Unnecessary Queuing Lines

Queing Lines are very important to any amusement park although we don't think much about them. If the parks didn't have them, then there will be so much chaos and congestion with all the riders standing outside that ride blocking anyone and everyone trying to walk pass by. Having queing lines keep the ongoing riders in order and not blocking the main pathways.

But there are some rides in certain park that I felt has "over did it" when it came to setting up the queing line for a particular ride. They can be long straight aways forcing you to walk a long distance before setting foot inside the ride station, or a set of adjustable lines ( in which I call blocks ) that hardly ever get used.

Take Kings Dominion ( my home park ) for example. In order to board The Hurler, you must walk a long straight away in order to get to the station. I have counted how many paces it takes and I've come to 254 steps! For the blocks category, I must mention The Crypt ride. That ride has two sets of blocks that I don't think has ever been used.

But an arguement can be made: when these rides first opened up, you needed those extra queing lines because it's a new ride and a new ride will attract a ton of riders during its first year of operation. Plus what about on certain days when the park is filled to near capacity and you have tons of riders lining up: you'll be so glad to have those extra lines to open up.

So to all you riders and amusement park flyers out there - what are your thoughts about this topic? Which rides in certain parks you feel has too much queing line, or you could turn it around and list the rides at certain parks that don't have enough queing lines?

Dragon Challenge. It has a suuuper long queue line, but surprisely it's one of the most empy ride in the park.

Some coasters at SF St. Louis (Boss, Mr. Freeze) and SF Great America (American Eagle, Viper, Superman, Raging Bull) all have horribly long queue paths (AND exit paths), even with out the switchbacks. The argument "well the station is far away" is clearly true, but the planning of the rides (their stations, queues, etc.) was very poor.

On the other hand, Busch Gardens Williamsburg seems to have ride exits on or very near the "rest of the park" or midway. That's especially nice for ADA-access folks (wheelchair, etc.). I've seen (and helped) some really upset people in wheel chairs trying to navigate those 1/4 mile long queue exits at SF parks.

The Boss at SFStL and America Eagle at SFGAm have two of the longest queues I've ever seen. Batman's queue at SFStL is also unnecessarily long.

The Boss at SFStL and America Eagle at SFGAm have two of the longest queues I've ever seen. Batman's queue at SFStL is also unnecessarily long.

I'm not sure about the rest, but I timed the American Eagle entrance walk as 4 minutes and the exit is 2 solid minutes. I'm 6'1", so I get places faster than most. Those were times walking at a medium pace with no people in the queue. Doesn't seem like a long time, but it's long to walk away from a park to get to a ride (or to get "back to the park").

Dueling Dragons and Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls. Both take about ten minutes just to walk through without waiting.

Too long in my opinion.

Mean streak before they removed that massive amount of switchbacks that were never used.

^I was going to say the same, although I have seen pictures of that entire maze being full closer to the time it was originally opened. I've spoiled myself recently with the fast passes at most parks I visit now but that was one line I wouldn't have minded waiting in, with that beautiful structure surrounding me.

On the opposite end of this stick though I've always found it odd that SFMM constantly let's X2's line string out of the queue and towards (or past) the bridge.

Lightning Racer's overflow comes to mind. Did they ever use that thing at all?

On the opposite end of this stick though I've always found it odd that SFMM constantly let's X2's line string out of the queue and towards (or past) the bridge.

SFMM built a long pathway of nothingness that leads up to X2's enterance, so when the line overflows, it usually isn't a problem.

Mean streak before they removed that massive amount of switchbacks that were never used.

You just bypassed those switchbacks, so no biggie. Unfortunately, I feel that this is a sign that they won't make it Iron Streak because the line would be longer. Well, that line is still pretty long anyways.

Mean streak before they removed that massive amount of switchbacks that were never used.

 

You just bypassed those switchbacks, so no biggie. Unfortunately, I feel that this is a sign that they won't make it Iron Streak because the line would need more room. Well, the existing queue is still pretty long anyways.

The Boss at SFStL and America Eagle at SFGAm have two of the longest queues I've ever seen. Batman's queue at SFStL is also unnecessarily long.

 

I'm not sure about the rest, but I timed the American Eagle entrance walk as 4 minutes and the exit is 2 solid minutes. I'm 6'1", so I get places faster than most. Those were times walking at a medium pace with no people in the queue. Doesn't seem like a long time, but it's long to walk away from a park to get to a ride (or to get "back to the park").

At least they will bypass some switchbacks if there is no line at SFGAm. Batman at SFStl drove me nuts the first time with all the switchbacks in Gotham Park with the line not starting until much later. Way too long a queue there. Then, you keep going right past the station and go out to more switchbacks just to come right back to the station.

