This was absolutely horrible on Shockwave at SFOT. Turned a 20 min wait into an over 60 min one. Could've even been a walk up without the VR maybe. Trains probably took over 10 min each to dispatch. Headsets were an awkward fit. Video was nothing special and didn't really seem to go with the ride. It's a disaster waiting to happen here with 32 people each train.
Its a cool concept, but overall, the ride goes downhill when u have to wait longer. And at a park like great america, that's always busy, it could be like a 2+ hour wait for raging bull. It's already an hour wait w/o VR...
before last weekend, the ride could have a line back to the test seat and it would be like a 20 min wait max. Granted, they weren't using more than 3 or 4 rows of the back queue, but this was far faster than any time in the last 4 years. I'd been trying to get in as many rides as I could before the VR gimmick sets in and the flash pass hoardes show up from the 3rd weekend of July onward.
^Yes, all VR coasters have an option to opt-out. Besides, you have to be 13 to use the VR(it's the manufacturer's requirement, not SF), meaning that the kids can't use the VR.
There prob won't be a separate line for those riding without the VR. SFOT gave you the option once you got to the front. The VR will give RB lines like on those horrendous 50,000 people FF days.
The problem here isn't VR, the problem is testing VR on arguably the biggest and best attraction at the park. We went to Cedar Point this week and got to demo the VR on Iron Dragon, which exceeded the wildest expectations any of us had. The thing is, Iron Dragon had walk on lines, as opposed to the hour long waits you'll find on Raging Bull. For the life of me I can't understand why they wouldn't use VR on something with shorter waits.
People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
aaron60060 wrote:The problem here isn't VR, the problem is testing VR on arguably the biggest and best attraction at the park. We went to Cedar Point this week and got to demo the VR on Iron Dragon, which exceeded the wildest expectations any of us had. The thing is, Iron Dragon had walk on lines, as opposed to the hour long waits you'll find on Raging Bull. For the life of me I can't understand why they wouldn't use VR on something with shorter waits.
There isn't too much that has shorter waits. Maybe whizzer or something
anewman35 wrote:People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
No. Just no...
If a person is standing in a line, they are not walking down a midway lined with 100's of ways to spend $$$$. Despite what most enthusiasts seem to think, SFGAm does indeed care that paying customers are spending 1/4 of their day at the park in a single line with no opportunity to spend $$$$.
anewman35 wrote:People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
No. Just no...
If a person is standing in a line, they are not walking down a midway lined with 100's of ways to spend $$$$. Despite what most enthusiasts seem to think, SFGAm does indeed care that paying customers are spending 1/4 of their day at the park in a single line with no opportunity to spend $$$$.
If they cared about people being stuck in lines, they'd do something about operations and food service. There's no excuse for how slow rides load and how long it takes to get a simple snack. I get that much of it is due to shitty employees who don't care - then they should pay more. Probably a good 75% of lines in the park (for both food and rides) are ridiculous and, IF this adds one more ride to the list I don't see how that's going to be especially noticeable to anybody.
In short, it's not like the park has good operations anyway. Nobody except the locals is even going to realize that the reason that one particular line is slow is the VR (when every other line is slow without the VR).
anewman35 wrote:People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
No. Just no...
If a person is standing in a line, they are not walking down a midway lined with 100's of ways to spend $$$$. Despite what most enthusiasts seem to think, SFGAm does indeed care that paying customers are spending 1/4 of their day at the park in a single line with no opportunity to spend $$$$.
I really don't think the park worries too much about the people spending more time on the midway. People will play the games, and someone who is stuck in line instead of playing a game seems like a pretty rare instance to happen consistently. The park just wants more people to come in as the entrance fee is their main source of profit, not some $5 games. And with VR, people will come to the park because they won't be able to experience it anywhere else within a 3 hour radius. As anewman said, if the park truly cared, they would reward for good ops and discipline for terrible ones. Also they'll most likely sell more Flash passes which equates to more money. Six flags is a business for money and that's why they chose to pick the most popular coaster, as people will have a reason to go back and thus, spend more money.
anewman35 wrote:People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
No. Just no...
If a person is standing in a line, they are not walking down a midway lined with 100's of ways to spend $$$$. Despite what most enthusiasts seem to think, SFGAm does indeed care that paying customers are spending 1/4 of their day at the park in a single line with no opportunity to spend $$$$.
If they cared about people being stuck in lines, they'd do something about operations and food service. There's no excuse for how slow rides load and how long it takes to get a simple snack. I get that much of it is due to shitty employees who don't care - then they should pay more. Probably a good 75% of lines in the park (for both food and rides) are ridiculous and, IF this adds one more ride to the list I don't see how that's going to be especially noticeable to anybody.
In short, it's not like the park has good operations anyway. Nobody except the locals is even going to realize that the reason that one particular line is slow is the VR (when every other line is slow without the VR).
Food service is a problem, but they still make money on very profitable items after you wait in those lines. Also, you only spend a small chunk of your day in a food line vs. a significantly higher percentage in ride lines.
Foltzy wrote:
RaceBoarder wrote:
anewman35 wrote:People keep asking "Why would they do this", and it seems incredibly obvious to me - they don't care at all about long lines. All they care about is getting people in the park (and this shouldn't hurt that and might even get a few extra people who want to check out the VR). And if they get there and the line is 2 hours long, oh well. And they might even sell some extra Flash Passes because of it. Where's the downside to them? They're basically a monopoly in the area, no matter what they do they're going to get the people...
No. Just no...
If a person is standing in a line, they are not walking down a midway lined with 100's of ways to spend $$$$. Despite what most enthusiasts seem to think, SFGAm does indeed care that paying customers are spending 1/4 of their day at the park in a single line with no opportunity to spend $$$$.
I really don't think the park worries too much about the people spending more time on the midway. People will play the games, and someone who is stuck in line instead of playing a game seems like a pretty rare instance to happen consistently. The park just wants more people to come in as the entrance fee is their main source of profit, not some $5 games. And with VR, people will come to the park because they won't be able to experience it anywhere else within a 3 hour radius. As anewman said, if the park truly cared, they would reward for good ops and discipline for terrible ones. Also they'll most likely sell more Flash passes which equates to more money. Six flags is a business for money and that's why they chose to pick the most popular coaster, as people will have a reason to go back and thus, spend more money.
Daily admission is a very small portion of profitability. If daily admissions were so profitable, why do they push $65 Gold Passes so hard every Labor Day?
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:^Everyone here says that Demon or Viper would've been a better fit. I would prefer Demon, as I like my Viper waits short.
Also, Demon has the switchbacks that can hold the masses of people if necessary. Viper is just a long path.
Yeah...and for Pete sake, BETTER GRAPHICS. Its all superheros, do something original. Like on viper, make it look like you're in the perspective of a snake or something (it would be better than superheros in nintendo64 graphics...)
The Iron Dragon VR demo at Cedar Point had a medieval theme featuring dragons etc. I'm really excited about VR, and the endless possibilities it provides. The immersion - and accompanying freedom to look anywhere and have things actually happening there - is just amazing. While the graphics are good, they're not great, but we'll get there in a few years. The real concern that most people have is operability, and I can report that while it does take a while longer to send out trains, actually putting the helmets on and off was super fast and easy. The only other concern I have about VR is whether or not the headsets are sanitary. They were using something at Cedar Point to disinfect them between rides, but are they going to prevent Lice or other nasties from being transferred? Are headliners next?
