Coasterbuzz Revolution: A Six Flags Love Thread!

Well guys, as my first full day spent at SFoG for the 2006 season, I left feeling that Burke's ideas have had a major effect on park operations and overall atmosphere.

First off, let me say, that SFoG has been my homepark for awhile, and Ive always really enjoyed it. The employees have definitely been lackluster in all my previous visits, but I am very familiar with what has grown to be normal operations for the park in tbe past few years. Also, this may seem like it belongs in the Trip Reports forum, but I believe it is best fit here, due to the nature of the thread in general.

Now, on to my review:

All the employees I came across really seemed to be enjoying their job, or at least not looking like they hated you and hated what they were doing. This is step 1 to good customer relations. None of them were lazy, and I saw multiple workers picking up trash, enforcing linejumping, and asking us how are day was and thanking us for being there.

Also, costumed characters were definitely on the numerous side. With interesting new ones that werent just the standard WB cartoons and DV comics characters.

All of the rides were running to full capacity, and let me tell you, these employees were doing a great job. Especially on Goliath (which as a sidenote is just an awesome coaster), where they were working up the guests like any good ride ops should be. I noticed clean queues, free from gum, fresh coats of paint everywhere, and all scenery and theming was in operation. (i.e lights and mechanical objects all working). On my way out, I was thanked for coming back, and I will definitely be back very soon.

The point of this is, they did a GREAT job doing what was promised, as in a turnaround of the overall operations and quality of employees. It is early in the season, but if it stays even remotely around this level of family friendly and guest friendly atmosphere, they will succeed.

My main question is, has anyone noticed this exponential increase in park satisfaction with their local Six Flags, or is SFoG one of the few? Please do not change this into a criticizing SF thread, because I specifically am only interested in how the other parks in the chain are fairing compared to this one.

So what do you think guys, are the days of looking down on SF, inc finally over?

P.S. - Goliath is one of the best decisions I have seen a park make in a LONG time. You must ride it this season. Probably one of the best steels new for 2006. Give it a try, Later.

They have started to turn around the real test is at 10:30 today on April 8th SFA opens cross your fingers.

The reason why you haven't heard that many comments about great adventure is because in reality its not that bad of a park .

This season isn't that much different then the last one so far. Also they have some rides that are clsoed wich should be open soon. Its a big park to keep running . It opens even before Cedar Point does if i am not mistaken.

opening weekend the employees were nice though and weren't nasty. We had stilt wakers there justice league characters there and everything.

One thig i will note was that Shapiro was at Great adventure last sunday. There were also shirt and tie managment all over the park.

I expect that great Adventure will get better before the summer.

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majortom1981 said:
The reason why you haven't heard that many comments about great adventure is because in reality its not that bad of a park .

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Totally subjective. I had one of the worst days I've ever had at a park last year at SFGAdv and I really don't care to go back any time soon except to ride El Toro, maybe Nitro, and get the eff out.

Maybe the reason you haven't heard that much about GAdv is because except for the people who live closeby, there just isn't much reason for people who post here to go until El Toro is open, or at least until the main season starts.

In other words, maybe we haven't heard much about GAdv because only a smattering of people have gone. *** Edited 4/8/2006 3:07:30 PM UTC by matt.***

Answer: Most people from NYC (A large contingent of Great Adventure's fan base) do not post here. It has nothing to do with it being a good park or not.

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Krypton said:
Well guys, as my first full day spent at SFoG for the 2006 season, I left feeling that Burke's ideas have had a major effect on park operations and overall atmosphere.

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That's a strange way to put it, but I guess it's true. Overall operations and atmosphere are improving now that Kieran Burke and his ideas are gone.

I was present at SFSTl on opening day, and I was amazed at how energetic and welcoming the employees were. Walking through the park, I was stopped countless times by employees asking how my day has been, and thanking me for being there. I found it amazing how much the atmosphere had changed (positively) since my visit at the end of the season last year.

Will it last into the season though?

All I care about is that they run at least almost all of the rides and at the best possible capacity when crowds require it. Wonder Woman and Flash are nice touches, and pleasent employees (if they last) are very welcoming, but who cares if the rides aren't open?

