Can a theme park ever be too quiet?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. On paper, everyone’s dream theme park visit is one with no queues. Queues are the bane of everyone’s existence when it comes to theme parks, so to not have them sounds like a dream… right? After a recent visit to Paultons Park on 5th June that was particularly deserted, as well as some ensuing discussion with people off the back of that, I’ve been pondering this notion. With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; in your view, can a theme park ever be too quiet? Is the theoretical ideal of a park with no queues and no crowds really such an ideal in reality?

Personally, I’m actually somewhat undecided on this.

From my own perspective, a large part of me would say no. A quiet park means all the more rides for you, and as a person who doesn’t mind doing a good number of rerides on things I enjoy, that suits me down to the ground! There are very few things better than a nice riding marathon, in my view, and depending on the park, some of my best memories in theme parks have been from times where I’ve just been able to ride over and over (a 30-ride day at Thorpe Park in September 2023 sticks particularly fondly in my mind)!

On the other hand, though, some might argue that depending on your own tolerance for reriding, queues are almost necessary to lengthen the day and break up the rides a bit. There’s also the argument about atmosphere that I can see; I had a brilliant day, but at points, my Paultons visit was almost quite surreal due to the sheer lack of crowds. When you’re the only person within visible eyeshot at points, it is certainly quite an odd experience!

So on balance, I would probably lean towards no, but I can see some of the arguments for yes. I can also see that the answer might differ depending on the park; I’ve certainly found riding lots of rides easier and more enjoyable in some parks on a quiet day than in others!

But I’d be keen to know; do you think a theme park can ever be too quiet?

 

[CanobieFan]

I guess it depends on how the park itself operates. If it's too slow at some parks, rides might be shutdown as staff are sent home... or at a place like say fun spot, they rotate between several rides... so while the ride you want to go on is in theory open, there's no employees around because they could be at a neighboring ride and you'll have to wait for them to come over.
There's also the problem where certain Parks or especially at carnivals/fairs where they want a certain number of riders to operate/cycle a ride... or even worse they load you and get ready to cycle but then one or two more people come up and they'll then load them, check everybody again, get ready to dispatch, and then a few more people show up... and they start the process over again, rather than just sending it and having those next people wait.
So yeah, I guess for me I'd rather it be slow so long as it doesn't affect operations

 

[Hixee]

Personally, I’m actually somewhat undecided on this.

Who could've guessed?

For me it's more about the park handles low attendance vs the atmosphere element. Obviously it's nice when there's a buzz, but I don't mind a quiet park if they're still dispatching trains without waiting for them to be full, or periodically closing attractions. That's when low attendance starts to bug me.

And of course, I'd always choose quiet over busy.

 

[emoo]

Well snap, I type too slow. The reality of a ghost town park could mean you wait for rides to open or an operator to make their way over. Maybe a major ride or the reason for the visit wont open if the park attendance is too low.

Perhaps the park has a policy of only sending full trains and you have to wait indefinitely till someone shows up. I've had a scenario on 2 different visits to a park on a quiet and busy day where we waited the same amount of time for the baffling operations to take their course. One was in a queue and the other sitting in the train locked in with no activity for an age. That actually felt worse than standing in line.

Its also good to have a bit of life around you.

But if the park lets you stay in your seat for re rides that is an incredible time. And no one wants to rock up to a park seeing coaches unloading hoards of guests.

 

[Matt N]

The operational point is a good one.

At Paultons, the park was willing to let me stay in my seat, and also willing to send me in a train on my own.

However, the park did operate quite a few staggered openings, meaning that multiple major attractions didn’t open until 12pm or later. Farmyard Flyer, Cyclonator and Cobra opened at 12pm, The Edge and Magma opened at 1pm, and I don’t think the Lost Kingdom rides opened at opening time either (maybe 11am?).

This didn’t massively bother me, but it did mean that I had to reride things I’d already been on at numerous points rather than do my usual tactic of doing a little lap of the entire park before doing too many rerides. Had I not been as open to reriding, I would have been left twiddling my thumbs waiting for things to open at numerous points.

 

[Leon_K]

I definitely don't like too busy days at parks and I usually avoid going on weekend- and holidays. Is there a too quiet? I honestly don't know, every park visit I had so far had at least okay-ish crowds and I always had a (small) que. My gut feeling says no - the more quiet the better - but there's definitely something to say about the operational part as discussed above.

 

[JoshC.]

I feel like there is a cut of point where a park being too quiet can dramatically impact your enjoyment of a park. I visual it something like this...



This is knocked up very roughly, and is definitely dramatised. But I think it gets my point across visually. I'll expand and explain though...

Theme parks are meant to be a hive of activity. They're meant to have this buzz and life about them, of people enjoying themselves, where you can feel this energy about the place. You can't get that if the park is empty.

But of course, you don't want a park to busy. You want to minimize queueing, and maximising being on rides. And I simply don't like being in majorly crowded places. I think as a park gets busier, it becomes harder to enjoy. And there reaches a point where when you exceed that, it becomes even harder to enjoy. And finally, there will be a cut off where it becomes almost impossible to enjoy.

The thing is, if you have a park that is almost dead, it becomes weird and eerie. You lose some anticipation for the rides, some build up factor. And then it becomes repetitive, even if you are really enjoying the rides. By not having an enforced respite period (queueing), you lose not just the build up, but also the post-ride high too. And you lose the buzz of other people too.

There's exceptions to all of these though. I've done Thorpe Park on VIP events where (on some occasions) there's been no more than a couple of hundred people, and most of the major rides open, and they've been incredible visits. When I did Walibi Holland's Fright Nights, there must have been around 20,000 people on park and it was almost impossible to move on some pathways, but it was one of my favourite theme park days.
Balance that against my Legoland Dubai stop off where there were barely 2 dozen people at the park, and I saw no other guests aside outside of the entrance / Miniland basically, or some of my most hectic days at Towers, it's chalk and cheese.

So yeah, there's no hard and fast rule here. And obviously the park's own operational policies come into play here too (including, but not limited to, limited ride opening, closing early, etc). But I think sometimes a park being too quiet can have an impact on your enjoyment of a park, but generally speaking, a quieter day is significantly easier to enjoy (and broadly more enjoyable) than a busier day.

 

[emoo]

There is some enjoyment and a silver lining from a park that's busy which puts every conceivable effort in to churn out as many trains/riders as possible.

 

[owenstreet7]

Personally, I think as long as rides keep operating - I don't think it can be too quiet but if rides are on rotation or close, it would affect my experience.

Although I believe the perspective from GP and Enthusiast is very different. The former may want a day trip and enjoy the rides once (or twice) whilst an Enthusiast (and possibly GP too) will enjoy everything but want to ride the headliners a few times over. This may mean that if they get through rides too quickly, it may not be worth a full day for them.

I have sometimes gone to a park for an extra day or few on my trips and that's actually been a good thing as I've been able to ride some favourites again and again on that trip (plus cover any spites that may not have been picked up on if I went for a single day).

Fantastic question once again @Matt N