jmccalip Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 It couldn't be that difficult to rig a counter to the turnstiles and figure out how many people have entered the park at any give time of the day, could it? It would be awesome if they could display it live on the website so locals could decide if they want to go or not. And hey, while they're at it maybe some motion sensors in the lines that will display wait time. Just set them to trip after 5 minutes of uninterrupted motion, maybe 3 to a line. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 It would be difficult for parks to do it because of how quickly conditions could change. However, I think I remember Paula saying something about that one reason Holiday World is on Twitter is so that they could say whether or not the park was closed due to the weather. It would just be difficult for parks to post crowds on their website. Plus, why would a park post something that could keep you from visiting and giving them money? The only time I saw a park telling people not to visit was at Fright Fest in 2007. Six Flags Great America was very crowded, (there were no parking spots and they were running out of food) and on the LED screen on the sign, they put up a message that said to visit another day. The sign didn't do much though as I was leaving at 7-8, and people were still coming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Parks are interested in making as much money as possible, so I don't think it would be in their best interest to tell people not to come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrykoala2112 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 ^But if you read the post above, they wouldn't want more people to come. They are running out of food, and people are still coming. If they come, they will go to guest services and want a refund and they will never come back. I once was at Busch Gardens Africa with my mom. And she went to go complain to get refunds because their were crowds and somehow, she won. So we will use those tickets we got refunded from 2005 this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^That's because the park reached utmost capacity, I get maybe not wanting to give guests a bad experience so that they'll wanna come back, but they also want to bring as many in as possible, chances are, even if locals go on a bad day they'll probably come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^I'm pretty sure it was beyond capacity. I went in the afternoon to take some photos, and I had to park on the grass behind the $15 lot like everyone else was having to do. I believe Superman's queue even went to carousel plaza. So yeah, it was very crowded. If a park is closed due to the weather, then it would be nice of them to say so on their website, but I don't think it will happen. As said before, posting crowd sizes would be a very poor decision from a business perspective. As for the system to tell guests queue times, I believe similar systems are in place at the Disney parks. It would be nice if Six Flags put in a similar system though, as every so often, I'll see a person, usually a kid, who wants to ride something. However, the parents/others in the group think the "the wait time from this point is X minutes" sign at the ride entrance is the current wait time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 The first time I stood in line for Goliath at sfmm, my friend and I waited about 45 minutes and saw a sign that said "an hour from this point" and decided to get out of the line. On later trips, we realized that it's really only about a 20 minute wait from that sign which is extremely doable, I'd also like to see those signs in place, not the "apx X hours from this point" signs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYTL Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^If they went over the time the crowd would start complaining. Complaining people are not fun to be around. The ride Ops probably know that. Most, if not all of us, know that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^It's an estimated time, not "You'll ride this in 30 minutes or you'll get your money back" and the wait times should stay pretty consistent too, plus the wait times usually seem to be posted longer than they actually are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastergirl00 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Posting the current number of people in the park could also pose a security risk. I do know of one website that posts wait times but not capacity, although I can't recall the name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 That's proprietary information. Park executives all know exactly how many people are in the park, but that information always stays only with those who need to know. That information being public knowledge would be bad for business. Some parks post wait times, but that is all you are going to get. It's not hard to figure out that big wait times=busy day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew-B Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I think a lot of parks should follow the 'twitter' craze and use it to get out to customers. You know, like saying 'oh there aren't any lines today, it's a great day to be at ________!!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Sim. Fan Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Well I see another problem. I think an I phone like application that would give you all type of park info would be great. Give people a map, times of shows, wait time, closed rides, and other useful information. The problem I see is, do you really want to entice people to bring there phone on a ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^No...they can view the information on the phone, and then pay a dollar to get a locker to store it in while they wait in line! I'm surprised Six Flags hasn't looked into this, yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrykoala2112 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ^It's an estimated time, not "You'll ride this in 30 minutes or you'll get your money back" and the wait times should stay pretty consistent too, plus the wait times usually seem to be posted longer than they actually are They do this to get people to buy flash passes. Those signs would be the wait if the coaster was running one cart. Yea it is cheap. If you notice on the sign, it says to check out the flash pass center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexinla Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 These signs have been there for years, long time before flashpass was even introduced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFreak Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 They do this to get people to buy flash passes. Those signs would be the wait if the coaster was running one cart. Yea it is cheap. If you notice on the sign, it says to check out the flash pass center. No, just no. They do that so people won't complian (like your mom which I think is a horrible thing to do as it just gives you the impression that complaining until you get your way is