coasterfanatic83 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Multiple things- going to keep it short because I want to sleep. Project 2014: Heard some construction noises from behind the wall and over near Flight Deck Saw a guy in a hole where I assume a footer is going While riding Adventure Express, I noticed what looked like rebar arranged in the circle form alongside the access road towards Flight of Fear at about where the treeline begins. Kind of like these: (Yes, Baconator, I stole this pic from another thread where you put it so I could give an example. Hope you don't mind?) Soak City: There are some people who are pretty good at the Pipeline Paradise surfing thing. I am jealous of their ability. The Swelter Stopper was pretty cool. It was cold, but it was fun in there. I prefer Breakers Bay to Tidal Wave Bay. I think the tubes just congest it, and I like that BB is just one big ripple instead of multiple waves. Miscellaneous thoughts from my brain after 1 AM: For the first time I saw them open up the shed thing on Dodgem and move a car into there. Also, there is a bin for your bags now instead of holding them with you. I really enjoyed Flight Deck today for some reason. Like more than normal. Rock 'n Roll Never Forgets was phenomenal today. Vocally strong, and crisp moves. Much better than earlier this year. I did some explorin' today and found Flight Commander's queue for the first time today! It's pretty cool that they just left it there like that! I took my 40th lifetime lap on Adventure Express today. A small milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. The crew at The Racer was sending through trains quickly today! Props to them! There was a family of 4 walking around Festhaus today in their socks. What is this, your living room? I rode The Beast at night for the first time this year. Man, I love that ride at night. And there were fireflies everywhere so it was cool to fly by those! Thanks for struggling through my semi-conscious thoughts after a long but fun day at the park! If you have any questions or anything feel free to get at me! 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXDrummerKiDXx Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Great trip report! Glad you enjoyed The Beast at night! And I walk around in my socks all the time. My feet get tired after walking in Converses alllllll day. Glad you had a great day! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBInternational Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I rode The Beast at night for the first time this year. Man, I love that ride at night. And there were fireflies everywhere so it was cool to fly by those! One flew onto my friends face when I went on Wednesday. Beast definitely has the greatest night ride ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medford Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I was there as well last night. My son grew into the 46" height this year (actually end of last season) and is ever so close to hitting 48", skims across his hair, but doesn't hit his head, so its coming soon. When the season began, I was hoping he'd hit 48" quickly, he really wants to ride the blue racer, The Beast, Stunt Lot coaster, etc...however sitting in the 46" range so far this season has re-introduced me to rides I haven't ridden in 20 some years, rides I probably wouldn't have got on if he started out the year at 48". We rode White Water Canyon about a month ago, I barely got wet at all, so when we went on it a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't expecting the full drenching that each of us recieved. Last night, I wasn't in the mood to get on WWC, but my son had not been on Congo Falls yet, so we made that our first ride after dinner. Couple of thoughts: I wonder if rides like that have a fast pass line just so the park can advertise a higher number of attractions for the fast pass. there was literally no line, in fact when we got in the cue, they had just launched an empty boat. The one that came in had some kids on it; they stayed on the boat for the next ride, meaning the ride wasn't getting much turnover in ridership. I forget who mentions it on here, but someone I've heard mention more than once that Congo Falls provides the best air time in the park. After last night, that person is indeed correct, sadly I can't see this ride lasting all that much longer if ridership remains that low (and last night was fairly busy as far as a thursday goes). After last night's ride, I'm ready to bring it back into the regular rotation. However, I wish they'd get rid of the water canyons at the end. Like I said, I didn't want to get drenched, so we purposely sat in the back of the boat. We made it down the drop, getting a little wet, but nothing terrible. Then as we turn the bend, all 3 canyons got us directly. Kind of annoying; I guess its a water ride, shouldn't complain.... Another thought on fast pass... I can't believe they have one for Eiffel Tower as well. I'm only up there a few times a year, so I didn't notice anyone using it last season or the 1 other time I was up there this year, but I'm not sure what the point was. That was the first time I had to wait for more than 1 elevator, but still, the people in the fast pass line, got 0 advantage over anyone else if they would have got in the same line when they showed up. I could see that being a different story at 9:15ish if people start lining up to get up there to watch the fireworks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedevariouseffect Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Girlfriend works Eifel Tower and says the same