A New Law Would Require Theme Parks To Reveal Ride Down Times to Guests
There is nothing more frustrating than planning your day at a theme park, rope-dropping to get to that ride, and finding out that it’s down due to technical difficulties. By the time the ride reopens, you’ve moved on to another ride in another section of the park, and now, the wait is well over an hour for your favorite ride.
This situation is all too common at theme parks nationwide. It’s the unpredictable madness that can ruin your day at any theme park.
With some parks having aging rides that constantly need small tweaks or guests breaking park rules for that one “viral moment,” temporary shutdowns have become a common part of the theme park experience.
But what if there was a way to track these downtimes, in much the same way that guests can track wait times? It would show guests specific patterns in ride breakdowns and give them an idea of just how long it would be before the ride was back up again.
Ohio is taking this problem seriously. The state legislature is currently working on the Real-Time Ride Status Notification Act, which would require theme parks to provide real-time updates on ride availability on their apps and websites.
The legislation, proposed by State Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan, would require any permanent theme park to provide these updates within five minutes of a ride going down and when it returns to service. This would allow guests to track the progress and return to the ride after it is back in use.
Brennan said:
Families spend hundreds of dollars and travel across the state to visit these parks. They deserve accurate, real-time information so they can plan their day and avoid the frustration of walking across the park to find a ride shut down.
This is a commonsense consumer protection measure. Just like we expect real-time updates from public transportation or airports, parkgoers should be able to know which rides are operating before getting in line—or before leaving home.
If the legislation passes, it would only apply to Cedar Point and Kings Island, both owned by Six Flags Entertainment, in Ohio. However, this legislation could come to a state near you, requiring theme parks to follow these rules.
Having more information, especially when planning a day at a theme park, is a good thing, and this proposed law would allow guests to see just how long a particular ride would be down. Much like social media accounts are dedicated to tracking wait times at theme parks, others could pop up to track ride down times and give an accurate picture of your day.
For now, this is just a proposed law, but it is an ingenious idea that just makes going to theme parks better and simpler. Hopefully, it will become law.
What do you think of this proposed law that would require theme parks to track ride down times? Let us know in the comments.
