Cascades, Downtimes, and SGs

[Mayonnaise]

I always get antsy near the front of queues on continuous load rides for just this sort of reason. I've always been terrified of causing a jam up. I remember when I was a kid being afraid I wouldn't get into the buggy on time at Mansion and mess up everything...

But then, I have this issue with stepping off escalators and into revolving doors too.

8^P

[steverails]

Single riders, while they an asset for the most part, can be another hindrance at EE. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the single rider greeter's job is to ask all guests if they are "single riders," or explain that "all groups will be split up." Most EE CMs are very good about this, but there are still SGs who will cause commotion when they get to the grouper. When the grouper calls for a single rider, the most common tactic SGs in groups employ is heading down in a pair-like we don't notice! Either the grouper or station assist will stop them, yet they will argue that no one informed them it was a single rider line. Even better is when groups demand to be in the same car, or, this is the best, when they fully realize they are in the singles line but refuse to wait in the standby queue because it is too long. Some other problems that arise are SGs ducking into from the singles line into the front row line or odd groups of people wanting their own car. There is the occasional group that wants that one seat empty.

[Sioban]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]aaarrrgggghhhh...while in a leg cast i caused peter pan to go down cuz it took me so long to get in the ship...i was so embarrassed...but then we did get to ride it with the lights on :) [/font]

Did you attempt to get on through the exit or through the regular line? Either way, the CM should have E-stopped and then just started it back up. I've had to to that before, quiet a few times. It's not fun but you do what you've gotta do.

[NessaMcTastic]

I always get antsy near the front of queues on continuous load rides for just this sort of reason. I've always been terrified of causing a jam up. I remember when I was a kid being afraid I wouldn't get into the buggy on time at Mansion and mess up everything...

But then, I have this issue with stepping off escalators and into revolving doors too.

8^P

Mayo, I have the same hesitation. Peter Pan's my favorite ride but it takes me a few seconds to feel like I'll make it on.

I try to avoid revolving doors as often as possible. I've been almost stuck in them one too many times.

[Euterpe]

Single riders, while they an asset for the most part, can be another hindrance at EE. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the single rider greeter's job is to ask all guests if they are "single riders," or explain that "all groups will be split up." Most EE CMs are very good about this, but there are still SGs who will cause commotion when they get to the grouper. When the grouper calls for a single rider, the most common tactic SGs in groups employ is heading down in a pair-like we don't notice! Either the grouper or station assist will stop them, yet they will argue that no one informed them it was a single rider line. Even better is when groups demand to be in the same car, or, this is the best, when they fully realize they are in the singles line but refuse to wait in the standby queue because it is too long. Some other problems that arise are SGs ducking into from the singles line into the front row line or odd groups of people wanting their own car. There is the occasional group that wants that one seat empty.

Ugh, this happens at the chairlift at Blizzard Beach all the time. The get to the grouper and they try to get on together, and I have to tell them, "sorry, you're in the single rider line. You can go one at a time, or you can go get in the group line." They try to argue that they stood in line for 10 minutes in single rider and I'm just like, "Well, the people in the group line just waited 45, and they aren't going to like you cutting in front of them." Everything about that damned chair lift is frustrating. You get lots of giant bruises on your legs from being hit with a moving chair, when a guest does something and you end up in the way.

I know the chair lift probably seemed like a brilliant idea on paper... It's not in practice. What a mess.

[spacecadet101]

So I realize this post is a few months old, but I am new to these boards and I just noticed that no one answered this part of the question. (unless I missed it, in which case i'm sorry!)

Every day, guests complain about long wait times and down times, yet, ironically, they are, in some ways or another, if not fully, to blame! That is why I am starting this post. I want to hear about your experiences with SGs who cause your ride to cascade and go down because of their antics. And specifically for any CMs who work Space Mountain at WDW: Is it true that when your attraction cascades to the point of causing an auto e-stop that there are certain CMs, I believe unload or tower, who get reprimanded? If so, why is this?

I work at Space and I think we have sort of a bad reputation of getting reprimands easily. There are A LOT of things you can do to get a reprimand, but if you aren't a moron, it shouldn't be too hard to avoid them.

If we have a cascade, 9.9 times out of ten its because of a slow guest. There is nothing as cast members that we can do physically to get a guest past the yellow line or out of the rocket, so if we can't send it and get backed up, and eventually go 101, its not our fault and we usually won't get a reprimand. For example, I had one lady come down and was laughing so hysterically that she literally couldn't get herself out. I tried to convince her to get up, and she saw the rockets coming in behind her, but she just didn't care. She sat there until after we had already gone 101, eventually just getting out and going on her merry way! I can't push her out, there's nothing I can really do other than politely instruct her to get out (and we all know how well guests listen to CMs!).

The ride can't really cascade to the point of getting an auto-estop because of a guest. Either we have a cascade, or we have an e-stop. they are caused by different events. Now, when we reset a cascade, there are things that can happen that cause an e-stop, but most of the time those are unfortunately cm's mistakes, so they do get reprimands.

Not really sure if I completely made sense, sorry!

My favorite part of 101s is when the guests that are waiting get mad at ME and then I get to tell them, actually it was someone getting out too slow that caused the ride to stop and have you all wait longer. If you want me to go find them I'd be happy to do so. They usually stop yelling then.


p.s. how do the other rides work? how long are you 101 for a cascade or estop?

[felinefan]

Wonder what was so darn funny that that lady was laughing so hard she couldn't/wouldn't get out of her rocket?

[turkeyham]

When I went to Knott's last, they have a attraction seat. If you can not fit into the seat, you can not ride the attraction. Too bad Disneyland does not have anything like this?

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Wonder what was so darn funny that that lady was laughing so hard she couldn't/wouldn't get out of her rocket?

The thrill?

Last week when I went to DLR by myself, (DW was stun at a confrence, hehehehe) I decided to ride SM. I was standing in the (3 minute?) wait, and was talking with another guest, he told me that it was the first time riding SM since he had been to the park about 25 years ago. He said he was trying to see if it was how he rememberd it.

He was in the seat in front of me and began laughing when we took off, and continued to do so for the entire ride!

when we got off, he was telling everyone that it was better that he ever remembered.

Ya gotta get a kick of a guy in his mid-30's or so being reverted to a ten year old with just one ride on SM!

[hhsrat]

p.s. how do the other rides work? how long are you 101 for a cascade or estop?

For a cascade stop/shutdown at Pooh or Snow White, all you need to do is power down and power back up at the panel. Usually a very quick reset ... Pooh will occasionally have problems resetting because of the ADA vehicle, and sometimes maintenance has to be called for that, but usually it works fine.