thing. However here is my thoughts coming from a park perspective. The main demographic the park is trying to go after is the family spending the day in the park. So if you think, if a family comes in, gets fast passes, they use the pass to cater to families as well. From an enthusiast side it allows for great marathoning on some rides, but for a family it offers convenience and ease of use. So think at end of the night fireworks how packed that line gets on some days or even on some busy park days, a fast pass will allow them to bypass the line, enjoy more, and spend more time doing things. From an enthusiast perspective it's pretty lame, and un-needed, but if you look from a park management and who they're trying to target for sales it makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zayzayd13 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Just curious did a firefly hit you in the face? (Not meaning to be funny). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Nice report! Just wanted to address one side note here: The main demographic the park is trying to go after is the family spending the day in the park. So if you think, if a family comes in, gets fast passes, they use the pass to cater to families as well. From an enthusiast side it allows for great marathoning on some rides, but for a family it offers convenience and ease of use. The park may have originally thought that families were going to be the primary purchasers of Fast Lane, but from what I've seen at just about every park I've been to that offers it that it's usually quite the opposite. It's usually the under 35 crowd that's purchasing these kind of passes. I've seen more kids (for the sake of this conversation, under the age of 18) using these passes than any other group. From a business standpoint it's a pretty genius setup because many of the people purchasing Fast Lane weren't spending much money in the park otherwise. Parks have found a revenue stream from a source that really hadn't been tapped into in the past. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedevariouseffect Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I still see quite a bit of families go through, especially more so at CP. But if you think though that's the only logical explanation for Fast Lane on this and other mild attractions for families/children Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBInternational Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Just curious did a firefly hit you in the face? (Not meaning to be funny). T'would be why I quoted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXDrummerKiDXx Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Fast Lane is a genius idea from a business POV. They spent money on making Fast Lane queues, signs and wristbands and at (however much they are, I don't remember) per person, it is a GREAT investment. But for someone who lives 30 mins or less away from the park, Fast Lane isn't AS important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 The reason that rides are placed on to Fast Lane-type systems is primarily due to one thing and one thing only - the popularity of the attractions in question. The popularity of a ride is ALWAYS the primary determining factor for why parks put certain attractions on to their quick queueing options. How many people would buy Fast Lane at Kings Island if Diamondback and Flight of Fear weren't included? How many people would buy Fast Lane if Millennium Force, Maverick, TTD & Gatekeeper (on the Plus versions only) weren't included? Being able to get on Millennium Force in 15 minutes when the regular line is an hour is a nice selling point. Being able to get on Corkscrew in five minutes when the regular line is 10 minutes isn't as big a deal to most Fast Lane purchasers because MF is much more popular than Corkscrew with most guests. Most Fast Lane guests are going to utilize the pass on the most popular stuff, which is the primary reason that Fast Lane Plus was instituted. The Fast Lane line for Millennium Force was moved away from the back of the station to much further back in the line. Gatekeeper's Fast Lane line is at the bottom of the stairs instead of leading you directly to the station. They had to tweak the Volcano Fast Lane line at Kings Dominion to make it more equitable. I'd also argue that the satisfaction that Fast Lane users receive is in many ways tied in with how much "value" they got out of the pass. Cutting an hour long regular line while waiting five minutes in the Fast Lane line is a better perceived value than days when you can walk on to everything and Fast Lane is pointless. The other less-popular attractions are put on because of marketing spin, perceived value, and trying to space Fast Lane users over a wider variety of rides to lessen the impact of the Fast Lane users on line times. Being able to say you can skip the lines on 20 attractions is better for advertising than saying you can only skip on 10 attractions. The reality is that at most parks there are typically only 2-4 attractions that will get heavy action and those are the attractions they typically feature on the skip the line brochures. Putting the other rides on the plan creates a better perceived value, but I'd be quite certain the numbers would bear out that 80% of Fast Lane rides are taken on 25% of the rides that are on the system. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfanatic83 Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 I did not get hit in the face with a firefly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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