Looking for Dells information!

The visit I was referring to was either in 2000 or 2001. Sorry I can't be more specific, but it wasn't recently. I want to say it was 2000, because I think that it was the first time I ever actually took notice of the operations of any park, and I was floored by Kentucky Kingdom's operations in 2001.

I hope things change too. I really wasn't trying to lie about anything there, but that was definitely what I saw when I was there, and it definitely left a huge impression on me.

Cool. I don't think you're lying, it's just that I've seen a lot of negative reports of Big Chief in the past and a lot of times I think they're exaggerated. I am certainly not one who thinks Big Chief has a well organized operations department or the safest possible operations procedures, but sometimes criticisms of no lapbar checks is unwarranted because visual checks usually done. Obviously Big Chief is a small, family-owned park and attitudes are different in such places. A Six Flags official would freak out if they saw the "questionable" operations at a park like Holiday World. I see by your description, however, that wasn't the case in this particular incident. I apologize if I was overly harsh in my first reply. I'm glad I've never seen those rides in the condition you did.

-Nate

No problem.

And it depends on which Six Flags official you find. I don't find Holiday World's operations to be shady at all, but I can rattle off stories about Kentucky Kingdom for hours. It all depends on the park and when you visit it.

Also, like I said... I tend to look at the operations of the ride with great scrutiny because I've always been more interested by that aspect of the parks than most others. Because of that, my problems may have been magnified, although not exaggerrated :o)

Nate said:

"Depending on when you visit in July, Avalanche may or may not be open. As far as I know there's no set opening day, but as of a couple weeks ago the ride consisted only of a station, brake run, and a couple bunny hops. The later you're going in July, the better your chances."

According to the park Avalanche was slated to open Memorial Day but they are running behind schedule and the opening will be delayed. So Nate is right...don't expect to ride this during June.

mOOSH

If anyone's really interested, I can send (via e-mail) a picture of the layout marked to show how much has been completed thus far; send me a PM. I'm a bit surprised at the park's response if they really anticipated a Memorial Day opening; the weather was beautiful this spring so there shouldn't have been weather delays. I'm sure it was more of a problem of not even starting construction of the coaster until March.

thecoasterguy: I'm also interested in park operations, and tend to notice little things like that. In regards to Six Flags officials finding Holiday World's operations questionable, I was referring to track crossings. Track crossings are a HUGE no-no in the Six Flags world, but quite common at Holiday World (and many other smaller parks).

-Nate

Yeah, like at Silverwood when one op would check the restraints for the whole train, leaving the main board unattended, and crossing in the front and back of the train. They would also let us go around many times before stopping the train and checking restraints again. A little off topic, but I thought interesting.

If the coaster is manually-operated (which the Big Chief coasters are, though I don't know about Silverwood's) there's really no reason to re-check restraints if you're going to cycle a train multiple times. It's pretty unlikely that a restraint would become unlocked without the operator having never stopped the train in the station and pressed the button to release the restraints.

-Nate

---

thecoasterguy said:
How can an opinion be biased? Isn't that what makes it an opinion?

When did I ever say I was affiliated with the park?

---

Dude, I was talking to you, not about you. I was saying I wouldn't put too much stock in someone else's biased opinion(no, bias dosen't directly denote opinion).

nate-don't you have it listed on your info on that other site you are on that you are a ride op @ the park? That seems like affiliation to me... *** Edited 5/20/2004 7:18:20 PM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

---

coasterdude318 said:
Cool. I don't think you're lying, it's just that I've seen a lot of negative reports of Big Chief in the past and a lot of times I think they're exaggerated. I am certainly not one who thinks Big Chief has a well organized operations department or the safest possible operations procedures, but sometimes criticisms of no lapbar checks is unwarranted because visual checks usually done.

---

Any park that has a sign that says they don't have insurance scares me right from the beginning. I had the opportunity to take my nieces to ride but after seeing that sign I begged off. I think Big Chiefs deserves a lot of the bad press it gets. They don't check restraints, they don't have insurance, and the employees seem to not give a crap about their jobs.

---

A Six Flags official would freak out if they saw the "questionable" operations at a park like Holiday World.

---

Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA! I can not let that comment go by without saying something. I would gather to say that Holiday World has better operations and safter operations than ANY Six Flags park. None of their operations are questionable. The care they put into maintaining their rides and the care that the ride ops put into checking restraints and running the ride make it a model operation. If you are trying to point to last years incident as proof of their "questionable" operations than you are DEAD wrong. The person who was killed was checked by an operator and LATER defeated the safety devices on the ride. Think twice before slamming a park that is known industry wide for it's commitment to safety and for keeping their rides well maintained.

Kick The Sky said:
If you are trying to point to last years incident as proof of their "questionable" operations than you are DEAD wrong.

He already said what he was talking about and it was not that.

Tekno: the page you're referring to (I assume the RollerCoasterTalk thing) is three years old. I "worked" at Big Chief for a whopping three days several years ago and left because of how poorly run it was. So no, I have no "affiliation" with the park, nor do I (obviously) think it's well-run. But I do correct people when things are untrue or exaggerated. Wow, you really are stalking me!

Kick The Sky: Big Chief most definitely has insurance. The sign is meant to deter people from driving like maniacs on the go-kart tracks. I fully admit the sign is not classy, appropriate, or effective, but I've also seen the way some people drive on the go-kart tracks and it's frightening. As I said, I worked there ever so briefly, but was nearly run over at least twice. I'm lucky my leg was not broken on the job as other people's were. But all that said, any park would be stupid to not carry insurance.

As for the Holiday World comment, I was not implying anything about the death at SRM. I also didn't say I had a problem with HW's operations. I said any Six Flags official would have a problem, and then specified three posts down that I was referring to procedures like track crossings. Because of that, I personally don't agree that Holiday World necessarily has safer operations than any Six Flags park simply because the rules for employees aren't as strict, but I never said Holiday World was an unsafe place.

-Nate