Surprisingly good ride lines / operations

[Angle O. Descent]

I thought I'd take a negative topic and turn it into a positive one...

I went to King's Dominion and Busch Gardens VA on July 4th weekend this year, and the ride lines were DEAD... I drove 12 hours from Toronto expecting the worst, but still managed to get on pretty much every ride in 10 mins or less. Couldn't have went any better. I even got fast passes for K'sD, and didn't even have to use them.

Any other good-news stories you've encountered?

[Aaronupsidasium]

The operations on Fahrenheit at Hershey were brilliant. The coaster has short trains with very low capacity (3 car train) but the line moved very fast. They actually had a ride host directing people to seats (very rare for a non-Disney/Universal park) and putting all odd numbered parties in the in middle car which insured all trains went out full despite not having a single rider line. The ride host was stern and authoritative without being rude which made the line move very fast.

[singemfrc]

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has done an outstanding job operating Superman: Ultimate Flight. What looked like a ride that was going to be a capacity nightmare has been in reality the fastest moving line in the park. Every time I visit I'm impressed at how well the ops are moving people through that ride, opening the air gates before the current riders are off allowing the new riders to get in the car right as the previous riders leave really saves significant time, I wish they'd do the same on the other rides in the park rather than waiting for the whole platform to be clear to open the gates. (Granted the style of restraints are also a big help, it cuts the check time roughly in half not having seat belts or OTSRs).

 

They also practice the same rules as you mentioned on Farenheit..mandatory assigned seating and intelligent placement of singles and odds. They've actually stopped calling for single riders like they used to because they've gotten better at putting them together to eliminate empty seats.

 

X2 at SFMM is another one that has been consistently efficient in my experience. Though the line can get very long in the mid morning to late afternoon on busy days, its a testament to the solid operations that it usually clears up later on. Some people complain about slow operations on this ride, but the trains are not the type that would otherwise be conducive to fast operations, they do a good job with what they have to work with.

[azza29]

Given the huge crowds they have to deal with, Disneyland's operations are superb. Last time I was there they had California Screamin' running 4 trains and no stacking. If only every park could be the same

[andybarnes84]

This is a given but I'm going to be highly predictable and say Europa Park, insanely quick dispatches which often don't involve physically checking restraints, very rare! I believe they use visual indicators on the trains to check instead or just put their trust in the software.

 

I also noticed the great operations on Fahrenheit earlier this year, really engaging and friendly staff too which was a shock!

[caffeine_demon]

Europa is great - watching silver star's despatching is almost as good as riding it!

 

Also - would like to mention cedar point - The ops were all very efficient (maybe too efficient 1 time, closing a restraint before I'd put my bag in the bins....), and even though I'm a big guy, I never got "stapled"

[Moose]

I was impressed by Busch Gardens Tampa. Despite the fairly young ride ops, they were cranking out trains even when there were minimal waits.

[ernierocker]

^Yes, I second Busch Gardens Tampa. Both times I have been there, the park looks absolutely packed, but the lines are always fast moving. With the exception of Gwazi...

[cfc]

I've alwayts been amazed by the ops on Knoebel's coasters. They really hustle and often dispatch trains in a minute or less.

[sspaz1000]

I've alwayts been amazed by the ops on Knoebel's coasters. They really hustle and often dispatch trains in a minute or less.

 

I was just going to say knoebels. Last time I was there, the Phoenix had a 30 second dispatch.

 

I was also impressed with KD during ECB this year. I got through everything with no need for fast lane on a Saturday in August.

[ernierocker]

Not that it is surprising to me anymore, but Dollywood is another good candidate. It helps that the majority of the ride ops are retired-age people who love their jobs.

[Moose]

^ that was the same experience at Adventureland (Iowa). There is something special about having your restraint checked by someone info you sweetie and meaning it rather than an uninterested teen snapping their gum.

[cfc]

^Adventureland had one of the friendliest staffs I've ever encountered.

[Zem]

I haven't been to any large parks with great operations. The majority of Six Flags are alright when it isn't too busy but as more people show up the slower the staff gets. The worst by far was the Rattler at Fiesta Texas. The line was this awkward staircase that was way too small and the operators seemed very impatient.

[Hilltopper39]

I was at Kings Island for Diamondback's opening day and the line was stretched all the way back to Main Street but only took a few hours, they were seriously putting some people through that day. This may not always be the case here for every ride at Kings Island, but my past couple of trips have been pretty good overall.

[Werner]

For good operations i enjoy Europa Park, what a people can they move on there rides!

 

Other good parks are: Cedar Point, Liseberg, Alton Towers, Knoebels, and more...

 

Also a park where they in my book have good operations(well in untill 2010 at least, don't know after that) is Walibi Holland. And this isn't because i worked there in 2009, they can really work fast on their rides to get the max. out of them!

[stashua123]

Kings Island does good in Diamondback, Beast, Racer, Adventure Express,Vortex, and Flight Deck. But some rides are just plain off bad operations and a capcity nightmare. Invertigo, Delirium(sometimes), Firehawk, Monster, and runaway reptar(yep i still call it that). Firehawk and Invertigo are the worse out of these. Firehawk they dont send people on the stairs for 5 minutes then i gets delayed and turns into 20 minutes. Sometimes Firehawk dosent even run for 30 minutes! Invertigo is just bad capacity but their doing the best they can. I rank Ki in good lines and operations 8.9/10

[larrygator]

Even though I'll be repeating what others have already said, I agree with Adventureland. Knoebels, Dollywood, Europa and Liseberg.

 

Lake Compounce is another park that has had good operations during all my visits.

Edited November 27, 2012 by larrygator

[Moose]

I've found the same thing with Lake Compounce but wasn't sure if it was a case of home park bias.

[boardwalkbullet91507]

Operations at the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier is excellent! Especially on the Iron Shark. They dispatch a car every 30-45 seconds and the line moves so quickly.

[eltororider]

I'd have to say Universal was the best i ever experienced. Incredible Hulk, Harry Potter and Rip Ride Rockit in particular really kept their queues moving. A 90 minute Harry Potter wait turned out to only be 30 minutes because the queue constantly moves.

[Gilly]

Busch Gardens Tampa (with exception of Gwazi), surely Europa Park and also Mirabilandia has some moving

[RideofSteel]

Six Flags New England.

 

I heard terrible things about Goliath and Bizarro's but neither were true. Bizarro wasn't stacking and Goliath's dispatches were every two or so minutes. Even Thunderbolt with it's manual restraint release was sending trains fast.

 

Lastly, the SLC at SFNE was running one train, while the line was still managing to move faster then Elitch Garden's, which was running two.

[IronWolfman]

Aftershock.

 

When I first went (In 2008), a overflowing line from the queue was an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes or so.

This summer, that line wasn't even 30 minutes.

[rcdude]

Out of all the parks I've been to, I'd say Cedar Point, Dollywood, Holiday World, and the Disney parks (both California and Paris) probably had the most efficient operations. While there are a couple exceptions at each park, all of these seemed to be running as many ride vehicles as possible on their attractions, or at least did the best they could with what they were running.