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Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread


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Has anyone been to Bayern Park lately? Freischutz looks like it has about the same duration as Superman Ultimate Flight, and it only runs one twelve-seater train (right?). That could be a good gauge of how long queue lines will be for SUF.

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^I'm not sure that would really help your point. Bayern Park is a giant spread out park with no other full size coaster mainly geared towards children. So even if it doesn't have a long line it's so different from SFDK that I wouldn't take that as a good or bad sign.

 

Plus you're talking about German/European efficiency, both with riders and operators. Kind of different from Vallejo!

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Ya, not to stereo type anybody from Vallejo, i am only about a 10 min drive to Vallejo, so i might as well live in Vallejo.If you have never visited or been to Vallejo, there's a few words to describe there people, ghetto and lazy. Not everybody there is Ghetto and lazy, but if you grew up in the wrong "hood" or went to a few select schools in Vallejo, your one or the other.

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Oh. Dear.

 

I only compared the two because they had the same train lengths...

 

Why the [censored] is there an empty train with restraints open for the entire video? GET PEOPLE MOVING.

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^Funny thing is we waited almost 30 minutes once inside the station!! I really enjoy going to SFDK every year don't get me wrong but this was just ridiculous. The gates were held long enough for the train that was cycling to return to the station approach and stack. At that point they would load 10+ flashpass users and then open the loading gates. This process was repeated for every dispatch.

 

Now to be fair this was back in summer of 2008 and Medusa's operation has been greatly improved since their operations director got a hold of the video off of Youtube.

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^That is true, but, the insane amount of priority boarders is still present, as well as the slow dispatches. Now, the crew consists of THREE ride ops, but it still takes over 3 minutes to send out a train.

 

Why can GCA dispatch a seven car inverted coaster train in less than two minutes with two ride ops, but Medusa can't send out an 8 car train in under 3.5 minutes with three ride ops?

 

In spring 2007 or '08, I waited an hour for Medusa. There was one train running, and the ride was a station wait! (for the middle of the train!)

 

SFDK vs SFA vs SFLR: which park has the worst ride crews?

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^CGA has decent operations because good supervisors will teach their ride operators about efficient operations.

 

As a sup working at Demon for the 2011 season, I always made sure my crew was working at at reasonable pace. If I noticed they were slacking off, I would talk to them and ask them to speed things up, especially when the lines were long.

 

That said, I don't know how Six Flags trains their ride operators, so I can't comment on their training methods. However, I can say that most of the time, I am rather disappointed with how slow some rides are dispatched.

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Edit: This is why you look before you leap. (or in this case post)

 

We thought the lines for V2 and Big Spin were bad? I'm not looking forward too seeing how rough the capacity is for this. They'd better have a very good crew, as well as restricting the access of the "I can't wait in line cause I have ADHD" peoples who constantly seem to spam Medusa and V2 front row and such.

Edited by SoCalCoasters
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^CGA has decent operations because good supervisors will teach their ride operators about efficient operations.

 

As a sup working at Demon for the 2011 season, I always made sure my crew was working at at reasonable pace. If I noticed they were slacking off, I would talk to them and ask them to speed things up, especially when the lines were long.

 

That said, I don't know how Six Flags trains their ride operators, so I can't comment on their training methods. However, I can say that most of the time, I am rather disappointed with how slow some rides are dispatched.

 

The really irritating thing about that is sometimes it seems like there is no reason to be dispatching that slow, then when you see its because the ride ops are being lazy, goofing off, screwing around on their phones, or just not paying attention it is really frustrating, and all you can do while you are standing there in the long, slow moving line is wonder why, why does it have to be like this....WHY!?

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 12 car train sent out every 90 seconds equals out at 480 per hour. By comparison, SFMM's Deja Vu usually averaged 400 per hour, and Fujiyama, (Fuji Q's most efficient ride) averages out at 500 per hour. Psyco Mouse at CGA had a capacity of 800 per hour. The theoretical capacity of Medusa is 1300 per hour, but has that number ever been hit? (It usually runs around 500-600 per hour). This is why a full queue on Medusa signifies a 2 hour wait, even though, at full capacity, that line could contain less than an hour wait.

 

^I also have to say that even Knott's, a park famous for its inefficiency, can send out trains on Silver Bullet faster than the Medusa crew can. I went one time when the queueing area was almost full, and the wait was "only" 45 minutes. That same line would have probably taken about 90 minutes with the Medusa crew.

 

At least this isn't a year ago, when they would run one train on Roar and Kong, no matter how long the wait was. Now, it is nice to have two-train operations (even though the crews are professionals at stacking)

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Or, you add the ride's actual cycle time onto the every 90 seconds which seems more realistic. I'd expect probably a good 90-second+ unload-load-dispatch sequence plus another minute or so for the actual cycle. Don't quote me on this as I suck at word problems but figuring in a 3 minute load/unload cycle + ride cycle (ouch) I came up with 180pph, 2 minute load/unload cycle + ride cycle with 240pph, and 360pph on a 1-minute load/unload cycle + ride cycle.

 

Of these load/unload cycles, which of these seems the most realistic for SFDK since I don't frequently visit that park at the moment, neither have I clocked the unload/load/dispatch sequence?

 

After, doing a quick google search for calculating PPH and doubting my horrible math skills, I was pointed to a thread stating this:

 

This is the most accurate equation I can think of to estimate a roller coaster's capacity per hour. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Let...

 

P = Persons Per Hour

C = Train Capacity

D = Ride Duration (Include loading time) (Change the time to a decimal [ex. 2:30 = 2.5 ; 2 1/2 minutes = 2.5 minutes - see below for more minutes to decimal conversions])

T = Number of Trains

 

 

 

Equation:

 

P = (C / D • 60)(T)

 

 

So, if I had a roller coaster that seated 36 people per train in 3 different trains and had a duration of 2:30 and an average loading time of 1:00, I would figure it out like so:

 

P = (36 / 3.5 • 60)(3)

 

I end up with about 1851 persons per hour.

 

 

 

Time to Decimal Conversion for Duration

 

Divide the number of seconds by 60. Round to the nearest hundredth (0.00)

 

Looks like our calculations are quite correct, just a matter of how long we can expect "D" to be within the equation.

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I think it'll be best if I just visit with low expectations. I'll make a goal of riding this once for the credit, then see what else I have time for. This is in light of the frightening throughput predictions, as I have no problems with the park overall. Although I see their coaster collection in a different light now that I have ridden so many comparable rides...

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I thought Green Lantern: First Flight was bad, but it sounds like Superman Ultimate Flight will have less than half the capacity of that thing. I will be impressed if the park can reach 200 pph, but even though operations are supposedly better than when I last visited (2008), that would probably be a pretty high goal. If I don't go for BAB, I'll need to get here 45 minutes early, get t the ride as quick as possible, and hope to be off by lunchtime.

 

Someone asks a few posts back which was worse in terms of operations: SFDK or La Ronde. I'd probably say La Ronde after visiting it last summer (45 minutes with Gold FP), but it is pretty close (30 minute station wait at SFDK).

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