Why queue for hours?

[Ian]

The longest I've queued for a coaster is three hours - Top Thrill Dragster in 2004. I was 24 then, so it was easier to stand for hours and not need comforts like food and toilet breaks as often. I did so because it was my first trip to Cedar Point and, at the time, thought it might be the only time I'd visit. I wanted to ride the worlds tallest and fastest coaster. No queue length would deter me. Having now ridden it, I wouldn't wait more than an hour for it, but would probably stretch to 90 mins for the new version. Here in the UK, I think I queued two hours for Rita on opening day, which seems like an eternity.

I realise that I'm in a lucky position to attend VIP events and have the freedom to visit parks during quieter times, which typically means shorter queue times. That, alongside an ever-growing impatience and dislike of crowds as I've become older, makes me think I couldn't stomach anything over 90 mins.

I get the hype. I get the excitement. I get that watching a coaster being born is a wonderful thing. I get that atmosphere is part of the experience. I get there's a certain kudos and buzz about being "first" - I was the first front-row rider on the first public ride of Storm Chaser at Paultons and it's something I like to mention.

I'm genuinely interested why people queue for hours.

 

[Graeme]

As long as a park has set up a coaster to its best potential, I don't have a grumble. You may still get very long queues on opening days, but I wouldn't be interested in attending those, personally. What winds me up is when you have a huge park buying a mouse or shuttle, when they know they get enormous queues. Coasters should generally, in my opinion, be full circuit and have at least two long trains, even better if it's three.

I think I'm right in saying The Vampire ran three trains way back in 1990, but Chessington has never set up another ride like that. Hyper coasters, as well, I'd expect to be long enough to have a mid-course brake and three trains. If they've got the capacity right in the first place, then long queues are just a sign of popularity and are fair enough.

 

[Rob Coasters]

After queuing 4 hours for Nemesis on its opening day this year, and queuing 3 hours for Ghost Train at Thorpe last year, I'm never doing an opening day again. I'd now rather wait a week where it'll peak at a quarter of that and lap it multiple times in a day and form a strong opinion, than be one of the first to ride it and only ride it once (or, at a stretch, twice) in that time.

I also don't really understand what or where the "opening day atmosphere" is, for me I don't get any vibes other than "it's more crowded than usual" and "there's a higher chance of seeing people I know". Not to mention the breakdowns too.

Long queues are also somewhat stressful, if I'm entering a two hour queue I'm worried about if I'll need to bail halfway through due to needing the bathroom. I have NO IDEA how anyone can join a 5 hour queue without "I'm going to really need the bathroom" being the only thought circulating in their head during that time.

 

[InvertsAreMyJam]

Yeah, no. I won’t. So far in my enthusiast career, the longest I’ve queued is about 30 minutes for Manta and Ice Breaker. Manta said 5 minutes but it broke down, and Ice Breaker said 45 minutes. I think I would normally only wait an hour. 90 minutes would be absolutely pushing it, but I would wait it for an awesome ride.

The main reason I wouldn’t wait super long is having to use the restroom. I think I have to go more than the average person. On car trips, where I purposely dehydrate myself, I’m still desperate about every two hours. At theme parks, obviously I’ll be drinking so I would have to go more. And even if I managed to get through the queue, if the ride is intense enough I genuinely might not be able to hold it, which would be a mess. So yeah. No.

Also, I don’t have my phone with me since my shorts don’t have pockets. Even if I did, I already took my glasses off so I can’t see it that well anyways. I can see it, but I would be straining my eyes hard, which would cause a headache. So boredom is another part of it.

And oh yeah, headaches. I can’t see long distances without my glasses, and if I have them off for too long I get a horrible headache. Queueing for hours on end would definitely give me a massive headache.

And that’s why I wouldn’t wait in a long queue.

 

[thepoweroften]

It really depends on a few factors for me - what time of day it is, who I'm with, whether I've already been on plenty of rides etc. I think the longest I've ever queued for a coaster was for SAW at Thorpe, which I don't even actually really like (it's my least favourite coaster there by a pretty wide margin, and has been pretty much every time I've ridden it). I think we queued for about two hours, so it wasn't that bad compared to some. But I was with my best mate of many years, who I can easily maintain fun conversation and/or comfortable silences with for that length of time, and we'd already ridden every other coaster that was open in the park that day, some multiple times. So we were due a bit of a standing-around break from rides anyway and figured just getting in the queue to complete our set for the day couldn't hurt. In other circumstances (e.g. with less familiar company or when there were other things I'd rather be doing) I wouldn't bother getting in a queue over 90 minutes unless it was something I was absolutely beyond desperate to ride.

