Ride Wait Times 2020 Season

[SnakePlissken]

10 hours ago, NegativeGs said:

The ride attendants count how many Fast Lane riders pass through a ride each hour. My guess is that when a ride has significant wait time, KI regulates the number of Fast Lane riders per hour. If Fast Lane riders were not throttled, then wait times for regular riders could become unreasonable.

Then it would be better to limit the number of fast lanes sold rather than throttle the Fast Lane line. Nowhere does the Fast Lane have fine print that says beware if used to much we will throttle your Fast Lane use.

[NegativeGs]

6 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

Then it would be better to limit the number of fast lanes sold rather than throttle the Fast Lane line. Nowhere does the Fast Lane have fine print that says beware if used to much we will throttle your Fast Lane use.

I understand they also limit the number of Fast Lane passes sold each day. Yesterday, Diamondback's regular line queue time often exceeded 90 minutes (https://queue-times.com/). I waited at most 20 minutes with Fast Lane. 20 minutes doesn't seem too bad in comparison to 90 minutes.

[SnakePlissken]

2 hours ago, NegativeGs said:

I understand they also limit the number of Fast Lane passes sold each day. Yesterday, Diamondback's regular line queue time often exceeded 90 minutes (https://queue-times.com/). I waited at most 20 minutes with Fast Lane. 20 minutes doesn't seem too bad in comparison to 90 minutes.

I've never had an issue with Fast Lane at King's Island but I have at Cedar Point with Steel Vengeance.

[Pagoda Gift Shop]

That website is likely pulling the wait times from the official park app somehow, but it also lists historical park attendance numbers, which the park has never released.  That makes it hard to accept any of the data they are showing.

I recently found this site and it seems to be pretty good.

https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/cedar-fair/kings-island/

 

[robintodd]

8 hours ago, ParaThrills said:

If anyone is going to the park today (Sunday, September 6th), could you let me know how the wait times look. Me and my dad like to pop by for a few hours sometimes, and it’s been a while since we have gone, but I am not sure about the crowds due to it being Labor Day weekend. I just wish the app let you look at the  wait time outside of the park!

Got here at 5.  Busiest I've seen it a year.

[LuckyluvsKI]

How is the crowds so far today? How are they from 5-10?

[jimlaheyscar]

Appears Racer is down today. Crowds aren't too bad. 

[Buckeye Brad]

 Coaster lines are long.

Currently in a (supposedly) 50 min line for Mystic Timbers.

According to the app, Orion is 90 min, Beast 60.

My plan of many night rides is foiled.

 Thankful to be at KI with my family though. 

White Water Canyon was a sweet walk-on, with great views of Mystic.

[jimlaheyscar]

Seemed like park got busy late afternoon. Lines were healthy the last couple hours on the big coasters. 

[SnakePlissken]

4 hours ago, Buckeye Brad said:

 Coaster lines are long.

Currently in a (supposedly) 50 min line for Mystic Timbers.

According to the app, Orion is 90 min, Beast 60.

My plan of many night rides is foiled.

 Thankful to be at KI with my family though. 

White Water Canyon was a sweet walk-on, with great views of Mystic.

I thought White Water Canyon usually shuts down on Labor Day. Maybe that is why nobody was riding it? Nobody realizes it is open perhaps? It certainly isn't because of the weather. It hit 85 here with a heat index of 90.

[FUN&ONLY!]

9 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

I thought White Water Canyon usually shuts down on Labor Day. Maybe that is why nobody was riding it? Nobody realizes it is open perhaps? It certainly isn't because of the weather. It hit 85 here with a heat index of 90.

I went to the park yesterday, got in line for White Water Canyon around 5:30, and the wait was to the covered bridge. I ended up waiting about 25 minutes to ride.

[jackinbox]

Ride times yesterday were some of the best I've experienced in a long time.  Arrived at 10:30, waited about 15 minutes for Orion.  I ended up riding it 4 more times throughout the day never waiting more than 5 minutes.  

Between 11-1, The Beast was a walk-on (the app said 60 minutes), Diamondback was about 5 minutes (the app said 30 minutes), Mystic Timbers was 10 minutes (the app said 90!!), and Stunt Coaster about 10.

The Bat was pretty much a walk-on throughout the day (at least the few times I was down there), Banshee was about 5 minutes.  

The longest wait the whole day for us was Diamondback at around 4:00 where we waited about 20 minutes.

