THE one thing the Six Flags Theme parks lack.

[bostonlva]

something i just realized while at the mountain today, now i dont know if this is possible with all the rides at Six flags, but at Universal Studios hollywood, they have that studio directory board, and at Disney they have something like that also, its a thing that tells you the wait times for all the rides, and the next show times. WOuld six flags ever think about putting one of those in their parks, so people wouldnt have to walk all the way to a ride to find out it is an 1hr+ wait, then walk all the way to the next ride, that has a shorter wait.....

 

 

does anyone agree?

something like this

[larrygator]

WOuld six flags ever think about putting one of those in their parks

 

Yes they think about it

[robbalvey]

You do realize that there are more parks that DON'T have them, than do, right?

 

In fact, outside of the Disney and Universal parks in the US, I can't think of any other park that has a central ride board.

 

I agree they are a good idea, but I think the infastructure that is required to have such a thing is probably quite expensive.

 

--Robb

[Capitalize]

Given Six Flags use of QBot/Flash Pass systems I doubt they would strongly be considering adding something like that.

[Tmcdllr]

Wow, that board is pretty cool.

[Squid]

I believe the new version of the Qbots has that capability. But there's no central ride board. I know that at DHS/WDW the board is changed by hand, but Epcot's board is electronic.

 

I can see a system where every ride checks into a central call center with ride wait times... but that also requires a reliable method to calculate those wait times. Without the electronic hardware to back it up, it's very labor intensive for very little return.

 

Squid

[Jerrykoala2112]

This just seems like another lame way people are trying to bash Six Flags....

 

when barely any parks have this.....

 

PS: Shrek 4-D is worth that 15 minute wait!

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Something like that would be nice but in reality is about #18,993,573,742 on the priorities list.

[ebl]

^ Is it that high already? It's moved up a notch or two since I last checked.

 

This is definitely a good idea, but for the reasons already mentioned, it's not going to happen any time soon. I have spoken to Jay Thomas at SFMM and he pretty much said what everyone here has said.

 

Eric

[Gav]

I agree they are a good idea, but I think the infastructure that is required to have such a thing is probably quite expensive.

Doesn't have to be though; The parks here just use a whiteboard and some magnetic dots...Bargain!. On busier days they just have somebody with a radio who goes around and updates them:

[alpengeist04]

It definitely would be more convenient, but not really a necessity at this point. ...Especially with the flashpass option.

[TPDave]

^ The problems with those systems though is the staffing required to gather all the information, relay it to a staff member who then has to update the board on a regular basis. Also, this might only be a "crappy british society" thing, but in the UK parks that have manual wait time boards, they are invariably tampered with by hilarious members of the public.

 

Yes it would be nice to have (Thorpe and Alton have these and it's a great way of planning your day!) but iI can't imagine it's too high up the priorities list of SF right now.

 

Dave "besides, if you have a gold Q-Bot you don't need to know the wait times, you just walk onto the ride!" Wilson

[monsterfan99]

I will say, at SF Great America it was nice to see they put a giant board by the entrance on if the ride is open. It is a step in the right direction.

[tatertot3710]

I would think that if they did this, they would exaggerate the wait times and advertise for a Flash Pass like they do in the queues. But the only park that I've been to that have these was Disney World. SF could probably care less.

[Squid]

Au Contraire! Yes, SF cares. I can't see SF deliberately manipulating the times to generate Flash Pass sales. We only have so many that are given out any given day... much like how the Disney system only prints out so many tickets any given day. On busy days we sell out the system, so why do we need to generate sales by deception?

 

Squid

[Jew]

Something like that would be nice but in reality is about #18,993,573,742 on the priorities list.

 

What's it saying about Six Flags that something like that (which does improve the guest experience) is so low on the list?

[tatertot3710]

At Great Adventure, they have the 'wait time' signs posted in the queue which are usually a good 45 min. - 1 hour MORE than the normal wait time. Under that time it says, "Why wait in line? Go buy a Flash Pass now!" or something along those lines. I've also heard this spoken about on other forums, too. It might just be a GAdv thing.

