Breakout year for SF

Some parks deal with inclement weather a lot better than others. I've been to Geauga Lake when it rained and they failed to reopen Big Dipper because "the brakes were wet" (even though they are houses in a covered shed). Tough sh*t if you want to ride more. Morey's Piers, on the other hand, get things going as soon as possible. And parks like Knoebels generally keep rides open in the rain, as long as there is no lightning present.

Parks love bad weather because they can use that as the reason for a bad season? Nah, it's not the unhappy guests that caused park attendance to slide, it's the bad weather all summer long!

Sorry for the double post(EDIT-Never mind...I guess it wasn't a double post after all).

Hopeman, I notice the good service as well. For example, anytime I take a kid to a park (nephews, cousins, friends), I make sure that they say thank you to the employees who are doing a good job. I do it too. It's just a quick word or two as you are leaving or entering a ride, for example.

I have a very good work ethic. I find that not everyone is like me. When at work, I try to give focused attention and respect to the customers or guests needs. When on the other side of the situation, I try to give a little leniency because I know that not everyone find their work ethics as important as I do. That's not saying that I find any level of service acceptable though. I'll still take my fries back if McDonald's serves them to me cold.

*** Edited 2/27/2007 12:44:33 AM UTC by dexter***

It all depends on the airport on how bad the delays are. I work at a fairly large reigonal airport (MHT), and the Valentine's Day story affected us, but 25% of the flights still managed to get out.

I don't expect everyone to give their job 100% (that's a bit unreasonable) but there are too many people that are lazy when it comes to doing what is expected of them. When I walk into a retail store, I prefer a cashier that actually GREETS me with some kind of acknowledgement of my presence rather than the silent treatment that makes me feel as though I'm keeping him from being out on the loading dock to smoke a joint with the other employees that should be working the sales floor or helping out the two cashiers with lines ten deep.

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Rob Ascough said: But the point is, ride closures affect more than just coaster enthusiasts.

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Good to see SOMEONE can filter thru all my garbage to get to the point....since I never can! :)

LOL, I learned everything I know about posting on message boards from James Joyce... ;)

gator, listening to "Tales of Brave Ulysses" while I, ummmm, work... :~P

*** Edited 2/26/2007 9:29:06 PM UTC by rollergator***

Sometimes I'm capable of amazing things, even filtering through gator's garbage ;)

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Shapiro isn't putting "his" money where his mouth is. He already got that huge raise or bonus or whatever, so in my opinion, he's just doing his job, overpaid as it is.

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Part of the reason I didn't put quotes around "his", is because I was speaking metaphorically.

I get your point though, although I'd add that if he's doing his job, then he's earning what he's being paid to do, whether *we* think he's overpaid or not.

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Rob Ascough said:
When I walk into a retail store, I prefer a cashier that actually GREETS me with some kind of acknowledgement of my presence rather than the silent treatment that makes me feel as though I'm keeping him from being out on the loading dock to smoke a joint with the other employees...

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Sorry I didn't catch you that day and say hello - I was out on the dock.

LOL Rob! I expect the samething you expect when I walkin somewhere, even if it's just a head nod acknowleding that I came in. Sometimes, you can't do that, especally if you have somebody you're dealing with already.

You really should learn to share, Gonch.

So was I, getting the new stock for the store so you'd have something to BUY! :)

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Rob Ascough said:People are going to be dirty, filthy slobs regardless of where they are. People are no more consciencious of how they dispose of their trash at Disney... it's just that Disney is more committed to picking up the trash than Six Flags is.

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Yeah, I get to disagree with Rob for once....been waiting patiently long enough... ;)

I'll argue that people ARE, in fact, worse about disposing of trash when they're at a Six Flags park. Why is that? Pretty simple, actually. People walk into a park with trash on the ground, they're more likely, ON AVERAGE, to not go out of their way to dispose of THEIR trash properly. Trash cans overflowing? Just dump your stuff on the ground next to one.

Disney's commitment to keeping it clean, which is second only to Pat Koch's (hey, that "Queen of Clean" title was EARNED) does serve to *remind* the guests that the trash cans are where the trash goes... ;)

That's my take - I think the parks DO help shape the behavior of the guests...and that's PARTIALLY to blame for the SF guests being so "ill-mannered".

Yeah, stop agreeing with me ALL the time already!

Are people bigger slobs at Six Flags... or does Six Flags merely inspire people to be bigger slobs? The point I'm making is that people are going to throw crap on the ground at Disney AND Six Flags... it's just that Six Flags seems to take longer to get rid of it. And if there is more trash left on the ground for people to see, people will likely be more open to the idea of using the midway as a giant recepticle. I'm not sure that Disney guests are neater than Six Flags guests.

As far as overflowing trash cans go, I can't blame people for putting the garbage next to it. Heck, I'll do that if the trash can is full. I'm not going to walk around with trash in my hands because the park is unwilling to provide me with an adequate place to put it. Not emptying trashing cans is just disgusting. *** Edited 2/26/2007 9:53:10 PM UTC by Rob Ascough***

Okay Rob, now that we're talking TRASH, I work Group Utility (the guys who take out the trash, among other things) at CP in the '05 season. I heard many guest mention that CP look better than SF. It tkes a LOT of work that you don't see to keep a park looking good. When the guests leave, a whole army takes to the midways.

I think Disney guests are *MUCH* neater than the average Six Flags guests, even if we're talking about the same people! LOL

Who's neater? The family walking around Disney where mom and dad will not put up with the kids not doing as they would do at home, or the teens set loose for the day away from mom and dad at Six Flags?

And as we all know, the longer you keep people waiting in line in the hot sun, the more likely they are to want to eat food in line while they wait, the more you risk them tossing their garbage right there in line.

There's one thing Disney, CP and Holiday World have in common, great capacity! Meaning, less time for people to be left to their own devices. ;) *** Edited 2/26/2007 10:00:45 PM UTC by DWeaver*** *** Edited 2/26/2007 10:01:51 PM UTC by DWeaver***

That's true, but Cedar Fair parks are often "babysitters" just like Six Flags parks but aren't nearly as dirty. The type of crowd is part of the problem but not the entire problem. Dirty parks inspire dirty behavior.

The point I'm trying to make is you have a choice to go to the park you want or to eat in the park so I just can't see complaining when you made the choice. Rides that aren't run at capacity is at all parks not just SF. When was the last time TTD has run all 6 trains since it opened or what happened to the 3rd train on Mantis?

Conversely, when was the last time you saw TTD running ONE train? Probably never.

Six Flags often runs their rides at minimal capacity, which other parks avoid. I'm not saying a park should run all their rides at the highest capacity (even though there's nothing wrong with that), but they should do more than as little as possible.

People make a choice to do a lot of things? Just because they had the option to NOT go to Six Flags, does that mean they shouldn't expect anything if they DO decide to go? You're not making much sense. What's wrong with having decent expectations? And why are you so willing to accept so little?

They run 5 trains on TTD for better timing, and Mantis just doesn't need a thrird train.

Seriously, on MOST rides, MOST of the time, there's RARELY a need for *all* of the trains to be running. By the same token, VERY rarely should any coaster be running one train during the busy part of the season. The benefits to capacity are greatest from one-to-two trains (or zero to one, depending). Adding a third train on, say, Kumba, does almost nothing to help capacity. Adding a second train though, honestly adds *almost* 100%.