^American Eagle hasn't had switchbacks in years. The queue used to be under the giant tent, but Wiggle's World took that over a few years ago (not sure what the kid's area is called now). The Eagle's queue winds around the tent, up onto the platform where Big Top (now Richochet in Southwest Territory) used to be (there is now a sky coaster there) then crosses over to the bridge where you used to cross over the train tracks. Then across, down, around, etc.. It's a mess.

Six Flags St. Louis has several long ones. While it does make some sense for Boss and Mr. Freeze since the lines pretty much go straight to the station, it is super annoying on Batman The Ride since you are forced to zigzag back and forth through a park, then take the longest possible route around to the station entrance. When I visited (a Sunday in July), the ride was only a station wait but it took at least five minutes just to get from the entrance to the station. I can't imagine the park ever gets busy enough to have more than a 45 minute wait for this coaster, but based on the queue length it seems like it was built for a 2+ hour wait.

Queing Lines are very important to any amusement park although we don't think much about them. If the parks didn't have them, then there will be so much chaos and congestion with all the riders standing outside that ride blocking anyone and everyone trying to walk pass by. Having queing lines keep the ongoing riders in order and not blocking the main pathways.

 

But there are some rides in certain park that I felt has "over did it" when it came to setting up the queing line for a particular ride. They can be long straight aways forcing you to walk a long distance before setting foot inside the ride station, or a set of adjustable lines ( in which I call blocks ) that hardly ever get used.

 

Take Kings Dominion ( my home park ) for example. In order to board The Hurler, you must walk a long straight away in order to get to the station. I have counted how many paces it takes and I've come to 254 steps! For the blocks category, I must mention The Crypt ride. That ride has two sets of blocks that I don't think has ever been used.

 

But an arguement can be made: when these rides first opened up, you needed those extra queing lines because it's a new ride and a new ride will attract a ton of riders during its first year of operation. Plus what about on certain days when the park is filled to near capacity and you have tons of riders lining up: you'll be so glad to have those extra lines to open up.

 

So to all you riders and amusement park flyers out there - what are your thoughts about this topic? Which rides in certain parks you feel has too much queing line, or you could turn it around and list the rides at certain parks that don't have enough queing lines?

I think Roar at SFA has a very long queue for a ride which occasionally has 1 or 2 empty air gates.

Goliath at SFFT comes to mind.

Quicksilver Express at Gilroy Gardens has the most unnecessarily long queue I can think of. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough queue and all, it's just that it's at least 10 times longer than it needs to be. I can't remember ever waiting more than maybe 3 or 4 trains before being able to ride. I think the park had bigger expectations for attendance than what materialized.

Indiana Jones at Disneyland! Just kidding. I'd have to say Flight Deck at CGA has a pretty long queue that seems to go on for a while. Maybe I've just been lucky but I haven't waited any longer than 20 min for that ride.

I actually found FD's queue pretty quick since it's pretty much just a path. Long queue would have to go for X2, SFMM. Not only do you have to cross the bridge to get to where X2 sits, but you have to go in pretty far! I can only imagine the wait if the line spilled out of the bridge.

And agreed, Indiana Jones entry and exit path are pretty long actually. Again, the show building sits in pretty deep.

Back to SFMM, Riddler's Revenge seems to have a pretty long exit path, along with Goliath having a long entry and exit path

Dreamworld's Cyclone has a very long queue that spirals around the themed exit building. Fortunately the emergency exit stairs are usually open so you can just go up those instead.

Air, at Alton Towers. I literally cannot remember when the longest queue extension loop was used. When full, and all extensions are in use, the queue must be 3 hours... similar can be said for Nemesis which seems to have more queue than necessary.

On the flip side, rides such as Runaway Mine Train and Oblivion, barely have enough queueline on a busy day!

Dragon Challenge. It has a suuuper long queue line, but surprisely it's one of the most empy ride in the park.

Back before Harry Potter stole the show, Dueling Dragons used to get substantial lines. Never as long as the Hulk, but I've waited 45 minutes to ride on a busy day. On a busy day the line would begin outside the castle (sometimes substantially outside, like halfway between the castle and the entrance to the queue), and the entire castle would be full, including the switchbacks you encountered in the fire dragon's lair portion of the queue.

The crazy part is that when the park first opened, the entire area where the Flight of the HIppogriff/Flying Unicorn now stands used to be a massive area of switchbacks. My guess is that it was capable of holding a good three hours' worth of queue (on a ride that, when operating at maximum capacity, runs six trains total). I don't think it ever got used, even when the park first opened.

^Finally returned to Universal and was surprised how short the lines were for Dragon Challenge. I went during spring break and waited over two hours for hulk! (I know right, my friends didn't want to spring for fast passes). But I was able to get on both sides of Dragon Challenge within 35 minutes.

Just must be the operations, that thing can eat people.

Riddler's and Goliath at SFMM have pretty long entry paths, as well as exit paths. I also think DLR's Indy has a pretty long queue.