I'm not sure exactly why wait times were so low, but I'm guessing that a combination of being the weekend after a holiday and the start of NFL season.  

I think The Racer might be closed for the season?

[FUN&ONLY!]

7 hours ago, jackinbox said:

Ride times yesterday were some of the best I've experienced in a long time.  Arrived at 10:30, waited about 15 minutes for Orion.  I ended up riding it 4 more times throughout the day never waiting more than 5 minutes.  

Between 11-1, The Beast was a walk-on (the app said 60 minutes), Diamondback was about 5 minutes (the app said 30 minutes), Mystic Timbers was 10 minutes (the app said 90!!), and Stunt Coaster about 10.

The Bat was pretty much a walk-on throughout the day (at least the few times I was down there), Banshee was about 5 minutes.  

The longest wait the whole day for us was Diamondback at around 4:00 where we waited about 20 minutes.

I'm not sure exactly why wait times were so low, but I'm guessing that a combination of being the weekend after a holiday and the start of NFL season.  

I think The Racer might be closed for the season?

There was rain in the forecast for Sunday, and it was raining pretty hard in the morning which could explain the light crowds. In terms of The Racer, it has been down a lot recently. I am okay with it being down for the season as long as they are in the process of repainting it. LOL!

[JCJTheHurricane]

Hopefully I can shed some light on how wait times are figured out. I'm not 100% sure if this is what the app uses but oftentimes throughout the day we will get a call from the rides office asking what our wait time is, then we give them a guesstimate.

Also, how many Fast Lane each ride lets in is just based on the person at separator. There's no hard and fast rule for that sort of thing. However the park does limit how many Fast Lane tickets they give out each day.

[VortexBFForever]

Following up on @JCJTheHurricane’s post, I can attest that the app isn’t always accurate but we ride ops try to approximate the best we can. I too wonder how the app works for wait times.

 I have lately been timing my waits and noting how long the line is, while also including factors like cleaning time. I have been fortunate to experience very few ride downtimes while noting such lines, so hopefully the notes I take will provide a fairly accurate reference of wait time under current protocols.

My personal testament to the app not always being accurate comes from last October, when on crowded Haunt Saturdays, the app would say a 60- or 90-minute wait for Vortex, yet I clocked no more than 45 minutes in line. I kept my fellow ride ops updated on how long I waited in line (and I rode multiple times) so when the aforementioned rides office call would come, they could reply with the most accurate wait time estimate.

[Twirly]

Any word on crowd size today?

It's cooler (which some love) but not the Fall Fest thing, but the last weekend of the later close.  I'm struggling to make a guess

[DeltaFlyer]

1 hour ago, Twirly said:

Any word on crowd size today?

It's cooler (which some love) but not the Fall Fest thing, but the last weekend of the later close.  I'm struggling to make a guess

Banshee: 50 minutes 

Diamondback: 105 minutes 

Mystic: 105 minutes 

Flight of Fear: 50 minutes

Orion: 80 minutes 

Beast: 60 minutes

It’s busy. 

[flightoffear1996]

Crazy that your B&M hyper has a longer wait time than your brand new B&M giga.  I really want to see great things for the park and I hope Orion does them well and the ROI.  Something block buster needs to replace Vortex and a kiddie area is aging and could use a good revamp.  The kids area needs to have more shade as well.  

[FUN&ONLY!]

7 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

Crazy that your B&M hyper has a longer wait time than your brand new B&M giga.  I really want to see great things for the park and I hope Orion does them well and the ROI.  Something block buster needs to replace Vortex and a kiddie area is aging and could use a good revamp.  The kids area needs to have more shade as well.  

To be fair, every ride that has a longer wait than Orion has a much lower capacity at least for this season. Orion’s queue line has been consistently full this whole season and moves fast while Diamondback’s queue line can have one-third the amount of people and still take as long. The two trains really hurts Diamondback while Orion is doing really well with all three trains in operation.

As for Vortex, the area actually surprisingly doesn’t look that bad with it missing as Kings Island has done a decent job of hiding it, but I do agree is needs replaced as soon as possible.

In terms of Planet Snoopy, I agree that it looks rather outdated and needs a complete refresh like what they did at Carowinds with Camp Snoopy. I still think it look a million times better than Nickelodeon Universe but not as good as it could.

