Unexpected Queues

[kraken613]

Almost every time I go to Seaworld Kraken is most the time walk on!

 

Also I went to Dollywood in the middle of September last year and I was like one of 200 cars there! Thats when I got my 30 consecutive rides on Thunderhead!

[mike541x]

I had a walk ons on Dominator and long waits for Volcano and FOF.

[Nrthwnd]

For myself, I think the most unexpected lengthy queue I'd ever been in was for Poseidon, the water coaster at Europa Park. This was during the TPR Europe tour, back in late June.

 

I thought it would be mostly a straight line of queueing (silly me, huh?), but the back-and-forth of the lines really surprised me, and in the heat of that day, I almost passed out from not drinking enough water. What shade I eventually got was okay, but with humidity too, it didn't help me much.

 

Fortunately I got through it, made it to the boats - and then the whole operation shut down from some 'malfunction'! Grrrrrrrrr. But 20 minutes later, I was on my way, lol.

 

[PKI Jizzman]

Indiana Jones' line. I accidentally 'broke' the bamboo stick holding up the spikey ceiling! Awesome!!!

 

-JZ

[Mechanic]

When it's full, the queue for the Disneyland Jungle Cruise can be a bit deceiving. I had ridden it so many times when only the ground level portion of the queue was used that I didn't realize just how much they snake you around the upstairs part.

[Angry_Gumball]

CGA Flight Deck/Top Gun's queue...You never know how the actual boarding platform section is going to be until you get around that corner coming out of the displays/shade and head up those stairs. sometimes, the platform is loaded with people, especially if the ride was down a lot that day, other times, it is empty and guaranteed a walk-on.

[revilolee]

At Carowinds, Afterburn was a walk-on (3 times for me!). But Nighthawk was a 2 hour wait .

[DBru]

I was at Hershey Park for 3 days (in a row) last month, and not once did I see Comet with a line less than 20 minutes long!

[Six Flags Enthuseast]

Although as Deja vu had a whole bunch of queue, Silverwood made it a bit more "easy." If you remember, you typically entered the loading station on the left, exited on the right. They kept that the same, but the queue is just one that held a lot less people. Deja vu held may be 3 hours worth of peeps on a very busy day. Aftershock had only 40 minutes wait spilling into the midway. And it seemed pretty busy.

 

I personally should expect to see an hour & 1/2 at least for a ride of this magnitude in this small of a park.

[Jcoaster]

Meudsa. I have never waited more than 15 minutes for that ride. It's awsome especially when they are running 3 trains .

[onewheeled999]

I was really surprised last Wednesday when I got on Goliath during my first trip to SFMM in 45 minutes. I expected it to be a couple hours, the line was nearly all the way to the the giant "I"!

 

Oh, and Viper, at the same park. I waited half an hour for that ride. Still not worth it. I can't imagine people waiting more than I did for that...

[Angry_Gumball]

Forgot about SFMM...I expected Goliath to have a huge line (in 2002, on a Sunday during summer) and the line actually only started at the stairs going up into the station...maybe 10 minutes of waiting.

[yankees15]

I was at Hershey Park for 3 days (in a row) last month, and not once did I see Comet with a line less than 20 minutes long!

 

No matter how crowded or empty Hershey is Comet will ALWAYS have a line. It's just the nature of the ride.

[Sunfire]

A couple of weeks ago, I went to DLR, and here's what I noticed about some of the queues.

 

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: The line was out the door, and standby said 15 minutes. I didn't think that was correct. "What? A full line only 15 minutes?" They were right. Only 15 minutes. Surprisingly accurate.

 

Indy. Standby: 30 min. We waited only a few minutes in the outside queue, so I thought, "Okay, maybe it's shorter than they posted." Then we walked through the inside portion. It was very long! No wonder they said 30 minutes. That's how long it took to walk through and get to the ride! But it was worth every minute. It's such an exciting ride.

 

Splash Mountain and Soarin' over California however are both extremely popular and always have extensive queue times.

 

Nemo Subs are totally insane. About 45 minutes after opening, the line can be up to 60 minutes! I wouldn't wait that long for the ride.

 

Okay, I've made my point that Disney has surprising lines. End nerd rant.

[jason10]

I have just remembered a blessing for any coast enthusiast I had. A trip to Thorpe Park found my friend, my dad and myself queueing for any ride was no longer then 10 minutes. Other than Stealth which had 30 minute queue. We were really surprised. At the end of the day, I was physically 'coastered' out. The first time I have felt that way. We went upside-down 86 times that day!

[bdstrom]

The Tassie's Twisters at Aquatica.

