Gettin’ Loose - A brief compendium of methods for dealing with loose items at attractions

Guests need a safe place to store their belongings when on rides. Loose items on rides can fly out and injure others, so it's a crucial thing to get right. Some parks even have a display cabinet of smashed phones in the ride queue to really drive the point home.

In addition, you want guests to be able to deposit and retrieve their items as quickly as possible. A clunky process destroys the hourly capacity of the ride and blows out queue times, so it's important from a guest service perspective too.

Finally, you want it to be painless so guests are “encouraged” to do the right thing. If guests feel their items aren't secure, they'll risk concealing it and carrying it onboard.

When I sat down to write this, I had in my mind that there would be about 3 or 4 ways of dealing with loose items, but it turns out to be many more...

1. Tubs / cubby holes

Absolute cheapest option is getting some tubs from a bargain store and putting them on the ground near the boarding point.

You can also do proper themed ones (And you should!), mount them on a wall or fence, etc. Just make sure that nobody outside the ride can reach through and access them.

They don't offer high levels of security but are probably fine for simple attractions where you start and end in the same place and only one vehicle is in use, like a drop tower or flat ride.

2. Boxes with sliding doors or hinged lids

Probably the main workhorse solution.

One set of boxes per vehicle is provided, often colour coded or numbered to correspond with each vehicle.

Riders deposit items, the door/lid is closed by the operator and reopened when that train arrives back.?

It's relatively cheap, but the main drawback is that it creates a lot of congestion on the platform. As one vehicle is unloading, All those guests are converging on the boxes to retrieve stuff. But the guests entering in to load also want to be getting at those boxes too. Some parks wait until everyone has gotten their stuff before opening the load gates, but that eats into capacity because meanwhile the vehicle is just sitting there doing nothing.

This method also requires guests to shuffle through the ride cars to access the storage on the opposite platform, and that's also a bit clunky if the ride cars are compact. It can be slightly insecure if the lids or doors don't lock, but that's easy to fix.

3. Keyed station lockers

Similar to the above, though you just have an array of lockers greater in number than the total seats on all? vehicles in operation. Guests put their stuff in, pull the key out and slip it around their wrist during the ride. It is secure, though a little slower due to guests operating the locks and scattering around finding the empty lockers. These can be suited to rides with large numbers of vehicles in operation, or where greater security is desired.

4. Rotating ‘Lazy Susan’

This is a niche application that can be used if a ride has a separate load and unload stations. A carousel with bays for items is located between the above. You put your stuff in, it is then part rotated so your items are behind a barrier nobody can touch while riding, and then rotated again to face the unload area.

The number of ‘bays’ should be the number of vehicles + 1.?

This approach can also have value on rides where you load and unload on the same side, for example on Wing Rider coasters, and it can also be automated.

5. Pre staging yard / room

I’ve seen this approach used at my local park Dreamworld on some of the flat rides. Prior to boarding, a batch of guests are taken into a holding yard or room where they can put their items into a double sided storage unit with sliding doors covering half of each side. (The opposite side faces a retrieval area at the ride exit)?

Sliding doors are on both sides of the unit, and linked with a pulley, so when you close one side, the other side opens.

Guests wait in there until the cycle ahead completes, then board the ride unencumbered. Overall It's relatively cost effective and efficient operationally.

For rides with multiple vehicles v, you need v+1 divisions in the unit.

6. Automatic storage system

This is something first seen on a few Mack Rides attractions. Imagine long shelves with hinged door flaps. The flaps are motorized and linked in with the ride computer, so it “knows” which train is parked and therefore which corresponding shelf should be open or closed. It automatically accounts for the number of trains in operation. This frees up operation staff from having to open and close storage boxes, and is inherently secure.?

But the real magic happens when you make the system double-sided, with item collection happening on the other side of a wall to the load platform, in a separate retrieval area.

This means unloading riders are encouraged to to get off the platform sooner, in turn this means loading riders have a clear run to store their stuff.?

The system does have higher upfront costs, but it means you're getting much higher capacity out of your asset that cost tens of millions of dollars.?

7. Cloakroom

Some parks have a cloakroom just prior to the pre boarding area, with enough space for a few vehicles worth of riders. Staff hand over their items to an attendant at the counter, and receive a numbered wristband in return. After riding, they give back the wristband at an opposite counter, and get their items.?

This works well in that guests can get seated immediately when the load gates open, but there are additional staffing costs associated with running the cloakroom. If this approach is being done, the queue and exit layout needs to be such that the entry and exit point both pass close to the cloakroom.?

8. Trolleys/Baggage Carts

This method has staff members who push a cart down the platform, right next to the ride vehicle, so guests can quickly throw their stuff in without having to cross the vehicle. The cart is parked in a safe location during the ride, and then parked in a retrieval area when those guests arrive back.?

