient capacity-wise to me.

was the park dead enough to do that???

I would have to agree gator.. the projected capacity is 1620 people an hour, so thats about 50 trains an hour. If there were 3 seats empty on average, that decreases capacity to 1470.. which still blows away anything in the park, but over the course of an hour, adds 5 uneeded trains.

was the park dead enough to do that???

I arrived at the park around 6:30 and I thought it was really crowded for a weekday. I was suprised they weren't assigning seats. In fact, they still had a ride op as you entered the station, but he didn't hold any guests and the station was very full.

^Agreed. We got there at about 6:00, and we all agreed that it was crowded for a Thursday. I thought it was very odd with that size crowd that they weren't assigning seats.

I would have to agree gator.. the projected capacity is 1620 people an hour, so thats about 50 trains an hour. If there were 3 seats empty on average, that decreases capacity to 1470.. which still blows away anything in the park, but over the course of an hour, adds 5 uneeded trains.

AE's 3 train capacity is 1600

I would have to agree gator.. the projected capacity is 1620 people an hour, so thats about 50 trains an hour. If there were 3 seats empty on average, that decreases capacity to 1470.. which still blows away anything in the park, but over the course of an hour, adds 5 uneeded trains.

But yours and Gator's numbers aren't taking into account that the single rider line is no more. With groups of 3,5,7, your going to have empty seats on every train anyway. Whether the Ride ops are assigning seats or not, the lack of a single rider Que will mean empty seats.

^I didn't have any numbers except for noting that I saw trains with several empty seats. I don't dare speculate on ride capacity numbers.

^I didn't have any numbers except for noting that I saw trains with several empty seats. I don't dare speculate on ride capacity numbers.

I don't either. Maximum capacity assumes that people do not try to bring on children who are too small or loose articles, don't wear shoes, wind up with a "walk of shame," etc. In reality, capacity depends, in a large part, on the intelligence of the passengers.

I would have to agree gator.. the projected capacity is 1620 people an hour, so thats about 50 trains an hour. If there were 3 seats empty on average, that decreases capacity to 1470.. which still blows away anything in the park, but over the course of an hour, adds 5 uneeded trains.

32 times 50 cycles is 1600...

Diamondback has only hit 1600 people twice. Once in 09' and once a few days ago. Lets just say were lucky if we even get 1470 an hour. Don't believe everything you read on rcdb.

It's very dificult for any ride to meet max capacity. If one were operating a roller coaster, the next train would need to be filled checked and sent out by the time the previous train cleared the block. This would need to occur consistently for an hour, which is very difficult to do.

Pulling a Terpy now...

MarketingExpress who reached the maximum cycles allowed on AE and IJST (now BLSC) a few times in his (P)KI career.