 

It took us a while to figure out that we had to ride the lazy river to get to the Tassie's Twisters.

 

The line was amazingly long that it overflowed down the stairs into the lazy river and then through the fish grotto and ended up right in the front of lazy river entrance.

[bspellx5]

2 Weeks ago when I was at Darien Lake, Ride Of Steels line was through every one of the switchbacks and it said it would be a 90 minute wait, it wasn't more than like 30 minutes, it moved VERY fast.

[fergusonat]

This year we waited over 30 minutes for Canyon Blaster at SFOG. I needed the credit, and I'll be damned if I drive 8 hours and don't get all the credits at a park

 

[dammie16@vt.edu]

This weekend at KD, 1 hour before the park closed Dominator was through all the switch backs and the Front Row line was halfway down the stairs and I was like ok last ride of the night I'll wait front row and be out in an hour or so.

 

20 minutes later I was done riding and was amazed at how fast they blew through the line!

[palmerleeberry]

I got surprised during my last 2 visits at King Dominion. On a Friday in late July I was at the park and I waited about forty minutes to ride Volcano. When I head to my car to take a safety break, I decide to ride Dominator (their newest coaster this season). I entered the line and found myself walking straight to the station (where were the riders?). I ended up riding Dominator three times.

 

Two weeks ago, I went back to the park on a Saturday and the park was crowded (bad for riders, but good for business). Both queueing lines for Volcano and Dominator were full, but it took me 30 minutes to get on Dominator, but 70 minutes to get on Volcano.

 

So here's a question to ponder on: why is the wait time on the Volcano longer than on the Dominator? Here's my answer: it's the trains. Dominator can run up to three trains and each can hold up to 32 riders. But Volcano has only two trains and can only hold up to 16 riders. Dominator can dispatch more riders per hour than Volcano, thus the wait time for Volcano will be longer than Dominator's.

 

Or could it be that after ten years in operation, the Volcano is still the one-of-a-kind coaster you cannot ride anyplace else? You decide.

[haiderodes]

I was most suprised by the Men in Black: Alien Attack queue. It was very deceiving as the outside queue was about half full, but then you enter the building and go through all those additional rooms and what not before you actually get to the loading station. It stated a 30 minute wait that ended up being closer to 60 min.

 

I'd also say the haunted house queues for Horror Nights at USH are also pretty deceiving. You enter and see what you think is the line, but then behind a wall or in another room is another crazy maze of switchbacks.

 

The Universal parks seem to love huge blocks of switchbacks.

[freestylenut]

I'd also say the haunted house queues for Horror Nights at USH are also pretty deceiving. You enter and see what you think is the line, but then behind a wall or in another room is another crazy maze of switchbacks.

 

The Universal parks seem to love huge blocks of switchbacks.

 

Ugh! HHN here in Florida is no stranger to that either...you get through what LOOKS like a short line, only to find one 5 times bigger in a "hidden" location. Very frustrating & my reason for getting an Express pass the last 5 or so years.

 

I didn't read every single thread, but has anyone mentioned the Pteranadon Flyers at IOA? Friggin' ride is probably the cruddiest of all rides at IOA, but even on a rainy, stormy fall day, ALWAYS has a wait of 45 minutes+ MINIMUM!

[coasterstud522]

I was most suprised by the Men in Black: Alien Attack queue. It was very deceiving as the outside queue was about half full, but then you enter the building and go through all those additional rooms and what not before you actually get to the loading station. It stated a 30 minute wait that ended up being closer to 60 min. [/quoete]

 

Yep, happened to us too. Very decieving. At my home park (which is jsut about the only one I go to) they are able to go though lines very quickly and it's never that bad. Of course we go on Tuesdays (hehe).

[jten11]

Batman: The Ride @ SFOG Oct 06'. This was my first time ever riding a Batman coaster, so I didn't know what to expect as far as the queue. When you first get there, it seems like a fairly normal queue from the outside,saw a decent line of people. I thought to myself "no big deal, seems like a standard queue". While I was waiting, I saw a family leave the line, which I thought "hey, less of a wait, that's a win for me". But when I made that right turn into the warehouse, OMG. Literally a sea of people filled the ENTIRE building. I've never seen a queue so friken huge! I almost opted to leave cause I was not going to wait to ride something that's less than 2 mins. long. But being me, I stayed and about 1.5 hours and another 20-30 minutes for the front row. Great ride, but I'll NEVER wait in that long of a line again.

[Kalepi_Konei]

Cheetah Chase the wild mouse at BGA has some pretty ludicrous lines in the summer 30 mins minimum.