CP & WOA
Please, read this whole thread before you think it is a CP v WOA thread, because IT IS NOT! i recently visited CP one day, and SF the other. It is fresh in my mind, so i wnted to point out some differences i noticed.
Remeber im not compareing the park, just pointing out differences in policy!
First i want to compare WT & S:UE. S, made a 'grinding noise while it positioned into the station, i will just attribute this to the ride being 1 year older then WT, no big deal. Staffing seemed to be the major problem here. SF used 3 ride ops, CP had 8. The down time inbetween dispatch, and the capacticy between the two rides was just amazing. SF downtime i timed to about 2.5-3.5 min, where as CP downtime i timed from 1-2 min. The difference amazed me!
Next up was park upkeep, I did not see one sweeper person the whole time at SF, nor did i see one person emptying garbage cans, althought i did not find SF paths to be "dirty" it just supprised me that there was no on cleaning. at CP i did see numerous people cleaning and emptying trash bins.
Queue management: SF queues were not setup properly and causeing people to backup onto the midway, CP however would often re route the queue into the swithback, kudos for that! at SF i was also dissapointed by Xflights queue, on of their newer rides, had a carnival tent over the switch backs makeing for a nasty odor, due to no ventatiation, the queues were 1\2 the witdh of a CP queue, and the were poorly drilled into the ground, the poles of the tent were in the middle of the queue and you had to walk around them, i think one person could easily knock the tent down, it was frightning because people were trying to knock the post out!
Food, SF did a bangup job in this! i like the fact that they have franchise operations in the park, because you know there is a certain lvl of cleanlyness, CP food, however, dissapointed me. My burger was burnted, fries were burnt, and i got massive heartburn aftewords that i opted not to ride mantis because i thought i might puke(i never skip out on a ride)
Ride Policy: Here is where CP really shinned, the ride ops were very professional, and the rides were very well mainted. Even though the park was not crowded, allmost all rides were running at or near full capacity to keep lines down, where SF did the opposite, every coaster was running 1 train, with the exception of Xflight and Serial thriller(witch dident really matter because of extreme stacking). When CP closed due to the rain, the ride ops took the time out to clean the trains, clean the station sweep the area and clean up anything they can, i thought this was very professional. at SF the crew on the broken down rides could be seen just 'hanging out'.
Quality of rides: i must hand it to SF here, i enjoyed there huge selection of flat rides, the rides were not grouped together in bunches. and i enjoyed S:UF more then WT, but i think it is totaly personaly preference! Villian was also an extremly intense coaster! SF though had poor matience, my harness on Serial Thriller was DUCT TAPED, i find this very unappealing especially because the harnesses were changed recently!
Ride OPs: Both parks were really lacking, but in two differnt areas. Keep in mind SF ride ops get paid 1.5$ more then CP ops(starting). The CP ride ops i encounted were rude, and i tried to talk to them they just ignored me or blew me of, very rude and unplesent, very few of them were smiling! I would say the worst crew i experience was Raptor, the best crew was defanitly Mantis. The CP ride ops were profesional though, and got down to buisness getting the trains checked and dispatched!. SF ride ops on the other hand were the opposite! Everyone was quite friendly, and willing to talk to you!, but they were very unprofessional. My ride op on serial thriller had a Do-Whop rag on, a huge "iced out" neclase, and a Glove on one hand. On villian the ride op decied to 'mix' the auto speicl "welcome to...welcom wel wel wel welcome to welecom to" you get the idea, he just pressed the button to restart it very fast. The dispact times were low, but i dont blame the ops, i blame management for haveing 2 train checkers instead of 4! the ops tried there best, but often did not really check the harness, often times my harness was just touched not pushed down or pulled up upon!
Shows, SF defanitly had the hand up on the shows there was a greater selection, and the seemed to be of good quality!
Waterport: SF gets another bonus for includeing the waterpark, that is a nice addition and keeps lines shorter on the coasters! but also note that they only have 1 water ride, so if it was not included there arent many ways to get wet at the park. The waterpark was overall nicer then CP, more selection of slides, and a loony tunes theme witch was nice.
Thoes are the differences i noticed between the two parks, i am compareing them, yes. but it is not a CP is better then, or WOA is better then... no, this just to point out the differences between the two parks and the strenths and weaknesses of each.
I just want to comment on S:UE's grinding sound. I Love it. For me, it just adds to the ride, It's not the same without it. I probably sound weird for saying that but oh well, I'm a weird person.
Anyway, interesting post, I hope it doesn't turn into a flame war though :(
djhush said:
Remeber im not compareing the park, just pointing out differences in policy!
Hmmm, are you sure?...Cause it sounds like it to me.
*Rollin eyes*
-----------------
Dayuum, Your HOT!
