Anaconda

[aerobadger]

That’s totally fair. I just happened to be there on a day where they had 4 people working platform so that’s where the good ops came from lol

I had those good ops yesterday as well. Also, Timbers was a walk-on all afternoon, too, with pretty good dispatches to make it even better (10 rides in just over an hour and fifteen or so).

Back to Anaconda, I took this from my visit given this rumor that spurred on:

Those corkscrews ride very nicely to me, at least.

 

[warfelg]

It doesn't shock me it has short lines but it also loads and cycles really fast for a KD coaster and had little down time issues.

I also wonder what it would look like if you did riders per operating day.

 

[GoHokies87]

Similar thing with Volcano where the intentions were to reopen it until corporate stepped in towards the end of 2018.

My understanding is that the plan was to reopen volcano until...a very bad thing...happened that made that no longer a viable option.

Unless of course you're saying that the park still wanted to reopen it after that happened but corporate wouldn't let them spend the money to fix it. From what I've heard though, the cost would have been dramatic.

 

[Crunchewy]

I had those good ops yesterday as well. Also, Timbers was a walk-on all afternoon, too, with pretty good dispatches to make it even better (10 rides in just over an hour and fifteen or so).

Back to Anaconda, I took this from my visit given this rumor that spurred on:View attachment 27403

Those corkscrews ride very nicely to me, at least.

Great pic! The corkscrew is easily the best part of the ride. I doubt anybody would say that part was bad.

 

[b.mac]

My understanding is that the plan was to reopen volcano until...a very bad thing...happened that made that no longer a viable option.

Unless of course you're saying that the park still wanted to reopen it after that happened but corporate wouldn't let them spend the money to fix it. From what I've heard though, the cost would have been dramatic.

KD wanted to reopen it at some point after but Corporate would not approve the budget request, or other activities the park was planning on doing. And yeah, the cost would've basically blown their capex for 2019 and 2020.

 

[Mushroom]

I also wonder what it would look like if you did riders per operating day.

I wonder this too. I’m wondering if it would actually give Anaconda the edge over Dominator, since Dominator has a couple dozen extra operating days thanks to Winterfest.

 

[warfelg]

I wonder this too. I’m wondering if it would actually give Anaconda the edge over Dominator, since Dominator has a couple dozen extra operating days thanks to Winterfest.

I’m thinking more do Anaconda and Dominator have high numbers just due to lack of downtime or is it that popular. Like is this a case of Twisted Timbers see more people per day open than Anaconda or not.

 

[b.mac]

I wonder this too. I’m wondering if it would actually give Anaconda the edge over Dominator, since Dominator has a couple dozen extra operating days thanks to Winterfest.

Last year maybe. In past years due to Winterfest probably not.

2018 Anaconda - 479,100 riders
2021 Anaconda - 437,230 riders

2018 Dominator - 833,451 riders
2021 Dominator - 469,780 riders

Dominator also usually benefits from opening earlier than Anaconda does but I still believe in terms of hourly average ridership Dominator usually beats out Anaconda and the rest of the rides in the park even with downtime into the equation.

For an even odder context. Here's the top 5 rides in total ridership in 2018, 2019, and 2021 based on the numbers I do have available (I do not have 2020's ridership numbers but I wouldn't particularly be interested in using them due to how limited KD's operating season was).

2018:
1) 833,451 - Dominator
2) 657,613 - Intimidator 305
3) 549,365 - Twisted Timbers
4) 516,812 - Backlot Stunt Coaster
5) 479,100 - Anaconda
(I am missing Racer 75's 2018 ridership numbers because the manual had to be updated in 2019 due to IOE giving Racer 75 new programming and as far as I know it never got officially published. Based on Racer's usual ridership history it would've been solid #3 behind i305)

2019:
1) 809,078 - Dominator
2) 659,438 - Intimidator 305
3) 616,386 - Racer 75
4) 607,087 - Twisted Timbers
5) 497,773 - Backlot Stunt Coaster

2021:
1) 469,780 - Dominator
2) 437,230 - Anaconda
3) 388,476 - Twisted Timbers
4) 372,977 - Intimidator 305
5) 346,850 - White Water Canyon
(I am also missing Racer 75's ridership but I would have no way of guessing how well it performed in ridership due to how different the numbers are for 2021 because of the reduced operating hours)

 

[warfelg]

Last year maybe. In past years due to Winterfest probably not.

2018 Anaconda - 479,100 riders
2021 Anaconda - 437,230 riders

2018 Dominator - 833,451 riders
2021 Dominator - 469,780 riders

Dominator also usually benefits from opening earlier than Anaconda does but I still believe in terms of hourly average ridership Dominator usually beats out Anaconda and the rest of the rides in the park even with downtime into the equation.

For an even odder context. Here's the top 5 rides in total ridership in 2018, 2019, and 2021 based on the numbers I do have available (I do not have 2020's ridership numbers but I wouldn't particularly be interested in using them due to how limited KD's operating season was).

2018:
1) 833,451 - Dominator
2) 657,613 - Intimidator 305
3) 549,365 - Twisted Timbers
4) 516,812 - Backlot Stunt Coaster
5) 479,100 - Anaconda
(I am missing Racer 75's 2018 ridership numbers because the manual had to be updated in 2019 due to IOE giving Racer 75 new programming and as far as I know it never got officially published. Based on Racer's usual ridership history it would've been solid #3 behind i305)

2019:
1) 809,078 - Dominator
2) 659,438 - Intimidator 305
3) 616,386 - Racer 75
4) 607,087 - Twisted Timbers
5) 497,773 - Backlot Stunt Coaster

2021:
1) 469,780 - Dominator
2) 437,230 - Anaconda
3) 388,476 - Twisted Timbers
4) 372,977 - Intimidator 305
5) 346,850 - White Water Canyon
(I am also missing Racer 75's ridership but I would have no way of guessing how well it performed in ridership due to how different the numbers are for 2021 because of the reduced operating hours)

Any indication on how many days each one operated?