Again, there is some additional labor associated with this, but it is fairly convenient for guests. It also works well for rides with many vehicles in operation. Additional space is needed on the unload platform for the parking of the carts.

9. Lockers at Entry

This approach is getting more common. Parks have large banks of short term electronic lockers near the ride entrance, in quantity sufficient for the number of people in the queue. The free rental period can be adjusted on the fly to compensate for queue times and discourage non-riders using them long term.

The lockers well and truly make operations fast, since guests have nothing to do but sit down.

The main drawback is that guests don't have their phones in the queue, and if the queue is long, they’ve lost something to keep them occupied. There’s also the space and cost associated with building the lockers, and there is normally a greeter helping guests with any problems using the lockers.

Ideally, if this is the approach, the lockers should be provided free of charge, and be made easy to use by scanning your park ticket or similar. Some parks try to charge guests to use these. Personally I think it is poor customer service to charge guests to avoid breaking the safety rules. Even if it’s ‘only’ $1 to use them, it still feels annoying paying extra cent to ride the rides if the park admission ticket was supposed to be all inclusive.

10. Double sided locker area

Just prior to the boarding area, guests enter a locker area and deposit their items. The lockers are double sided, so upon exiting, they open the same locker from the other side to retrieve their items. The benefit of this approach is that you get to keep your phone with you for most of the queue, and fewer lockers need to be provided. There are some staffing costs associated with regulating access into the area and checking guests have actually deposited their stuff? (Some parks have a greeter at the entrance, sometimes even supplemented with metal detectors).

The queue and exit routes need to be designed to pass both sides of the lockers. Ideally, lockers banks should be colour coded / numbered or use clear symbols to aid in memorising; guests may get confused since the exit side locker layout will be a mirror image to the entry side.

This approach has been used on rides like Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure and Tron at Magic Kingdom, but I think its a great service to provide on water rides where you don't want to waterlog your stuff.

11. Take it with you

Some rides are gentle enough, or don't pass over guest areas, so it can be safe enough to let people just leave items in their pockets, and put bags on their lap or in the footwell looped around the leg.?

If the ride is more dynamic, you can even have zippered pouches physically attached to the ride vehicles, in front of each seat, or even a storage cubby with a flap that closes (Though this doesn't work for larger items like backpacks or umbrellas)

I've also seen parks provide free bum bags/fanny packs at the entrance for you to borrow to put your stuff in and wear on the ride.

Most rides at Disney use this approach. The main drawback is guests can forget their items in the post ride adrenaline rush, and ride can potentially dispatch again with these forgotten items still in the vehicle, so its an extra thing for staff to be vigilant about.

12. Overhead tracked carousel system

This system was first used on Yukon Striker at Canada’s Wonderland. Shelving units are suspended from an overhead track system, similar to that used at a dry cleaners. In the pre boarding area guests deposit their items into the unit. Then your items go on a little ride of their own as they travel up and over the station, and arrive down at a retrieval area on the unload side. Whee! The system is very effective, but higher cost. You also need to provide a sink for guests to empty their drink bottles since they will spill in transit. Depending on the theme of your ride, you might want to disguise the equipment.

Bonus: French Flair

I can’t really comment on how well this works in practice since I’ve only seen photos of it in one place. Mahuka at Walibi Rh?ne-Alpes has guests deposit loose items into a chute, with the items landing in a retrieval area at the ride exit. This means guests collecting items are clear off the load platform. Ideally you want the retrieval area to be double gated since items at the bottom of the chute aren't secure otherwise.

Other considerations

As an aside to all the above, for further speed optimization, some parks provide each guest with a small basket just prior to the load station, big enough to fit the contents of their pockets. The thinking is that it encourages guests to empty their pockets early, so when it comes time to board, they can quickly pop the one basket into the storage area and retrieve it quickly later instead of fishing out 3 or 4 things. Used baskets are then left in a stack by the exit.

Also, If a guest doesn’t have a phone in their basket, staff can spot this easily and gently remind them to not take it onboard.

You can need a large number of baskets in circulation, and a staff member will need to periodically collect a stack from the unload area and bring them back to the pre-boarding area.

Another thing that I believe needs to be done better in general is making unload platforms wider, and providing at least two exits where possible to make item retrieval and egress less congested.

On balance, I think the best approach for major attractions are the double sided lockers or Automatic storage systems, though cheaper storage box approaches are fine for smaller flat rides and so forth.

As a final note. I believe that park operators would be best served to have fairly consistent systems for item storage across all attractions. Guests do not want to have to think too hard on their day out so if it's the same process from ride to ride they will get used to it and that will aid operations.

#themeparks #rides #rollercoasters #design