FreeWay not returning?

According to Tony and Tyler, FreeWay will not be returning for the 2006 season. The very last question in this blog entry. Your thoughts?

Yeah, it sucks doesn't it?

Yep. Does anyone know why they are stoping freeway?

Not worth the cost of keeping it up, I would figure. Most likely they could not see keeping an employee there, or at the freeway merge point (and I hope they close those off so people aren't skipping line that way, and they don't have to keep an employee there).

that would be nice not to make an employee sit there basically doing nothing the enitire time.

This was brought up back in January:

http://www.pointbuzz.com/cpplace.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=17674#235715

wickeddragster88 said:
that would be nice not to make an employee sit there basically doing nothing the enitire time.

There will still need to be one there, in my opinion, to monitor lines, open and close queues, etc. Entrance sure can't handle that.

I can't say that I am too disapointed. Heck, I think I am glad that they did away with it. I could not help but notice the line moving significantly slower for Millennium Force while watching the many people skip in front of me. I do not know an exact figure, but I am guessing that they gave away somewhere around 100-200 stamps for every hour. Does anyone know if this is a close estimate?

FreeWay was killed by Mr. H at Tony and Tyler spelt it. The white passes with silver that exit passes for all but dragster which had green writing for it's FreeWay. Gone.

FreeWay isn't the cause of low ridership numbers, but the Ride hosts are. Then again they are being pressured with write ups more than ever. What was completely unacceptable a few years ago happened a lot last summer. Poor efficiency.

I guess if you want a scapegoat, you can target FreeWay. I personally don't like the system because it upsets more people than it helps.

I agree 100%. I wasn't fond of FreeWay. Especially when I had one, and got all those confused and angry stares from people when I cut them in line.

We used freeway for TTD and MF every time we went to the park. I dont know...during Halloweekends it wasnt there, and I cant say we really missed it as much as I thought we would, so it will be hard for me to say much of anything until we go a few times this spring.

My gut reaction is to say we really will miss it. However, IMO, we would always meet about a dozen people abusing the system; cheating, basically, to re-use and re-use a stamp.

The "employee-sitting-there" reason doesnt really hold up, as someone needs to be there anyway, and for the life of me I cant figure out why they had them for any ride other than TTD or MF. A freeway for Wicked Twister? I think the longest we've ever waited for WT was 15 minutes.

Im sure they have their reasons, and, based on our experience during October, it will be a distant memory come July.

I can understand why they got rid of, for obvious reasons, and if getting rid of it helps ride efficiency, I'm all for it. I do, however, hope that they keep that ride op at the merge point. Having someone there all the time, for the most part, helped keep the crowd controlled.

*** Edited 4/7/2006 3:06:41 AM UTC by DBCP***

and not smoking...especially in MF

That's not fair to blame employees for low ridership numbers. If the numbers were lower at a specific ride location (not every ride in the park had their numbers slip) there were many reasons why.

Freeway would work if the system was designed correctly. Disney and SF seem to be able to work it efficently. It can't possibly affect efficenticy as people merge before the platform; the flow of guests onto the trains is constant reguardless of how long they have waited.

The economic standpoint comes into question too; It can't be that difficult to pay an employee peanuts for a few hours a day to sit and stamp hands. Aside from the obvious that it is better to have people out and about paying for overpriced souviners rather then standing in line, people are more likely to purchase junk or play games if they have had a fun filled day of not waiting forever in lines. Then the food... I dont know about you but if I'm trying to ride all the rides I want in a day I'm sure not going to waste an hour at a sit down place (spending $6-9 for an entree) when I can get something quick ($2-5 for a pretzel, nachos, hot dog, etc). This is just another example of CF not doing anything to make things comfortable for the customer unless it significantly increases their bottom line.

^I agree. I think, in general, most rides last year ran near to optimal capacity. For the 4 days that I visited last year, Raptor, Magnum, Gemini, Mean Streak, Power Tower, Wicked Twister, Mantis, and Disaster Transport had noticeably fast moving lines, which signals a high hourly capacity on each. I think the fact that TTD and Millennium Force are the two biggest rides that people think about/talk about/ride before, during, and after their visits is the cause for the general consensus that the employess last year were "inefficient". I definetly noticed slower movin lines on these two rides, but much faster moving lines on all other rides.

Alright, in response to you, TopThrill420120, I heard that the crews on Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force were doing the best they have in a long time. They were actually hitting interval and that's good for a crew to do. On some rides that's harder than others. Also, depending on when you came to Cedar Point, they had the seat belt rules there and that can screw a crew over and slow EVERYONE down. This is because people will not try the test seat or they just get in line when the ride host at enterance is not looking. To this you may say "well that ride host wasn't doing their job" but trust me, I have worked Top Thrill Dragster's enterance before (only 2 or 3 times) and I know you can over look one guest while trying to talk to another.

Also, you must take into thought the fact that Millennium can only run one train at a time and that Dragster can only run so many at a time because of the system.

I think the Freeway was a great Idea, Besides they have already made the lines for this freeway. they just need to make it better. I can see your point how it can be very boring for an employee just sitting their, but its fast for people like me!

I had no problem with FreeWay when it was around, but I am not sad to see it go. The lines to get passes were always of fairly considerable length, and trying to make sure you could get to the right kiosk at the right time was somewhat of a hassle. I guess I'm just used to doing it the "old fashioned" way, and I enjoy having no itinerary whatsoever.

So, if eliminating FreeWay saves CP money, I'm all for it.

I loved freeway and I was soo sad to see it go!!! But oh well....

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Cory Marshall