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Why queue for hours?

emoo said:
I'm counting every blood boiling moment of having to wait in what was effectively one continuous queue to ride. This includes waiting to get through security before park opens, standing still like lemons letting the priority queue constantly fill up on front. The inside park queue started the moment my ticket was scanned.

To make sure I didn't unfairly inflate that number this does not include the extra hour I spent waiting for people to arrive. Just chilling on massive rock eating a sandwich watching Hyperia intently for the first time.



Yes thank you Mr McGloatypants 🤣. At least I managed 4 other park rides today in less than 2 hours. The ops are really trying whenever the Merlin brake down tradition allows.
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Oh I feel bad for you mate, and others that had no choice but to go today for reasons.

My smugness is aimed at those mocking us for going yesterday instead of today or over the next few days… ;)
 
Atmosphere and for the whole 'I was there' thing.
Even the Saw 'opening' day meet was a hilarious day that we still talk about now.
I still find my report funny - even moreso today: https://www.coasterforce.com/forums/threads/cutting-edge-trip-reports.25412/post-574506

And of course - if it's at Thorpe, you do want to grab it while it's operating.

Can't be coincidence that the only UK coasters Merlin have successfully run in opening week in the last 13 years have both been B&Ms.
 
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There are only two circumstances where i will queue for more than around 30 minutes:

1. I'm at a location i will likely never visit again and it's my only opportunity to go on a ride i'd like to experience.

2. I'm with my son and the ride has broken down but we're already in the queue.
 
I held out until the evening on Friday and managed to get on Hyperia 3 times in just a couple of hours via the single rider line, which no one else seemed to be using by the end of the day! Very relieved to have done it on opening day now…
 
I absolutely see no appeal in going to a coaster's opening day; in fact, I don't even think the concept appealed to me back when I was a newer enthusiast either. Yeah, I guess it's fun having bragging rights and having something exclusive for a brief period of time, but the older I get the more I realize that time is money, and the less patient I get, so I'll just wait to ride most things until I deem there to be good value in whatever the queue time is vs. the quality of the coaster. The only time this doesn't apply is when I am with my kid, which saw me waiting 45 minutes for a stupid dinosaur safari that he even thought was boring, and nearly waiting an hour for the stupid Toboggan Nordique wild mouse thing at La Ronde. Thankfully, it broke.

This applies to large coasters as well. When I went to Cedar Point recently, which is nowhere near as accessible as it once was to me, I was fully prepared to skip Top Thrill 2 because the idea of waiting for two hours for something that was likely going to be, from the looks of it, a less good version of what once was. I saw the queue time at an hour and cringed at the thought, but sucked it up and then it ended up being two hours, which saw me being less patient than some of the younger kiddies in line. Glad I did it now given the circumstances, but still.

I'll go on days I know will be quieter, and if I'm doing a cred run, I'll budget for the Fast Lane or whatever version of "skip the plebs" the park has to offer. I refuse to wait over an hour for anything unless it's new and mindblowing, and I know I won't have the chance to ride it again in the near future.
 
LiveForTheLaunch said:
I absolutely see no appeal in going to a coaster's opening day; in fact, I don't even think the concept appealed to me back when I was a newer enthusiast either. Yeah, I guess it's fun having bragging rights and having something exclusive for a brief period of time, but the older I get the more I realize that time is money, and the less patient I get, so I'll just wait to ride most things until I deem there to be good value in whatever the queue time is vs. the quality of the coaster. The only time this doesn't apply is when I am with my kid, which saw me waiting 45 minutes for a stupid dinosaur safari that he even thought was boring, and nearly waiting an hour for the stupid Toboggan Nordique wild mouse thing at La Ronde. Thankfully, it broke.

This applies to large coasters as well. When I went to Cedar Point recently, which is nowhere near as accessible as it once was to me, I was fully prepared to skip Top Thrill 2 because the idea of waiting for two hours for something that was likely going to be, from the looks of it, a less good version of what once was. I saw the queue time at an hour and cringed at the thought, but sucked it up and then it ended up being two hours, which saw me being less patient than some of the younger kiddies in line. Glad I did it now given the circumstances, but still.

I'll go on days I know will be quieter, and if I'm doing a cred run, I'll budget for the Fast Lane or whatever version of "skip the plebs" the park has to offer. I refuse to wait over an hour for anything unless it's new and mindblowing, and I know I won't have the chance to ride it again in the near future.
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You do realise a coaster launch day is only 10% about the coaster itself? The occasion of it is the main attraction, meeting other goons, seeing old friends, the atmosphere, the way that enthusiasts pretty much take over the entire park day. It’s awesome, you should try it.