[flightoffear1996]

49 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

To be fair, every ride that has a longer wait than Orion has a much lower capacity at least for this season. Orion’s queue line has been consistently full this whole season and moves fast while Diamondback’s queue line can have one-third the amount of people and still take as long. The two trains really hurts Diamondback while Orion is doing really well with all three trains in operation.

As for Vortex, the area actually surprisingly doesn’t look that bad with it missing as Kings Island has done a decent job of hiding it, but I do agree is needs replaced as soon as possible.

In terms of Planet Snoopy, I agree that it looks rather outdated and needs a complete refresh like what they did at Carowinds with Camp Snoopy. I still think it look a million times better than Nickelodeon Universe but not as good as it could.

I didn't realize that Diamondback was only running two trains 

[FUN&ONLY!]

8 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I didn't realize that Diamondback was only running two trains 

It really takes away from the efficiency. Banshee, Mystic Timbers, and Backlot Stunt Coaster are also only running two of their three trains this season.

[SnakePlissken]

9 hours ago, Twirly said:

Any word on crowd size today?

It's cooler (which some love) but not the Fall Fest thing, but the last weekend of the later close.  I'm struggling to make a guess

Cedar Point was packed like sardines today and Corkscrew had a 90 minute wait but that isn't King's Island I know.

[JimParker85]

Orion is also really flying with operations when possible. No bins helps, but they are also dismissing the entire train at the same time, unlike the row by row style in use on other coasters this year. It's almost Fury 325-like. 

[Stoan]

They are busy today. Almost like a regular day opening. Almost every ride has about a half hour wait. I'm also very pleased with the new trick or treat setup. Way better than last year

[Stoan]

Pretty light traffic for the last few weekends, but busier than most of the summer.

[FUN&ONLY!]

13 minutes ago, Stoan said:

Pretty light traffic for the last few weekends, but busier than most of the summer.

I heard lines were absolutely crazy yesterday with the line for Diamondback stretching all the way to The Beast and the line for Orion overflowing the queue line into Area 72.

[Stoan]

1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I heard lines were absolutely crazy yesterday with the line for Diamondback stretching all the way to The Beast and the line for Orion overflowing the queue line into Area 72.

It was impressive actually. Much higher crowds than usual, and I think KI stuck to half staff. The line for Space Buggies was wrapped around the ride and over to the exit of the flying eagle thing. Boo Blasters and Beastie was about and hour. All the restaurants were packed.

[FUN&ONLY!]

16 minutes ago, Stoan said:

It was impressive actually. Much higher crowds than usual, and I think KI stuck to half staff. The line for Space Buggies was wrapped around the ride and over to the exit of the flying eagle thing. Boo Blasters and Beastie was about and hour. All the restaurants were packed.

I really am questioning if Kings Island is still greatly limiting the amount of guests allowed into the park. Also, they have got to hire more staff and open up all food lines if this is how it is going to be. Also, next season they need to run all rides with their usual amounts of trains because rides like Mystic Timbers and Diamondback now have terribly slow moving lines. I also wonder if they should do what Universal is doing and start using every row again with only one part per row. That would double the capacity of almost every ride.

[Stoan]

49 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I really am questioning if Kings Island is still greatly limiting the amount of guests allowed into the park. Also, they have got to hire more staff and open up all food lines if this is how it is going to be. Also, next season they need to run all rides with their usual amounts of trains because rides like Mystic Timbers and Diamondback now have terribly slow moving lines. I also wonder if they should do what Universal is doing and start using every row again with only one part per row. That would double the capacity of almost every ride.

Yeah, from what I've seen KI really took the approach of the most direct "half" and not the most efficient. Need some good ole gerrymandering on these rides. 

 

My examples being Viking Fury where they could have both sides start at the top of the ship instead of one side being tucked down 1 row from the end. Scoot them back one you'll have happier guests and you don't lose any capacity.

Another being Boo Blasters, maybe this one has to do with cleaning but to run every other car, and at 75% speed makes this thing terrible to wait in line for.

Also The Monster, why would you not run both sides of the lines? If you want to space people why jam them all into the right side alone at the savings of a single worker. Loading and unloading will be faster, guests are more spaced out while increasing rides per hour without increasing people on the ride at one time.

[JimParker85]

With the predicted weather next week and it being Columbus Day weekend, they are in for an insane crowd if they don't force reservations. Even when CP turned them back on for yesterday and today, they gave it a 2 week notice. We were at CP yesterday and it was busy, but not crazy High 50s, no rain. About the same as our late August days. Ended up just driving home today with the rain.