Cascades, Downtimes, and SGs

[Big Wallaby]

Okay, maybe you can answer this for me. On coasters and other ride vehicles that run two by two and so on, I understand about selective listening. However, how often do they regroup themselves into the wrong rows just purely out of not understanding you and just plain SGness? Working at Safari, I have always thought that the two by two grouping would be easier than something where you have a row that can either be four or five wide, depending on the people. There's also the issue that in the double-loading area, you don't have bars separating the rows so that you can point and they are forced to take the right rows. So on coasters like Everest and RnRC, how does that work out with guests? I mean, how often do you have the guests that re-row themselves?

[CMGUY89]

The most challenging part about Soarin' is that there are three different groupings of rows. 4 have ten seats, 3 have eleven seats, 2 have seven seats. It gets confusing when rotation comes through and you have to adjust to a new grouping.

[Javamom]

What annoys me are the guests that file into Soarin' and walk to the wrong row. We saw this one time and it was clear that the people that did it, knew that they were not supposed to. The CM didn't have time to deal with moving everyone back where they belonged, so these poor people got bumped into the next row.

I have personal pet peeves about guests that think that they are special and that the rules do not apply to them. I particularly dislike the ones that do not move all the way down the row in the theatre shows. Seriously, just nicely let guests MOVE IN FRONT of you with a smile, and you can end up in the middle without being a jerk!
:D:

[CMGUY89]

What annoys me are the guests that file into Soarin' and walk to the wrong row. We saw this one time and it was clear that the people that did it, knew that they were not supposed to. The CM didn't have time to deal with moving everyone back where they belonged, so these poor people got bumped into the next row.

I have personal pet peeves about guests that think that they are special and that the rules do not apply to them. I particularly dislike the ones that do not move all the way down the row in the theatre shows. Seriously, just nicely let guests MOVE IN FRONT of you with a smile, and you can end up in the middle without being a jerk!
:D:

That happens A LOT! What's worse is they switch rows and we are keeping count in our heads and we get in the theater and don't have enough seats for other people and have to put them on the next flight. We call it overbooking, and it really ticks us off. We put the people in row one to try to keep them happy and they are generally pretty understanding..

[acourtwdw]

I am one of the SG's who tends to slow things down. I don't do it on purpose. I am a large (think Pooh sized) person who has trouble getting out of the ride cars. Space Mountain is the worst. But I do follow what CM's are telling me to do. Sorry to inconvenince anyone. ;)

[steverails]

To answer your question, BigWallaby, SGs change rows constantly. Indeed, there are times when SGs, due to selective listening, meander, however the vast majority of guests I deal with at EE change rows on purpose. The two biggest reasons are wanting the front row or arranging themselves in the same car so they can be in the same picture. The front row problem, at least most of the time, is an easy fix. The front row has to be requested at EE. Due to its popularity, we have a small queue to the side for this. Most guests tend to ask the grouper outright, but there are also entire groups who will take it upon themselves to move to the front. Usually, we direct these guests to the waiting area, yet many of them get short with the CM and want to debate the fact that they will hve to wait a few additional minutes. This is what hurts us. As far as guests repositioning themselves to be in the same picture, there is a great deal of grey area. If the platform is doubloe loaded, or nearly double loaded, with more guests coming down the walkway and a train loading, frankly, we have no time to accomodate this request, especially with five trains. What ends up happening in this situation is the train leaving with an entire car empty while the guest complains. We don't arrange how guests are positioned in the queue.