 

[spicy]

Longest I have ever queued was opening day for Saw, over 3 hours if I recall and I wouldn't be doing that again.

I think the only time I would ever queue an hour or more for anything would be if it's my only opportunity of getting on it. I recently queued 2 hours or more for Hagrids. I was at Universal for 3 days but I kept putting it off after seeing the constant 120min queue times but I bit the bullet on my last day and joined it. I didn't regret that as I knew if I didn't join the queue there and then I wasn't going to ride the thing at all.

I did consider Thorpe Park today and then quickly thought of the 3 hour + queue times for Hyperia and thought no chance I will wait a bit, I have plenty of opportunity to visit Thorpe Park whenever so the only urgency is myself wanting to get on it asap.

So yeah the only way I am joining a 1hr + queue is if that is my only chance of getting on it. Also if there is a fastpass option avaliable to purchase I will always opt to pay to skip the queue if that is an option.

 

[toofpikk]

Conditional, isn't it? I think the 2 longest queues I've ever stood in are Frozen Ever After, and The Swarm.

The Swarm was opening year, intermittent hail and brake downs. We had a brolly and I was like 15 at the time. It was only a couple weeks after opening so there was still a lot of hype around it. Wait was advertised as 70 mins, ended up leaving and going home immediately after coming off the ride.

Frozen Ever after, last year. Once again the queue was advertised as 70 mins. We had freshly refuelled on donuts and alcoholic drinks. I was in some great company having a mega conversation. After about 90 minutes we had the 'why tf are we still here' moment, but decided we were in too deep to turn back. The next hour was absolutely gruelling.

I have never been one to do opening days for rides. If I have been in attendance, it's by complete coincidence or an accident. I get hyped up in other ways, standing in a cattlepen of intensely-tuned folk is not something I find enjoyable. To echo what it seems the majority of others have said, long queues isn't my thing. I struggle to have patience beyond 60 mins wait for most rides. The longest I've queued for anything was the catacombs in Paris, where we queued for 5 hours to get in. But at least that experience wasn't over in 90 seconds, and cost half the price of a theme park ticket...

 

[Nick13]

I'm currently sat at home, due to finish work in 15 minutes, and have been glued to Twitter and Instagram this morning with jealousy at people riding Hyperia... Dreading the thought of a 3-4 hour queue but the temptation to finally ride it is too strong so I will be heading down to Thorpe Park (40 minute drive for me) as soon as I'm done with work! Hoping that later this afternoon/early evening the queue will have died down a bit...

Plus I'm currently sat on 999 creds so will be a big milestone to hit on opening day!

 

[Dan Nguyen]

I've waited in long lines for rides before. After Iron Gwazi opened, I basically spent my day at BGT waiting for it, getting on, then getting back in line over and over again. I treat BGT like a home park and I've ridden everything else in the park countless times so waiting in line for a new ride isn't a problem for me. I did the same when VC and Hagrid's opened. Those rides are excellent and totally worth the long waits they command. The Florida parks act like second home parks for me, so a few hours in line for a new ride isn't a huge deal. I'll be back there again in a few months to ride everything else.

I went to Fiesta Texas during haunt and waited in line for Wonder Woman multiple times. Everything else in the park was extremely busy and that was the best ride running in the whole park. The line moved at a decent clip so it was well worth the wait.

I did the same thing at Tusenfryd when I was there for my first time. Fortunately there aren't as many rides there so even with the long queues and slow ops, I still got multiple rides on everything I wanted.

I prefer going to parks on quiet days, but sometimes you can't help it.

 

[Ollie]

I waited 3 hours on Saws opening day and never got to ride (after previously being spited on the media event days before) .
I don't mind waiting up to an hour for a good ride (maybe 90 for an amazing ride).

However, if I was a passholder for parks like Thorpe or Towers, which I've visited numerous times, I wouldn't mind waiting 2-4 hours for a new coaster on opening day. The overall excitement and atmosphere of the event would likely make the long queues more bearable.

 

[Peet]

It's for the "I was there" moment really, and to enjoy the sense of occasion. I wouldn't have knowingly joined a 6.5 hour queue, but I was with a good friend and the time passed quite pleasantly.

It could be another 30 years before we get a ride of this scale on our little island, so I am proud to have been there for the opening day.

 

[Crandall]

Yeah, I don't really understand it. I don't like anything being crowded and I'm glad I work shifts so I can do things during the week - including going to parks.