 

[Mushroom]

Last year maybe. In past years due to Winterfest probably not.

2018 Anaconda - 479,100 riders
2021 Anaconda - 437,230 riders

2018 Dominator - 833,451 riders
2021 Dominator - 469,780 riders

Dominator also usually benefits from opening earlier than Anaconda does but I still believe in terms of hourly average ridership Dominator usually beats out Anaconda and the rest of the rides in the park even with downtime into the equation.

For an even odder context. Here's the top 5 rides in total ridership in 2018, 2019, and 2021 based on the numbers I do have available (I do not have 2020's ridership numbers but I wouldn't particularly be interested in using them due to how limited KD's operating season was).

2018:
1) 833,451 - Dominator
2) 657,613 - Intimidator 305
3) 549,365 - Twisted Timbers
4) 516,812 - Backlot Stunt Coaster
5) 479,100 - Anaconda
(I am missing Racer 75's 2018 ridership numbers because the manual had to be updated in 2019 due to IOE giving Racer 75 new programming and as far as I know it never got officially published. Based on Racer's usual ridership history it would've been solid #3 behind i305)

2019:
1) 809,078 - Dominator
2) 659,438 - Intimidator 305
3) 616,386 - Racer 75
4) 607,087 - Twisted Timbers
5) 497,773 - Backlot Stunt Coaster

2021:
1) 469,780 - Dominator
2) 437,230 - Anaconda
3) 388,476 - Twisted Timbers
4) 372,977 - Intimidator 305
5) 346,850 - White Water Canyon
(I am also missing Racer 75's ridership but I would have no way of guessing how well it performed in ridership due to how different the numbers are for 2021 because of the reduced operating hours)

Really interesting. Any idea what happened between 2018 and 2021 that caused Dominator’s numbers to nearly halve while Anaconda’s stayed relatively stable?

 

[Gavin]

Covid-19

 

[b.mac]

Really interesting. Any idea what happened between 2018 and 2021 that caused Dominator’s numbers to nearly halve while Anaconda’s stayed relatively stable?

COVID and reduced operating hours.

 

[b.mac]

Any indication on how many days each one operated?

Nope, getting any information on the uptime and downtime of the rides would either involve me spending more time than any reasonable human being would at the park or risking other people's jobs to give me the info.

 

[Mushroom]

Covid-19

COVID and reduced operating hours.

Read my post again… I asked why Dominator’s numbers went down so drastically while Anaconda’s stayed about the same.

 

[b.mac]

Read my post again… I asked why Dominator’s numbers went down so drastically while Anaconda’s stayed about the same.

I would like to believe the reduced operating hours pushed guests to ride rides that didn't typically have lines. Basically instead of a few rides having the bulk of ridership it turned into multiple rides having a more even share of the ridership.

 

[Nicole]

Read my post again… I asked why Dominator’s numbers went down so drastically while Anaconda’s stayed about the same.

While I have no data and honestly don’t recall what KD operations looked like when they reopened, I wonder if it maybe it is because multiple group/individual riders weren‘t grouped in the same row, during COVID. So, Dominator’s 4 seats might have been filled less often? Whereas Anaconda’s 2 seat row capacity would have been less affected. Also, were they loading every other row? That could have made the impact on capacity even more dramatic.

 

[Coasternerd]

While I have no data and honestly don’t recall what KD operations looked like when they reopened, I wonder if it maybe it is because multiple group/individual riders weren‘t grouped in the same row, during COVID. So, Dominator’s 4 seats might have been filled less often? Whereas Anaconda’s 2 seat row capacity would have been less affected. Also, were they loading every other row? That could have made the impact on capacity even more dramatic.

At bgw, the B&Ms still operated every row.

 

[bill s]

I'm not sure how they determine those numbers, wonderfully turnstile-free as they are. But 2021 definitely felt crowded. Also ops on Dominator seemed horrible but a lot of it appeared to be newb factor. It was always something, people finding out they're too big now, chickening out, trying to wear hats, you name it.

As to the rumor, if someone wanted it to get even more rides ...

Great pic! The corkscrew is easily the best part of the ride. I doubt anybody would say that part was bad.

More often than not, if there is sufficient badness, anything following that is good is ignored. Example: last curve of Hurler (pre-trim) BRILLIANT.

 

[warfelg]

Nope, getting any information on the uptime and downtime of the rides would either involve me spending more time than any reasonable human being would at the park or risking other people's jobs to give me the info.

Fair enough and thank you. Sounds like what I’m curious on would be hard to know without working for them.

My assumption on many of these numbers is raw ridership isn’t a great measure of popularity. Especially after all the conversations on here when Volcano went down about how it was always busy but had low end of year numbers.

To me, Anaconda always felt walk on or one train wait. But no matter what, like Dominator and Racer I could always count on it being open. Never knew if anything else was open day to day. If FoF was open 40 less operating days but carried more people per day, it could take a significant number of riders per day to make up that difference.

 

[b.mac]

My assumption on many of these numbers is raw ridership isn’t a great measure of popularity. Especially after all the conversations on here when Volcano went down about how it was always busy but had low end of year numbers.

It's not a perfect measure because there are a lot of factors that go into overall ridership. A ride that constantly has a line may seem popular to some but for others a ride that people are able to ride multiple times is also a good sign of popularity.