For the record, let's get one thing striaght!
Cedar Point is way better than Six Flags WoA. No questions asked. Case closed! The way Six Six Flags is set up is so poor compared to Cedar Point. An amusement park is bad when they have a permanent sign at the front gate anouncing daily ride closers. SF needs to dismantle both Serial Thriller and Mind Eraser and donate them to Connaute Lake Park. I don't think anyone would want X-Flight because that think is a waist os steel and it's a piece of junk. -They should have waited till B&M came out with the flying coaster.
The Dogems near the Magnum has been removed for experiment purposes. There has not be any confirmation of a new ride being constructed there. If Cedar Point plans to build a new coaster, it will not be until at least 2004.
That is a fair comparison. I am surprised that the ride ops at CP were rude, usually they are quite friendly. Mantis usually has the least friendly crew because no one stands up all the way and they have to keep unlocking the restraints and relocking them after making the people stand up.
I sure hope SF can get their act together, because it is a good park and does have a lot of potential. And with Six Flags and Cedar Fair competing for customers, it can only be good for us.
-----------------
The worst day at Cedar Point is better than the best day at work.
jkpark said:
The Dogems near the Magnum has been removed for experiment purposes. There has not be any confirmation of a new ride being constructed there. If Cedar Point plans to build a new coaster, it will not be until at least 2004.
Oh c'mon, we know Cedar Point is getting a new coaster for 2003. Have you not picked up on any of Jeffs hints? Also, signs that say "Cedar Point is building for the future" at Area 51 pretty much confirms it. Construction started last off-season, it is going to be big.
"I would say the worst crew i experience was Raptor, the best crew was defanitly Mantis"
I think the possibility of this ever happening this year are going to keep me up nights for the next month or two trying to figure out how this could ever possibly happen. The widely recognized best ride-op crew in the industry vs. a crew that is a shadow of its former self (when in 1998-99 they rivaled Raptor).
Wow ... this is just totally blowing my mind, I can't even concentrate on work ... also how this guy could consider this a non-comparison thread? Hmm, maybe that right there explains the Raptor/Mantis comment ...
-----------------
Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart
Call me silly, but I enjoy visiting SFWOA a lot more then Cedar Point.
Yes Cedar Point is the better park overall; but when you can only get 6 rides in a day because of the very long lines, you feel like your getting jipped.
-----------------
1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph
Six Flags is a great park, but Cedar Point is just in a differant league. I don't blame Six Flags for this at all, if Cedar Point wasn't just down the road, I believe people would cut WoA some slack. Both parks have their plusses and minuses, and both have a great selection of rides. Cedar Point certainly has a few advantages over WoA. SF has a low height limit, and less land to work with. What I'm getting at is to judge SFWoA fairly, you have to look at it by itself. Forget about Cedar Point for a second when you judge the park. Cedar Point is too big for this park. It's like comparing Santa's Village (Il) to Great America. (Il) If you look at WoA in the light of Cedar Point, you see a small park, with less rides, smaller rides, less of an amusment park atmosphere. If you look at it seperately, you see a park with 10 coasters, soon to be 11, all of which serve their purpose well, a great selection of flats, water park, and a zoo. The atmosphere is laid back, and thats an atmosphere more amusement parks should have. Hell, you don't even feel like you're at a park at WoA if you hit it on a weekday, the park will be abandoned! It's a nice break from the crowds of Cedar Point. Ohio is certainly blessed to have two great parks within such a short distance of each other. Just because Cedar Point is better doesn't mean you should criticise every nook and cranny of WoA. Take it for what it is, a great park with great rides.
-----------------
Thank You for challenging TOS: The Ride. We hope you enjoy the rest of your day, here at SFCB.
-------------
"To get into this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
While I have experienced "military" efficiency on Raptor (I know what you're talking about) it seems to happen a lot more on Mantis - not that its military to do it fast, but its military that if there is one hair that is wrong on someones head, they unlock row 6's seats and recheck the harnesses in row 3 and oh yea, don't forget to announce your plans for after work over the mic that ends up overriding the ride announcement, which is part of the experience on a CP ride ...
Raptor's crew is fast, but as far as I've ever experienced, most of the time, they are funny as can be, they interact with the guests (one of the few rides that will ALWAYS get screams when it returns to the "how was your ride" question) and they make it a fun atmospehere on the platform - most of the times I've not experienced this were either early morning (they're human and they're in college - they're probably tired and hung over like the rest of us) or in the middle of a really sweltering hot day (which would put anyone in a bad mood that has to work outside for that long with cranky guests who have been out in the heat too)
Mantis used to be like Raptor, but just is lacking right now.
-----------------
Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart
So "pointing out differences" isn't comparing?
In the words of Mario... "Versus?"
-----------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM
Closed topic.
