Queue Animation

Here’s a queue line for a roller coaster ride at a theme park. It’s the same type of line that you wait in every day to buy something at the grocery store or to get lunch in the cafeteria. However, a queue for a roller coaster is much longer than the lines at the store or school, because it needs to hold many more people.

A queue at a theme park is usually more formal, in order to keep the line straight and move people ahead in an orderly fashion. And, because these lines must hold hundreds of people, the queue is long and usually in several sections. The section at the top of the illustration, with the horizontal lines, is the regular queue area. The shorter, vertical lines near the train, illustrate the starting gate. Once you get to this point, you know you are the next group to load onto the train.

The illustration shows that the length of the roller coaster queue has been adjusted for fewer people. If this were a busy day at the park, all the rows would be filled with "people" who would enter the line at the very top of the illustration and be waiting in the queue, then moving forward as more and more people ride the train. 

In the illustration, some of the gates are closed, so the line is shorter. This way, people don't have to walk as far and can bypass the back and forth motion of the whole queue.

For this activity, there are several factors you need to know.

  • You are the operator of the roller coaster ride, and you can determine how long or short the queue is.
  • The coaster ride on the train takes 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
  • A train has two cars, and each car holds 3 rows of two seats.
  • Each person in line takes 3.5 square feet of space; allow a width of 2 feet for the line.
  • There are 10 rows for the roller coaster queue. Each row is 60 feet long.
  • The train is empty at the moment you work the problem.
  • Each section of the starting gate queue (the area right before guests get on the ride) holds 4 people.

Evaluate each situation presented below and answer as directed.

1) As the ride operator, you see that It’s a quiet day at the park, so fewer people are in line for the roller coaster. You need to close off some of the rows, so that people can walk more directly to the point where they would wait for the ride. How many rows would you close off? Round off your answer to the nearest whole number.

To get the answer, you need to figure out how many people fit in the queue when the queue is full. Then determine how many people can ride the roller coaster in an hour. As ride operator, how many rows do you need open to hold the number of people who can ride the coaster in one hour?

1) Answer: rows will remain open.

People Tip    Time Tip    Area Tip #1    Area Tip #2

2) It’s a busy day at the park. All the rows are open in the queue. You add two more trains, putting them in rotation with the first train. 3 trains can load up, run the course and unload in 3 minutes and 45 seconds. How many extra rows would you need to handle the load? Include the people riding the trains and round off your answer to the nearest whole number.

2) Answer: rows

3) Later that season, you have another busy day at the park. All queue lines are open and you have three trains running to handle all the people who want to ride your roller coaster. Then -- oh no! One train break down. It's as frustrating for you as for the people who are waiting in line. So, you have to put up a sign telling people who arrive at the roller coaster entrance how long they must wait before they can get on the ride. When you work the problem, include the people on the trains. Using time in five-minute increments, and putting your answer in minutes, what amount of time will be on the sign?

3) Answer: minutes