So here's an update on the cat situation at Copper.
@RachelV and I caught a lift on the 2nd to last cat of the day, thanks in part to the beacon priority. Just before we were heading in to lunch we noticed the cat was running, so we decided to eat and try to jet over to catch it before it closed for the day (2pm). We headed straight over from solitude, with some mighty fine traversing skill we hopped into the line at 1:35 or so, and the patrol patrol closed the line directly after us. They had fully loaded the 2nd to last cat and the last cat was headed down. They were counting off and unfortunately, they were full with the folks right in front of us, leaving us presumably high and dry. So, using my feminine wiles (or really, just some minor communication skills) I asked the patrol if they were doing Beacon Priority since we both had ours on. We were informed that yes, they were, and the cat they had just loaded was the beacon cat, and also that the line for beacons was seperate from the regular queue (and very unmarked and unnoticeable). So, patrol squeezed us into the beacon cat. They also informed everyone who we essentially cut in front of that the reason we got to jump cats was that we had our beacon, and to bring it in the future if they wanted priority cat rides.
I didn't get a chance to grill them on the loading procedure, say if there was a full cat of beacon wearers would that mean they fill the cat and only put some non-beacon wearers in if there was room. ALSO I asked why they didn't have the beacon line marked and was told that it was somewhere up on the new signage but that "people don't read", and I thought that was funny but that they could have made a better sign maybe on the entrance to the beacon queue so it was more intuitive.
Anyway, I think that if you're planning on catching a cat ride, throw the beacon on. It should be noted that they didn't check to see if our beacons were on, or go off of anything other than word of mouth. So, take that as you may. We had a decent run down Fremont glades (the cat actually dropped us off much higher than usual, under the rocky ridge you bootpack up instead of the usual saddle dropoff) through wind buff and slab and chopped up leftover powder lower down.
Picture of my luxury front seat ride.
So basically,
TL;DR- if you want to ride the cat, wear a beacon and get in the unmarked (and probably empty) queue to the right of the main cat line and you won't have to wait as long.
Good investing in the future, though.
