Ride Wait Times 2022 Season

[FUN&ONLY!]

34 minutes ago, super7 said:

How do they even determine wait times other than guessing?    Disney wait times were accurate because they would hand someone in line a scannable card and they would scan it at entry and on the ride platform to update the time. 

Every 1-2 hours, the park calls operators at each ride and asks for the wait time. This can be VERY inaccurate, though, as an operator could report a short wait time if the ride just opened following a downtime or for whatever reason. Also, new operators or operators from other rides will not be able to judge a wait time at an unfamiliar ride, so they may not always report the most accurate wait time if they are the ones answering the phone. Usually, ride wait times in the middle of the day when the park is busier tend to underestimate the actual wait times as the wait times were reported earlier in the day when the park was less busy. On the other hand, ride wait times towards the end of the day tend to overestimate the actual wait times as the wait times were reported during peak hours when the park was busier. I find this system to be flawed, personally, because of the inaccuracies in wait times.

[super7]

24 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Every 1-2 hours, the park calls operators at each ride and asks for the wait time. This can be VERY inaccurate, though, as an operator could report a short wait time if the ride just opened following a downtime or for whatever reason. Also, new operators or operators from other rides will not be able to judge a wait time at an unfamiliar ride, so they may not always report the most accurate wait time if they are the ones answering the phone. Usually, ride wait times in the middle of the day when the park is busier tend to underestimate the actual wait times as the wait times were reported earlier in the day when the park was less busy. On the other hand, ride wait times towards the end of the day tend to overestimate the actual wait times as the wait times were reported during peak hours when the park was busier. I find this system to be flawed, personally, because of the inaccuracies in wait times.

That sounds like a guess based on visual queue at best.    They don’t have the equipment to report accurate wait times. 

[shadowscare]

If they don't have the equipment to report accurate wait times, then don't bother with it. All that does is leads to guest frustration.

Here's what I find so strange though. I've found that when you ask the person at the queue entrance how long the wait is, usually their estimate is reasonably accurate. Am I alone on that? So in my experience the boots on the ground have a good handle on it, they just need access to keep the app updated themselves.

 

[FUN&ONLY!]

I agree thatCedar Fair really needs to figure out how to report accurate wait times. Also, Kings Island needs to do something with those interactive display boards throughout the park that mostly don’t work. Those boards are supposed to show wait times, but they literally don’t do anything.

[MDMC01]

I have a feeling that COVID may have played a part in the wayfinder boards being shut off. Were they working last season? I don't remember.

[IndyGuy4KI]

55 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

I have a feeling that COVID may have played a part in the wayfinder boards being shut off. Were they working last season? I don't remember.

I am pretty sure the answer is no. I think they should at least be showing the ride wait times even if there is no other "interaction" going on with them.

8 hours ago, shadowscare said:

If they don't have the equipment to report accurate wait times, then don't bother with it. All that does is leads to guest frustration.

It would be nice if they were a little more accurate, but I think most people understand that the wait times are estimates. only. If they are 10 to 15 min either way that is a pretty good gauge. It is hard to know if a ride is going to go down, a slew of FLP riders show up, or other issues happen after they were updated. I would rather they over estimate a little so if I get off 10 to 20 min earlier than I thought when I got in line I saved some time I did not think I had.

[shadowscare]

2 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

If they are 10 to 15 min either way that is a pretty good gauge.

And that would be fine. But in my experience, that is rarely the case.

 

[silver2005]

3 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

I have a feeling that COVID may have played a part in the wayfinder boards being shut off. Were they working last season? I don't remember.

Are the directional signs on them new this year?  Regardless, they are a welcome addition. 

[super7]

10 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

I have a feeling that COVID may have played a part in the wayfinder boards being shut off. Were they working last season? I don't remember.

I’m not sure why they would kept them off for Covid.  The park decided last year it would be a free for all with no distancing, masks, shields  for the cashiers etc.     There are absolutely no pre cautions.    My guess is that they don’t work. 
 

Speaking of germs lol.  Those new trash cans in the antique car area are awful.  You have to touch them to throw away garbage. 