The reason nobody minds the queues on opening day is because that’s where most of this atmosphere is, where most of the socialising happens, where goons are being silly goons… It’s all great fun.

The only time ‘bragging rights’ comes into it is when the people mocking you for going on opening day, miss out a few days later, but you got to ride, because you went on opening day… There’s some ironic justice in that, a bit of karma. Normally it’s not at all about bragging rights, it’s not even about the coaster, it’s about being there for that one off event, and the occasion of it all.

Also, when you go to a theme park, you’re generally there for one day regardless. This isn’t a time / value thing. One day is one day, whether you enjoyed the day because you rode one thing and gooned around for the rest of the day soaking up the atmosphere… Or whether you enjoyed yourself because you got on 20 rides… A day lost is still a day lost… (Not that I’d ever consider something as valuable to mental health as leisure time to be a day lost personally.)

A little analogy for you.

Your favourite band are playing your favourite local sports stadium during a national holiday, all your friends will be there, but it’ll be packed and the queues for everything will be huge.

Do you go that day, or the next day, when it’s a work day, no friends are going, but also, they’ve barely sold any tickets, so it’ll be really quiet?
 
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You do realise a coaster launch day is only 10% about the coaster itself? The occasion of it is the main attraction, meeting other goons, seeing old friends, the atmosphere, the way that enthusiasts pretty much take over the entire park day. It’s awesome, you should try it.
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Bit o' sass there, yes I do realize that, but there aren't many goons in my area and the amount of goons I talk to on a regular basis anymore is very small. There are some I'd be incredibly happy and excited to see, but not only is North America huge, making logistics of attending an opening day with many people more difficult than it is in the UK, it's even more of a difficult thing to arrange given my current place in life. If I want to see old friends, I'll happily go over to Europe or trek to another area of my own continent, but for my personal priorities, I don't like massive crowds and faffing anymore and I'm okay with that not being my particular jam in the enthusiast domain. For some people, that might be super fun and I do love and miss the social aspect of coaster enthusiasm, I just don't have the gusto I once had for something like an opening day with thousands of other people there. It's overwhelming, and I don't find it enjoyable. Give me a group of maybe 3-20 enthusiasts on a non-opening day, and then we're cooking. Something far more up my alley.


Also, when you go to a theme park, you’re generally there for one day regardless. This isn’t a time / value thing. One day is one day, whether you enjoyed the day because you rode one thing and gooned around for the rest of the day soaking up the atmosphere… Or whether you enjoyed yourself because you got on 20 rides… A day lost is still a day lost… (Not that I’d ever consider something as valuable to mental health as leisure time to be a day lost personally.)
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I do agree with this. If it's a park I haven't been to, yes I'll still cred run, but I still like to make time to enjoy the park. If it's a park I've been to, I love just walking and enjoying the atmosphere. And now my son loves coasters, so I'm more than happy to piss around whatever park with a beer in my hand watching him have a good time. It's not a day lost if I ride absolutely nothing. Even when I go with my boyfriend or friends, I'm happy to do what they want to do, maybe ride one or two big ticket attractions, and then chill. But again, an atmosphere in a big crowd is simply not for me. If it's for others, great! I hope everyone has a great day at whatever opening day or rammed summer day they attend.
 
I had a few motivations for wanting to be at Hyperia's opening day:
  1. I generally want to be at more events where there are lots of enthusiasts as I would like to become a familiar face in the scene and make some friends. I'd like to be able to attend an enthusiast event by myself and there be a decent likelihood that I'll know somebody. I'm quite far from this point at the moment, but I'm thinking I just need to show up and be friendly and time will do the rest.
  2. Thorpe Park is my closest major UK thrill park, I can easily day trip it, if I had to travel and book a hotel to make it happen I might have reconsidered.
  3. Hyperia was the first coaster I closely followed the construction of, I was eagerly looking forward to riding it and I lacked the patience to wait for things to get quieter. Given Thorpe is easily accessible for me, I can do both.
We got to the park about 90 minutes before park open and then we waited a further 4hr30min before our first ride, so a total of 6 hours. It was certainly a long wait, but we came prepared. I had a collapsible stool and my friend had a camp chair that packed down easily into our bags, we had sandwiches, snacks, plenty of water. I think we started chatting with some of our queue mates within minutes of standing still and it was really quite nice. If you make an effort to ensure your needs are going to be fulfilled and you have good company that really makes it.

I might do it again for Thorpe's next coaster if it excites me, or maybe if Chessington decides to build something much more thrilling than their current offering (unlikely). I suspect it might have been a one-off for me, but I have zero regrets.
 
