Great Park Operations

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

On my recent trip to Kings Dominion, I found the operations to be efficient and the staff friendly and helpful etc. But the team of girls running Shockwave (the stand-up coaster) obviously loved working together and were having a good time, joking and laughing, but not to a degree that the guests were being ignored or the ops of the ride were being neglected. Though it doesn't seem like a real part of 'operations,' it makes the whole park seem happier when the cast is having fun. Thanks to those girls, despite the rainy weather outside, the Shockwave Roller Coaster station was a sunny place to be. Kudos!

 

Though you are absolutely right about this kind of behavior not being governed by the park, I think it is necessary to help create a good time for those who are waiting and those who work there.

[sam06pr]

On my recent trip to Kings Dominion, I found the operations to be efficient and the staff friendly and helpful etc. But the team of girls running Shockwave (the stand-up coaster) obviously loved working together and were having a good time, joking and laughing, but not to a degree that the guests were being ignored or the ops of the ride were being neglected. Though it doesn't seem like a real part of 'operations,' it makes the whole park seem happier when the cast is having fun. Thanks to those girls, despite the rainy weather outside, the Shockwave Roller Coaster station was a sunny place to be. Kudos!

 

I actually enjoyed my first trip to KD. Staff could be better...and the Bathrooms need to be kept clean...I went to 3 of them and all were nasty. I also did not like the fact that they did not have employees directing traffic at the parking lot. But other than that dispatch on every ride was good, and the park outside was kept clean. And I enjoyed very much their fries! lol

[geaugalakeinexile]

Darien Lake last weekend - May 30th and 31st.

All of the staff were friendly.

As the park was closing and we were heading to Laserblast we wanted a hot dog. We went to Beaver Bros. restaurant which had just closed the kitchen, but offered to get us a hot dog. Great service when they really did not have to. Also the Saturday night ride ops at Ride of Steel, they were very fast. And had a great time. They even had the crowd singing. I've never seen that before. We had a great time.

[trcg721]

Viper at SFMM. Having a train in the Butterfly loop and one appoaching lift gets a thumbs up from me any day.

 

If we are able to send it before B block clears then we are doing good, We cant send the train till it clears b block with 2 trains. If were running 3 trains we need to be able to send it after the train turns around after the first loop.

[BeemerBoy]

Dollywood.

[almightyfire]

HOLIDAY WORLD hands down. Rerides and the staff period. I thought I was in the Stepford Wives movie. They were vigilant, courteous and full of life. Smiling all the time and helpful, Hell I wanted to tip everyone of them. Also I like the fact that Kings Island has retractable seat belts on rides. This makes it much easier and faster to load and unload. I have never been to a Disney Park not one time but I heard they are good.

 

Universal Studios in Hollywood, Jurassic Park loads so damned fast that I continuously moved in the que line without stopping. The rushed you into the train, clamped you down and sent the boat off.

 

Busch Gardens Williamsburg was also a wonderful park operations wise when I visited in 1998.

[thesman]

At knoebels they unloaded, loaded, checked and dispatched the train in like 30 seconds.

[larrygator]

^^I merged this into an existing thread

[coasterbill]

 

Knoebels 20 second dispatch. Skip to 4:19

[hey...hey]

 

Knoebels 20 second dispatch. Skip to 4:19

 

No gates and no seatbelts, plus the attendant is right there ready to go...now if every theme park could see and do this.

[El Toro_Ryan]

The Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure comes to mind for me. Every time I have been there, all three trains were running and the crew didn't miss an interval once. Literally the polar opposite of Bizarro at GADV. (Except when I'm running it )

[ejot]

Of course Knoebels outshines everyone, but among the big chain parks, Gatekeeper operations at CP really stood out to me early in the season this year. That crew was literally running around, breaking a sweat, and eating up the line like nowhere I've seen. All the while remaining courteous and helpful.

 

While it's kind of cheesy, somehow I love it when an operator high-fives everyone through an exit, and is actually enthusiastic/cheerful about it. I think it's mostly a Six Flags thing...?

[rcjp]

While it's kind of cheesy, somehow I love it when an operator high-fives everyone through an exit, and is actually enthusiastic/cheerful about it. I think it's mostly a Six Flags thing...?