While grouping at a coaster where the seats are two by two is more set in stone, it is very challening. It is, in a sense, a warped version of Tetris. First, you are in a race against the clock to ensure that each train, all 17 rows, are full. With five trains at EE, the interval is 54 seconds. Second, we have guests like the ones above to deal with. Grouping at EE is actually a two person effort divided between the grouper, the CM at the end of the line, and the load CM, who places the guests in the rows. The grouper's main objective is to keep the line moving by sending the parties to load, who will assign them into rows 1 through 12. The grouper will then back load rows 13-17. If there is an odd group, the grouper will send a single rider to fill the empty seat. If the next party is odd, some CMs will even send them down to make the group even. The object is to stay double loaded or close to it. Once a grouper loses his edge, it is difficult to recover. The load CM is the one who has to deal with the previously mentioned row changers. The problem arises when the grouper doesn't notice this and sends down a mass of people instead of back loading. This is an honest mistake. The load CM will typically be dealing with the row switching guests while the mass of guests is getting confused and randomly picking rows. This is where things start to go to hell in a hand basket. Finally, we cannot rule out the SGs who come into the single rider line, knowing full well that they will be split up, but still put up a fuss about it. I had one man the other day say that he knew he was in the singles line, but he refused to wait in the longer standby line. Hope this helps.

[Syndrome]

I had an interesting experience on EE once. I had been in the single riders line and was directed to ride next to Mr. SG, whose two other family members were in the row in front of us. He parks it in the first seat, and I literally have to tell him three times to move over because I am riding on that train. You would have think I told him his mother should have died of cancer the day after she conceived him. He never said a word, just glared at me as he moved and continued to glare for the whole ride. Weird.....

[accioetoile]

At Mission: Space, grouping could be a pain. If there's a group of 5, they didn't seem to understand that they couldn't all ride together, because there were only 4 seats in each shuttle. We'd split them up into 3 and 2. But if you're not paying attention, sometimes they wouldn't understand/listen, and would all go on the same team. And you'd look in the room, and instead of seeing 2 spots open on team 1, and 1 spot on team 2, you'd see an entire team and so you would fill the team up with another group. And then they'd get to the pre-flight, and whoever was in there would be going around, making sure everyone was ready, and they'd find a group with one too many people. That's when we'd have to hope that there would be another spot open on another team, but sometimes we'd fill every single spot. And because of that, the group of 5 now has to wait though 2 more rides, because the ready room would already be filled by another group of people watching the video, and we'd have to call dispatch and let them know to save 2 groups. All because the group didn't listen to whoever was telling them where to stand.

I hope that made some kind of sense. lol.

[mechurchlady]

Bobsleds are at times hard to seat.

OMG you want us to sit together. Some were very large and wanted their own seat. No problem if you tell the loader ahead of time. I have a stiff leg may I ride in my own seat. There were men who did not want to sit in the lap of another man and some women not in the lap of anyone. I can understand religious and medical reasons but really most of the excuses was manure.

and if a group decided they wanted an extra seat then that royally mesed up things. The next cycle had now half of a group going and half waiting, Repeat until balanced with singles. I have had to give up my seat so groups could ride.


Alice in Wonderland has a specific loading pattern. The ride vehicle has 3 wheels like an ECV. CMs could not put to large adults in the front as that would cause the vehicle to be off balance. OOH now we want the whole ride vehicle with us. ok we share but they go in the back.

A CM acquaintance got berated by parents whose kids were to big for play areas. On the steam train there are seats that face the station and those that face the train. I once got fed up and climbed the seats to get a seat and make room for others. The bench holds 3 to 6 people depending on size. So why is there room for at least 2 people next to you? the conductors would beg people to move down. They had to send out trains on schedule but people would be running to get on, begging to ride, and conductors were looking for cattle prods to get people to move down. Not fun to be a conductor.

[Euterpe]

The weight distribution was always a problem at Blizzard Beach. At the Family right (Teamboat Springs), you need to evenly distribute the weight or else the raft might flip over. The hassles I've had over too-in love couples who wanted to make out for a minute and a half, and little kids who wanted to sit in parents laps... not to mention the old enough to know better kids who stand up on the ride... We evacuate them from the park. It's a pretty dangerous ride. An empty raft weighs something like 500lbs, so if you fall out, and the family behind you hits you, it's something like 1000+lbs hitting your at a pretty swift speed, and you have no one to blame but yourself.