Queuing for any material amount of time is a non-starter for me. I will almost always "happily" spring for a skip the line pass.

The closest park to me is about a two and a half hour drive or five hours round trip. And that is the fastest way to access the park. I also often travel by myself. The concept of driving for five hours (or more) for a day trip by myself and then having to wait in queue lines is soul-sucking. This is even truer if flying somewhere... my travel time is my queue time. Sure it is annoying to consistently be adding close to or over $100 to every park visit but the alternative is worse.
 
LiveForTheLaunch said:
Bit o' sass there, yes I do realize that, but there aren't many goons in my area and the amount of goons I talk to on a regular basis anymore is very small. There are some I'd be incredibly happy and excited to see, but not only is North America huge, making logistics of attending an opening day with many people more difficult than it is in the UK, it's even more of a difficult thing to arrange given my current place in life. If I want to see old friends, I'll happily go over to Europe or trek to another area of my own continent, but for my personal priorities, I don't like massive crowds and faffing anymore and I'm okay with that not being my particular jam in the enthusiast domain. For some people, that might be super fun and I do love and miss the social aspect of coaster enthusiasm, I just don't have the gusto I once had for something like an opening day with thousands of other people there. It's overwhelming, and I don't find it enjoyable. Give me a group of maybe 3-20 enthusiasts on a non-opening day, and then we're cooking. Something far more up my alley.




I do agree with this. If it's a park I haven't been to, yes I'll still cred run, but I still like to make time to enjoy the park. If it's a park I've been to, I love just walking and enjoying the atmosphere. And now my son loves coasters, so I'm more than happy to piss around whatever park with a beer in my hand watching him have a good time. It's not a day lost if I ride absolutely nothing. Even when I go with my boyfriend or friends, I'm happy to do what they want to do, maybe ride one or two big ticket attractions, and then chill. But again, an atmosphere in a big crowd is simply not for me. If it's for others, great! I hope everyone has a great day at whatever opening day or rammed summer day they attend.
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Yes I guess it’s very different in Europe. It was nice catching up with people, from other European countries, who I’d met at opening days abroad in other countries. Also met 2 German blokes who I’d seen around at other opening days abroad, but not actually spoken to before. It was nice to see them make the trip to the UK for this as we make the effort to get out there. This is the kind of thing I mean. Opening days are great days to network with other goons, meet new people, hang out with older friends and just generally goon around. If that’s not your thing then fair enough. Obviously being a small and easy to travel country, every UK goon is there too, as you pointed out.

Maybe there was a little sas there, but that comment was a direct reply to your comments on bragging rights, I just wanted to make it clear that there’s WAY more to opening days than bragging rights. Hell, I’ve enjoyed opening days when I haven’t even got on the ride that was opened, or was supposed to be opened.

Honestly, missing opening days gives me serious fomo. And it’s not for the ride, I can ride that any time, it’s for the ‘occasion.’
 
As for opening days, I'll do an opening day if it's close and a place I've done a million times before (so essentially a Merlin property). Like people say it's not so much riding the coaster, but for the atmosphere and seeing people being excited and smiling (usually). It's also a good chance to see people you haven't seen for years because of how rare a new major coaster in the UK is. I personally wouldn't do an opening day outside of those circumstances though, and definitely wouldn't fly out for an opening, at least not intentionally (have randomly encountered soft openings in the US). I do hate crowds of people generally, but a bunch of goons will typically make it a lot more comfortable.

For other times, waiting in a queue though, it really depends on the circumstances. Am I alone or in a group? Have I been to the park before/ridden this specific ride?
  • If I'm alone at a park and can essentially visit when I like, I'd probably say I have an upper limit of 30 minutes.
  • Alone at a park I've been to a couple of times, I'd up that limit to probably 60-70 minutes
  • Alone at a park I've never been to and likely will not visit again or at least not for a long time, up to 90 minutes depending on the ride (I would say I'd pay for the fastpass equivalent at this stage, but I'd be lying to myself)
  • If I'm in a group though, I'm typically in a park I've been to a lot before, so I honestly don't mind the queue at this point as it can still be entertaining. So probably up to 120 minutes. Maybe a little more.
 
I've always avoided opening days but felt duty bound to be at Thorpe on Friday. It's the park I grew up with, from Wicked Witches Haunt and Magic Mill as a nipper, to watching Colossus, Inferno and Stealth being built as a teen. These days I find it pretty boring and the rides all below average. Despite being half an hour away, I haven't been there in about 6 years.

I'm so glad I was there for Hyperia's opening day. It was all very wholesome, and was actually a bit of an eye opener to just how many of us coaster goons are out there. Back in the day this 'community' felt far more niche, but maybe we were just less visible.