To me so far, it sounds a little beter and a little like last year, so let's all cross our fingers. I really want to go to SF, but if it was anything like last years's SFGAdv trip (capacity-wise), count me out.

Before I get flamed or something, realize that I care and want to see them work out the kinks. It's been said before...SF has a lot of potential. That's why I get so upset about them, because the parks could be awesome if they tried. Call it "tough love" if you will.

Hopefully be next year, when someone start a SF love thread, many more people will reply within the first 12 hours.

>>>I M H O<<<

*** Edited 4/8/2006 6:22:19 PM UTC by dexter***

Dexter brings up a good question asking "Will it last into the season?"

It's one thing to start out the season doing and saying all the right things. What happens with the staff once the novelty wears off, the crowds increase, the temps go up, etc?

Can the management keep the employees inspired and motivated to do what they're doing now through the whole season?

I truly hope so. If not, then nothing has really changed has it?

I hope we continue to hear positive stories like this one. The real test of course comes when the parks get busy. I'm crossing my fingers, but I wouldn't expect a great turn around all this year. It may take a few.

People do wonder if all of this will last into the season, but SFoG has been open for a full month now, and it's still going strong. Sure, that's not very much time compared to the 39 years it's been open, but I thought it would last a couple... hours.

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Krypton said:
Well guys, as my first full day spent at SFoG for the 2006 season, I left feeling that Burke's ideas have had a major effect on park operations and overall atmosphere.

First off, let me say, that SFoG has been my homepark for awhile, and Ive always really enjoyed it. The employees have definitely been lackluster in all my previous visits, but I am very familiar with what has grown to be normal operations for the park in tbe past few years. Also, this may seem like it belongs in the Trip Reports forum, but I believe it is best fit here, due to the nature of the thread in general.

Now, on to my review:

All the employees I came across really seemed to be enjoying their job, or at least not looking like they hated you and hated what they were doing. This is step 1 to good customer relations. None of them were lazy, and I saw multiple workers picking up trash, enforcing linejumping, and asking us how are day was and thanking us for being there.

1 put on uniform 2 Punch time clock 3 take prozac !

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Well, perhaps I should put this in the Trip Reports, since that is technically what this is, but whatever.

I went to Great Adventure for Opening Night last Friday and things were excellent. Granted, Shapiro and company were in the park, so I was anxious to get back once they had left. Well, that opportunity was afforded to me sooner than later.

I returned to the park this (Sunday) afternoon and found much of the same. I breezed through the gate and was greeted by a greeter handing out park guides and wishing me a nice day. As I progressed down Main Street, I noticed Taz, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy all interacting, dancing, and taking pictures with park guests.

I headed towards Movietown and the park was bustling with activity. It was Girl Scout Weekend, or something. Spinmeister is still being reassambled, as is the case with the Flying Wave. Wonderwoman and Batman were greeting guests by the Musik Express (which, along with the Big Wheel and Buccaneer, had all of it's lights replaced and flashing) and the Henna Tatoo place. I noticed The Flash riding the bumper cars with the kids. Chiller: Robin was going full throttle (which I hadn't seen in a while) and Chiller: Batman had some maintenance activity going on around it.. I'd expect it to open soon.

Batman: The Ride was running two trains, as was Nitro (third is still being rehabbed). I noted more characters in Looney Tunes Seaport and new, cheerful, cartoonish music being played there as well. I planned on taking a ride on Nitro, but as I entered the queue, the ride shutdown, stranding guests on the lift hill. So I set my sights on Skull Mountain, also running two trains. I passed the former site that housed Evolution and noted that it was being put to good use as a smoking area for guests.

I took a walk along the Great Lake to the otherside of the park, and noticed that the Sky Ride was in full operation, both stations. Another thing I noticed were the plentiful ''sweeperettes'' and how clean everything was. Plenty of employees with pans and brooms, and those neat little "claws" picking up trash throughout the park. Cutting back onto Dream Street, I took a ride on Houdini's Great Escape (the kids loved it) and noticed that the Great Character Cafe had installed new tv's inside.