Part of me understands the atmosphere argument but I don't like a good atmosphere more than I dislike queuing. Occasionally, I'll go to a busy cinema screening and it will be improved by the atmosphere rather than ruined by obnoxious people. I gladly bought fast track for over $100 in America but wouldn't dream of doing that here when I can just go on a weekday.

It's easy to put things off and off and miss out though so I equally understand getting there early, though maybe not day one. I missed out on so many bucket list rides thinking that they'll be around for years to come.

 

[Berksfan]

I get that it’s not always possible to go in a quiet day but I’m not a big enough enthusiast to queue for longer than 45mins to an hour. I’ll just go to a park on a work day to avoid crowds and keep my sanity.

 

[InvertsAreMyJam]

I genuinely don’t understand how people don’t pee themselves in 5+ hour queues. Like do they have the strongest bladder literally ever or what?

 

[Peet]

I genuinely don’t understand how people don’t pee themselves in 5+ hour queues. Like do they have the strongest bladder literally ever or what?

Luckily we were allowed out of the queue to go to the loo! Had to make do with ice cream and crisps for lunch though as that's all they had at the queue line kiosk .

 

[emoo]

Against my better judgement I did Reborn 4+ and Hyperia 7~. The stars aligned with the UK coaster torch being passed from one to another and the destination appeal was stronger than I ever expect to see again.

On the 24th May I spent over 14 hours at Thorpe waiting for something one way or another. No fast pass, rap or special access. Hyperia count was 3 and nothing else. It sounds awful and mostly was but the good bits were great.

Seeing so many people excited for the same thing as me makes this not such an isolated hobby afterall. The buzz over people waiting to queue even longer for a night ride was actually really cool even if it was adding time and worry that the queue would close early or something went wrong.

Take away the charm and glossy eyes and it sucks. I knew full well it would be a struggle but did it anyway. The temporary cattle pen set up alongside Colossus was a particular killer full of regrets. Once that was over a huge weight was lifted but still had so much to go.

There were bathroom/drinks breaks at certain points allowed, and other spots if you were especially desperate. On my second go ground there was a walking alcohol sales point. If they want to take my money this should always happen. Allowing bathroom breaks was both something to be praised and a basic human necessity.

Before this year I considered an hour as my limit and that hasn't changed. If anything the next occasion would have to be all the more special. Whatever is in the future will see me visiting during the queitest possible moment.

Glad I did it but never again. Let's see how the Saturday straight after goes...

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Because, if you don't, and choose to visit a little after opening day, then you may just find yourself travelling for no reason, as that brand new coaster unveils it's little niggles and needs to be closed for adjustments...

7 hours yesterday, felt worth it at the time, but now I feel extra smug about it, having cancelled my trip today, (when the park was apparently 'busier' than yesterday, btw,) in exchange for an extra day at Energylandia!!!

Can't imagine those that waited a few days for Top Thrill 2 were best pleased either...

Shoulda queued on opening day!

 

[InvertsAreMyJam]

Against my better judgement I did Reborn 4+ and Hyperia 7~. The stars aligned with the UK coaster torch being passed from one to another and the destination appeal was stronger than I ever expect to see again.

On the 24th May I spent over 14 hours at Thorpe waiting for something one way or another. No fast pass, rap or special access. Hyperia count was 3 and nothing else. It sounds awful and mostly was but the good bits were great.

Seeing so many people excited for the same thing as me makes this not such an isolated hobby afterall. The buzz over people waiting to queue even longer for a night ride was actually really cool even if it was adding time and worry that the queue would close early or something went wrong.

Take away the charm and glossy eyes and it sucks. I knew full well it would be a struggle but did it anyway. The temporary cattle pen set up alongside Colossus was a particular killer full of regrets. Once that was over a huge weight was lifted but still had so much to go.

There were bathroom/drinks breaks at certain points allowed, and other spots if you were especially desperate. On my second go ground there was a walking alcohol sales point. If they want to take my money this should always happen. Allowing bathroom breaks was both something to be praised and a basic human necessity.

Before this year I considered an hour as my limit and that hasn't changed. If anything the next occasion would have to be all the more special. Whatever is in the future will see me visiting during the queitest possible moment.

Glad I did it but never again. Let's see how the Saturday straight after goes...

7 HOURS?!

 

[emoo]

7 HOURS?!

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.

7 hours yesterday, felt worth it at the time, but now I feel extra smug about it, having cancelled my trip today

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.

 

[Jamesss]

The 7 hour queue yesterday was ridiculous and something I don't want to repeat. If I'd have known it was going to be that long I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Previous to that the longest I'd ever waited for a ride was 1.25 hours or so.

Right now I feel like anything with under a 2 hour queue would feel like nothing.