Was on my own but met some great people in the single rider queue throughout the day, got 4 rides in and waited less than 90 mins for 3 of them. Even so, a 4 hour queue with a couple of pints on a sunny day, surrounded by excitable, like minded people beats counting down the hours at work on a Friday.

Would 100% do it again!
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Yes I guess it’s very different in Europe. It was nice catching up with people, from other European countries, who I’d met at opening days abroad in other countries. Also met 2 German blokes who I’d seen around at other opening days abroad, but not actually spoken to before. It was nice to see them make the trip to the UK for this as we make the effort to get out there. This is the kind of thing I mean. Opening days are great days to network with other goons, meet new people, hang out with older friends and just generally goon around. If that’s not your thing then fair enough. Obviously being a small and easy to travel country, every UK goon is there too, as you pointed out.

Maybe there was a little sas there, but that comment was a direct reply to your comments on bragging rights, I just wanted to make it clear that there’s WAY more to opening days than bragging rights. Hell, I’ve enjoyed opening days when I haven’t even got on the ride that was opened, or was supposed to be opened.

Honestly, missing opening days gives me serious fomo. And it’s not for the ride, I can ride that any time, it’s for the ‘occasion.’
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I love socializing with other enthusiasts, for sure! That part isn't dead for me, but doing it on an opening day isn't appealing to me. I've lately found myself stressed even on the average to busier days at amusement park sans opening day festivities, so I'm not sure I'd thrive there, haha. I'd probably still be way more active in this scene if I didn't have the kiddo.

I didn't mean bragging rights in a bad way at all, but I do know a fair amount of enthusiasts who enjoy having something "exclusive." Heck, I'm not one of those people but I can't lie that I feel slightly smug that I got on Top Thrill 2 before it opened. I know people who enjoy getting creds not many have just to "have" it I guess, so I think I meant it more in that regard.

I do get a bit of fomo when I see people on coaster trips and the like, and there's some coasters I've felt a pang of jealousy that I didn't get to ride it right away, but I think that was because the coaster looked phenomenal and I was eager to get on it. Steel Vengeance was a prime example, but I just made the trip a week later. I did see a few enthusiasts there too, just with less of the excitement and the atmosphere of an opening day which I was cool with.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess! Maybe I'd feel differently if I actually went to one, I think I just feel like I'm in tune with my likes/dislikes enough to know I'd likely not enjoy it. But, can't knock it 'til you try it and all that.
 
Ugh so the longest I’ve ever queued was back in 2004/5ish for Kingda Ka. Joined the queue at park opening, queued for about 1 hour. I got to the airgates, next people to ride, great! Ride breaks down, not great.

They had no idea how long it would be.. but we’re right there, might as well wait and hope for the best. Nope. 5 and a half hours later they finally opened the ride. It was honestly awful, but I was with a good crowd full of equally stubborn people, and with us being RIGHT NEXT TO THE GATES we weren’t going anywhere.

So finally after 6 1/2 hours we got on. Walk out of the station and it starts to thunder and lightning (very very frightening). Most of the park closes and we just leave the park, completely defeated after a single ride.

I don’t think I would ever want to do that again to be honest, and I think if we’d been further back in the queue we’d have definitely left to go elsewhere.
 
I've been to a couple of opening days over the years and they're by far my least favourite time to visit a theme park. Full of press, vloggers, crowds. No thanks.

I don't need to be the first to ride something new, I'd much rather wait and enjoy it in a calmer environment, which in my opinion, trumps the opening day atmosphere.

Opening days are the equivalent of going out in town on New Year's Eve. Avoid at all costs.
 
Opening Days
I've done a couple, mostly by chance. I've been to both the Baron and Symbolica opening days at Efteling. They were fun, and they were by chance. I was at Hyperia's opening day, in the afternoon after work. I went with my Mum and Brother, after I'd been at the press night the night prior.

I'm not that fussed by them. They open and you'll get to ride them. And yeah, I'm not big on being surrounded by loads of people who are fussed about being the first ones on, etc.

How long would you queue?
Longest I've queued for anything was 2 hours 45 minutes, for the Experiment 10 scare maze at Thorpe back in 2012. It was dreadful.

Frankly, I don't mind queueing for a while, but equally I have to the balance that with plans. I'm happy to wait a couple of hours for a ride at a park I'm unlikely to get to visit again any time. But what if that comes at the cost of not being able to ride everything I want to? Then you have to create a balance. I'm not averse to buying Fastrack tickets if it's a reasonable price, and also makes sense. I won't pay silly money for one ride, or for a ride I've done before.