Yeah, me too. It only makes your experience more enjoyable.

[rcjp]

I can't really classify this as a great operation (you'll already see why) but I wanted to mention this. When I went to parque de atracciones de Madrid last September they were only running one side of the intamin drop tower (that's why I can't call it good) but the one guy who was operating it (at least I didn't see anyone else) was doing an amazing job loading and unloading riders super fast. He would start unbuckling the seat belts before the car actually came to a stop on the ground and this resulted in a surprisingly fast line given that each car only carries four riders.

[ernierocker]

Out of the parks I have been to the ones that have stood out are Dollywood, SDC, Knoebels and the Disney World parks.

[turbolaaf]

Europapark.... 37 seconds between arriving and dispatching the station on top day's. And thats just for one ride.

 

Source: http://www.lifthill.net/berichte/eurosat_eng.php

[VF15]

When I was at Carowinds back in May, the Fury 325 crew was ridiculously efficient. They were consistently dispatching the train right after the train ahead of it cleared the lift hill. They were basically shouting "go, go, go" as soon as the gates opened, and the loaders were running to check seatbelts and lapbars. The screen in the station showed them regularly hitting 40 dispatches per hour. Puts most other coaster operations I've seen to shame.

[Henry M]

All rides with an offloading and on loading section. Stealth can have a good throughput even with dozy staff. However Helix is very efficient with its load and un load procedures.

 

HOWEVER the best by far was Lisebergbanan. The train was only in the station for about thirty seconds, including people putting their bags away. This is largely due to the fact nobody checks your harness before the ride starts up. I even saw confused people taking their bag on the ride with them before they had a chance to off load it, meaning they took it on the ride with them.

[beenagins87]

When I was at Carowinds back in May, the Fury 325 crew was ridiculously efficient. They were consistently dispatching the train right after the train ahead of it cleared the lift hill. They were basically shouting "go, go, go" as soon as the gates opened, and the loaders were running to check seatbelts and lapbars. The screen in the station showed them regularly hitting 40 dispatches per hour. Puts most other coaster operations I've seen to shame.

 

I haven't been to Carowinds since 2012, but I remember the operations on Intimitador being top notch, and with all 3 trains running, compare that to SFGAM and the triple stacking of Raging Bull.

[viking86]

I even saw confused people taking their bag on the ride with them before they had a chance to off load it, meaning they took it on the ride with them.

 

This is standard on this ride, there are signs in the station telling riders to bring bags with them on the ride and not leave them on the station platform.

 

But yeah, Liseberg has awesome operations. I've seen them have 6 operators checking restraints on Balder, 3 on each side, all pretty much running when doing it!

[Password121]

GateKeeper has the most efficient crew Ive ever seen on a ride. My train was 15 feet from from the crest of the lift yesterday when the previous train rolled through the mid-course. It only had two seconds of full speed lift. They were telling people to run off the train to the exit. Quite a change from witnessing Six Flags America's 21 minute Superman dispatch a few days prior.

[Jew]

I have to give props to Funspot in Orlando...they had minimal staff, but the ride operators were running from ride to ride to make sure everyone (there were probably 10-20 people in the park at the time) got to ride what they wanted as much as they wanted.

[LiftThrill]

Cedar Point and Kings Island are both amazing. I also noticed that dispatches at Holiday World are above average.

[Midgetman82]

^I second this. Holiday World does a tremendous job at dispatching their trains quickly, and Kings Island does even better with their army of station attendants checking restraints quickly.

[GCI Wooden]

GateKeeper has the most efficient crew Ive ever seen on a ride. My train was 15 feet from from the crest of the lift yesterday when the previous train rolled through the mid-course. It only had two seconds of full speed lift. They were telling people to run off the train to the exit. Quite a change from witnessing Six Flags America's 21 minute Superman dispatch a few days prior.

Yeah, they are incredible this year. I was always impressed that I was on the lift hill while the other train was still running the course. Doesn't happen all that often. I also have to give it to the Rougarou crew. They were running to dispatch half empty trains. All of CP's operations are better than average, but those ones stuck out to me.

 

Also, 21 minutes??? What on Earth could possibly cause a 21 minute dispatch. That's longer than most of the lines we stood in during our last trip to CP.