Ride Duration Times

[bontempsjeff]

Ok, I know everyone here loves both Coaster and Theme Parks in general, so let me ask a serious question.

 

What is the perfect Ride Duration for a Coaster, a Simulator Ride, or a New Attraction, in your opinion? With a 30 minute wait? How about an Hour wait?

 

 

For me, I think the best Coaster ride duration is 2:30-3:00. And I would wait 30 minutes for that. If it was less, I don't know if I'd wait an hour.

 

For a good Simulator Ride, best duration is 4-5 minutes, and I'd wait an hour for that.

 

For a New Attraction, I might wait 90 minutes, but with admission prices so high, I wouldn't wait longer.

 

So, what is your opinion?

[Password121]

There is no "perfect" duration. A dark ride, maybe 4-6 minutes. A ride like Intimidator 305? I don't want that to be longer than about 50 seconds or it becomes uncomfortable or even dangerous. It all depends on the ride and there's no way to "blanket" it.

 

And I'll wait different amounts of time depending on how good a ride is, not how long it lasts.

[Pirate]

If the restraints are really tight, then I'd like a short ride. If the restraints aren't tight, then I'd like a long ride. If the ride is repetitive, I'd like a short ride. If the ride spins way too much (I'm looking at you, Megaspin), I USUALLY like a short ride.

 

And if the ride has lap bars, isn't repetitive and doesn't spin too much, I like really long rides.

[RCjunkie]

For me it would depend on how fun the ride is (or how much fun I think it would be if I have not been on the ride before). Duration of the ride would not affect my wait time. If it did I probably would never ride TTD. Thankfully most parks now have a fast pass option to take this out of the decision making equation if I want.

[CoasterDirected]

I used to think that you couldn't go wrong with making a ride long... Until I rode Mean Streak. It's just boring. There needs to be substance the entire ride.

[blk_mamba]

I feel like an action packed two minutes is enough for me for a coaster. Id rather a short action packed coaster over a longer coaster will alot of dull moments. I'll provide an exemption for some of the older wooden coaster like Beast @ Kings Island. I don't mind longer wood coaster that take you into the woods.

[Password121]

^Excluding lift hills, block brakes, etc. most coasters, including wooden coasters, are between 45 and 60 seconds. So... you're not going to find many "action packed" 2 minute coasters anywhere. Even The Beast is only about 2.5 minutes excluding lift hills. Heck, the longest steel coaster in North America--Fury 325--is something like 63 seconds from drop to brakes.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Speaking of two minutes..

 

Our Coaster takes exactly that, from leaving the station, up the lift hill,

doing the whole circuit, and back into the station.

 

I timed it, and was rather surprised it was that closely timed,

give or take a second or three. And it's perfect for myself.

...And it packs a lot into that two minutes, too! (Retro photo.)

[MrSum1_55]

A coaster should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover everything, but short enough to leave you wanting more.

 

What I mean is that a coaster should ideally be as long as possible, but not so long so that it starts to lose steam at the end. An example of a coaster that loses steam is Alpengiest, which sends you through a very slow helix at the end. Phantom's Revenge is too short to me, because it feels like it could go on a lot longer with the incredible speed it builds up. I think that Kumba is just the right length, because it has a fairly long track length, but it keeps its pace all the way up until the very end. To me, keeping up a constant pace can make the difference between a good coaster and a great coaster, so a coaster should not go on longer to the point that it's pace would be lost.