Great American Scream Machine was running all three trains (again!) and Superman: Ultimate Flight running two. Heading back into the Golden Kingdom, I queued up for Kingda Ka; it broken down intermittenly (4-5 times) but only one breakdown was lengthy (20-some minutes). It was running two trains, left side station. I heard from some guests on the ride out of the park that it had a quite lengthy shutdown earlier in the day and when they complained about it at Guest Relations, "they were satisfied with the results".

Kingda Ka ate up a nice chunk of my time, so after that, I hit Medusa (2 train operation) and very short wait. Checked out the Mine train/Frontier Adventure Skyride station -- both had longer waits than I had the patience for at the time. So I took a quick walk around Bugs Bunny National Park where I saw Petunia Pig and Bugs riding the Carousel with one of the younger Girl Scout troops and headed back over to Nitro (running now.. with two trains again) to end my night.

Since my car is in the shop, I headed out to the parking lot when I got a call from my ride; saying she was made to park in a side lot for pick up/drop off by the Safari. Asked security about this, and apparently, pick up/drop off has been moved to the area that was formerly used for parking for the Safari employees, I believe. It's adjacent to Kingda Ka. Anywho, I waited for the tram to come pick me up (2 running) and a short while later, I was off at the third stop (after a nicely narrated ride.. keep that guy!) the pick up and drop off area.

Overall, I saw much of the same as last weekend. Maximum capacity on all *available* trains, a very, very clean park (bathrooms included), lots and lots of security (Jackson Twp Police, "EVENT SECURITY, park officers), lots of streetmosphere and costumed characters all over the park, and park photographers all over the park, instead of just the front gate (people want their pictures taken in front of more things than just the fountain) and that was clearly abundant at Main Street Photo -- which was absolutely MOBBED when I was on my way out of the park.

Overall, a very nice time. And speaking with some supervisors today, expect things to just keep getting better from this point forward. (Sorry to burst bubbles, but everyone I talked to today pointed more towards early June as ET's opening, NOT Memorial Day weekend, as I had heard last weekend)

Damnity! He drops the ball at the end :)

No worries, I guess I'll just postpone my memorial day trip to sometime in June for ET's opening. I was hoping to go before school let out though.

Good that they are keeping everything up though. Hopefully this will be reflected in their attendance numbers. Yehyah!

SFoT has been open for a month, and while it's still better than last year, things have dropped off noticably. People still greet and characters are still out, but not *every* employee smiles and says hi. Now it's only about 40%.

I was also at Gradv on April 1st and though it has improved I still saw Line jummping, people smoking throughout the park and several rides closed. The park opened at 8am and SUF didn't open until 8:30 and KK opened at 10:30 when the sign out front said 10. If they want to improve they should open the rides on time and enforce all park rules. I will be at SFNE Thursday for media day and I will be there opening day Saturday and will see if they enforce there rules as they promised.

I find it funny. People are complaining about the park not having everything ready .

IF they didnt open til lend of april or may like other parks do so that they are ready then peoplewill complain that the park should open earlier.

No matter how gadv will actually be people will always say its a bad park. They could pay everybody 100 dolalrs everytime they walk in the gate and there will still be people who say gadv stinks.

Well...an opinion is an opinion, majortom1981.

I am excited to hear that the park is doing better. I wonder why it wasn't a priority for them to get ET open by opening day though. It's not hard for other seasonal parks to have ALL of thier rides open EVERY day of operation, including opening day. What's the problem Sharpio?

Can you imagine the excitment kids feel when they ride the bumper cars with Flash? Wow! Great idea. I want to ride bumper cars with Flash too! ...But not yet, I'm still feeling a little skeptical that it will last all season.

Wait till the majority of the staff becomes high school & college students...

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majortom1981 said:

No matter how gadv will actually be people will always say its a bad park.

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You'd be better off taking specific quotes you have a problem with, and taking those things to task directly. Making baseless generalizations about "people" doesn't make for good conversation, and only makes you sound like a ninny. Why don't you find someone in this thread who is saying GAdv is a bad park, quote them, and then make some points of your own? Because right now all of your efforts come off sounding like total sour-grapes fanboyism, and not fully realized arguements. :) *** Edited 4/10/2006 5:03:07 PM UTC by matt.***