Why queue for so long?
You have to really. Queueing comes part and parcel with theme parks. Just suck it up and deal with it.

With Hyperia, for example. My mum and brother hadn't ridden it, I had. But we had already decided to suck up the queue and deal with it long before the day itself. Why, when we live close and could go when it's quieter? Well, bluntly put, we probably weren't going to do much during those few hours we were at the park anyways. So why not?

How do you cope with long queues?
For me personally, I'm a teacher. I have to deal with not being able to go to the toilet for a couple of hours at a time, bare minimum, on a daily basis. Waiting in a long queue is no different really.


Another thing which sprung to mind, especially at Hyperia's press night, is that despite it being a press night with minimal queues (ignoring the technical issues, etc), is I was still waiting. The event started at 5pm, and the ride itself didn't open until about 7pm (after the opening ceremony). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed catching up with some people who were there (the CF contingent especially), but simply put, I was waiting for Hyperia to open. I reckon most of us were. So even though we weren't in a queue line, we still waited 2 hours for the ride to open.

My point here is: queueing and waiting are what you'd end up making of it. It's unavoidable, unless you're in a position to always be able to go to parks when there's no queues. And even then, with some parks, that's impossible. So just embrace it and make the most of it.
 
To be honest, over the past few years, I’ve grown to resent queues like never before. Some of that may be post-covid trauma, but it’s definitely been as a result of an increased lack of patience with being around large, loud crowds for very long. Crowded areas and walkways is something I can easily deal with, otherwise I wouldn’t go to theme parks in the first place, but being stuck with those same crowds in tight spaces for what can feel like a never-ending stretch of time has become more and more of a chore.

I think the ride that broke me was Flying Dreams at Ferrari Land. First you had the issue that the queue board outside was a blatant lie, advertising a 20-minute wait which was insanely unrealistic going by how many people were in there. Second was that the ride seemingly broke down at one point, as it appeared to take more than ten minutes before the queue moved an inch, but there was no announcement of downtime or any explanation from the staff. The grouper at the front of the line even vanished for an indeterminably long stretch of time with no explanation. In the end, I waited for over 90 minutes, listening to the same increasingly grating music loops over and over while the people around me started driving me up the wall with their antics. That’s when I knew I would never want to experience anything similar to that ever again.

As a result, I’ve put more and more weight on the kinds of options you get to skip a line when it comes to planning a visit and then later critically assessing the park. I think Single Rider lines should be the norm for most major attractions, and parks that are generous with them (Efteling, Europa Park, Walibi Holland, and Walt Disney Studios Park come to mind with the depth of their SR offerings) I often end up looking more favorably upon than parks that aren’t (Alton Towers, Liseberg, and Plopsaland de Panne are some of the most frustrating offenders of the parks I’ve been to — but at least Liseberg redeems itself with the free virtual queue).

Paid skip-the-line options are more dependent on price and how much value I get out of it — I think making them too cheap and widely available runs the risk of everyone buying them and making the standby queues that much worse by clogging everything up, but I think some parks also go overboard with their pricing, even if it does lead to less people using them. I used to love that Walibi Belgium’s unlimited Speedy Pass was only 45 to 50 euros per person, and them being sold in limited quantities meant there weren’t enough people inside that bubble to clog up the lines. I was really dissapointed when they changed that in 2023 by adding a single-use option for 50 euros and then doubling the price of the unlimited Speedy pass, since the affordable pricing was a large part of why even crowded days became a breeze for me, and it’s made me a lot wearier of visiting the park on those days (doesn’t help that there aren’t a whole lot of ”empty” days you can go to since the park isn’t open on weekdays outside of summer and holidays). There are other parks that I think have struck the balance well still, but they are getting increasingly rare as I think parks have realised they can get away with charging increasingly absurd amounts for them.

I can’t see myself ever going to a ride’s opening day, unless I were somehow invited and wouldn’t have to wait in the queue. The closest I’ve gotten was riding Valkyria three days after it officially opened, and the Single Rider line helped out a lot there. When I hear of multi-hour waits combined with rides tending to have tons of teething issues upon opening, that honestly just sounds like torture to me. Even if I get to socialize with the enthusiast crowds that show up with me, that still won’t negate the fact that I’m wasting so much time in a line that could’ve been spent elsewhere, and not even an awesome ride at the end of that line is enough to negate that feeling for me.
 
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Nicky Borrill said:
Your favourite band are playing your favourite local sports stadium during a national holiday, all your friends will be there, but it’ll be packed and the queues for everything will be huge.

Do you go that day, or the next day, when it’s a work day, no friends are going, but also, they’ve barely sold any tickets, so it’ll be really quiet?
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Both days, obviously :p
 
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