styvx
Thunder Canyon
Posts: 100
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Post by styvx on Jan 31, 2008 14:56:24 GMT -8
i am guessing this first year that on any given summer day when the park is busy, this ride will have a 2 hour wait.
and that doesn't include downtime.
i am also predicting there will be as many angry guests (due to the long wait for such a short ride) as there will be happy ones.
further, i am also predicting that this ride brings bigger crowds which will make all the other slow loading rides even worse.
i remember my first time on a deja vu. probably waited 90 minutes or so. intense fun ride but over way too quickly. the big question is always "was it worth the wait" and for me, it was only worth it once just to experience it. i would not wait more than 30 minutes for it again.
silverwood better start planning right now how they are going to deal with the flood of complaints from people who stood in line all day. and they better not be letting any thunder canyon rafts down the river only half-full like they usually do.
-styvx
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Post by Bud Parsley on Feb 4, 2008 11:05:55 GMT -8
I'd say on a given summer day a 90 minute wait won't be unrealistic. I'd suspect on event weekends you could wait longer.
And while I agree this ride will pull in lots of new guests, I don't think you'll be seeing a noticeable increase in wait times for other rides. I think the new coaster will thin them out, along with the Boulder Beach expansion from last year.
And I absolultely agree that Silverwood does a terrible job of operating Thunder Canyon. I would guess - even when the lines are long - that they only have about 60% of the seats filled at best. And the employees do nothing to try to find the right size groups of people to fill up the rafts.
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Post by 65skylark on Feb 4, 2008 19:09:47 GMT -8
I agree completely with Bud on this one. I think you will find lines in the 90 minute wait range during a busy summer day. I think you are right about the rest of the park not suffering due to the increase in attendance. Boulder Beach already does a great job at keeping the theme park waits in check and adding Vu will also help, especially if the line is long. It takes a lot of people to fill a 90 minute long line. Even one that moves slow.
There is one rule, however, that holds true at every theme park on the planet. Get there a half an hour before the park opens and head straight back to the most popular ride and you are guaranteed a short wait, if not a walk on. The thing with Vu, is that, no matter how much you may like the ride, it is not very re-rideable. Get there when the park first opens, take one or two laps on it, then you have plenty of time to get to a chiropractor, and then back to the park to enjoy the rest of your day while everyone else is stuck in line for the new coaster. It is a win-win situation.
And, I will also agree that operations for Thunder Canyon are beyond bad. I just never really give it much thought because I am not a big rapids ride fan, and Thunder Canyon is not even one of the better rapids rides out there, so no big deal to me.
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voodoobones
Thunder Canyon
It's not that life is so short, it's that you're dead for so long!
Posts: 180
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Post by voodoobones on Feb 4, 2008 20:53:30 GMT -8
65Skylark~ I agree with you 100%. About everything. I have noticed that the older I get my love for coaster is the same but their love for me isn't.
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Post by wolfblood on Feb 5, 2008 15:16:05 GMT -8
I do have to agree that wait times will probably be 90 minutes on a Summer day, and probably longer on weekends.
I also have to agree the rest of the park won't suffer long lines from the attention of the new attraction. 1. The General Public usually heads to the new ride, not filling up the lines of the other attractions. 2. There's also the large amount of people that head to Boulder Beach first and spend most of their time there.
It is a bit of a bummer hearing about the operations of Thunder Canyon, last time I went they actually tried filling up the boats before dispatching them.
As for the rounghness of Deja Vu, I will simply have to experience that for myself since oddly enough I've been on Manhattan Express over and Las Vegas and never found that to be rough. (For most people however, it's one of the roughest coasters in the US.)
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Post by 65skylark on Feb 5, 2008 21:18:44 GMT -8
^ It is more of a head banger than it is overall rough. When I first rode it, I was not at all prepared and it beat the living crap out of my head. I had a raging head ache the rest of the day. The next time (and last time) I rode it, I was prepared for the head banging so it wasn't nearly as bad. It still wasn't good, but it is doable if you are expecting it. The toweres really are a LOT of fun, but the rest of the ride, even if it was smooth, is just.......eh.
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Post by Bud Parsley on Feb 5, 2008 21:21:39 GMT -8
Skylark, this is why I prefer an Intamin Impulse such as Wicked Twister over the Deja Vu's. With an Impulse, you don't get the head banging due to the fact that you aren't going through a boomerang. Inverted or not, boomerang elements just really tend to hurt!
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Post by zerowest on Mar 18, 2008 11:35:40 GMT -8
I agree that that the GIB will not accomidate that many people. It's too bad, and Silverwood doesn't like to make people wait. But it's the nature of the business, and we do our best to put people through a ride. As for Thunder Canyon, that ride was designed for the park when it was small, which is one of the biggest problems with that ride. However we do what we can to fill boats, and if you ever see an operator not doing that, say something to a manager. We'd like to know. Here is an issue that we deal with though; When arranging groups you can't always find a perfect eight to ride. It's a toss up between how long you try to find people to fill the empty seats or send the boat and start filling the next one. Being in that position I can tell you that it does become difficult to find a group of three or less, especially with the queue line the way it is. It was easier when there were more people close to the station, but now there are less options. Again, if there are operators that are not filling boats, let someone know and it will be changed.
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styvx
Thunder Canyon
Posts: 100
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Post by styvx on Mar 18, 2008 15:36:29 GMT -8
^zero i dont know how you can say sw doesnt like to make people wait, just look at the two woodies! these are like the only two wooden coasters i'm aware of that run only one train all the time! awful! that in and of itself is a massive cause for waiting that other parks don't have. even much smaller parks than sw. but this has been discussed at length here and skylark can chime in if he wants because he gets pretty passionate about this topic. as far as thunder goes, every time i have been there i see little being done to fill up the rafts. this makes the already long lines move even slower than they should. its frustrating. ride ops on this one should be coached to shout out for single and double riders to try and fill up the rafts. ive never seen them even try. and ive been on this sucker quite a bit. i can understand one or even occasionally two empty seats, but i saw consistently half-full rafts. thats when youve got a problem. i guess overall what i see is that silverwood doesnt care if people wait. they are in fact one of the worst parks i know for getting people through the rides in an efficient way. all they need is extra trains on the woodies, and fill the rafts up on thunder. that solves most of the problem. its strange because for whatever reason boulder beach seems to be the exact opposite. go figure.
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Post by 65skylark on Mar 18, 2008 16:36:35 GMT -8
The biggest problem with the raft ride is that there isn't enough rafts. Yes, it would help if they filled them better, but they simply need more. Kind of the same problem as the train issues on the woodies.
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