[larrygator]

At Great Adventure, they have the 'wait time' signs posted in the queue which are usually a good 45 min. - 1 hour MORE than the normal wait time.

 

Maybe 15-20 minutes, certainly not 45-60 minutes. Can you give a specific example of where the line was backed up to a 60 minute sign and you got on the ride within 1-15 minutes?

[tatertot3710]

The log flume line was at the 45 minute sign and it only took me about 15 minutes to get on. I'm just saying that the wait signs are very inaccurate compared to those at other parks. Mainly when the waits would be a large stretch, would be when lines are at the 120 sign, maybe at minimum capacity that could happen, but it's almost impossible if the ride is operating at full capacity. With the trip reports I've read (outside of TPR) they said, "the line was at the __ minute sign, we got on in about __ minutes.

 

As for the whole Flash Pass advertising thing, that was something that I've heard from trip reports and discussions elsewhere, so I don't know if that's entirely true or not. But as for this whole discussion, who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

[monsterfan99]

^ While not the signs screw into the que, SF Great America does use signs with "wait times" outside the ride entrance, They say <15 min, 30 min, 45 min or 60 min plus.

 

The biggest problem is near opening when, lets say, Superman's sign says 15 minutes, yet the que is near full. The same can go in the other direction where I've seen The Dark Knight listed as a 60 minute plus wait, yet it was walk-on (and there was no recent break down either.)

[WFChris]

I always thought an iTunes or android app would be a good idea for the parks. I would imagine that it would be inexpensive to add (as opposed to a board), and fairly easy to update. That way, many people in the park will be able to keep up on wait times. Not everybody, but a good start.

 

Chris.

[robbalvey]

^ An app like that would not be inexpensive at all. Especially if you're talking about it being a chain-wide app.

 

Not only do you have the software development cost (which could easily be $10k on the low end) and that's nothing compared to having to develop a way for each ride to automatically update the wait times.

 

Disney World uses those little credit cards things that they give to the guests periodically when they get in line that measures how long they waited.

 

Not sure how Universal does it.

 

But essentially for an app (or a board) to be effective and well received it **MUST** be accurate and constantly updated.

 

The infrastructure required to make that happen is a much more daunting task than you can even imagine.

 

My guess is that it would be more in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars to successfully develop. And it's something where there is really no return on.

 

And this is why you don't see it in many parks.

 

--Robb

[KevinM]

^I would have to agree that developing and maintaining that type of application would likely cost more than its worth. But I'd bet Six Flags could get approximate wait times out of their existing Q-Bot infrastructure. Obviously if the Q-Bot "knows" the wait time, they could tie that into something else relatively easily.

 

But does this really bring many more guests in? It's a nice feature, but I don't think enough people would know or care if a park added it.

[metrock]

Six Flags parks need more trash cans and concrete. Cedar Fair is killing them in that department!

 

Oh, and fewer trees.

[robbalvey]

^I would have to agree that developing and maintaining that type of application would likely cost more than its worth. But I'd bet Six Flags could get approximate wait times out of their existing Q-Bot infrastructure. Obviously if the Q-Bot "knows" the wait time, they could tie that into something else relatively easily.

Does it? Do you know for sure that's how the system works?

 

I was under the impression that the system isn't quite as detailed (although it may seem that way in the palm of your hand.)

 

I had always thought that there was a "general setting" that was based on how busy the overall park was, and that wait times for rides were based on that. Remember that the Q-Bot doesn't really care *exactly* how long the line is, just that your wait is shorter (for Gold) or equal to the approximate wait in line (which could vary due to several conditions, but you can make a very educated guess by how busy the park is.)

 

Then they could tweak the setting individually if they needed to (like if a ride is closed, or only running one train instead of two.)

 

I'm not sure that Q-Bot automatically monitors the wait times for each ride at all times throughout the day.

 

I think it's set by the central reservation group based on general attendance or if there is an abnormal situation called in by the ride.

 

Again, the infrastructure needed to constantly monitor a ride's line and then send that information to a central area is not a small task.

 

Hopefully someone who works for Disney or Universal who is more familiar with these systems can chime in.

 

--Robb