[disco2000]

5 minutes ago, super7 said:

I’m not sure why they would kept them off for Covid.  The park decided last year it would be a free for all with no distancing, masks, shields  for the cashiers etc.     There are absolutely no pre cautions.    My guess is that they don’t work. 
 

Speaking of germs lol.  Those new trash cans in the antique car area are awful.  You have to touch them to throw away garbage. 

Well they are touchscreens, so they turned them off Covid year so people were not touching them and then having to be cleaned on a schedule like everything else.

Yeah, but the new cans look nicer LOL.  You don't see the trash and it doesn't blow out like was happening with other cans this weekend around the park.

[IndyGuy4KI]

So I missed seeing these trash cans. Anyone get a picture?

[IBEW_Sparky]

6 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

So I missed seeing these trash cans. Anyone get a picture?

For trash can ERT?  

[MDMC01]

7 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Are the directional signs on them new this year?  Regardless, they are a welcome addition. 

I think they were there last year. I even took a picture of one!

Fun Fact: Did you know all the rides listed on this directional sign are located in what was the old Adventure Village area (which was basically what is now Action Zone + Adventure Express)?

[Coasterteam]

38 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

I think they were there last year. I even took a picture of one!

Fun Fact: Did you know all the rides listed on this directional sign are located in what was the old Adventure Village area (which was basically what is now Action Zone + Adventure Express)?

Has Congo Falls always been included in Fast Lane? Not listed on the site at all.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, IBEW_Sparky said:

For trash can ERT?  

Can't have enough ERT! 

[DoomPlague]

47 minutes ago, Coasterteam said:

Has Congo Falls always been included in Fast Lane? Not listed on the site at all.

If I'm at the park and need Fast Lane for Congo Falls, I'm there on the wrong day.

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, Coasterteam said:

Has Congo Falls always been included in Fast Lane? Not listed on the site at all.

Yes, it has been for some time. You are right. Looks like @DonHelbig needs to have the website guys add the FL badge to the ride on the website.

[disco2000]

Well Congo used to be on FL with the FL entrance further down next to Drop Tower, but that was removed July 2018 and it was taken off FL.  So if it is still on FL or has been added back, where is the FL entrance now?

 

Here is the old FL sign that used to be on Congo entrance pointing to the FL entrance across from Drop Tower:

 

You can kind of make out the FL sign down in between the bushes on the left across from Drop Zone in this walkthru video someone did:

It used to be in the concrete cutaway where the lady in purple with the stroller is and the FL entrance sign was on the post behind her:

 

And a picture from 2020 with the FL sign gone from Congo entrance.

 

[TombRaiderFTW]

On 4/17/2022 at 11:38 PM, shadowscare said:

If they don't have the equipment to report accurate wait times, then don't bother with it. All that does is leads to guest frustration.

Here's what I find so strange though. I've found that when you ask the person at the queue entrance how long the wait is, usually their estimate is reasonably accurate. Am I alone on that? So in my experience the boots on the ground have a good handle on it, they just need access to keep the app updated themselves.

You're not alone on that.

Here's the thing: The person at the queue entrance can glance at the queue at that moment and semi-accurately guess what the wait will be. That's the exact same process for what happens for the app wait times; it's just done hourly instead of on demand. To get more accurate than that, they'd either need to call EVERY ride more frequently or install a digital system of some sort, which is going to cost money. This is coming from the chain whose front-of-line system is a wristband instead of the more intricate (some would argue more fair) digital systems out there. Cedar Fair doesn't seem to be super into putting more cost into overhead than is absolutely necessary.

[flightoffear1996]

At Disney they measure the time by handing a guest a marker on it.  When you get the ride station you hand the cast member the marker.  

[DoomPlague]

These days you could probably do it using some sort of facial recognition system. Arguably creepy but maybe not if its not saving the facial data for use later, Probably not cheap though.

[jsus]

23 minutes ago, DoomPlague said:

These days you could probably do it using some sort of facial recognition system. Arguably creepy but maybe not if its not saving the facial data for use later, Probably not cheap though.

