The hardest question known to man:...How many in your Party?

[SWTexasBelle]

I have taken to holding the requisite number of fingers up as I approach the CM loader - oftentimes he/she will greet me with "4?" I say "Yes" and load. Couldn't be easier.
At restaurants I will tell them " 4 - and I will need 1 highchair." This sometimes confuses the CMs - "5?" - ME - "No, 4 in the party, and we need 1 highchair."

[bpgstudios]

I hate when they try to 'help out' by splitting their party up.
How Many?
3 and 4
For a total of 7?
Yes
(in my head: Crap what rows was I loading again?) Rows 2 and 3

Its especially bad when they then procede to take three rows.

I love the ones that act like they have such a HUGE party when they say things like 6, 7, or 8. Honney, I've seen partys of 83 come down the queue in small world. Parties of 15 or more do screw me up though.

On a side note: Why would you visit a park TOGETHER with more than 15 people? there are very few attractions that you will be able to ride together. Why not split up into saller, more manageable groups. Plus if a few in your party decide not to ride you have a frantic recount to do (but please do it before you get to the grouper/load).

Gotta love the parties that, at 10pm, don't know how many they have. Or the party of four that wants to ride 2 and 2 on small world when our queue is out the door. Or the people that loudly state "He won't mind if we take three rows instead of 2."

Gotta love loading. Thank god there's no rows on belt attractions :belt: JUst two-three per pirate ship/doombuggy/clammobile

[DLRFantasmic!Dan]

Gotta love loading. Thank god there's no rows on belt attractions :belt: JUst two-three per pirate ship/doombuggy/clammobile

AMEN TO THAT!!!! Guests still tend to how many by holding up "2" and saying "2", which doesn't help at all.

[bpgstudios]

AMEN TO THAT!!!! Guests still tend to how many by holding up "2" and saying "2", which doesn't help at all.

Of course they would. They have to be 'helpful' when not applicable. Like how at Pan parties of 13 are split up if they havea wheelchair with them (usually no more than 4 taken to unload personally, but we're allowed to go up to 6, the rest go down fastpass) get pissed, yet they split themselves up at small world and screw up our wheelchair queue by waiting around for the rest of their party to come down the queue, then hope the wheelchair boat is in the right load for them.

Can't win can we! :p:
In case you don't know me well, my posts may come across as hating of guests. I actually love them, they keep me on my toes and give me great stories, and many are extremely nice and thankful (see the most recent thanks CM thread).

[mechurchlady]

What burns me is that you get in the assigned line then as you are about to board the people next to you hop into the seat you are assigned. Those people just do not understand assigned rows. I been in line behind those people who stand there on the cell phone yapping away or otherwise distracted to the point that they do not hear CMs or warnings. It was worst on Splash Mountain probably with people just jumping into boats and not even waiting for people to get out or going to the right seat.

[lady ulrike]

On a side note: Why would you visit a park TOGETHER with more than 15 people?

Well, I have to say we actually attempted this here at SGT. The goal was 40 and the reason for it was because I thought it would be great to go and literally take over some of the rides, for example... Star Tours holds 40 people, Jungle holds a bit more (I think), but with 40 and a slow day we could probably get our own boat, and last but not least, some of the dark rides we could literally fill the ride, Toad or Pan are the ones that come to mind (12 or 13 cars, no more than 3 per vehicle and with Toad you can't fit 3 adults)

Anyway, I just had to chime in with that, we didn't get anywhere near that # of people, but if we had we were going to have just a few decide where to go next, etc and just meet there, not trying to keep track of each other en route.

[Zazu]

Why would you visit a park TOGETHER with more than 15 people?

Um, because it's fun to answer that most difficult of questions with, "42!" and be correct. :D:

Want proof? How's this:

[SirWillow]

Most of the time the really large groups are tour groups. Though I've been part of a couple of larger groups in the parks, but it's usually for a shorter period of time, a couple of ride takeovers, like the other 2 mentioned. Trust me, it's a blast to be able to fill a ride with a whole bunch of your friends.

But at the same time, we've also always built in time for people to split up into smaller groups and go do as they want. That way you can do more throughout the day, and do what you want, while still having places and times to meet with your friends for common rides, meals, etc. I wouldn't want to do it all day, but for parts of a day it can be a lot of fun.

[felinefan]

At Knott's, the largest capacity ride we have is the Calico Railroad. When we had school groups, we could usually put one average group in each car. The number of guests the Stock Car and Gondola can hold depends basically on butt width, if people are sitting properly with belongings under the seat (didn't see that too often!), plus two wheelchair places in the Stock Car, the Baggage Car plus three coaches made for plenty of seating. If I remember right, the Gondola could hold at least 20-25 people, Stock Car about 20, each of the coaches with three people in a seat, 18 seats is 54 per coach, or 162 in all 3, and the Baggage Car had fewer seats, 14 I think, that's 42, so all told about 251 capacity if both wheelchairs spots were used. Caboose is train crew only, and believe me we always had someone asking if they could ride in it. Add two Bandits, a conductor, fireman and engineer, and there could be 256 people on board. Our other train I never really got to estimate how many it could hold, but as it wasn't wheelchair accessible, if we got 4 in a seat, with six cars, all cars having six seats, front car had the very front seat cordoned off for the conductor, so I'd say the Grand Sierra Steamtrain in Camp Snoopy can hold 141, 143 if you include the engineer and conductor. I wasn't on Mine Ride, but in talking to people who were certified on it, it could carry more per hour than the train, but that was because fewer safety checks were required.

[bpgstudios]

Um, because it's fun to answer that most difficult of questions with, "42!" and be correct. :D:

Want proof? How's this:

Wow! Thank you Zazu you made my day. That has to be the best splash photo I have ever seen (and I admit curiosity has gotten the best of me over at a certain "other" site). :p:

By the way, theres only 38 people in that uber-log. Must have not counted the children (though they only count as half-people anyways).

I can see the thought process for big groups to takeover an attraction, but that's not often the case I see. Most of the time its Mom, dad, 4 brothers, 9 sisters, grandma, grandpa, uncle fred, aunt marg, cousin joey, baby sally, nephew alex, and the family friend bob smith. They have never been to the park before, and are upset when you tell them they wont be riding all in one row. Now if they have a wheelchair with them at Peter Pan, they get very upset that they wont all be riding together. You wouldnt be riding close to each other anyways since we have to keep at least one boat in between your party when loading from unload (evac reasons i think).

:waves: -How many in your party?
-42!