ok,, which it isn't, but that's a seperate argument) becuase if the line is shorter then what the wait time is posted, People will think it's a good thing and they got a deal, but if they have to wait longer then what's posted then they get pissy. It has nothing to do with FastPass/Fastlane/Qbot/ExpressPass/ whatever is used at the park. Those signs are there for if you do go on a busy day and you are waiting in a line that you could have skipped with whatever system they have in place. As for the topic of this thread, I don't agree with it exactly, it seems like it would hurt more then help as most people plan there trips ahead of time so if they find out it's busy, they may deicded to hold off as opposed to randomly heading to the parks on a whim because the park is not busy. And yeah, that scenario at Six Flags seems the exception not the norm. I'm sure they are well prepared for the other days of the week(end) for various crowd sizes. I would like to see more queue updates within the parks on ride boards accross the parks ala Universal. And maybe a texting system could work well if you text a certain number you can get line times, but have different numbers to change so you have to be in the parks to see which number to text for the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplepills Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I disagree generally with having the information posted at the gate, mainly from a business point of view. The parks already tell you which rides are closed, and if they told you how full it was it would put people off going, bringing revenue down, and possibly putting prices up/investments down. On top of this, how many people would know what it meant id it said 'SFMM is at 80% capacity' or whatever? The bit of information that the majority of people would easily understand is the wait times, and which rides are down. Having said all that, a huge percentage of people decide to go to a theme park and will go anyway knowing (roughly) when it will be busy, and the majority would most likely turn up relatively close to opening, before any of these times could be published accurately. On the subject of wait times in the line, these are normally absolute maximum times, designed for when the entire line is open, so people know what to expect. AT and TP both have wait times on displays at the actual ride entrance, and dotted around the park. When we rode Saw, it said a 2 hour wait, and I was chuffed when it turned out to only be about 1hr 40. I'd be pretty pissed off if it was the othe rway around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazydaveh Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Universal Orlando does post the wait times on the web. I use my blackberry all the time at the parks here in Otown. Most of the time, the wait times are current and updated and mostly correct. Blackberry Wait Times As for telling people at the gate... It will never happen. It's like saying, "Please don't spend your money with us." Some parks do this in a different way though... SeaWorld Orlando will sometimes close off it's parking lot... That's a sure sign it's packed, but people still park on the road and walk in and complain about not knowing it's crowded. Universal has signs up during HHN saying "Sold Out." There's a new app for the Iphone that allows people inside Disney to post current wait times... It just started, how well it will work, who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKULLY Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Posting the actual amount of people in the park would be a huge security issue. Don't you think that there's a reason that Disney keeps the each of their park's capacity a big secret? I am sure that it could also possibly hurt business and turn away a few guests. But I would attribute it more towards security issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrykoala2112 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 . It has nothing to do with FastPass/Fastlane/Qbot/ExpressPass/ whatever is used at the park. Those signs are there for if you do go on a busy day and you are waiting in a line that you could have skipped with whatever system they have in place. Actually they are. I have talked with the Park President of SFGAM Mr. Salemi and he said that it encourages people to buy flash passes. And they even has the add for the flash passes on the sign that says _____ minutes from this point. Consider buying a flash pass blah blah blah -Jeremie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeti762 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Universal Orlando does post the wait times on the web. I use my blackberry all the time at the parks here in Otown. Most of the time, the wait times are current and updated and mostly correct. (snip) Universal has signs up during HHN saying "Sold Out." There's a new app for the Iphone that allows people inside Disney to post current wait times... It just started, how well it will work, who knows. This would be ideal to have the wait times posted like this (kinda how Disney has them posted in the middle of the park, but you wouldn't have to walk over there). It would come in handy say at SFNJ to see what the wait time is for El Toro while you are over on the Nitro side of the park and save the walk over there. Or at Disney when you want to hop to AK and you could check what the wait was for EE, and decide if you wanted to go over there or stay at the park you were at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnglndPatriots6 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 last i heard WDW was working on this but you have to have a verizon phone lol. they should though. don't expect SF to start that any time soon tho lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Some ski resorts have this technology, I have to say, it really helps plan out the day! At the top and bottom of every lift, you can plan where you are headed based on the shortest lines. This would definitely be helpful within the park. I dont feel that having a website displaying wait times would be really a necessary move for the parks. All it will really do is cause people NOT to come because they think it will be too busy. Besides, I dont think there is a large enough audience that CARES to check it. Most people plan trips to the parks for weeks, with a bunch of friends. They are not going to cancel the trip. We are really the only ones that drop by because were bored. Aaaand locals too, but once again, I just dont see it being something normal people would check. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Park attendance is typically handled as sensitive information. At least for my company, sharing these figures with guests would be crossing the line. It would be like a Target clerk telling a shopper how much money they brought in that day, it just isn't cool. I would also think from a business standpoint that it would deter potential customers from entering the property if the crowd conditions or wait times were posted outside the gates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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