What's the tangible benefit to Cedar Fair to put in a facial recognition-based system to time individual guests' voyage through the line as opposed to simple turnstiles (physical or virtual, i.e. overhead sensors that detect each guest passing through) at main and FastLane queue entrance, and station exit?

If you know how many guests leave in a given period of time (e.g. 15 minutes), you can get an approximate riders per hour rate.  And you know how many guests are in the queue, so you just divide that by the number of riders per hour.

[DoomPlague]

46 minutes ago, jsus said:

What's the tangible benefit to Cedar Fair to put in a facial recognition-based system to time individual guests' voyage through the line as opposed to simple turnstiles (physical or virtual, i.e. overhead sensors that detect each guest passing through) at main and FastLane queue entrance, and station exit?

If you know how many guests leave in a given period of time (e.g. 15 minutes), you can get an approximate riders per hour rate.  And you know how many guests are in the queue, so you just divide that by the number of riders per hour.

Honestly I was just now thinking about a simple sensor that counts people instead of a physical turnstile, which I assume won't ever come back. That would make more sense than my first suggestion

[jsus]

4 hours ago, DoomPlague said:

Honestly I was just now thinking about a simple sensor that counts people instead of a physical turnstile, which I assume won't ever come back. That would make more sense than my first suggestion

It would theoretically be very simple to implement, only needing at most 3 sensors per ride (1 at main entrance, 1 at FastLane entrance, 1 at exit).  Maybe count again at the merge between FastLane and main line.  The system would run itself, so no need for the crew to periodically scan the queue and guess, and it should be relatively accurate and reliable.

[robintodd]

8 hours ago, jsus said:

It would theoretically be very simple to implement, only needing at most 3 sensors per ride (1 at main entrance, 1 at FastLane entrance, 1 at exit).  Maybe count again at the merge between FastLane and main line.  The system would run itself, so no need for the crew to periodically scan the queue and guess, and it should be relatively accurate and reliable.

The problem I could see with that is when people get out of line.  Might thorw off the counting.  I think an idea would be barcodes.  Give someone a barcode.  Have an employee at the ride entrance scan it and hand it to the rider.  The rider can then get it scanned at the end of the queue.  For a more elaborate and incentive driven way you could have a coupon on the back of each barcode for $2 off a funnel cake or something like that.   Biggest challenge with that would be that you would have to be able to make the coupon 1 use only and the coupon would only be "active" if both the employee at the start of the line and the one at the end of the queue scanned it.

One more alternative is they have a qrcode to scan at the beginning of each queue and one at the end and possibly build in an incentive on the app.

Just some ideas to throw out there.

[RedSummit20]

Im curious how many people get their phones out, log into the site and look at this thread to see the wait times lol. Ive always wondered? I know i dont. But just wondering if others do. 

[DoomPlague]

2 hours ago, RedSummit20 said:

Im curious how many people get their phones out, log into the site and look at this thread to see the wait times lol. Ive always wondered? I know i dont. But just wondering if others do. 

I actually use queue-times.com https://queue-times.com/en-US/parks/60/queue_times

It just pulls data from the park's system, so when its off, this site is off. However, it lists everything in a more compact way that I can read quickly and sometimes people report the time they waited and it will say something like "Anonymous user waited 10 minutes, 30 minutes ago"

[jsus]

4 hours ago, robintodd said:

The problem I could see with that is when people get out of line.

No system will ever be 100% accurate, it's just not possible since you're using past data to predict the future.  It would only lie an issue if substantial amounts of guests bail out of the queue, which would have the impact of inflating the posted wait time.  It might get iffy around downtime but then you could design the system to account for that as well.

[DoomPlague]

Just out of curiosity I've been looking at crowd-counting systems. Seems like there are "density" sensors that, with some machine learning, could determine how many people are in the monitored area at any given time. I wonder if anyone is specifically working on such a thing for ride queues. Its an interesting topic.

EDIT: I just remembered we're having this discussion in the thread meant for actual wait time updates. Whoops.

[chad_1138]

Please make sure you check the park calendar for today (Friday), don't be Clark Grisswold.